open Shifted

[Electrobolt 2,069]

"No, it..." Electrobolt began. "It's alright, I was ju---" He stopped mid-sentence as he felt something cold land on his face. *What the?* he thought when he felt that cold thing land on his face and then disappear. Looking up, he couldn't believe what he had seen. *Snow? But it was just warm not too long ago!!!* Just as he returned his attention to the group, the cold breeze that blew past Peach had blown past him. Suddenly, he began shaking as well, wanting to find someplace warm. "Y-y-yeah..." he stuttered, trying to get the words out. "T-t-that sounds l-like a g-g-g-good id-d-dea..."

[PeachPalette 1,000]

"P-please. If you all will f-f-follow me," She trotted through them, her body curled over and tense. "There's an Inn in town. There w-will b-b-be plenty of r-room there for everyp-pony." She took a quick look behind her with a hopeful glance that they would be smart enough to listen to her and take refuge from the cold. Nopony would be useful if they were frozen ponysicles. She broke her glance and continued to walk. The woods were not a safe place to be, and she prayed to Celestia that they knew that by now.

 

She tread on. The snow was quickly gathering at her hooves. She looked ahead of her only to see that it began to snow heavier as she got closer to town. Boy, she thought, a sweater would be perfect right now. She squinted her eyes, the cold beginning to dry them out. THUMP! "Ow!" She opened her stinging eyes to see what she ran into. The cart she'd left along the road sat before her, untouched. Peach remembered that she bought a sweater on sale that morning and it was sitting in the cart. She could only smile. She thought for sure somepony would have taken advantage of the "free" cart sitting along a lonely road. She'd fish through it when she reached her destination. She slipped into the cold reins and pulled, the wheels barely moving at first, but after some creeking and cracking, it began to roll behind her. She'd stay at the inn tonight and hopefully come up with some sort of plan with the others at sunrise.

Edited March 21, 2012 by PeachPalette

[Marcato 2,143]

Silver was glad Peach had cheered up, but the sudden snow concerned him, because a moment ago it was quite warm. Peach confirmed his fears that this was not natural. He was about to offer that they go to the cave he had found, since it was so close, but thought otherwise when she mentioned an inn. He figured that would probably be much better, and warmer.

 

As they were walking, Silver picked up a stick with his magic, which he had gotten fairly good at doing, and lit it aflame to keep himself warm at least a little. He looked at everyone else, and especially Serah, who was shivering cold from the added bonus of the frozen water. Silver thought for a moment, then picked up another stick and lit that one too. He moved it in front of Serah as she was walking. "Here, try and hold this with your magic." He said. "Can't have you dying of cold." He left it to hover there for a moment in case she hadn't grabbed it.

 

When he noticed Peach had begun pulling the cart again, he was tempted to go up and help her. In her current condition she probably wasn't having an easy time pulling it. But she seemed to be doing fine on her own. Instead he turned around to make sure everyone was following. He noticed though that Artsy wasn't here yet... Suddenly Silver remembered, she had run off into the forest! "Peach! There's one person missing!" He called to Peach. "Her name is Artsy, she ran off into the forest not too long ago! We need to find her before the snow gets too heavy."

[Legendary Emerald 622]

Serah took the offered torch in her teeth; she didn't trust her magic enough at the moment to attempt grabbing hold of it. Besides, it would probably just burn to ashes just like everything else she had magically manipulated. The small fire at the end of the stick was enough.

 

"I guess I'm not the only person here who has some ability with fire. But I think mine works in a different way than Silver's, if he's still able to conjure a flame in this snowstorm."

 

Silver mentioned that someone named Artsy wasn't there. Serah couldn't place the name to a pony; she hadn't really tried to get to know anything about the others she'd woken up next to.

Edited March 21, 2012 by Legendary Emerald

[Electrobolt 2,069]

Electrobolt continued to follow as fast as he could, which wasn't very fast considering he hadn't adjusted to the sudden drop in temperature. As he was shakily walking along with the group, he had overheard Silver saying another pony, named Artsy, was lost. "W-w-what...?" he forced out, trying to speak. "S-s-someone... Got l-l-left b-behind...?" Electrobolt was conflicted now. He wanted to go back and look for Artsy, but he didn't want to freeze to death. But if he went to the inn and warmed himself up, he'd be leaving a pony to freeze out there. *What do I do...?* he thought, trying to make up his mind.

[Wolfe 71]

Uhmm... yea, I'm human... He looks at himself again. I think... I just woke up not too long ago, and no no, I don't think you're crazy. I think I'm the crazy one here... is this a dream?-- Scratch that... I'll just see how this dream goes... Anyway, who are you and what is going on?

 

He looks at the other pony in the eyes. He was always one to make sure another knew he was paying attention. But suddenly, he notices snowflakes falling. In the middle of some good weather? Something's up... With this new information, nonetheless, he continues to look at this other pony. He also starts to shiver at the sudden chill.

 

Many thoughts ran through his mind:

 

What do I do? Is this place hostile? Is it friendly? Is she friendly? She seems to be friendly. Why is it snowing? Is there some snow machine somewhere? Why am I like this? What's going to happen? The derivative of sin x is cos x --- wait, that's Calculus... Forget that now.... whatever my name was...

[Nathan Fink 22]

[3:54:00 PM] Nathan Fink: He had turned the corner just in time to see several flickers of fire light and hear stressed filled voices. Adjusting his pack he decides to investigate and starts walking over. Noticing the direction they were facing and how much they were already shivering, he concluded that they just must have come from the Everfree Forest. Who are these Ponies, they dont look familiar, could they have something to do with all of this?

 

Getting closer, his questions only grow. I dont recognize most of them, are they travelers like me? Why were they in the Everfree forest at all? Why does that Peach one hauling the cart look so familiar to me? The sense that these Ponies were going to cause trouble in his life was growing, and he contemplated whether to see if he could help them or to just go back to his warm bed and meal back at the Inn and read his books. Finally deciding as he grew closer that it had been to long since he learned something through real life experience he called out lightly, Um, hello there? Can i be of help somehow?

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

Artsy quaked and shivered as she felt the impending frost. Snow? She hadn't seen real snow in years... where she had lived had no snow. Hopefully, it would be light. Otherwise... well, she probably wouldn't want to think about it at the moment. For now, she would contemplate what this male had said. He was a human too. At least she didn't look like a crazy idiot.

 

"Well, that's good! Good... I mean, you're not crazy. If you are, then so am I. The whole 'it's a dream thing' has been... really sort of overdone a lot, hasn't it? It seems surreal to me, but I don't think it's a dream. If it was, then I wouldn't exist. Yours, that is. If it was mine, I wouldn't even be aware that this was a dream. It'd be a lucid dream if you were dreaming, wouldn't it? Wouldn't you be able to control it?" She took a deep breath. Wow, lots of babbling. The most she had talked. Most of what she said sounded kind of stupid to her hearing it, and she blushed. Now she looked like a crazy idiot.

 

"Um, anyway, sorry. I'm talking too much. The point is - ah... something. Oh yeah, my name's Artsy. And I have as much a clue as what's going on as you!"

Edited March 22, 2012 by Arylett Dawnsborough

[PeachPalette 1,000]

Peach was in the middle of turning around to follow Silver back into the forest to look for Artsy when a familiar voice made her head snap back around. "S-SiFi?!" Her eyes were wide as she reared up almost tripping over her own reins. She caught herself though, and stumbled to a stand still again. She knew this earth pony. She'd seen him walking through town quite a few times now, but never had the nerve to say hello to him. And now, he was right here.

 

Her eyes shifted in all directions and ended at the ground. "Um..y-yes. We...," Her voice went barely audible again just to hide her stammering whether it be from cold or... "We...n-need to f-f-find a pony that wandered off. She'll f-f-freeze if we don't." She was reluctant, but finally peered up to meet his eyes. She would be more than happy to accept the help, but... "Oh, but...it's really c-c-cold out and...you don't have to if you d-don't want."

[Wolfe 71]

Hehehe, calm down. It's alright, we're probably both crazy, and I think it's better to leave it at that. From the looks of it, something is going down, and you might know something about it. And it's nice to meet you Artsy. If we're in the same boat, we should stick together. And my name is... Oh crud. Now you've gone and done it. All this thinking and talking and craziness and whatnot made you forget about an identity. Okay. C'mon think think think.... err... fire alarm... Greek mythology... be brave... flying... umm... walking... talking... be brave... Calculus... snow.... uhhh... be brave...

 

My name is Brave! Good job... Well, it was nagging me. Might as well.

 

He seemed to be in a sweat from that thinking. He tried his best not to show a weird face and act genuine.

 

Anyway, I think we should get outta here. The snow might come down hard soon. If it's like New York sometimes, it can be a killer... Know the way out, Artsy?

 

Brave looks around the forest seeing if there is a nearby road or pathway. It's best that they get shelter soon.

Edited March 22, 2012 by Wolfe

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

"Ah yeah... that's not your real name, is it? Mine's not really Artsy either. It's something else, but I really have no idea what it is. I just invented it!" She was about to mention the others, but then thought of the embarrassing scene she had made before them, and decide it was better not to acknowledge their existence. Artsy didn't really want to see them again after the incident. "I suppose that'd make sense. I've never really seen a whole lot of snow, so I'm not sure how it works."

 

She tried to scratch her head with a hoof, but remembered she had no nails. It felt extremely unsatisfying... how did ponies satisfy itches? Bah... all of this pony business was rather unpleasant, she had to admit. So far, she'd fond nothing really preferable to being a pony over a human. Except the tail. She always had a liking for tails.

 

"I don't, sorry. I don't know anything about this place... and I have no sense of direction. I guess we could go... that way though." She pointed ahead with the same hoof she attempted to use to scratch her head back towards the way she had come from here. Maybe that'd get them out of the forest.

[Aureity 3,055]

Crystal Flame tried to shrug off the snow that seemed to be blanketing the ground of the forest as he blindly followed the group of ponies now trudging out of the snow. How did it appear so quickly? Whatever it was, he was gently reminded of a day very similar to this. All he could remember was a warm fuzzy feeling as he had stared out of a window drinking...he didn't even remember what it was called. Hot chocolate? Something like that. It was all he got, but it was enough to make him momentarily forget the irritation that had been building up.

The peachish pony had said something about a pony being lost....or was that from before? No, he was certain she had said there was another pony had been lost in the snowstorm. Who cares, people die all the time. He was satisfied to see that apparently the rest of the group members shared his view-although a few looekd uneasy, not one made a move to leave the group and go find the missing pony.

[Marcato 2,143]

Silver decided that he had to go and find her. He turned away from the group and started heading back towards to forest. "Some leave a trail for me to follow so i can get back! The tracks will be filled in by the snow, so i would really appreciate it if you could find some other way! I'm going to find Artsy!" He called over his shoulder. And with that he took off towards the forest.

 

It didn't take him too long to find Artsy's tracks, or what was left of them. they had been nearly filled in by the snow. He followed the tracks for a while until he found her. As he began to walk towards her he noticed there was another pony there. "Hey Artsy!" He called. He caught up with them and quickly told Artsy that everyone was heading into town to stay in the inn. "We have to get out of here before all the tracks are covered." Silver turned towards the other pony he didn't recognize.

 

"Hello there, who are you?" He asked. He looked the new pony over for a moment, and noticed that he looked a little confused. "You seem to be just like us. I'm guessing you used to be a human as well. I haven't seen you around yet. Come on, you should come with us." Silver looked around for a moment before he found two more sticks and lifted them off the ground with his magic, lighting the both. "Here, each of you take one of these." He said hovering the flaming sticks in front of their faces. "It may not be much but it will keep you warm."

[Electrobolt 2,069]

Electrobolt looked behind him when he heard Silver tell everyone he was going to look for Artsy. He tried saying something, but he couldn't find the strength to force any words out. Instead, he watched Silver go off on his own, a worried look on Electrobolt's face, as he thought, *Be careful out there...*

[Flow 1,624]

"Artsy? Who's Artsy? Sounds like another pony, hmm, maybe I should join Silver then," Then Arty splits away from the group to follow silver, "Silver! Wait up!" then upon meeting him, he saw two other ponies "Eh? Two other ponies? I'm sorry for interrupting you guys, Um, my name is Arty, and I believe I used to be a human, you may think I'm crazy, but I actually do believe it, er well I hope you don't think I'm crazy, but this whole think was caused by some creature named Discord,"

 

Then he started to shiver, "This snow is cold and white, talk about camouflage," referring to his coat.

[Nathan Fink 22]

Quite convinced now that he had never met a single one of them, since the Peach one was acting nothing like he had seen her before, he assumed that they were travelers. Yeah, i dont mind helping. Surveying the situation, he decided upon a course of action. You Ponies were headed towards the Inn right? Their looks were answer enough Well here, He shrugged his pack off int oher cart. Please take this with you. Take these Ponies to the Inn fast before you all catch something. Ill keep the path visible for when they come back. He started walking towards the forest, dragging his hoofs to keep the Silver ones tracks fresh and noticable.

[PeachPalette 1,000]

Peach was frozen in shock. He...just...went off by himself, she thought, her yellow eyes wide with worry and fear that something would happen to him. She lifted a hoof to ignore his order and go after him, but stopped. No. He said he wanted us to create tracks for him, she told herself. She slammed her hoof into the already two inches of snow. The crunching sound was one she didn't think she'd hear for two more seasons.

 

Her thoughts were interrupted by SiFi's distinct voice as he nominated himself to help with the tracks. She looked up at him. "B-but..." Now there would be more ponies to worry about. But, she was the last pony to be assertive in this current state. "O-okay," her soft voice appeared not to reach SiFi as his silhouette disappeared int he silver storm.

 

Her eyes turned to the ponies with her, landing on Electrobolt. "We should get to the inn and wait for them there," she insisted as she slowly turned the cart in the direction of the inn and pulled.

[Electrobolt 2,069]

Electrobolt snapped out of his trance as he turned around, hearing what Peach had just said. Nodding, he slowly proceeded to follow along, hoping to get warm soon. *I... I really hope they'll be alright out there...* he thought, feeling a little bit of guilt as he decided not to chase after them. But then, how could he chase after them moving as slowly as he is?

[Wolfe 71]

Well, hello there... other ponies... It's nice to meet you, but we should get out of here. We'll have introductions later... But for now, lead the way, please.

 

He had a sense of urgency. From the look of how the snow was piling up, it wasn't good to stay in the forest for long. Hypothermia would soon follow. He looked at the flaming stick and thought: Wait a sec. That unicorn is using magic? I shouldn't question now. Maybe later. And how do I grab it? He looked at his hooves briefly and looked up again to grab the stick... with his mouth. He was careful to not let the fire reach his face.

 

You leed. I'll tae dda baak. Doe know if der are any creatures is dis foress dat are hostle.

(You lead. I'll take the back. Don't know if there are any creatures in this forest that are hostile.)

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

Silver, the one who had witnessed her escape, did not appear to have been acting as though anything had happened. Though this was good, she felt somewhat of an awkward air with this undiscussed subject that wasn't going to be addressed hanging there. All she merely did was nod to his proclamations and to the one who had said was Arty. With such a similar name, she knew there was to be confusion. Drat.

 

Her mind needed to stop wandering off so much, as the hovering stick poked her in the face. Staring at the others confusedly (for she didn't know how to actually use her magic to grab it, and didn't want to risk using it again lest there be some sort of explosion), she saw that Brave had taken it in his mouth. It made her feel absolutely ridiculous and like some sort of dog, but she grabbed the stick in her mouth as well, extremely cautiously, and barely holding it because she feared the fire. Artsy was extremely uncomfortable having fire so close to her face... but if she dropped it, God knew what would happen.

 

At least she felt warmer. Though she had not expressed much, this cold temperature was not something she was accustomed to, and her body had already started shivering vigorously. It was... so damn cold!

[Trixies Apprentice L 493]

Lionheart simply listened to what everyone was saying. they were clearly not getting what he was talking about but this wasn't the time to argue it would be heavily disadvantageus for him. Though Silver made some good point what he said about there worlds and this one. He didn't speak though now wasn't the time. He then talked about Artsy. All this time he missed completly that she was gone and now silver was off to find her. :Hmm which group....the smart one" He quickly though and decided. Without losing time he followed Silver and Arty that also was interested on following them.

 

Snow started falling but somehow Lionheart didn't felt as cold as the others maybe it was the fact that he was wearing a trench coat and that his horn was kinda shining but even if he wasn't truly sure the other ponies were shaking he wasn't though still felt very cold. "So Silver... you seemed the most open minded person and I believe you really misunderstood my intentions. I didn't want this world to fall in chaos. I simple want to save our world and merging those two seems a good way for this to happen. It is clear that this world is stronger that our world. We lost our memories our bodies and all that. My theory is that if Discord is right it is our world that will be destroyed and merged with this one. And to be truthful I cannot see this as a bad thing. Sure his methods seem extreme but we won't do his bidding. We would be in control without him knowing...we can use his powers for our benefit. We can do many things." Lionheart was speaking softly but still putting empasize wherever it was needed but it was apparent that he believed what he was saying. He truly believe that they could use Discord for their benefit, that they could be in control.

 

He then adressed to everyone in there. "We could form a group and use whatever we have in our disposal and what we know to make this happen. Make our world a better place by merging it here. humans would lose their memories. I can already see that we still remember some faint stuff cause we were the first bunch. A test of some sorts. I believe we can do this for the benefit of humanity even if it will cost much. Discord seemed crazy enough to help us the way we want him to without quite realising it. What do you say ?" Lionheart extended a hoof to them. "I believe it can work we can make humanity a great deal of benefit even f it cost them everything."

[Nathan Fink 22]

Seeing the group on the edge of the forest, he started to regret making the decision to help them when the one in the coat stopped and offered his hoof to another. It was freezing now and he was started to get very very cold. Hey you Ponies, over there! He shouted and waved. The path is over here, hurry up before you all freeze!

 

Having done what he set out to do, he began trotting back, following his now quite easily seen path back into town. I hope i dont catch something, these Ponies better not have cost me valuable research time! Thinking about the Peach one that took his bag he realized Oh no! I just gave that Pony all my money and books and i didnt even know her! He went into a full gallop and headed towards the Inn.

[PeachPalette 1,000]

PeachPalette shook the snow off of her coat as she pulled her cart into a covered area that sat beside the inn. She stepped from the reins, her legs ached and stung from the unexpected winter, so she appeared to move slowing that usual. Her body trimmered and shook as her teeth chattered. All she wanted to do at this point was get inside the inn, pay for a cozy room and snuggle under the blankets.

 

She looked up at the top of her cart. Oh yes, SiFi's bag. She reared up, just reaching the strap of it with her teeth and pulled it down. Now, where is my sweater? She thought as she set the bag down and started fishing through her cart with her front hooves. Where is it?! Oh, I hope I didn't put it all the way at the bottom. She sighed and continued until she found it. The sweater not being nearly as deep as she thought it would be. It didn't take her long to swing it over her head and push her hooves through the sleeves.

 

The sweater was cozy, but the threat of freezing to death still stung her joints. She picked up SiFi's bag and slung it over her back. She realized Electrobolt was standing behind her. He'd been so quite that she forgot he was there for the moment. "I t-think we should get inside, Electrobolt. There aren't many carts here s-so f-f-finding a room won't be too h-hard," she chattered at him before heading to the door of the inn. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw the warm glow coming from the windows. It looks so warm inside.

 

And it was just that. The gentle warm air of the inn hugged her chilled body as she entered the door. The charming bell signaling their arrival. She smiled a meek little smile and stepped up to the front desk to ask for a room. "Hello, sir," she greeted the pony behind the desk in her soft tone. "I would like to rent all of your vacant rooms. Others will be coming." She tried hard to keep her smile as worry flooded her thoughts again. Hopefully.

Edited March 23, 2012 by PeachPalette

[Deshi Bashara 6]

Cole walked alongside Electrobolt, teeth chattering in the cold. He exhaled, and his breath crystalized in front of him. As he trudged towards the inn, another memory came to him.

 

- - - - - - -

 

"Cole, come on! The fort's almost set up!" Sam yelled to him. "Ok!" Cole responded, running across the campus to their snow fort. It was cold outside, but he was warm with his jacket and gloves. He walked through the snow door and took a look around. His roommate was currently patching up the roof, and it looked like he was making progress. The fort was now the size of a small hut, complete with windows and chairs. Sam turned to Cole and grinned happily. "Looks great, huh?" he asked him.

 

"Yeah, it does. We've really outdone ourselves this time." Cole agreed. "Should we take a seat?"

 

"Oh, that would be simply wonderful, Mr. Shepard!" Sam answered, speaking with a posh british accent. "Would you care for a spot of tea?"

 

Cole tried to restrain himself from laughing. "Sure. I'm dying for a warm drink, right now." he said. As they sat down, Sam produced two coffees, one for each of them. The one he gave Cole had two straws in it, however. "What's this for?" Cole asked.

 

"You and a certain lady that's not in this fine snow fortress." Sam told him.

 

Cole, who had tentatively took a sip of his coffee, promptly spat it out in surprise. "Wha- I- eh- how did you know about that?!" he demanded, blushing furiously.

 

"Well, let's see. Everytime she walks by, you drop whatever you're holding, space out, and start blushing. And stammering." Sam explained, counting each symptom on his fingers.

 

"I don't stammer!" Cole feebly protested.

 

"Look, all I'm trying to say is either ask her out now, or miss the chance for good. Your call." Sam concluded, ignoring Cole's statement.

 

Cole looked at the drink, then back to Sam. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Alright. I'll go for it." he decided. "Where would I find her?"

 

"The library, sci-fi section. Just make sure you hurry. If you don't get there in time..."

 

"I know, Sam." Cole said, getting up and exiting the snow fort. "Don't worry, I got this...I hope."

 

- - - - - - -

 

The memory ended there, and Cole felt as if another piece of the mystery that had been his past life was solved. Shepard...my last name is Shepard. he thought. And that other guy was Sam.

 

He followed the other two ponies as Peach opened the door to the inn.

[Legendary Emerald 622]

Peach opened the door to the quite inviting looking inn.

 

"F-f-finally." Serah's teeth chattered, dropping the torch. She stepped forward and immediately fell down. She felt light-headed, and the only other sensation she could feel was an overwhelming numbness. Her vision faltered, and the world began to get fuzzy.

 

"Am I falling asleep? No, I'm waking up."

 

Serah passed out on the ground with a curious smile on her face.