Crystal Symphony [CYOA]

“If it’s about romance, I’m as clueless as you Nifty Ribbon – if not even worse, so I don’t know,” you give her a final whisper before you raise your crystallized hoof with a grind and wave it coolly at Red Sulfur, “Just mare-ish things, Red Sulfur; do not worry about it, it’s nothing important.” Your unintentionally menacing giggle gives it away.

The stallion widens his eyes at you in a surprise and then turns his head away to sigh, “You only make me be more interested in this than I’m supposed to be, Aurora. Well, nevermind that – Let’s continue on our journey.”

“Yeah,” you hollow voice mumbles, “L-Let’s continue on our journey. We can do this.”

“We might die, you know,” Red Sulfur says as he narrows one of his eyes at you.

“Don’t say that!” you exclaim with a grumbler, “We are going to be fine; you are going to be fine. I’ll protect you.”

“We’ll protect you too, teacher Aurora,” Nifty Ribbon timidly mutters back.

“We’ll see,” Red Sulfur pauses and shrugs his shoulder as he slowly lifts up the thick leafed branches with one of his hooves, promptly exposing the outside wintriness into the previously comfy shack, “I’m being a realist here…”

*** *** ***

Regardless of the fact that the stench of the oil has long left Red Sulfur, and the fact that Nifty Ribbon is somepony who is a young, tasty filly whom is more than likely to stir the appetite in either the pony eating yetis or the packs of snowborn tigers, none of them came after you. Your journey back to the ridge of the Crystal Mountain was more or less safe compared to your venture here and for that, you have a feeling the reason is either presence of a natural spirit that is Bearwalski or your over-extensive amount of dark magic that those predators are somehow able to feel.

The four of you take a short break in the small, secluded cave beneath the yeti caverns; far enough not to risk their sudden appearance if they do decide get a wrong idea and attack you. Despite their high and mighty spirit, both Red Sulfur and Nifty Ribbon are still regular ponies and the long journey back took its toll on their bodies. While the ever-present and lingering lack of time is constantly hanging above your heads, like a green sun, you and they need rest…

A short rest, at least. Red Sulfur has used the last of the candles and, with the cub’s magical help, has managed to construct a worthy bonfire. Red Sulfur’s attitude has changed to that of dread and reclusiveness, as he made sure to announce that ‘One hour is all we are able to waste, Aurora. If you don’t wake up before that, we might be too late.’

“I understand, Red Sulfur,” you mentally sigh back at him as you then process to lean against the rough and uncomfortable ground, “You too, should rest – please. Eat and drink and sleep, I’ll wake you up for sure.”

“Not a chance,” he covers his yawn with his hoof and then shakes his head in a negative, “I’ll make sure we don’t oversleep, I’m telling you how important this is, Aurora. Besides, we need somepony to look out for yetis.”

“Bearwalski can do that,” you argue, “Sleep.”

“No, it’s fine. I need less sleep than you.”

“I don’t even need sleep, I just want to be with my magic in full power; and I want you to be well rested.”

“Then you should stop wasting time and start recovering already,” he puts his hooves behind his head and yawns.

>What do you do now?

>>29637741
He's too hardheaded. Let's just rest.

The grinding sigh of yours echoes across the walls of the cave, “Be it your way, Red Sulfur. Don’t fall unconscious when we will be infiltrating the Emp-“

“Yeah-yeah,” he waves his hoof at you and lazily turns away, “Don’t worry about that, have fun in your dreams.”

You mentally roll your eyes and adjust yourself; Nifty Ribbon throws you a simple yet kind smile and wraps herself up in one of the many clothing items you have been carried around with you. Those vests and coats make a good blanket when there’s lack of those thereof. While it might be uncomfortable, luxuries are things of the long and distant past – this filly deserves a long and proper nap, in a cotton bed, and you are going to make sure she gets it.

You allow the dark veil of your magic to slowly but steadily consume your psyche; you are quickly lost in its presence.

*** *** ***

You find yourself catching your breath and barely being able to slow down your rapidly beating heart. You are in your own body, now, the body of Aurora Flare who, just until recently, was slaving away in the mines. The memory comes crashing down as the same, echoing words jingle through your head reminiscent of the largest of bells. ‘I accept it’ – is what you shouted when he offered the distrustful and scared crowd the chance to be at his side.

Now, you find yourself inside the Crystal Castle, the grand citadel you once only had a virgin dream of visiting. What it used to be is only a fragment, a phantom idea of the past, not the abomination it is now. The eldritch, purple flames of the braziers reflect off the macabre surface of the cursed, black gemstones. The crystal floor is as cold as ice, your injured and bruised hooves barely being able to interact with it without pain. It only took Sombra a single day to blight what it took generations of loving and care to build and expand; this is the power of the Shadow King.

The creaking, massive door slowly opens before you – not in an act of welcoming but, in an act of mortification.

As soon as you enter the room, you are thrown into a sea of darkness; the heavy air is almost impossible to breathe, your skin turning blue from the lack of oxygen and the struggle you have to force your lungs to do what is almost beyond their capabilities, like some sort of twisted torture. The gate slams itself behind you and you jump at the sound, only to hear a coy and humiliating sneer. In the deep, dark darkness of this throne room you see his deep, red eyes – eyes that hunger for blood. His voice is like a knife, a knife that does not strike but slowly slides over your skin.

“My apprentice,” you remembering him saying, “You made me wait, do you regret your decision?”

This is the first time you’ve met him after you agreed to become his student, you no longer fell happy…

>What do you do now?

>>29638171
Fall on your face before him. Yes, your majesty! Please forgive me.

>>29638240
Oh wait, I'm mistaken. Make that

Fall on our face before him. "N-no, your majesty. Please forgive my tardiness."

>>29638171
Bow to the king. No your majesty.

Oh right, you wouldn’t never make him angry – that would be stupid and suicidal. Instead, you lean your head against the dreary and cold floor, accidently striking yourself too hard against its surface because of the darkness. You cough in search of air or despite of it and then, with a crumbling and cracking voice, you mutter towards him:
“N-no, your majesty. I apologize, please forgive my tardiness.”

“Hm,” you are able to see his figure, blacker than black, slowly lean forward, “One and only time, keep your head lowered.” He doesn’t have to say it, you are barely able to move yourself, the atmosphere is so heavy it can bet cut!

“Yes, your majesty; yes, your highness,” you gulp down your saliva only to have the quiet noise echo and spread through the room, catching up to you. Every word your say reflects off those walls, every word humiliates you.

“You should be happy, apprentice; you were the very first who responded to my arrangement. A second more, a moment less, and you wouldn’t be in here.” You notice him placing one of his legs on the other in a royal-like fashion, “That is what I seek, so you made me… happy. Answer me now, what do you expecting to gain from this?”

>What do you do now?

>>29638383
Tell the truth. She's way too scared to lie to him.

I... to be free from the mines. A higher position.

You remember having to loudly gasp to practically catch your soul leaving your body: this is how scared you were back then. You can not lie, not in his presence, not with his irk being the only thing among you and your death. Biting your lip, your grind your forehead further into the floor only to mutter through your teeth with a voice as weak willed yet as serious and self-aware as possible, “I couldn’t take it anymore, it was a chance to escape the crystal mines, your majesty, and it was a chance for a higher position and an easier life, t-that’s what I though and think.”

“Easier life?” his voice darkens in tone as it then twists into a hollow cackle, a deafening laughter, “Ha-ha-ha-ha…”

You silence and cover yourself, hopeful that your answer did not shock or anger him – but it simply amused him.

“Easy life,” he repeats and then, he stands from his throne – the throne of fear and death, “What a thing to say, crystal slave. To accept the offer from me expecting an easy life – tell me, do you have no concept of fear?”

“I know fear,” your lips quaver, “Your majesty, if there’s a way to escape misery and fear – I wished to take it.”

You notice the white creepiness of his large, evil smile stretch through the darkness before you, “I’ve said that you shall gain power and a high rank in my hierarchy, as my apprentice, but I never expected a slave so pitiful and weak to take in my offer. I see now that you have something that other ponies do not, an egotistical fortitude and determination.”

Egotistical determination, he called it; it’s exactly as he said, your life, to you, was the most important thing imaginable. You can only nod your head in gratitude, for he is right, and being a hypocrite will get you nothing.

“Tell me, apprentice – what do you think the most important thing for a creature to have is?” he asks you softly.

You do not remember your answer, not straight away…

>What do you do now?

>>29638760
The intelligence and strength to survive, to continue on that race.

>>29639916

>>29640580

“I think it’s the intelligence and strength to survive, your majesty; to continue on that race.”

In response you are only able to hear a deafening silence and a creeping crack of his ebon armor. In fear, you put your hooves over your head and immediately silence yourself. Have you said something wrong? Is your answer not to his liking? He asked you for what you think, for your opinion. What a lie, of course it was a lie. You believed it…

“I’m surprise you got it right, apprentice,” he speaks as his voice literally grinds against your skin, his presence surrounding you in his grasp, “The strength and intellect, a creature that is afraid or unable to take the necessary steps to ensure his or her survival is nothing but dirt, they deserve to be ruled by those who do.” There’s a short but intoxicating pause only after which he stands up and continues, “They are all pathetic, frail, fragile, breakable.”

His eyes indulge in crimson fire as the floor beneath your hooves begins to crumble and shake. You are barely able to escape from the cracks beneath yourself as a massive crystal diagram of the entire land of Equestria, iridescent with cold and white light, raises before you. Even in the deep shadow of this room, the map reflects the magic and peace of the world that is not the consuming, black spot that is the Crystal Empire. Then, the shadow of the room begins to take shape and form of black tentacles: intangible smog. It consumes it whole and leaves nothing but empty surface.

“The world belongs to the strong, my apprentice, and unlike the so-called Princess who fakes and fables her rule with friendship, hope and love, I shall let it know to you all straight and brutally honest: if you are without strength and willpower, there’s no place for you in the world that I shall raise from ash; in the world that is under my rule.”

“I… I’m sorry your majesty, I don’t understand why are you telling me this,” you whimper back at him.

The white shadow of his hollow smirk reflects off the ebonite surface of the crystal map, “It’s not often I allow the ponies such as you to prove their worth, and I’ll give you a single chance.” Out of the darkness, a book is born. A flutter note falls with a hollow slap before your eyes; a scarlet red gemstone resembling that of a demonic eye gives you an eldritch, almost hostile, glare. It blinks at you, almost causing you to scream and cry in fear; you do not, not here. “Unchain and steal as much of the secrets of the forbidden magic as you are able from this book, my crystal apprentice, and then you just might be somepony useful in the new world I will birth; worthy to be in my court.”

>What do you say?

>>29643016
Yes, my master.

Again, as much as she might be afraid of that book she fears Sombra much more.

“Yes, my master,” is the only thing you are able answer, it’s the only thing you remember being able to answer back then. His words, his plan, and his intent – it is insane and mad. The only reason he envisions and strives for such a world is because he has the power, and only because nopony is there to face or oppose him – at least not in an even fight.

You take the book into your hooves; its rough parchment surface has an uncanny feel to it, similar to a skin of a long-rotten beast. Up close, the source of dark magic is draining – you feel your emotions leaving your body with a pull of invisible chains, painfully and slowly. Here and now, you want to throw the Crystal Note in his face and refuse, but you know better. You stand low in the food pyramid that is the Crystal Empire – here, there’s only way to survive.

“I’ll do my best to learn the secrets of this book,” you bite your lip and, with a struggle, you turn to face him.

“It’s best for you and me, and everypony else, if you do, my apprentice,” he reminds you with an evil smile, “One more thing,” he pauses, his voice growing in intonation and presence, “Do not forget who gave you this chance.”

“Of course, your majesty; your highness,” you give him one last nod and then, you turn around to leave him. You gasp for breath as you feel the cold steel of his hoof press itself against your shoulder, “Turn away or obey me!”

‘What?!’ you are barely able to ask as your entire dream begins to burn with the darkest, the most malevolence fire you have ever experienced. You twist your head in recourse as first the throne room, then you yourself disappears.

The last thing you see before your dream entirely collapses on itself is his face, the fact of tyrannical King Sombra.

*** *** ***

>Body Changes:
28% [+4] Alicorn ‘Dark’ Magic [Magic]
00% [-4] Volatile Arcane [Magic]

“Aurora, hey – Aurora?” a familiar voice of Red Sulfur breaks you out of your stupor, your vision a mess of blurred circles and translucent, blinding hues. It takes a few seconds before you are able to think straight, “Aurora, I told you I was right; one hour is over, we have to go. Aurora? Do you hear me? Is everything alright?” He asks you confusedly.

You can still feel the cold presence of his highness’ hoof on your back, you can still hear his grim and dark voice.

>What do you do now?

>>29643378
I'm ok, I'm awake. Thank you Red, I was have a nightmare.

We better get moving before Red gets on our case again. When we get the chance ask Nifty about all she knows on Salt.

“I’m awake, Sulfur, I’m awake. One of my dreams was a nightmare, but it’s just that,” you say to him passionately.

“A nightmare?” the stallion quirks his eyebrow at you suspiciously; soon after though, he then turns to face sleeping Nifty Ribbon and Bearwalski. Red Sulfur gives you a nonchalant shrug, as if not his trouble, and process to wake Nifty Ribbon and her oaken bear companion with an annoying sound-alike of a cuckoo. Once they wake up in fear, he gives them a cheeky smirk that both of them are obviously unhappy about. The bear even slaps him with a branch.

*** *** ***

You stop before the rim, the very end of the Crystal Mountain and the long, difficult pass that is going to lead you into the Crystal Empire. From the top of those mountains the cursed ground appears in even more corrupt state that you left it in, the crystal boulevard are broken and split; the black and boiling crystals break through the previously beautiful pathway and spiral tall into the air. The boiling, green sun reflects off the surface of the crystal castle and the crystal houses giving the Empire an eerie, green hue. Copper, air-polluting smog hangs with an eldritch thickness above the clouds and beneath the earth of the Crystal Empire, transparent only to the evil of Sombra’s dark magic.

There are ponies here, you are unsure of whom and what as you are only able to see them as black dots from all the way up there. They are many, however, rows and crowds of ponies are walking – no – patrolling the streets of Sombra’s grand kingdom. There are ponies flying through the air too: bat ponies, pegasi or members of Blackward’s Manehattan Vanguard; dozens and dozens of them. The empire is in clockwork, an uncanny resemblance of life.

What is more important, however, is the “King’s Glare”. It is massive, ebon tower that practically rivals the crystal castle. On top of it is a massive, crystal eye that shudders at every suspicious motion and quickly turns to face it.

Now, it has noticed your group. Aside from the eerie and uncomfortable feeling, nothing else is happening…

“I can hear his voice,” Nifty Ribbon shudders as she then backs down, “It’s him, it’s him…”

“Yeah,” Red Sulfur adds with annoyance more than fear, “I can hear him too, that bastard is whispering to me,” He then removes the silver ring, the Ring of Destiny, from one of his pockets and pauses, “I wonder if I should…”

“Don’t use it-,” Nifty Ribbon grabs Red Sulfur by his hoof, “You’ve already used it once already, its not-”

“Let me go,” he snarls at the teenage filly that immediately complies with his request. The stallion gives her a tired and annoyed glance, “You saying it only makes me want to use it more,” he pauses, “But, eh fine, I won’t. I don’t think I’m going to be brainwashed by this; compared to whispers of my Quartz Eye – this is absolutely nothing.”

“Great,” she mutters at him with a shy smile, “Thank you.”

“You, however, I’m not so sure about you,” he says, “I don’t think you should go, your mind is pretty weak.”

“I… I’m not a child,” she tells him with a meek confidence, “Please do not treat me as one.”

“I’ve tried treating you like a mare before,” he says with an obviously sarcastic and petty attitude, “Aurora, tell her.”

>What do you do now?

>>29643807
Don't be mean to her Red. Nifty, you are still quite young and I just want to know that you understand what we're getting into. The chance of death is very great, and were I the same mare I was before I became this construct of death I would run far far away from here. Do you understand?

I wonder where everyone else is...

>>29644007
Dunno. Seems there's others around after about 4 EST.

>>29643807
What sulfer is trying to say is that it's going to be really dangerous from this point out. So, if you believe you can overcome the obstacles in your way then come along.

“Don’t be mean to hear Red Sulfur,” you turn your featureless, crystal eyes at him before he gives you a lazy nod and turns away. You then face Nifty who is barely standing on her legs; she’s trembling with fear and rubbing her template with one of her hooves, fighting the things Sombra is presently whispering to her. “Nifty Ribbon,” you begin as your crystal form shields her from the soul-burning eye, “What Red Sulfur is trying to say is that, from this point on, it’s going to be dangerous. You are young, you do not have to do this if you do not want to, but, if you believe that you can overcome the obstacles then I will not mind you staying and helping us-”

“Oi, do you understand what you are saying?” Red Sulfur interrupts you, “She’s going to get herself killed…”

“I… I do understand, teacher Aurora. I will only get in your way, you are right,” she lowers her eyes and sighs.

“You are lucky she’s not stupid, Aurora,” Red Sulfur shrugs away his shoulders at the two of you.

“You’ve joined me on my journey despite the dangers, Red Sulfur. It’s not up to me but to her and yourself to decide this,” you wait for his answers but he simply ignores you, “Sheesh, anyway, I understand Nifty Ribbon. The moment we enter the Crystal Empire, you best hide away somewhere safe – is this alright with you? Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she gives you a patient nod, “I understand, Aurora. Please, save Salt Monument for me and please, be safe.”

*** *** ***

Once you descend down the cliff-side of the snow mountain you are met with rumble and a shuddering madness that is the Crystal Empire now, crystal ponies and crystal golems alike are walking side by side, no emotion or life present in their movement - like zombies. While some of the crystal ponies can be seen wearing the Fidelity Helmets, most of them do not. Instead, they have a bright green, vice light glimmering in their eyes. It is controlling their minds.

As soon as you reach the gates and safely leave Nifty Ribbon in one of the far-away houses similar to the one you and your family used to leave, you encounter them – the crystal golems. The dark magic of the King is visibly leaking out the exposed spots in the crystallized flesh of their carcasses. Unlike you, their crystal bodies vary in colors and hues, from gray to blue to pink – just like a regular pony. They are the ones forced to consume “Garmr’s Powder”.

There are two of them here, so far. It won't take long, however, until more are warned of your presence.

“So uh, I hope you can hold them while I inspect the chains?” Sulfur asks you sheepishly as he points his hoof behind himself, to overflowing with dark magic charcoal chains, one amongst many others surrounding the Crystal Empire and, if Sombra is to be believed, feasting on misery, fear and dread and other negative emotions of its citizens.

“How long will it take?” you ask him as you stand prepared in a battle position.

“An hour.”

“What?!”

“I’ll try to do it faster, just make sure none of them interrupts me – might take forever if I’m dead,” he says.

>What do you do now?

>>29644191
I don't want to kill anyone unless we must. Is there any way to conceal Red's position? Maybe use magic to move some crystals or rubble?

>>29644191
Be prepared for a battle if the golams do notice us. we should of created a "drain magic" spell.

>>29644372
I was thinking that too. We should have made a spell to counter golems.

It’s best not to kill them, even though they are not ponies any more… no, you cannot say that. Just like you, they used living and breathing ponies, and it’s only because of Sombra’s cruelty that they are now his obedient statues of death standing on your way. While you pause to consider your next course of actions, one of the two crystal golems turns away from you and, in a mad charge, gallops after Red Sulfur.

You do not have any time to waste here, they might seriously injure him if you are too late; you paint the dark fabric of your mind with a texture of emerald-green runes, grasping the nearest rocks and semiprecious stones with the force of your telekinetic power. You smash and then you toss the rubble in front of the crystal golem pursuing Red Sulfur, making him come to a haul. You take a moment to pause only to have one of the golems jump at you from the cloud of snow your intervention have lifted. His hoof slides across your face, barely in time for you to dodge it.

>Body Changes:
27% [-1] Alicorn ‘Dark’ Magic [Magic]
01% [+1] Volatile Arcane [Magic]

You stand straight to have, now two, of the golems begin to gradually circle around you, just far enough for you to have a problem to keep an eye on the two of them at the exact same time. They are waiting for a chance to strike…

If Red Sulfur is going to meet any other obstacle on his way, he is going to have to face them alone – for now.

>What do you do now?

>>29644442
My favorite manuver is to grab one and throw it at the other. Make sure it's tossing one away from Red's direction and into the other. After that let's try to catch up with Red.

>>29644442
If one try to attack us from behind, we can buck it in it's face. we just need to be aware of our surrounding.

You stop turning and circling your head as you calm yourself, and take a firm stance. You stomp your hooves on the snowy surface and face the two stone golems, one of who eventually decided to attack you. For you, the speed and power of his movements is impressive, yet slow, as the amount of black magic inside you makes you incredibly hard to catch unsurprised of, and this time is no different.

The moment one of them moves in just close enough, you turn your body in an arch and buck his head with your solid, crystal hooves just enough to send him stumbling down; unlike the rest of your fleshy opponents, those ponies are heavy and well-built, not as easy. It is then that you, in a blink of a moment, close the distance between yourself and the bruised golem and then you lift him above the ground and toss with all your strength at his companion.

The other golem simply catches his companion by his neck and back and then, in a disgusting retort, he tosses him right back at you. As you are barely able to take a few steps back, the golem jumps in right before you, despite your reaction, there’s not enough time; his powerful, golem buck strikes through his companion and you, sending you stumbling and rolling across the solid snow ground. The golem does not waste time; he’s already running at you.

>Body Changes:
18% [-3] Crystallized Flesh ‘Foreign’ [Crystal]
09% [+3] Crystalline Debris [Damage]

>What do you do now?

>>29644829
Oh damn. Since we're so ubercharged with dark magic can we jump high up and goomba stomp him?

>>29645530
I know we are fast then an average golam, But I don't think we can jump high enough to goomba stomp him. Why not grab one of his leg with our magic and trip him up.

>>29645558
If we're doing that let's use TK to bring him to us and smash him.

I am pausing here for tonight, thank you all for playing! I'll probably be able to run every day for the following couple of days, if not more - so be ready!

>>29645642
Oh boy!

I caught up, I'm ready and hyp as fuk.

If he wants to get near you, so be it! You sway your head in a semicircle to discharge the dark energies of your soul. With a final finish to the runic formula of your spell, you trigger your shadows and transform them into a surge of powerful, telekinetic force. Your magic catches the forebodingly approaching golem in an unbreakable net, clutching into his solid, gemstone body.

Despite his harshest struggles, the golem is unable to take the much needed, last step to close in on you; instead, he madly wobbles in place barely a few inches away from your face. Following a short sight, you grab the head of the crystal stallion with your hooves and then, you smash his head with all your might against your raised knee. You release your magical hold over his body to let his stressed body weakly crumple against the frozen earth. Still, the cursed blood that surges through their bodies is anything but serene and conquered; the living construction struggles to lift himself with his tarnished hooves only to continue fighting you, until it is completely destroyed.

You give the golem a pitiful look – you could be in his place in any other circumstance - and then you land on his back, ruthlessly crashing his body into the soil. You step off him, making sure he is no longer dangerous. The two of the golems lie defeated, their movements are weak and slow but, their intentions are to follow and defeat you.

>Body Changes:
26% [-1] Alicorn ‘Dark’ Magic [Magic]
02% [+1] Volatile Arcane [Magic]

You leave the two constructs to their own problems rushing around the debris you have yourself created beforehoof. You ascend up one of the smaller hills to spot Red Sulfur barely avoiding an attack from one of the augmented soldiers of Blackward. Her body, covered in clockwork machinery and augmentations, cuts through the air and picks up the speed and altitude with a bloodcurdling swiftness; even with Quartz Eye’s warning, Red Sulfur is only just able to evade them in time. On one of her last charges, the robotic mare has managed to catch him in her grasp and lift him a few yards above the ground, tossing and rolling the stallion across the uneven, cold surface.

>What do you do now?

>>29648869
Go tackle the fuck outta her.

“Hey, you there!” you shout at the Fidelity Helmet mare who does not even bother to turn and face you. Instead, she flings herself high into the air with a single swing of her absurdly massive, metallic wings and then, with a wind cracking noise, she decides to dash and attack still lying Sulfur. You leap with all your might to tackle her but, all you manage to do is to scare her away from him; in gratitude he gives you a painful wince and then, a shocked whimper.

“Aurora-” he does not finish in time; you sense a heavy, prosthetic hoof scratching and rending an open hole on the right side of your stomach. Your intuition was strong enough to realize the attack was unavoidable but there is no way you could dodge her and push Red Sulfur out of the way at the same time. If you were you to evade it, he’d be hit instead of you. You grunt; you swing your hoof into the direction of the metal-wing soldier, who easily avoids it.

>Body Changes:
22% [-3] Crystallized Flesh [Crystal]
12% [+3] Crystalline Debris [Damage]

The small, black dots of her helmet spark a ghostly, green tint as they throw an intimidating, hollow glare into your direction. There’s an empty, eerie silence with only the crisp, shallow breeze and the swing of her wings present…

>What do you do now?

>>29649780
Lightning.

I'd like to wait for a second opinion or a lurker to speak up, but hey.

>>29649780
She expecting us to do something, then counter-attack what we do. If our lighting spell is not faster then her, then we should use it when she fully commit to an attack and cant stop herself.

>>29650147
That sounds like a good plan.

You raise your gemstone eyes to stare down the flying menace; the green sun gives your eyes the same distinct and eldritch reflecting tint as she has beneath her cursed helmet. She is not moving, not at first, at least. There’s an eerie and stretched pause and a heavy atmosphere, the clouds of putrid orange dust slowly encircle and very soon, they completely loom under and above you.

It is then, when you look around yourself, that she decides to charge towards you. She is a fast as any pegasi, for sure – no - as fast as Gliding Wind and the Wonderbolts you have fought before; her wings are a work of art, the pinnacle of Manehattan technology. Yet, all of this does not matter – she made a mistake by flight straight at you.

The dark veil of your mind obediently opens the empty scroll of your spell casting. You swiftly draw the symbols of your own, unique crafted spell and then, following an unnaturally cracking and sizzling noise of voltage in your mind, you lift the darkness of your eyes and release the spell into the space straight before yourself. Your just lightning strikes through the air with all the colors of demonic black and red; it spreads and surrounds the target that is the flying mare before yourself. Unlimited power escapes out of your body and surges into a torrent of blazing, sparkling electricity tempest that strikes through the body of the mare with such speed her she is forced into a mad seizure.

>Body Changes:
25% [-1] Alicorn ‘Dark’ Magic [Magic]
03% [+1] Volatile Arcane [Magic]

Her skin blackens and slowly turns to ash until she is no longer moving at all. It is then your spell ends and disintegrates into the atmosphere; the orange clouds are devouring what is left of it. The smold mare falls and then crashes right before you with a silent, echoing thud. She is dead but her body is still quivering from the current of electricity still inside of her. Red Sulfur gives you a slightly unsure, slightly uncomfortable expression.

He takes a short moment to stand himself up and then, clearing his throat, he approaches the massive chainlink in front of him. After a brief though, he asks himself out loud, “Now, how should we test this out exactly…” Meanwhile, you notice a pair of dot slowly approaching your destination through the air; they are five minutes away.

>What do you do now?

>>29650409
Well think of a way fast, we got more coming in. wow our new spell is really deadly.

File: 56743366756.jpg (65KB, 400x383px) Image search: [Google]

65KB, 400x383px

>>29650405
>Unlimited power

>>29650474
I know right? We could totally save that for more coming close calls. For now I suggest we should try to stand our ground without using too much magic, we don't know what we will face later on.

“You said you’ll be able to check if the chain is legit or not, Red Sulfur,” you mentally pout at him in a slowly growing annoyance, “Can you think fast? We have two more approaching us here, we don’t have time.”

“I’ve told you to at least give me an hour here, you should be able to deal with them with your lightning,” he scoffs.

“I don’t want to kill even more ponies,” you stomp your hoof and stand your ground, “Come on already.”

“It’s too late to be thinking of that now,” he sighs and removes a strange, aquamarine gemstone in shape of a hoof-sized snowflake out of his bag, taking a moment to observe it, “This should do it, it’s the only one I have so it better.” With that, he takes a deep breath out on his hooves and, with a cold shudder; he presses the gemstone against the slowly hovering and whispering ebonite chains. It happens in a blink of a moment, the crystal explodes in a brilliant but deadly radiance of the coldest of hues and then, its magic literally freezes and destroys the chains before him.

“Agh!!!” the stallion stumbles back and whines in an obvious, present pain and, it’s not hard for you to notice why – one of his legs is half frozen, frozen to the very bone. The stallion pants and stumbles back in agony, “Damn… it!”

“Red Sulfur,” you gasp, “What are you-”

“W-wait,” he grunts at you with a stumble as he attempts to lean on his leg and stand straight, “Its – it is fine.”

“It’s not fine,” your voice cracks in panic, “Your leg, you can lose it! Is… what exactly happened just now?”

“I won’t lose it,” he tells you with an empty pride, “Just, as long as I don’t crack it and place it in needed liquid…”

“How much time do you have?” you ask as you look over the destroyed chain-link, your mental eyebrow raised.

“If I don’t treat it in half an hour, I think I might as well have to amputate it later,” he says with a crumbling worry, “I thought having my master’s Cutie Mark would help me with this just a little bit, but it doesn’t seem I was right. If things come down to worse I’ll just have to think of a proper talent to use for this – hypothermia Cutie Mark…?”

“What kind of alchemist are you?” you shake your head at him, “We have to find you someplace safe; and fast.”

“Yeah, I know I’m bad at this, don’t have to remind me,” Sulfur’s voice weakens as he stumbles, his face begins to bleak out and his veins take a distinct, deadly bluish color, “Anyway, the chains did not survive that; they are not holding down the winter spirits on their own. The Crystal Heart should still be here,” he bobbles his head at you.

You glare over your shoulder to see the two dots rapidly growing in size; they’ll be on your tail very and very soon.

>What do you do now?

>>29650948
Since we're fast as fuck with all this magic, grab Sulphur and retreat at incredibl hihg speed. Find the liquid if possible. We should be able to loose them in the maze of streets we know as good as back of our own hoof.

>>29650948
Any clue where? Let's get him out of here. Is it possible to use our TK to throw up snow as a sort of makeshift smokescreen? Wait, is there snow here?

>>29650986
There are snow everywhere.

>>29650986
Where you are right now, the edge of the Crystal Empire, there is now present. Closer to the Crystal Empire the snow is gone.

“Okay, Red Sulfur, that’s all we need to know. Now, I’m going to grab you and-”

“I said I’m fine, I’ll follow you on my own,” he takes a deep, pathetic breath and stumbles forward. You quickly approach and lower your neck just in time to catch him out of his fall. He tries to raise and adjust himself but immediately fails, as it seems the splash of magical explosion have also somehow injured him, even aside from his frozen limb. With a discomfort, not his fault, you place the stallion on your back and then, you leap into a gallop with him.

You prepare to lift the snow veil and in a manner of a massive, culminating smokescreen yet, you end up managing to avoid using unnecessary amount of your dark magic. Thankfully, the tall shadows of the Crystal Empire structures’ are sufficient to protect and shield your heavily reflective body from the boiling and green glow of Sombra’s hellish sun; and as long as you’re as no longer shining like the herald of Tartarus, the sky patrolling ponies will not find you.

“So, what is this liquid exactly, Sulfur? Where can we find it?” you ask him with a whisper.

“Ugh, it’s… ugh… on me,” he mutters through pain, “Just need some water to mix it, and put my hoof in it.”

You remove the satchel off his bag (his clock is visibly pressing against his body to keep him warm) and, once you make sure you’ve picked the right one, you open the cap and push some of the snow into it in a very anxious fashion.

The outer ring of the Crystal Empire leads further and further into the labyrinth that are the massive, branching streets of this kingdom. You follow your instincts and wobble memory to find your way through it; you keep yourself and Red Sulfur close to the protection of your shadow. In light, you are an obvious beacon to everypony around you.

The streets are filled with ponies; there is no doubt about that. Regular ponies, crystal ponies, ponies with and without the Fidelity Helmet decorating their heads are silently patroling back and forward, their lips are barely moving. There are also members of the Manehattan Vanguard too, easily recognizable by their augmentations. In addition, the streets are also filled to the brim with the regular Crystal Golems, crystallized by Sombra’s vile poison.

All of them, every single one of them, have a greenish glow in their eyes – they are also possessed and hypnotized.

You smash your shoulder the moment you find to what appears to be an abandoned house, closing the door and purging yourself into darkness. A very strange, clenching noise gives you a short fright as it silences when you approach it closer. You throw an outlook at the far corner of the building but all you see is the dark. Damn it.

>What do you do now?

>>29651387
I refuse to use a spell in here. Search the house and be prepared to smash the fuck outta anything.

Pausing here for today, pretty late. Thank you for playing.

>>29651975

>>29652652

>>29653235

>>29651437
I accept this as our approach to the undetermined possible danger. Look for whatever made the noise and be ready to fuck up whatever dares to show.

Also I have Warlock flashbacks with this abandoned building.

You stumble through the darkness following the creaking of the cold, gemstone riddled floor. The further you pass through the empty, consumed by the enveloping darkness, hallway, the more the crescendo of uncanny, ambient noises grows and follows you. You accidently bump your leg against, what appears to be, a gemstone bench or chair.

“Don’t be rough,” Red Sulfur grunts in obvious pain as slowly begins to slide down his body; he has no power to ever hold on to you – that, or it is a prideful ignorance. “Take a turn to the left here, there are no… objects there.”

“How do you know- it is the Quartz Eye, is it not?” you ask to which he does not answer. You mentally sigh and take a step to the left, avoiding the potential objects on your way. You move with a sluggish, crawling speed – a speed you are forced to take in this flanking darkness. “How is your leg?” you ask him with a grinding and present concern.

“It’s… frozen” he coughs in your back, “I can’t feel it, so that is not good.”

“We need to find you some sort of basin to put your leg in with your liquid, whatever that is; can your hood see something like that in here?” you ask him as you stop and take a step over some of the ruinous objects on the floor.

“The storage is… give me a second,” he whines and winces in the dark, even his voice quickly losing its strength, “Go to the very end wall and then turn to the left, there should be a cupboard or a cabinet right ahead, should be there.”

“Right,” you affirmatively nod at him as you follow his suggestion. While she’s a wench, you can’t say that Sulfur’s Quartz Eye is useless or, that she is not doing her best to help him, or you. Even you are growing dependant on her.

The semi-destroyed window frames tremble in a creepy welcome as you pass by them; the only thing you can see outside them is putrid, copper-green smog. The clenching, stone grating noise echoes from the corners of the house that you leave unattended; the noise is monotone and stalking. High above you the trembling and cracking gemstone ceiling and the holding, wooden pillars make you uncertain of their safety and security; truly abandoned.

With a bit of a struggle and a pat, you manage to find a basin deep and long enough for Red Sulfur to dip the frozen part of his leg in completely. With utmost gentleness you lean Red Sulfur against the grayish, gemstone wall and then, you help him put his leg into the basin. You take the jug with the mixture of molten snow and enchanted liquid to find it producing extreme warmth, even through the think, woolen layer of the inner walls of this bottle. You open the cap to release a cloud of white vapor into the air between you two. You slowly pour the liquid into the basin.

“Agh,” Red Sulfur pants in pain as he bites his lower lip and smirks, “Warn me when you do that,” he speaks jadedly.

“You didn’t give me any instructions,” you huff at him; you follow with the process until the bottle is entirely empty.

“I was expecting to make a warm coffee with this, not to save my leg from decapitation,” he says in a joke.

“Shut up,” you sigh as you lean your against the wall and take another, uncertain look around it. The cracking of the windows and doors, the screeching of the pillars and walls as well as the hollow fracture of the air itself makes the room appear more alive than you would prefer it too. Is there someone here for sure or are you just going insane?

>What do you do now?

>>29654482
It could just be another one of Sombra's mind games.

Sulfur, please don't scare me like that ever again. I don't know what I would do if I lost you.

>>29654482
Ask sulfur if the Quartz Eye can see if there someone else is in the house.

You shake your head in annoyance; if you start associating the shadows and gloom with Sombra and Sombra alone, you’ll lose your mind to his domination, and his maleficence, entirely. You gently lean your head against the cold facade of the wall and, mentally, you take a deep and tired breath. Then, you are able to hear another tremble of the furniture, another hollow trot on the stone surface of the floor. There’s a silent gust of wind that passes before you.

“Hey Sulfur, just to make sure – can you or your Quartz Eye sense any other creature in this room?”

He blinks at you through the narrow of his eyes, “Come on, if there was any danger I would tell you.”

“Of course,” you nod, “I just feel as if there’s an invisible presence here, like some sort of poltergeist.”

Red Sulfur pauses and slowly lifts his ear up, “There is something, but I don’t think it’s something to worry about.”

You exhale, “Don’t risk your life like that again, alright? I do not know what I would have had done if you died.”

He rolls his eyes with a grunt, “I froze my leg, not my head Aurora. It’s fine, that’s how my master did it.”

“Red Sulfur, you are not Ginger Spice,” you repeat to him once again, “The ways of his research were very reckless.”

“Reckless, sure – I’ve spend as much as time with him as you did, but they always brought resu- Aurora, from above!”

You jolt your head upward to hear a massive rumble of rocks falling right towards you and your companion! Within an instantaneous rush, you push Red Sulfur away from yourself and then, just barely, you kick yourself away just as well. Dozens of crystal rocks, some of them as big as your head, come crashing right between you, the racket of their impact echoes through the house like a scream of the banshee. Was it a simple collapsed from the unstable roof?

>What do you do now?

>>29654830
Can we get through the rubble? It's time to get Red and move.

>>29654830
Sulfur, are you alright?

“So, how’s the medicine?” you ask him after a heavy-lingering pause, “I don’t want to rush but this place is not safe.”

“Thankfully it’s working miraculously, I can already feel it. It might take my leg a while to have the blood moving properly, I think, but that can be done while we are on our way. Just, remember who has the flesh and bones here.”

“You,” you smirk to yourself with a bit of a grump, “Though I’m in no way happy about that, you should know that.”

“Yeas, I know,” he struggles to stand up and gives you, what you think is, a nod. With some effort Red Sulfur manages to locate you inside this empty darkness and place his hoof on your back, to which you shudder but hold. You, also, put your front leg on his shoulder to make sure that, in case of something happening, you’re there for him.

With the help of Red Sulfur’s navigator, the two of you manage to find your way back to the front door of this house; there’s an eerie orange glow coming from outside of it. On your way, a couple more fragments of the roof have collapsed and fell nearby you, just barely a few inches away from your body. When you take a step to pull the door open, however, there’s another loud tremble that you are able to hear above your head. You grab Red Sulfur by his stomach and immediately after, you leap back with him. After seconds, a rock fall of dim, grayish gemstones comes crashing down before you and the door. The massive crystal boulders are now shielding the exit away from you.

It is then that Red Sulfur is hit by something unexpected; he collapses a few meters away from you with a loud thud, you sense a brisk breeze passing by right before it disappears once again. “Okay,” Red Sulfur huffs through his teeth as his face is painfully pushing against the floor, “That felt like a kick, I’m sure.” He tries to stand himself with his hooves.

>What do you do now?

>>29655038
That's it. Cast a light.

>>29655038
Alright we know who is with us and it's a batpony. Cast light to blind that bitch and tackle her to the floor.

“That’s it!” you shout into the distance as you stomp your hoof and jolt your head forward. With nothing but darkness your eyes immediately shape the canvas and drag and draw on the symbols with the emerald arcane paint.

The smoke of your dark energy escapes your body to take on a shape of a sphere that first sizzles and then, explodes in a bright and radiant luminosity. There’s a painful, mare-ish moan which you immediately follow to close the distance between yourself and your opponent. You beat the unseen hostility with a strong bash of your shoulder.

>Body Changes:
24% [-1] Alicorn ‘Dark’ Magic [Magic]
04% [+1] Volatile Arcane [Magic]

Then, you grab the mare by her clothed neck and after, you remove the artifact and lift the invisibility veil off her green-vogue body. In the intensive brightness of the room, it is not hard to recognize Lunar Meridian, who is struggling to push you off. You stomp your hoof on her stomach to keep her from flying away, only to have her hissing and cursing at you with her all might. Her usually amber eyes are filled with a bright and burning, green fire.

>What do you do now?

>>29655387
Lunar! Snap out of it!

Have Red inspect her and see if there's a way to cure her.

>>29655387
Lunar, a stallion is controlling everything you do. he took away your freewill.

>>29655457
I swear that my sides will split open if telling her that "the patriarchy" is controlling her makes her snap out of it.

“Lunar Meridian, snap out of it,” you shout her in the face. The eyes of the bat pony are throwing daggers at you.

“For Princess Luna and King Sombra, the punishment of your disloyalty is death,” she whispers through her teeth.

“I never liked her anyway,” Red Sulfur shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly.

“Sulfur, come on! Can you check on her and see if there’s a way to snap her out of this?”

“I’m not sure,” he recesses away, “What are the chances she won’t bite me?” He catches your pleading glare and sighs, with a gently push he adjusts his cloak and hood and, for some reason, he gives her a silent but affirmative nod. “I don’t know Aurora; I think the ‘King’s Glare’ acts the same way as the Fidelity Helmets. As I said before, Sombra was whispering to me too when the tower was looking at us. I can only assume that now, with the sun under his control, his magic is even stronger…”

“Thou said the king: let those who oppose his will try, for they shall and will fail,” the bat pony screeches as she attempts to push you off her off her body, to no avail as you are simply physically heavier. Her wings raise the dust off the long abandoned objects as she struggles to escape. “You stand in opposition the greatest moonrise, pleb’!”

“Okay, that’s hurt,” you mutter as you press your hoof even stronger, “Meridian, come to your senses. Don’t you understand what’s happening? It’s a stallion who is whispering all those things to you; a stallion broke your will.”

The bat pony pauses her thrashing about and, shortly, she blinks; did it work?

“Breathe your last; for Princess Luna and King Sombra!” her loud, obnoxious answers your question sharply.

>What do you do now?

>>29655602
Back hoof her, that should help her out. God dam it Meridian, I know you are stronger then this. Fight the stallion that is controlling you.

>>29655602
Where is your precious Luna? Don't you understand? Sombra will kill her even if she does somehow appear! He will allow any other the possibility to oppose him. Wake up, Lunar! Look at what Sombra has done to your people!

>>29655602
We have to find a way to snap her out of it. We can't fight our way trough the entire city like this.
Especially not against Shield or the Vizier.

We should have sulfur grab one of her hooves while we are holding her down. having a stallion touching her should snap her out of it.

>>29655749
>have Red and Lunar hold hooves
Just might be crazy enough to work.

“Thou said the King: your lies are worth less than a grain salt, the night will and shall reign once again. You’re opposing of the Princess of the Night and the King of Day, you deserve less than death for your actions – now!”

“By all that is holy, Lunar Meridian… Do you trust a lying stallion that is Sombra to free Luna from her banishment?”

Her trashing stops as she takes a deep breath but then, she once again resumes with her screaming, “Release me and face your destined end, traitors! When the night is at hoof, she will return to rule us as it was promised to us!”

“Meridian, do you hear yourself?! Was it Sombra to promise to save your princess? He’s a stallion, Meridian, he won’t listen to you, and he was and still is using you and your people – the Lunar Guard. Wake up Meridian, listen!”

“Lies and deceptions, fabrication and slander,” she manages to push you just a few inches away, “In the name of Princess Luna and King Sombra, I’ll make you regret your words; thous said the King!”

Amore, this is not working. You take a deep, mental sigh as you push your hoof further into her chest. The trashing and mad beating continues as Meridian grabs you by your leg with her hooves and then, she attempts to lift you off.

“Red Sulfur, grab her hoof,” an idea ignites in your mind as you give your stallion companion a hoping glance.

“What?” he asks you with a confused repulsion, “No – What are you even talking about? You sound as mad as her.”

“Just do it, trust me,” you slowly lean your body forward and then, with a swing, you push your hooves on one of her front leg. You place your rump on her chest and cross your hind leg over hers, thus trapping her in a complete lock.

Red Sulfur gives you an annoying glare and then, after an overexerted sigh, he slowly and carefully approaches the pony who is Lunar Meridian. He pauses, look at his hoof and then, with a shrug, he places his takes her hoof in his.

The two of you look over Lunar Meridian who has closed her eyes and is trying even harder to free herself, “Princess Luna…”

“I’ve told you, it won’t work; how did you even come up with your idea?” the stallion asks you straight.

“Maybe it just wasn’t enough. Red Sulfur, please, can you try kissing her-”

“No!” the bat pony screams and explodes in a fit of horror and anger as she literally lifts your and herself off the ground with an unexplained surge of power and strength. Following such force, she pushes you out of her way and lands as far from you and Red Sulfur as possible, “I freaking swear if you do that I’ll cut your head off… where am I?”

>What do you do now?

>>29655907
Victory!

Lunar! You're in the Crystal Empire. You were under the king's control. You tried to kill us but we snapped you out of his control. We need your help to find the Crystal Heart.

>>29655907
Welcome to the Crystal Empire, where everyone is mindcontrolled by King Sombra. I told you he wouldn't keep his part of the deal.

>>29655907
Wow her hatred for stallions has no bound. You're in the Crystal Empire inside a abandon house, the king manage to get a hold of you and force you to kill us. Sulfur believe the chains is where Sombre hide the Crystal Heart.

“I don’t know if we should be happy or if it’s sad that you hate stallions so much,” Red Sulfur comments pitifully.

“What?!” she asks as her wings lift her off the ground, “Sad because I’d rather not have someone who looks and acts like some manure kissing me? Freaking sure then, yes – call it sad if you fucking want. Aurora, explain this jumble!”

You take a moment to innocently chuckle to yourself. After that, however, you take on a serious tone as you begin to explain the situation to her, “We are in an abandoned house, Meridian, inside the Crystal Empire. Everypony outside is being mind controlled by King Sombra, and you were as well until we managed to snap you out of it. So-”

“Right, right,” she prolongs, “So what exactly I’m doing here again?”

“You were mind controlled too,” you hesitate to answer her, “Outside there is a magical charm, a cursed spell that forces ponies to obey Sombra’s will, do you remember anything that has happened before you arrived here?”

“I’m not sure,” she pauses and finally lands herself on the floor; by this time, your brightness spell has completely disappeared and the shadows have, once again, reclaimed their righteous domain. “When I try to think my head begins to freaking hurt. After successfully attacking the United Equestria Forces, Sombra has invited us in here to finally free Princess Luna from her entrapment. When we arrived… Fuck, I don’t remember anything else. Damn.”

“It’s obvious now that he have lied to you, Lunar Meridian.”

“I fucking know,” she replies in anger, “We took a gamble, alright? It’s not like Celestia was going to free her…”

“Aurora, I don’t want to make this any more awkward but– the moment the ‘King’s Glare’ notices her, she’ll be in his control once again. Sure, she can say she’ll oppose the whispers but the she won’t be able to resist them unlike me-”

“Why is that, because you’re a stallion?”

“No,” he covers his yawn with his hoof, “Because I have something to protect me with them – my hood.”

“Then you can just give it to me, of course there’s no way you could resist his magic on your own, wimp.”

>What do you do now?

>>29656134
Well Meridian still have her cloth of invisibility, but I'm not sure if the 'King's Glare' can spot her with it on spot her.

“Well, Meridian has her invisibility bandage with her, does she not? Can ‘King’s Glare’ spot her with that?”

Red Sulfur gives you an uncertain shrug and, when the two of you look at Meridian, she throws a glance at the bandage you hold in your hooves and then, she recedes back with an irritated grunt, “It’s not just a simple freaking ‘invisibility bandage’, it’s a very powerful artifact. It was a gift from Princess Luna to my grand-grand-grand-grand-grandmother for all the hard work and loyal service she did for her. In our family, the mother gave it to the oldest daughter for generations.”

“That’s great,” Red Sulfur yawns at her less-than-exciting story, “Do you want to risk it, though?” He turns to ask you.

>What do you do now?

File: 1386920459353.png (25KB, 426x364px) Image search: [Google]

25KB, 426x364px

Pausing here, thanks for playing!

Can't blame the bat ponies, it's between a tyrant and the alicorn who banished their leader.

>>29656503
I say we do a small test to see if the 'King's Glare' will spot her. And if it doesn't spot her, we continue to search for then heart or find a way to destroy that stuped tower.

>>29656983
Like what, make her put this thingy on and stick her out of the house to see if she will start REEEEing at us again?

Also >>29656878
>tfw just got back from work and shit

>>29656503
Risk it? How will it risk it? How will using that destroy it?

Lunar, I know that this heirloom means a lot to you but if you don't risk it Princess Luna won't have anything to come back to. If losing it meant saving all of Equestria and the world, wouldn't she want you to use it?

>>29657775
You know, exposing her to the eye and have her be brainwashed again?

>>29657882
Then we will grab her with our magic and have Sulfur hug her.

>>29657775
>>29657882
Oh! I totally misunderstood. I though that they were saying that going out would somehow risk her bandanna.

>>29657160
>tfw just got back from work and shit
Sorry, I'll run next session in a 2-4 hours from now.

>>29660276
No worries. I'll be at work all day anyways.

>>29656503
We could really use her help.

>>29660484
When are you free?

“It’s not about me wanting to risk it or not, it’s that we have to,” you stomp your hoof and dart your head at him.

“We can just leave her here, I don’t think she’ll be much of a help either way,” Red Sulfur shrugs his shoulders at you.

“What the heck? Excuse me?!” Lunar Meridian responds with a shocked yell as she closes the distance between Red Sulfur and herself, “Sure you broke me out of my stupor but don’t you dare to fucking think that gives you the right to say what you want, you slug. I’m going with you, and I’m going to punch Sombra right in the face for tricking me.”

Red Sulfur takes a step back and gives her a grumble, “You won’t be doing that if you fall under his curse again…”

“I won’t,” in a prideful gesture she jolts her chin upwards, “He took my off-guard but, that will not fucking happen again. That stupid eye won’t see through my invisibility; Princess Luna’s magic is way more powerful than his.”

Red Sulfur narrows his eyes at her and, grimly, retorts, “Well I don’t want to risk it to only have you backstab us.”

“Red Sulfur,” you interfere with their soon to become boiling argument, “We need more allies out here, especially one as valuable as Lunar Meridian. We won’t get far with just the two of us on our own, I ask: please trust her.”

“Whatever,” he shrugs his shoulders and yawns, “I give up, and if she gets us killed it’s your fault, alright?”

“Killed?” she gasps in upset, “Why you – I’m going to fucking get us… what exactly are you doing here, Aurora?”

With a silent annoyance you shake your head, “Something I’m sure you’ll be more than happy to take a part of, Meridian. We are here to stop and defeat Sombra once and for all. We need to find the Crystal Heart but, for that, we need to first react the Crystal Castle undetected. It might be quite challenging but-”

Her perfectly white grin grows as her fangs sharpen, “Freaking sure, count me in; how many ponies will I beat up?”

You and Red Sulfur exchange uncertain glances, “We want to try to sneak it without bringing any more alarm to us but, I’m sure that we’ll be in a situation when we’ll have to face at least some of them in a fight.”

“First we need to make sure that ‘King’s Glare’ won’t detect you,” Red Sulfur comments as he glares towards the blocked exit path, “And we need to find a way out, should be fine if we use one of the wind-"

Red Sulfur was unable to finish; Lunar Meridian did an incredible dash with a single sweep of her wings. She passed right before your face and made an incredibly narrow turn to avoid hitting you. Following such a maneuver, she has managed to grab a hold of her magical bandana and put it over her head. She then disappeared into the arid nothingness just as soon as she flew out of the window, only the quick flutter of the wind reminded of her existence.

Red Sulfur breaks the awkward pause with his harrumph as he approaches one of the windows and, with a sigh, pushes his leg over the frame, “I really hope you knock her out for real if she attacks me again, Aurora. Ugh…” The stallion struggles to lift himself above the frame and raise his second leg to make a complete turn. You take a step to offer him some assistance but he refuses with a negative shake of his head. In the end, he manages to crawl out and painfully land on the ground underneath him, “Wait, and don’t land on my face just yet... okay, now you can go.”

The window is incredibly small; more than certain was not made with the intentions of being used as a second entrance. You place your hooves on its window sill and then you push your front legs and head forward. Thankfully, you manage to do that just that. After a brief and tight shudder, you begin to slowly crawl forward... You are stuck. You attempt to move back but, the window’s border is tightly squeezing against your stomach.

>What do you do now?

>>29660948
Dam you crystal body. Start breaking the bottom part of the window so we can get ourself out of this situation.

File: CS Aurora Flare II.png (48KB, 720x539px) Image search: [Google]

48KB, 720x539px

>>29661184
It's the fat ass.

“Aurora, I think you are stu-”

“I know,” you angrily mutter at Red Sulfur as you push your hooves against the bottom part of the window, “Damn this crystal body, it obviously made me bigger.” After a short whimper, you start breaking the crystal base of the window beneath your gemstone tummy. The structure fractures quite easily, but it takes you some time to deal with. Red Sulfur throws an outlook into the alley and panics; the stallion quickly jumps in to help you free yourself.

“Sulfur, is something wrong?” you whisper towards him as you, finally, begin to slowly move in his direction.

“Somepony heard us, they are coming this way,” he hisses. Ginger’s Spice’s protégé breaks another piece of the window’s frame and then, with harrumph, he comments, “You’re damaged in all the wrong places, Aurora.”

You have no comment to that; instead you simply grunt in silence. Finally, your last obstacle crumbles. Thankful to the swift liberation, you push yourself further and further until your body rolls out and then, it collapses onto the solid ground. Just in time, the ponies Red Sulfur has warned you about show up. They both are mares with dirty manes and filthy skin with bruises and cuts spreading across their bodies. In uncanny unison, they stop dead on their track and turn their heads to face you. Their voices and mellow yet menacing; they address you in a scary monotones, “Thou said the King: they are invaders and traitors of the glory that is the Crystal Empire. Resist – Die.”

You grunt and stomp your hoof in a preparation of a battle however, somepony ends up being faster than you. Within a blink of a moment an invisible leg strikes one of the ponies against their face and chin and then, within another second, a hoof ends up hitting the other pony in her stomach. Lost in their panic, Lunar Meridian uses the opening to lift herself, or so you wager, into the air and smack one of the brainwashed ponies in her back. Without the ability to counterattack her enemies are nothing more than training dummies to her. She keeps kicking and punching them until they are barely able to stand and then, to end this in awesome fashion, she, first, grabs both of them by their necks and then, she smashes their heads against each other. The mares collapse on their spot unconsciously.

“Mare, that felt good,” her invisible voice exclaims with joy and delight.

“Don’t take off your bandana until we are in the Crystal Castle,” Red Sulfur mutters before an invisible hoof slaps him across his head with an incredible, and visible, force.

“Stop talking manure already, I’m not stupid, stallion. I know,” her voice grows as she approaches you, “So, what’s the next step in our master plan?”

>What do you do now?

>>29661416
Meridian, do you think you can scout us the safest way to the palace? And please, don't beat Red.

“Meridian, do you think you can scout the area and find the safest place to the palace? I know it’s dangerous but…”

“Say no more,” her voice silences as she disappears into distance with nothing but clouds of hoarfrost and cold breeze left where she was standing. Meanwhile, Red Sulfur shakes his head as he looks over the bodies of the unconscious ponies and, with a bit of uncertainty in his movement and his gestures, he opens their eyes and examines them.

“I’m no doctor,” he says, “But you don’t have to be a medic to see that the green glow is still there while they are in the land of dreams, Aurora. I don’t know, I think right now they are probably experiences the worst of nightmares.”

“Nothing we can do to help them, we just got lucky that we have managed to wake Meridian,” you nod at Red Sulfur who shows his tongue in disgust, “Once we find the Crystal Heart we can take care of the tower and the spell.”

“I make no promise that I’ll be able to find a solution,” he raises his hooves in an exclamation, “Just bombs, maybe?”

“If it comes to worse, I’ll personally destroy the tower with my own magic. Screw all constructions of Sombra-”

“Freaking love the way you preach that, Aurora,” a voice of a friendly bat pony practically makes you turn and knock the invisible arrival; however you manage to stop yourself. “My mother would praise you for sure, as well; a tower that symbolizes the always watching eye of his, the hell is that? Most of his ‘Royalty’ are stallions as well; so lame.”

“You are quick,” you praise her with a hollow chuckle, “Have you found a safe way to the Crystal Castle?”

“Of course I did, even two. One of them leads through all the narrow and annoying streets and corners, you might get stuck a couple of times if you don’t have wings there. Some of them have crystal ponies stumbling around them, but they are not a problem, not even a freaking challenge. What’s more interesting are those Manehattan mares,” she pauses, “And a few stallions, who are patrolling the sky and might spot and flank you there without a way out.”

“And the seco-?” Red Sulfur asks.

“Stop interrupting when a mare is already freaking speaking, dolt,” she cuts him off with an obvious hostility, “Pfeh… As I was freaking saying, the second way leads through another, shorter maze of streets and corner that is less patrolled, or at least I didn’t see much of either bat ponies, fuck you Sombra, or the robotic ponies from Manehattan. The problem is that there’s a gap, an open plaza that has a lot of golems and ponies marching across it, but you know – fighting them might be less of a hassle but that much more freaking exciting. I say we go this route!”

>What do you do now?

>>29662335
I find that I would much rather fight a Manehattan pony than a golem. They're a hassle.

>>29662335
As might I would like to not have trouble going trough a street to just suddenly get stuck, dealing with a large group of golams is much more of a hassle then a group of crystal pony and Manehatten guards.

>>29662382
>>29663065
These. Time for urban combat, let's avoid the plaza and piss the feminist off.

I'm still here, give me some time.

I’ll spare you guys a labyrinth puzzle.

“I’d rather face one of the Manehattan ponies that the crystal golems; they might have some annoying robot parts in them but… all in all they are regular crystal ponies that can easily be knocked out. The golems, on other hoof…”

“I agree with Aurora, let’s just stick to the shadows and not risk being spotted by a crowd of lunatics.”

“What, you’re afraid of a challenge?” voice of Lunar Meridian speaks as her presence passes by you in an annoying gust of wind, “I do not blame you if you are tired after facing me, as cheap as your magic trick was-”

“You remember that-?”

“But,” she continues, in spite of of your question, “What can rival a face to face melee with those soulless monsters?” she asks as her invisible body continues to hover slightly above your head with an annoying buzz.

“Finding the Crystal Heart and saving the Crystal Empire, Meridian, we do not have time,” you plea here to listen.

“Time?” she asks you with an obvious confusion, “I mean, it’s important but what in Tartarus is the rush?”

“Sombra is on his way here, Meridian. If we’re unable to find the Crystal Heart in time then-”

“Wait-wait-wait,” it is so weird it is to talk to completely intangible and invisibly pony that is actually there, it makes you look like a crazy mare, “Are you saying, and I got you right, is that Sombra is going to be here anytime soon, and we’ll be freaking waiting for him there; in the Crystal Castle? It’ll be like in some awesome theatre play?”

“… If you simplify it then the answer is… yes.”

“Hey, screw those golems then,” she cracks her knuckles and joyfully chuckles, “Let’s punch the big stallion instead!” Following that, she does a barrel roll and spins herself into the air, or you imagine she does so from the onslaught of wind torrents that suddenly come swirling into motion above your head. You give Red Sulfur an uncertain look that he returns with his own, uncertain shrug and then, both of you rush after the direction she pointed you towards.

Despite the extreme narrowness of the streets of the Crystal Empire and the maze-like structure of the outer layer that you are unsure if anypony but beggars or vagabonds, as the well as ponies of bandit pursuits, ever use to travel through, they are not the main problem you come to face. Some of Sombra’s dark crystals are entirely blocking the path on your way for which you are forced to bypass; on other hoof, some of the buildings, though, lie in disastrous ruins. You and Sulfur make sure to not fetch much attention but your travel, so far, takes at least more than an hour.

And now, the two (three) of you are kneeling in patience in one of the small blind alleys as you wait for one of the patrolling Manehattan Vanguard soldiers to step away, which is not inclined to do. Instead, the mare simply stands there, waiting; it has been ten minutes at this point, and the only movement she did it to make a circle around the alley and back. She has a long, violet coat and bluish-gray skin, as well as all sorts of augmentations over her body…

>What do you do now?

>>29663299
Lunar? You go grab her attention and I'll surprise her and knock her out. Sound like a plan?

>>29663432
How can a invisible bat grab a guard attention?
It would make more seance if it's the other way around.

>>29663443
I suppose you're right. I was think about her making noise since she's invisible.

You are unsure of how far or close Lunar Meridian is to you, but you are more than certain that she is near. You prepare yourself mentally before you step of the protection of the shadows to make yourself present to the augmented mare; the soldier of Blackward responds with an instant twist and snap of her Fidelity Helmet head; her eye sockets shine a burst of green fumes. She raises her robotics chin and then, she opens her massive metallic wings; however, her wings are different from all the previous robotics you have seen – her wings resemble the shape of sharp, stone-cutting saber than an appendage of a Pegasus. Instead of a metallic feather, there’s an edge and a blade, as well as countless silver thorns and spikes. The moment you take another steps, the mare charges at you.

“Meridian, now!” you shout as you prepare to jump out of the way and, hopefully, avoid an impact with opponent.

There’s a whistle of wind as Lunar Meridian closes the distance between herself and the mare only to stop herself from the collision, and thankfully so. While still flying in your direction, the mare was able to somehow predict the attack and raise her wing in a similar fashion of a shield, like some sort of abomination of a hedgehog and a turtle.

“I… she’s not giving me much space to fucking work here!” you can hear Meridian say before the Manehattan Vanguard soldier charges towards her, literally cutting the crisp air apart. Is she able to see her? No, that’s not the case, instead she’s able to hear her and her movements; is it because of her mechanical augmentations?

>What do you do now?

>>29663654
Get her attention. Charge towards her, don't actually attempt to get caught in that mess of blades unless necessary.

I might take a pause here, let's continue tomorrow.

>>29663654
Time to try and slam into her.

.b

>>29664274
COME ON AND SLAM

“Tch, hey you,” you pick up a piece of stone from the rubble into your hooves to toss it straight towards the mare, “How about you keep your eyes on me?!” The moment the rock reaches her, however, it splits into dozen of pieces with a single sweep and cut of her winged blade; definitely sharp. The mare moves her second wing to block yet another attack from Lunar Meridian as her head uncannily twists to face you. She is not moving her wings to stay afloat, however, she able to hover with yet another useful augmentation – a steam mechanism, perhaps.

You pick another rock and toss it at the mare once again, and once again – with which she deals with any particular effort. Once she makes sure you have no more tricks in your sleeve, she stops in midair and swiftly lifts and crosses her wings above her head. There’s a silent, hollow snap and a familiar scream of pain as Meridian finally makes a contact with her iron body. Then, the mare of Manehattan swings and spreads her wings before herself, the black smoke spreads out of the chimney of her stomach around herself and then, a massive wind tornado bursts in a storm around her; for certain, it also sends Lunar flying away from her. In addition, a layer of sharp, metal blade-like feathers are sent flying from her wings in your direction and further; they break through any obstacles in their way.

You make a turn over and a gasping dodge to avoid them but, the onslaught is literally impossible to get away from. You manage to save yourself from most of her knives as you hide behind the ruins that are surrounding you but, you do not leave unscratched. Some of the knives found their place deep inside your body while simple passed by and left a deep cut instead. Only a few of the feathers have managed to break all the way through your body completely.

>Body Changes:
20% [-2] Crystallized Flesh [Crystal]
14% [-4] Crystallized Flesh ‘Foreign’ [Crystal]
18% [+6] Crystalline Debris [Damage]

The mare tilts her chin in you direction and snaps her wings in a challenge, you notice that there’s an inner layer of feathers missing on each of her wings, about one third of the composition of her wings, – as unsure as you are, something like this is surely not helpful for her aerodynamics. Judging by their structure, she can toss her knives two more times with each of her wings, or four in total if she decided to use the separately. What a pain, what a pain.

>What do you do now?

>>29667459
Fucking charge and tackle her. Just do it. Get on her and knock her out.

>>29667480
If we wanted to do it safely we could use magic to grab and bring her over to bash her.

>>29667524
No. For one enemy - brute force

>>29667573
She's currently flying and unreachable, though if Aurora tries to jump from the roof of the buildings neaby she might reach her.

>>29667583
BRUTE. FORCE.

>>29667583
I say magic. We might end up hurting ourselves in the process.

>>29667583
Grab her with Magic and slam her to the ground.

“Meridian!” you shout into the distance as you strikes your hoof against the stone wall and push your upward towards the balcony of the crimson gemstone building standing in front of you, “Keep her in place, alright?!” You grunt at the lack of a response as you raise your badly damaged body even further. You are more than unhappy; you have a massive gap in your neck and a deep, branching fracture spreading all through your stomach and left hind leg.

In some parts of your body you are completely missing the presence of your crystallized flesh with your dark, boiling energy and your highly poisonous “Dragon’s Blood” organs exposed to the world around you. You give Red Sulfur a nod to hide himself as even a single knife of the mare is enough to end his life. He, reluctantly, aggress with you.

The demonic, green gaze of the mare echoes from the darkness of her Fidelity Helmet. After an eerie pause, she spreads one of the wings in front of herself in a preparation of another assault. There’s another, hollow strike and another colorful mixture of insult and pain as Lunar Meridian fails to connect her kick with the mare’s vitals and, instead, hits the solid metallic shield that is her left wing; for someone with ordinary hooves that much painful.

That’s it; you draw the symbols of your telekinetic magic upon the canvas of your mind in a hurry as you then force the liquid ooze of your dark energy out of your body. The dark magic is quick to spread around the mare and then swiftly alter in a surging, psychic force. The mare attempts to fly out of the way with a powerful thrust of her wings yet, the telekinetic field ends up clinching her by her hoof only to, like some gelatinous cube, surround her whole. You nudge your head and your energy, like a giant tentacle, tosses the mare high into the air. After a short, heavy pause, in a matter of seconds, your telekinetic hold sends the mare flying and then smashing into the solid ground.

>Body Changes:
23% [-1] Alicorn ‘Dark’ Magic [Magic]
05% [+1] Volatile Arcane [Magic]

The impact sends a shockwave of dust and sparkles of corrupted gems flying through the entire alley as the mare breaks through several layers of the ground and further; her heavily damaged body is left in a crater. In the orange cloud of dust and veil of smog the mare clinches and then, stands up. Her body is heavily damaged; there is no doubt about that. She falters and struggles to take a step forward, with the clockwork that is her body shrieking. One of her wings is broken into hundreds of pieces, akin a fragile dropped mirror, while her second wing is visibly twisted.

Despite this, the soldier of Manehattan takes a stance and spreads her wing to allow the jade sun to reflect off it in some sort of tasteless dance. You prepare for another attack as the mare slowly spreads her wing in your direction. Sadly, the wing ends up following a pathetically slow arc and then, completely breaking apart; the knives scarcely fly a meter before they get rolled into the ground, with not enough force to even get stuck into it. The mare collapses.

>What do you do now?

>>29667911
Check for Lunar and get moving.

“Lunar Meridian, are you here?” you ask the emptiness as you approach the body of the Manehattan Vanguard soldier to check if she’s still breathing; you do not like the pace at which you are killing ponies right now. Thankfully, she is, in a strange, artificial way, with a long, hollow inhale and exhale but still - she is breathing. All of a sudden, a pair of invisible hooves lands on top of her Fidelity Helmet and, with a parched smack, cracks it against the ground.

“Why did you finish this so freaking fast?” she asks you as she smoothly lifts herself above you with a swift swing of her wings, “I know you’re magic is powerful and I kind of fucking flunked it, but come on – give me a fighting chance. This is the first time ever I had to face one of them augmented soldiers; I could break her given enough time, okay?”

“I know, Lunar Meridian, but we don’t have time,” you grunt as you push away some of the ruins out of the way.

Red Sulfur gives you an uncertain look, “Why did you wait to use your magic, Aurora? Your damage is…”

“Yes,” you grunt as you step over the collapsed ebonite pillar, “I can feel it, Sulfur. Think you can repair it later?”

“…”

“S-sulfur?” you stop and repeat your question with an obvious fear, “Can you repair me later or not?”

“This much,” he clears his throat and winces, “Yes, there are dozens of compatible golems in here, but…”

“But-?”

He shifts his glance from you towards the blemished crystal peak that is the corrupted Crystal Castle, “I’m not sure if you are aware, but I have no way to repeat your crystallized organs. Even master Ginger Spice was clueless. There might be a way; I want to say there is but… It’s best if you avoid getting hurt anymore, Aurora; do you think yo-”

“Hey,” voice of Lunar Meridian annoyingly breaks Red Sulfur’s explanation, “I don’t want to interfere with stallionsplaning but somepony is coming at us from the alley,” she says with a mocking tone as her voice wanes into the distance; she is already preparing to ambush him or her, it seems. Red Sulfur looks at the direction of the incoming enemy; his face immediately pales as he grabs you by your hoof and forcefully attempts to push you inside the nearest building. In obvious panic, Sulfur tries to close a very earsplitting door with as much discreet as possible.

“What’s wrong?” you ask him as you find yourself inside yet another, completely dark room.

“A lot of things are wrong,” Red Sulfur hushes, “But, right now – the Royal Hastiliarius is looking for us.”

“The Royal Hastiliar-”

“Thou said the King,” a sudden voice from inside the house makes your crystallized heart practically skip a beat; “The weak will hide and fear him.” From the pitch black darkness two small green eyes blink at you. “King Sombra’s will is my will; King Sombra’s wish is the wish of everypony.” The voice is tired and weak; it’s close to a voice of a young filly.

>What do you do now?

>>29667469
Do you think the drawing is okay? Is he cute?

>>29668333
I'm sure Lunar can see who it is. Ask her who it is and have her shut them up quietly.

>>29668403
Yeah, that looks good. He looks more grizzled rather than just looking like shit.

>>29668333
Oh not a filly, aurora dose not want the filly to be hurt. Also the fact that royal hastiliarius is coming to us is already bad news.

>>29668468
>Lunar went to deal with the hastiliarius
>let the bat hurt a filly.
You should really read through the posts again and try to not look like a retard

>>29668652
Sorry, I've been super busy today and rush through posts to respond quickly.

>>29668333
I REALLY don't want to cast a spell here. Can we light a torch.

“I don’t think we are alone,” Red Sulfur states the obvious as he carefully leans himself against the cold war.

“Lunar,” you take a step forward and nod your head forward, “Can you check who’s hiding there… Lunar?”

Red Sulfur makes a painful groan, “I don’t think she’s here with us, Aurora. I think she decided to stay outside; I don’t trust her not to do anything stupid though, she’s probably going to attack him.” The stallion sighs and, after a brief shake of his head, he turns to face the filly at which you follow suit. Her small, quite steps resonance through the building as she, then, stops in her tracks. The evil jade flare of her eyes distorts and then, it vanishes entirely.

From the invisibility of the shadows, the nameless filly bites her lips in a silent distress, “P-please,” she mutters towards you, “Please, stop the whispers. Don’t hurt me, I’ll come with you willingly,” the sound of her tears falling echoes with her whispers, “King’s voice, I don’t… want to hear… him…” Is it then that the diabolic hue returns to her innocent eyes and her voice changes to monotone enmity, “Flee this place screaming, fiends; pathetic weakness.”

Suddenly, there’s an obnoxiously loud turn of gears just a few meters outside the door. Every single step of Blackward’s augmented leg retorts with piercing turn of cogs and strident motion of steam pumps. The stallion stops, and his body recoils with a demonic whistle of steam and vapor. You know that he is searching for you.

>What do you do now?

>>29668826
Take filly and place hoof over mouth.

Any better ideas you guys?

>>29668826
We are not ready to fight him, even if we use dark magic. We got to keep the filly quiet or he will know we are here.

You approach the filly with a careful and slow tread, the foal retorts with a surprising jolt backward; she gives you a hostile hiss. Her green eyes dart from Red Sulfur to you and back; she then jumps into a trot and reaches the stairs leading to the, what you can only assume, second floor. With a monotone, she continues to speak to you, “Thou said the King: the burden that are the weak shall perish, and from their ash a world will be reborn: powerful and strong.”

“Aurora, she better shut up,” Red Sulfur tells you in a barely audible whisper prior to being forced to shut up, as the blare of the engine and tubes grows louder and the presence of Blackward moves even closer to you. There’s a loud, uncanny clicking of clockwork as you, and your friend, stop all of your movements completely. Red Sulfur, the closest pony to the door, bites down into his hood and closes his eyes in a fearing hesitation.

You notice that the only existence of light inside this house, the green eyes of the filly, fade away again once again. From the shadows of the steps, the wobbling voice hesitates to speak, “Please,” she whispers, “I want to be able to think…”

Somehow, Sombra’s reach of his potent dark magic is having trouble completely consuming the mind of this filly. You have to tell her to be silent without grabbing the attention of the Manehattan Commander outside; or, you must silence her yourself. Either way you do not have much time and, the next time she’ll speak, he is going to find you.

>What do you do now?

Sorry for slow updates, I'm a bit drained.

>>29669737
Then take a break and continue tomorrow.

>>29670022
Okay. Thanks for playing today.

B

Prompts please.

>>29669737
Can we gesture to make her come to us? Then we could gently place our hoof over her mouth so she will shut up even when the King's magic returns.

>>29669737
Tell her to keep fighting the whispers in her head.

“Young filly,” you try to force your voice to the quietest tenor possible, “You must refuse to listen to his whispers.”

“I can’t,” she grunts as she harshly presses her hooves against her head, “They disappear for only a second.”

Red Sulfur gives you a disgruntled look and then places his hoof to his mouth, as if saying you to be silent. You glare at him with a bland expression, the only expression you are able to make with your gemstone muzzle. You turn towards the filly to offer her a wave of her hoof, gesturing for her to come close. Sadly, neither you nor she can see each other in this pitch darkness. You take a slow and steady step forward, “Come here, I’m not here to harm you…”

You are unsure of her expression and reaction but, after a short pause, you can hear her taking a few steps towards you. You do not waste the precious moment as you also, take a couple of precious, but growing uncannily noisy, steps. You try to take it slow and fast at the same time, to reach the filly and make as less sounds as possible. Thankfully, you manage to take the foal into a hug just in time for her curse to return, as the color of her violet eyes turns to a putrid and boiling green once more. She tries to struggle and fight; she even manages to bite you stomach.

The pumps and valves burst into a chaotic motion as Blackward finally faces away from the door, the presence of his body grows calmer and quitter until it can be barely heard. He is still outside, for sure, but he’s no suspicious of you.

“Royal Hastiliarius was it, what an idiotic title – what does it even fucking mean?” a voice of a bat breaks from the outside as the roar of the engine grows, and the steam escapes from the pumps with an earsplitting whistle.

“Please don’t do anything stupid,” you can hear Red Sulfur practically pray as he bangs his head against the door.

“I bet you’re pathetically weak, like any stallion, without all those over-fucking-glorified weapons and parts! Oh, freaking sure, they look great – the mare we fought used them gracefully. But you; show me what you got!”

“She’s doing something very stupid,” Red Sulfur bites his lip with a quiver, “Aurora, we-”

He does not finish as a massive, sound shockwave passes through the wall, the ground and the very air around you. An unstoppable frequency deafens the ambiance as the world around you stop for a single, void moment. Then, there’s a thunderous crack as the pressure wave of the vibration practically blows up the door and the entire side of the wall into smithereens, just barely leaving enough support to keep the house from falling apart. The filly lies in your hooves unconsciously as Red Sulfur is gasping for air, one of his ears is profuseously bleeding. Outside, stands he – the Royal Hastiliarius; out of his back you notice a strangely vibrating, grayish spine. Lunar Meridian lies, practically defeated, before him. One of her front legs looks as if it barely escapes a bear trap while both of her ears are bleeding despite her holding to cover them with all her might. She’s not even aware that Blackward is above her.

>What do you do now?

>>29673249
T A C K L E

>>29673249
We should try and destroy that spine of his.

You drop the filly on the ground with as much gentleness as possible. Then, you charge at Blackward with all the speed you are able you muster, your body obeys you without a single second of delay. You jump; you close the distance between yourself and the Hastiliarius in a blink of a moment. You smash your body against his before he is able to harm, or even kill, Lunar Meridian further. Your hoof strikes against his metallic body with no visible damage. You push yourself before he’s able to react as you jump on top of him with a tackle. His spine begins to vibrate…

You can feel a surge of seismic energy bursting from his augmented, highly volatile body part. The sudden vibration throws your body in a mad shudder as you can feel your body starting to crack and struggle to move. Despite your best attempts to smash the vibration extending spine, you fear for your safety to touch it by hoof. The sound vibration keeps increasing until you realize that, if you are unable to somehow stop it, you are going to blow up.

>What do you do now?

>>29673493
Snap his neck. I am all against killing, but this is extreme.

>>29673493
Rip it out by magic. we can't even move with all this vibration.

File: CS Blackward.png (65KB, 720x539px) Image search: [Google]

65KB, 720x539px

You thrust your crystallized body and climb further onto his back, forcing your hooves towards his metallic neck. The incredibly hot and black, charcoal smolder blows into your barely holding body and clouds your already harassed vision. His massive, metallic wings make it even more stressful to continue holding on to him. As the rate of the tremble of your body grows, you find yourself utterly blocked in your tracks. It is a strange feeling to explain, however you know that if you move even closer to him, the fragile crystal that is your crystallized flesh will not hold.

You dark magic bursts of your body in an instant rapidity - like a massive wave rising from the bottom of a hostile ocean. The runic drawings on the canvas of your mind are just barely consistent to form your twisting, violent energy into a telekinetic spell and jump to surround the shockwave-inducing spine of Blackward. However, when you attempt to rip it open you feel your spell unable to do so, as if facing some sort of resistance. You attempt to harden your hold on his appendage until it breaks completely but instead, your energy transforms into a convulsing bubble.

Then, the seismic vibration overwhelms your magic in an act of primordial retort. Your magic hold explodes right between the two of you, and you feel a massive crack spreading through your leg as fragments of your flesh rain into the ground beneath you. You are sent flying through the air in the same manner Blackward is, with a speed and force of a violent hurricane. Your body rolls across the alley until it hits one of the furthest walls and finally comes to a stop. You struggle to stand up. Blackward has used the power of his wings to stop himself instead, he’s barely damaged.

>Body Changes:
19% [-1] Crystallized Flesh [Crystal]
10% [-4] Crystallized Flesh ‘Foreign’ [Crystal]
23% [+5] Crystalline Debris [Damage]

22% [-1] Alicorn ‘Dark’ Magic [Magic]
06% [+1] Volatile Arcane [Magic]

>What do you do now?

>>29673944
Try lightning next.

Blackward is one of the few I have no problems killing.

>>29674573
>Blackward is one of the few I have no problems killing.
Why?

>>29674790
He is utterly loyal to Sombra and forced these permanent, grotesque augments onto conquered Equestrians to make his personal regiment.

You cross your eyes with Blackward whom looks back at you with a gauche, almost motorized, jolt of his own head. Before his orange eyes lies a green veil of vice and corruption: Sombra’s decree. The mechanical stallion does not speak, and his glare is as evil as always – even more so now when he’s actually trying to kill you. He takes a creeping step forward as the end of his heavy, clanging wings draw after him. You harrumph and push yourself to a battle posture with a present struggle, parts of your right front leg missing for a proper and grounded balance.

You do not have much choice in this situation; neither do you have any moral standing with Blackward to fight against. He forced you in this situation; he’s trying to kill you for Amore’s sake! If it’s between your life and his, yours is the most significant one, and he’ll end Red Sulfur and Lunar Meridian too. You allow the dark veil of your mind to consume your vision and you draw lucid and gleaming pictograms on the hollowly fluttering canvas. Then, you release a growing spread of powerful, void energy towards Blackward and every single atom that is surrounding him.

Your black magic surrounds the silently standing stallion like an arid, quickly glowing thundercloud and then, explodes in a burst of multiplying lightning storm. The thunderous electricity echoes through the alley as Blackward’s body falls to the assault of your potent, deadly magic and an incredible amount of voltage. The deadly current of electricity strikes through his body and, once it reaches the outside side of his carcass, immediately strikes back. Despite the absolutely horrendous execution, Blackward only stops once he practically stands face to face with you.

>Body Changes:
21% [-1] Alicorn ‘Dark’ Magic [Magic]
07% [+1] Volatile Arcane [Magic]

He dies standing; his body fried to such an extent that even the metallic parts of his body are melting apart, the seismic manipulation spine is destroyed, as well - thankfully. You take a step back with a tired, almost exhausted, expression. However, there’s an eldritch turn of gears as a creepy motion of pumps and mechanism as a single strike brings his heart back to a proper, beating function. Blackwards creepily opens his eyes back without a single change of emotions on his burned and scarred face. You are scared; you stumble back and fall in panic as he moves closer.

Blackward suddenly covers himself with his wing and turns his eyes away from you as Lunar Meridian tries to catch him off guard and give him another hit; the stallion swiftly changes the angle of his wing and, with an incredible, augmented speed, he slaps his wings through the air and sends a wind current into the air. Somehow, Lunar Meridian manages to dodge it. The invisible mare finally connects her armored hoof with his head but… it does nothing.

>What do you do now?

>>29675076
It's our turn to beat him now. She should be nice and stiff from our electrical assault melting and displacing pieces so try to take his wings out of commission. He can't take much more.

>>29675076
Thats actually kinda nice. We won't have to kill him after all. Try to break his wings, and then aim for the legs.

>>29675076
This man turn himself into a robot and with the bullshit gone, we can beat him up without anything stopping us from doing so. slam him into the ground and start bashing his head in.

Perhaps you won’t have to kill another soul – a breath of relief follows. You place your hoof on the ground before yourself and, with powerful thrust and leap; you throw your legs in a physically powerful kick. Your buck connects with the busy soldiers of Manehattan flawlessly. The Royal Hastiliarius is forced back and, from what you can judge, he’s barely able to hold himself from collapsing. While his engine is still roaring and his gears are still turning, they are doing so with an obviously present delay; he moves his electrocuted and smoldered limbs with a sluggish twinge.

His head is kicked down from another strike from Lunar Meridian; her strikes are precise if not much effective. The greatest help the bat pony offers you is the fact that now, Blackward is simply unable to concentrate and fight the two of you at the same time. Some ponies might call it unfair, even cheap – Golden Shield would be fighting with fighting ponies by his own but, fighting a lonely pony with the help of another would be dishonorable… You miss him. This isn’t your concern, you don’t care. You use the opening Lunar Meridian made for you without a bother.

You grab one of Blackward’s wings with both of your hooves and then, with a rightful thrust and spin, you fling him against the nearest wall and, to finish, you reap his entire wing upwards. You are unable to completely remove the wing from his body but the damage you have caused to it should be enough; it is left cracked and twisted, a machine that is unable to work. But even that is not enough for him, the stallion slowly pushes himself and, with the help of the wall, he stands up. You charge at him with a growing annoyance. You grab Blackward by the back of his neck and you smash him against the wall with such force, his head bursts through the wall. You grab and pull his head back and then, once you make sure that he’s on the verge of his collapse, you smash and send him flying through the wall.

“It’s over,” you exclaim as you inspect your barely damaged body, “Red Sulfur, Meridian, its over.”

“Hey, say something,” Meridian speaks as she lands a couple of steps away from you, judging by her hoof prints.

Red Sulfur creeps out of the building with a visible pain, he’s holding a piece of cloth over his badly damaged ear, and you approach him with a worry and make sure that he is no immediate pain. The stallion nudges his head and sighs, “That attack ruptured my eardrum, thankfully only one. I think the bat pony is in worse condition.”

“You’re freaking awesome at fighting, Aurora,” Lunar Meridian exclaims as he she tries to put her hoof on your shoulder, “Hey, Aurora? Can you hear me? Your mouth is moving but I think I’m a bit deaf here,” she says calmly.

“I’m worried that Blackward’s attacked damaged not only her ears, but also her bandana,” he turns to face the source of noise and then, he points at her with his hoof and strikes a drawing of an ear and a cross before it.

“What in Tartarus are you saying, stallion?” she exclaims with hostility as she practically bangs his chest against his, “You’re a doctor or some sorts, are you freaking not? This is annoying, can you heal me?”

You turn away from the strange theatrics of an invisible mare and stallion in front of you, as you notice somepony striking their hoof against your back; at first you have assumed it was Meridian, however, it turned out to be the filly from inside of the house. She’s not hurting you, obviously, but she’s desperately attacking you as her eyes burn with a putrid, green fire. She strikes her front leg against your crystallized back and then, there’s a loud and painful crack that even grabs the attention of Red Sulfur; the filly broke one of her bones. Despite the pain, she strikes you again.

>What do you do now?

>>29675574
D'awww she wants to kill us. We should just make her unable to breath till she collapses. Not much more we can do.

>>29675574
Poor thing. She fought against the king's spell admirably.

>>29675574
Well Meridian is deaf and the little filly is awake but possessed. Let help her to go to sleep.

With sadness, you take the filly by her front leg and then, you lift her about a meter away from yourself. Red Sulfur gives you an uncertain look and grunts when Meridian finally stops shaking him, “Poor thing,” he mutters at you.

You nod and turn to face the foal whom is struggling to jump out of your grasp and carry on hitting you, at this point she’s not only unworried about being injured, she’s not even worried about dying. “Yes, poor thing,” you say as with a mental sigh as you force your hoof around her neck; you tighten your hold until the filly weakens and gasps for breath. You raise your hoof against her mouth until she’s unable to inhale and, eventually, she loses her conscious.

Lunar Meridian lands on top of comatose Blackward and, with a playful hostility, she strikes him against his head.

“What do you plan to do with her?” Sulfur asks you with a morbid curiosity as he approaches Blackward and looks over him, “I don’t think he’s carrying anything useful on him, but you never know.” He jerks his eyebrow at his hood.

>What do you do now?

>>29675980
Let put her back inside the house, she not going to much of a problem when we continue to head to the castle.

>>29675980
I wold like to get her back to Nifty but we don't have the time. You can check him over Red. Do you think you can do some quick repairs? Also do you think Lunar will get her hearing back? I want to give her a talking to.

You give the filly a sincere glance and then, you mentally exasperate. The moment she wakes up she’s going to be under Sombra’s spell once more; this is more or less decided. You enter the ruins of the building and you make sure that a house that is missing one of its wall is stable enough not to have the ceiling fall on her head and kill the little filly in her sleep. You find a spot that is safe from the cold winds of the outside and then, you place the filly there.

“Rest and sleep, and tell the big bad voice in your head that you are not afraid,” you lean to hear ear and whisper.

Outside, Red Sulfur grunts in pain and pushes his hoof to somehow block his damaged ear from causing even more pain to him. In a bit of a dizziness he is surprised to stumble upon Meridian who he accidently hits. The invisible mare pushes him away from her and floats to face you, you can guess by the empty sudden and powerful gust of wind passing by, “Hey Aurora,” she speaks as if both of her ruptured ears are a non-issue, “Let’s continue forward.”

“There’s something I’d like to discuss with you first,” you say with annoyance to which she goes silent. You turn to face Red Sulfur instead, “Sulfur, how bad is the damage both of you have? Do you think you can heal it somehow?”

“Um,” he tiredly pushes his back against the cold, stone wall. The stallion stops for a brief moment to ponder, “Let me see, well, I’m not sure how it is different for bat ponies; for me it’s hurting as if somepony put a nail through it but she looks alright, despite both of her ears bleeding. If you really want, I don’t, I can take a closer look if she makes herself visible. It’s best she doesn’t remove her bandana now, we don’t need another pony to fight with.”

“Yeah,” you shake your head at Meridian and then back at Sulfur, “You are right.”

“It’s not safe to stay here, your magic and his… whatever that was, have caused a lot of stir. My hood tells me that they two more of his soldiers are flying towards us, we best get moving. Let’s take a rest when we are in the Castle.”

“Mare, my mother will be very unhappy with me if I can’t answer her questions, she’ll say it’s freaking rude,” Lunar Meridian says with a depressing attitude as she lands a few steps away from you, “Give me some signal, Aurora.”

>What do you do now?

>>29676483
Let get to that castle then, also single Lunar that she lost her hearing.

>>29676483
Say C A S T L E very slowly. and point towards it.

>>29676523
I'm out of QMing Juice today, sorry. Thank you all for playing today, hope you had fun. I will continue tomorrow.

>>29676615
cool

>>29677272

>>29676496
She knows that she has lost her hearing
>>29676523
We don't have a mouth.

>>29676483
Just point towards the palace.

“Lunar Meridian?” you twist your head in search for your deaf companion and the previous location of her voice. You shake your hoof in a call for attention in hope that she’ll be able to see you; then, you raise your gemstone eyes towards the blemished spiral that is the Crystal Castle. You point your hoof towards the palace with a single nod.

“Huh?” her voice asks with a sudden realization, “Oh, Tartarus, right. We were going towards the Crystal Castle. Do not freaking worry your little gemstone head, Aurora, I’ll be waiting for you there, you can count on me!”

With that, and a sudden blast of air, your invisible companion is gone. You shake your head in a brief uncertainty although you are aware that if there’s anything Lunar Meridian is not, it’s untrustworthy. You throw a glance at the slightly wobbling ruins of the house and then, you approach Red Sulfur who grunts in dissatisfaction. “He didn’t carry anything useful with him, Aurora,” he says, “And most of his augmentations were destroyed by your lightning attack.”

“I’m just making sure here, can you continue forward with you… wound?”

Red Sulfur blinks at you, he gives you a tired and prideful smirk and nods his head with a wobble, “I’m not the one missing chunks of their head and body, Aurora. I know you’re the one who’s fighting the most here, but as I said, if you can avoid going hoof to hoof with your opponent, you should do it – you have magic for Ginger Spice’s sake.”

“I do,” you nod, “But it’s best I save it for when I’m going to need it the most.”

“I suggest you don’t let the bat pony near you either, you’re leaking poison already,” he coughs into his hoof and shows you to what can only be a snow-like saliva, “It’ll take a lot longer for me so… do not worry about it, for now.”

You mentally stride back away from your companion, “I don’t want to kill both of you; can you fix me?”

He looks towards the castle and shakes his head with a negative, “Unless we find a safe enough space with all the needed alchemical paraphernalia – I know that my master had his own chamber there, but I’ve never visited it, I don’t think I’ll be able to mold together your cracks with other crystals, even if we find them. I can’t say for sure.”

“We might have to make a stop in his chamber; it’s not far from the Sombra’s throne room. Hopefully,” you pause, “Hopefully he did not change the puzzle or the solution to his puzzle during those three years in which I was gone.”

“What puzzle?” Red Sulfur’s eyebrow corks at you in question.

“Nevermind,” you answer him with an honest sanguinity, “You’ll see for yourself; let’s go.”

He harrumphs with an obvious, but not serious, offence. The two of you step over and leave the body of the Royal Hastiliarius behind, as you carry on to quietly galloping through the depressingly dark and tall passages of the Crystal Empire’s living quarters. Fortunately, the rest of your voyage is uneventful; without a single encounter or brawl. There are some ponies you end up stumbling upon on your way but, the two of you end up simply avoiding and passing behind them without much of a hassle. Finally, in about half an hour, you leave the avenue shadows behind.

Before you stands a grotesque structure and the hub of Sombra’s power and control; the Crystal Castle. The huge crystal tower is forged in black layers of gemstone ebonite and tainted blue agate. The castle rises tall and is the only structure in all of the Crystal Empire that breaks through the thick layer of copper-orange clouds that hang above the Crystal Empire. The purple flames of Sombra’s dark magic are burning with coldness and menace on both right and left braziers of the raising flight of stairs, with an incredibly tall and thick gate door at the very end of it. There appear to be no sentinels here however, you are able to spot several bat ponies and regular citizens walking nearby.

>What do you do now?

>>29680513
Wait for an opening to enter undetected. No guards? I really hope our favourite thief didn't have the time to trap the entrance itself.

“Wait here for now,” you tell Red Sulfur who answers you back with a brief nod, “I’ll check it first.”

You wait until the coast is clear before you reach the first, garishly sweltering step. The staircase step looks surprisingly innocent, with the same charcoal hue as the rest of the building but with a feeble transparency. Is this a trap – you ask yourself in a worry as you push your hoof into the surface of the step as you get ready to jump out of the way the moment something bad happens… nothing happens, there’s no sound of a mechanism neither is there a sweep of dark magic that you can confirm the presence of. You look at Sulfur who answers you back with a shrug.

You take your time with your ascend. Step after step you push your hooves against the surface to have nothing happen; perhaps, you are growing paranoid. You mentally breathe out a sigh of relief when you finally reach the locked entrance. Not even Fair Trade will be stupid to trap the main entrance, now would she? You place your hooves against the facade of the massive door made out of some incredibly hard, crystallized timber; you attempt to open it to no avail, the heavy door resists your struggles.

Then, you feel a small, barely present turn of gears beneath your hooves. Barely, only thanks to your unrealistically sharp reflexes and intuition, you are able to take a step back just a few seconds before a single layer of extremely sharp pikes appears out of the ground before your nose. Then, you jump back to have a second layer of pikes raise from the second step you were standing just a few moments ago. Again and again, you are just barely able to outpace the deadly burst of lances coming out of the ground to pierce through your body. You make a decision to jump only to feel that something is wrong, a trap within a trap; a layer of pikes lifts out of the ground one step behind you and blocks your path to retreat. With nowhere else to go you now stand stranded between two walls of pikes, and, according to a tremble, the step you are currently standing on is about to release a layer of its own.

You do the only think you feel you are able to this situation; you jump as high as possible and hope for the best. Praise to Amore Lunar Meridian is there to save you; she grabs your open hoof with her own and lifts you above the sea of pikes as the last burst only so gently scraps by the hooves of your hind legs. You find yourself flying above an obvious execution trap holding on to the invisible lunar mare with all your might. She’s struggling but holding you.

>What do you do now?

>>29681171
I knew she would be this stupid. Use our levitation spell to help Meridian lift us to safety.

>>29681309
This. Also go back to Sulfur and tell him what's up.

>>29681171
Just realized that Red's cape might can let us know about the traps ahead of time.

>>29681171
There has to be some hidden entrance only the castle personal, including the golems, use to get in and out.

“Are you struggling, Meridian?” you ask her in a worry which she takes it in an obvious challenge; the speed of her wings increases as she, just barely, manages to keep you hovering above the spiked blades of the pikes. As much as she struggles, at this rate Lunar Meridian is simply unable to fly you to safety. You let the surge of your dark magic veil over your vision. It takes you a moment to summon a dark cloud of shadows from within you. You shape the cloud into a spherical bubble that you then transform into ominous telekinetic arcane. You use the hold and control you have over your magic to pick up and push yourself and Meridian as far from the pikes as possible.

>Body Changes:
20% [-1] Alicorn ‘Dark’ Magic [Magic]
08% [+1] Volatile Arcane [Magic]

The invisible bat pony ends up forcefully pushing your shoulder to the side and loudly voicing her opinion, “You freaking wasting your magic just because it looks great; you shouldn’t have had. I had it under control, Aurora.”

“Better safe than sorry… thanks for saving me,” you offer Meridian a thankful nod to which she simply sneezes back.

“That nearly got you,” Red Sulfur tells you after he walks out of the corner of the house he was hiding at, “That’s a trap alright,” he pauses, “My hood knew something was not right, Aurora, but, she tell me so I couldn’t warn you.”

You throw a monotone, tasteless and hostile glance at the pendant that is the Quartz Eye who simply looks back at you, “It is fine, bygones. Can you ask her if she’s able to sense any way, a secret entrance perhaps, inside the castle?”

Red Sulfur pauses; he numbly tugs the edges of his hood, “She says there aren’t, I don’t think there are any.”

“It’s freaking easy,” Lunar Meridian comments in-between your confusion, “We just have to destroy the dreaded door and then pass the stairs and fly through the entrance before the trap is triggered again. Piece of cake.”

>What do you do now?

>>29681634
Easier said than done, Lunar. Do you have any ideas or are you going to continue blowing smoke and playing a badass?

>>29681634
But then how do they get in and out? There must be a mechanism to disable the trap and open the door then. Can we see anything suspicious?

“Easier said than done, Lunar Meridian, how are we going to do it?” you ponder and raise your head in confusion.

“What?!” she screams in your crystallized ear, “I can’t freaking hear you, Aurora! Come on, let’s do it,” she says as she lands a few meters away from you. “Just follow my lead and we’ll be there in a jiffy. Come on, rip the door off.”

You shake your head at her in a negative. The bat pony responds with an obvious surprise and flies closer to you, “What are you saying – no? We have to get inside; you were just talking too freaking long. You have to run.”

“Red Sulfur, can you think of a way Fair Trade could get in and out?” you ask, “Can you ask your Quartz Eye if she can sense any trigger or mechanism nearby? There must be a way to turn it off, right?”

“I don’t know, I don’t think there is… Wait, I think there is a leaver somewhere behind the gate door, though I’m not really sure where exactly – it’s veiled under the carpet. Could it be that she uses some kind of spell to pass through?”

>What do you do now?

>>29681979
Vincent, can we cast spells if we are using the third eye spell?

>>29682028
Yes, but unless you are able to see the spell you are controlling them blindly. So, it will be like trying to pick something if you are eyes are closed, in case of telekinesis.

>>29681979
>>29682028
This. Use third eye to scout for the lever and then manipulate it with telekinesis.

>>29682384
Or we can just toss the door away and let Meridian find the lever.

>>29682430
How? the spikes are going to impale us if we go near it. We are far to damaged to outpace them.

>>29682453
Send Meridian alone, she's not really hurt aside from her ears. And she can fly. Can also put the heavy door on the steps so it blocks the spears.

>>29682507
Alright, we can try doing it her way first.

>>29682507
>>29682524
>let kill our bat.
wow anons. I'm not a fan of lunar, but we already try to open the door and was unable o open it. Also the leaver is on the other side of the door.

“Alright Meridian,” you nudge your head at the bat pony who does not respond, with a grudge you stomp your hoof as you attempt to find her by the last presence of her voice, “Meridian, where are you for Amore’s sake?”

“She’s standing right in front of yo-”

“Careful!” she screams at you in response as you, just barely, avoid hitting her with your head, “Mother always told me to keep your eyes looking forward, that’s where all the fucking danger usually is. So what did you come up with?”

You offer her a shrug and then, you draw a symbol of a mechanism, a lever, on the dry dirt before yourself. Hopefully, she responds back with an invisible nod. You mentally sigh and, with a slow and uncertain nod, you draw the runic symbols of your potent, telekinetic spell upon the canvas of your mind. Your demonic blood slowly creeps from out of your body through cracks and crevices to form into a void nebula of darkness all around you. With a single nudge of your head, the massive cloud of energy bursts and smashes against the tall and heavy gate door.

Your magic is quick to creep beneath the door’s gaps and, finally, envelop the entrance in plasma of telekinetic magic. The door is far from being easy, it is extremely heavy and weighty. It takes you a struggle and some time to finally break the solidified door from its thousand hinges. “Meridian, go – now!” With your telekinetic magic fading into the sky, you are just barely able to lift the door from the floor and smash it on the stairs; this, of course, immediately triggers the mechanism of the trap and the sea of razor-sharp, probably enchanted, pikes burrow themselves into the stone façade of the door only to then immediately crack it into thousands of smithereens and completely break through it in a manner of seconds. The massive spears impale the air itself with barely any delay, the block entrance like an impenetrable wall once more.

>Body Changes:
19% [-1] Alicorn ‘Dark’ Magic [Magic]
09% [+1] Volatile Arcane [Magic]

“…Meridian?! Meridian can you hear me?! Are you there?” you scream in a worry to which there is no answer.

“I did not hear any screams,” Red Sulfur comforts you, “But if she was impaled we won’t be able to see her invisible, dead body on those pikes.” He pauses and shrugs, “Was worth a try, let’s wait while we can; and hide from them,” he points towards a couple of passing, regular golems. You and Red Sulfur rush beneath the tall pillars that are helping to support the heavy, crystal castle. Maybe if everything goes badly, you can at least destroy the castle…

You notice a floor made out of cracked, but still distinguishable patterns; beautiful stained art in shape of a snowflake, of all things. You find that you are standing before an empty pedestal of the Crystal Heart; with only the spikes that are suppose to send the love and care of the Heart through the Empire left standing in all their worthlessness. Red Sulfur puts his back against the crystal wall in a visible pain, “I’m honestly tired, Aurora… I shouldn’t have had agreed to help you, I don’t think it’s my type of a lifestyle; too late for that now I guess.”

You have to wait to see if Meridian has managed to fly through and if she’s currently searching for the lever, if not…

>What do you do now?

>>29682824
Give her a few minutes to try and be useful.

I'm honestly curious, what would you be doing instead right now?

>>29682824
Your quartz eye would have certainly liked that.

You place yourself next to Red Sulfur; not too close - not because of your fear of intimacy, but because you do not want to poison him any more than you already did. You glance over the pillars to make sure that no pony, and no golem, is patrolling nearby to accidently find you. You take a moment of rest as you pray to everything that is holy that the bat pony made it, and is currently searching for a lever to let you enter the castle without another problem.

“You say that: I'm honestly curious, what would you be doing instead right now? Did you have plans?”

“What kind of plans can you even have in this kind of world?” he asks you honestly with a bit of disgust showing over his face, “Surrendering to forces of United Equestria might sound like a good idea, but they put all their prisoners in the concentration prison that is Cloud Nine – I’d rather not go up there. I’d probably stay in Manehattan?”

“And then what?” you ask him further.

“Nothing, I would simply be waiting to see how the war would turn out. I’d probably be brainwashed at that point, so actually, staying in Manehattan by the time Sombra visits it is not the greatest idea. It’s all useless, I think.”

“Do you regret following me to the Frozen North?” you ask him openly.

“Nothing I can do now,” he shrugs and then simply yawns at the sky with a pitiful smile, “Not really, I do not regret it. I just think that I’m not much help, ever a burden – I hate to admit it but I’m just flesh and bones.”

“I won’t lie, I’m happy you have joined me – and you are not useless, Red Sulfur. You’ve helped me a lot out here.”

“It wasn’t me, as much as it was my coat – yeah, she saved my and your hides quite a few times, that’s true.”

>What do you do now?

>>29683103
Absolutely. Maybe there is something we can do to reward her after this is all over. If she wants anything that is.

>>29683103
Don't sell yourself short, Sulfur.

We better check on Lunar soon.

Pausing here for today. Probably will run tomorrow too. Thanks for playing. Questions and feedback welcomed.

Nightly bump.

File: Happy.PNG.png (53KB, 376x436px) Image search: [Google]

53KB, 376x436px

Just to run it by you guys before it comes up, I plan on killing Fair in a sadistic manner when we get to her. I've been a player since the very beginning of CW and I'll be damned if I don't get some sort of revenge.

>>29684379
You know what? You are absolutely fucking right.

>>29684379
I don't think we are currently able to pull it off. But some sort of revenge for sure.

>>29684379
Edgy.

>>29684379
I have a filling that the crystal heart will end up killing her, due to the fact that she is filled with dark magic.

>>29684379
We should find out what 'fair trade' she made with the book. I'm pretty sure the evil quartz eye is still alive inside of her, and that fucker has to die.

All this talk about killing Fair Trade made me remember that her brother is also in the castle, but inside the dungeons. So if we are to get trough all this traps, we need to get someone who knows her better then us.

>>29685955
She's just using Dark Magic, but what about us?

>>29686026
We are likely to be put to sleep by the crystal heart, till Sulfur bring us back to normal.

>>29686061
So we will never wake up?

>>29686070
Your guess is as good as mine.

>>29685955
Not if we kill her first.

“Absolutely. Maybe there is something we can do to reward her after this is all over; does she want anything?”

“I’m not sure,” he shrugs at you, “She said as she’s useful to me and I’m safe she’s happy.” He smirks at you.

“Well, that’s exactly what she told me too; but I don’t think she has any ill intentions… As for yourself alone, don’t sell yourself short, Red Sulfur – If we’ll survive all of this I’m sure you’re going to become as amazing as your master Ginger Spice, especially if you manage to create the Ash Mirror. I think it’s kind of… horrible to know your death but –”

“If you know how you are going to die, you can avoid it,” he pauses, “I don’t plan to use it myself, it’s just such a powerful and rare artifact that I only know of one occurrence and that is the one Sombra has in his court.” He looks at you with hesitation, “He might be using it, Aurora. Hopefully, it’s the occasion where you can’t avoid your death.”

“Stop freaking flirting already,” a loud voice of a bat pony catches the two of you off guard as her invisible hooves push both of your faces as far from each other as possible, making just enough room for her head to squeeze in, “You know how annoying it was to be playing hide-and-seek with a lever? Fucking annoying, let’s get going already.”

“Amore’s grace, Lunar Meridian, I’m so glad you made it,” you say to her with an honest happiness in your voice.

“Yeah,” Red Sulfur mutters half-impressed as he pushes Lunar’s hoof off his face, “We are all so very happy.”

“What?” she asks in confusion, “Are you even listening?! Come the fuck on, let’s go – the trap is deactivated.”

The two of you exchange affirmative glances and, with a certain nod, you stand up and leave the safety of the pillars to approach the deactivated steps. Lunar Meridian’s voice grows softer as she leaves you, almost certainly, behind and flies towards the entrance to meet you inside. You and Red Sulfur ascend the stairway together, just in case Lunar Meridian has made an oversight and either of you will have to either warn or protect the other. Thankfully, that is not the case and, in due time, you reach the entrance unharmed. Stepping through the rubbles of the gate door, you pass the smoke and fire of the purple braziers and find yourself in the barely lit gate-room and entryway.

As much as you remember from the layout: the small hall and room to the left leads to the one of the several storage rooms; it is practically useless for you currently. The room to the right leads to long hall to the keep’s dungeon, with the golem room on its way. The massive and growing flight of steps before you leads to, first, a closed, withered royal garden that is now dead and void of all animal life and then, to the great hall from which you’ll be able to visit the kitchen or the entrance to one of the several raising, sentinel towers (to reach the others will take a much longer stroll through the castle. From the tower, you should be able to arrive at the courtroom.

>What do you do now?

>>29686489
Let head to the dungeon first, there should be ponies not possessed by sombre bullshit we can recruit.

>>29686489
>>29686506
This.

>>29686489
I don't care when but at some point I want to go to the kitchen and take a knife.

>>29686489
>>29686506
Prisonbreak incoming.

>>29686506
See if there's anything in the golem room. Red might be able to get material to fix us there.

Sorry, the room to the right* leads to the dungeon and golem room.

You decide to avoid going straight to the court room for now in vain hope that you might be able to find ponies that are free of Sombra’s corruption in the royal dungeon. You give Red Sulfur a nudge of your head as you approach the bland, impassive door constructed a few meters to the right side from the flight of steps. You take a deep, mental breath and push your shoulder against it and it, thankfully, dutifully opens up a long, distant hallway before you.

“You know the layout, do you not, Aurora?” Red Sulfur asks you with uncertainty as he follows you suit.

“More or less,” you comment as you notice the – now visible - Lunar Meridian hovering a few inches away from the ceiling, “But we’re not going to the court room straight away. I want to check the dungeon first, just maybe-”

“You think Golden Shield is there?” Sulfur asks you with a wince as he covers his ear once again.

“Hopefully,” you pause in hesitation, “Hopefully he and others; there’s no way he possessed all of them.”

“This is surprisingly empty,” Lunar Meridian shares her thoughts out loud, “Where are all the guards? And where are we suppose to be waiting for Sombra to kick his ass?” she turns to face you.

“We need to secure the Crystal Heart first, hopefully there’s still time before he return,” you say.

“What?” her loud voice echoes through the empty hallway, “Can you gesticulate that for me, Aurora?”

“Oh, for crying out loud,” Red Sulfur curses under his breath.

He waves his hoof at Lunar Meridian whom, reluctantly but hastily, notices and then, lands before him. Her voracious, relaxed eyes offer him an arrogant shimmer. “Oh, did you decide to finally be useful for once?” she asks him as she then nods her head at him, “Fix it freaking already, then. You can be silent all you want, but I want to hear what Aurora sa- what in Tartarus you doing?!” she moans as Sulfur practically jolts one of her ears towards himself.

“Be silent,” he grumbles with obvious hostility as he narrows his eye and peeks in her ear, “It’s too dark, can’t see. Can you hear me? Can you hear me?! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!” he continues the growing crescendo of his shouts but the only response Lunar Meridian gives him back is one of taunt and confusion. “This is worse than I though.”

“Stop freaking pulling my ear and do something,” she grunts as she breaks away from him.

“I don’t think it is possible,” he shrugs his shoulders at her, “It seems your eardrums are heavily ruptured. It’ll take about a week for them to heal naturally, unless… it’s something even worse. It’s best if you keep them in warmth and avoid any loud shouts. I don’t have any magical remedies with me, even for myself.”

“What?!” she shouts in another, echoing confusion, “What do you mean by that shrug – you don’t freaking know?”

There’s a sudden, spreading sound of a grind of a crystal against crystal as a dark, green figure emerges from the far end of the hallway. With an ominous pace, every step of this creation echoes from the castle’s wall towards you and your companions. In his gemstone eyes, there’s a burning and twisting magic of King Sombra. The flesh of this golem is not crystallized and, neither is it made out of Dragon’s Blood. This golem is made entirely out of different crystals.

“Is that a… reanimate sculpture?” Red Sulfur blinks in amusement, “Who in their right mind would carve any more golems out of topaz?”

"The golem room is just right ahead," you comment, "It must be from there." This only means that either Sombra or Fair Trade have brought them to life.

>What do you do now?

>>29686768
Sulfur could just point at Meridian and cover his ear to single her that her ears don't work. Let just deal with the golam and continue our way to the dungeon.

>>29686768
Can we hide from it? I'd like to simply avoid it and let it pass.

You silently mutter a curse as you take a stance before the incoming Crystal Golem; the ceiling of the hallway is incredibly tall but the width is barely enough for you and Sulfur to stand side by side. There is no place to hide, as much as you would like to. The topaz golem takes another step and finally, he comes to a complete halt in front of you. The exceedingly fogged glass windows on the wall right of you just barely permit the green sunlight to pass all the way through them, their corrupting luminosity reflecting off the gemstone body of you and your opponent.

The usually stone-cold and dark hallway twists into a psychedelic display of putrid emerald colors and hues as the two of you clash against each other. In time, you manage to stop the powerful punch of the walking sculpture with a clench of your own hoof. You remind yourself that this golem here is not a pony; rubble of rocks is all it ever will be. With a short struggle, you grab the topaz golem under its stomach and lift it above the ground. With a mighty twist you smash the golem against the nearest wall, causing a show of fragments to rain upon the ground before yourself.

With half of its back missing and its head barely holding on to its neck, the golem struggles to stand up. You do not waste another second as you raise your hoof and, with a single kick, you explode its crystal head into smithereens. You can see the dark presence, its lifeblood, leaving the engraved body and soon fading into nothingness.

“Freaking esh Aurora,” Lunar Meridian complains to you as she lands before the destroyed golem, “Leave some for me, will you?” Her ears are pushed against her temple with her enchanted bandana tied above them with a clench.

You give her an apologizing, but not really, shake of your head as you take a step forward, “Hopefully, the last one.”

On your way through the hallway you stumble upon the door that you quickly recognize – the sculpture chamber. As much as you remember, this is the room you only made a single visit to – a chamber filled to the brim with pony-like sculptures by a stallion named… who? Regardless, what brings you to a surprise is the fact that the door is wide open and, despite the deep and dark shadows, you are able to see a sparkling light and a hollow sound of a working chisel.

The dungeon is further ahead, however.

>What do you do now?

>>29687663
Time to see if Sombra bothered to mindcontrol everyone in the castle. Point to the light so that Meridian can get cloaked and ambush him if he attacks us.

>>29687663
Good to know we can curbstomp sculpted golems. Check out the room.

>>29687663
Well it doesn't hurt to see how the sculpture is doing, also doesn't he have a helper with him.

You nudge your head towards the sound, and the sparks, with silence. Red Sulfur responds with an indecisive shake whilst Lunar Meridian literally charges into the darkness and disappears with a loud flutter of her wings. You enter the room and very soon, you end up being consumed by the ominous darkness (Sombra and his minions really hate the candles).

You pace through the massively open space stretched out before you, with second and even third floor present. However, aside from the single pony heavily chiseling a massive sculpture of pony out of a grayish marble, and a pair of crimson-violet braziers present, the entire room is empty. For certain, you remember almost every spot being filled a life-like statue of ponies which are now missing.

In the center of the room, desolated in his loneliness, stands Petroglyph; he is surrounded by massive boulders of all sizes and types of crystals. His pink eyes are consumed by the green flame of same kind of corruption as he strikes a couple of finishing touches for the golem before him. When you look closer you spot that every sculpture “block” in this room is surging with an eldritch, dark magic of no pony else but Sombra. It is of no surprise that, the moment Petroglyph chisels the final rock, the statue comes to life; it comes to life with a a horrible and deafening creak.

Immediately after Lunar Meridian appears out of the dark and punches Petroglyph straight in his face, the stallion stumbles in obvious pain and, in vain attempt to defend himself, he strikes and swings through the empty air before him. Lunar Meridian, then, kicks the stallion in his back and sends him rolling across the cold floor. With a present smirk - she did not turn herself invisible - she turns ready to face the golem; it is already towering in front of her. With a single strike of its hoof, the golem sends Meridian flying across the room; that could not be any less painful.

>What do you do now?

>>29687936
Why an I not surprised that Meridian just got defeated so easily by a golam, let destroy this one and see how she is doing.

>>29687936
How about you fight somepony your size?

>>29687936
FUCK

Let's try throwing a boulder from behind him into the back of his head.

Just now thought how clever it would have been if we made a spell that leeched dark magic.

>>29688087
Well, we could have picked a worse spell.

You head follows the motion of flying, and then rolling, Meridian, until she completely disappears in the shadows. You throw Sulfur a puzzled look to which he simply answers with a shrug. “She can’t use her bandana like that, it’s between protecting her hearing and becoming invisible,” he clears his throat and looks over the room in surprised excitement, “How come I never heard of this room? My master never told me we have something like this…”

“I don’t know, focus!” you yell at him; you pick one of the many leftover stones and flex it behind yourself. You aim into the darkness and practically by sound alone you fling the massive stone towards the crystal golem. There’s an echoing sound of shattering glass as your rock reaches its destination. With half of its head now missing, the living sculpture awkwardly wobbles in place until it finally finds its balance.

The crystal golem menacingly turns and starts walking towards you. You pick another stone and, with all your might, you toss it towards it once more. This time, however, the golem raises his hoof and smashes the rock out of his path, the edge of his leg shattering into thousand pieces from the impact. Despite this, the golem grinds its broken leg against the stone flooring and continues moving towards you.

Lunar Meridian rushes from the ceiling with a single, powerful dash. She places her legs around the neck of the statue and strikes both of her front hooves into its head, forcing a crack that spreads through the remains of its crystal skull. She yells in a shock and pain as the crystal golem picks her up from its head and tosses – no – smashes her against the ground. Still, the crystal golem staggers back, wobbles in place and then, finally, it lifelessly collapses.

>What do you do now?

>>29688370
Quickly run to check on Lunar. Dumb bitch is going to get herself killed at some point if she hasn't already.

>>29688370
Point to Lunar, point to golem, then shake head. Seriously leave the golems to us.

Once you make certain the golem is dead, you rush to check on Lunar Meridian; the bat pony is panting on the floor in an evident pain. You shake your head in a bit of a discontent and pity as you kneel yourself before her and offer her a hoof which she accepts. She now has visible bruises and a bloody extravasation under her eye, as well as blood dripping out of her nose and lips. Hopefully, none of this is a serious damage; you can’t know, you’re not a doctor.

“My mother… has told me once that punching rocks is useless, even as training. I guess she was right,” she says with a tired intonation, “Ugh, that hurts; I do not remember fighting you being this fucking hard,” she winces in pain.

You are not sure how to react, was that a compliment? Even if not, she’ll be unable to hear your response regardless. You make sure that she is able to keep her balance and stand straight before you let her go, after which she folds her wings and then attempts to spread them with a pitiable whimper; it might that her wings are damaged.

“Leave her be,” the voice of Red Sulfur reaches you out of the dark.

“What do you mean ‘leave her be’?” you ask in a sudden shock, “We can’t leave her here by herself.”

“I mean let her rest a bit,” he rolls his eyes and walks towards you holding an ornamental velvet crystal just barely smaller than the size of his head, “Most of the crystals here are very fragile, no wonder they shattered with your single punch. This room has some very strong and durable crystals in here; out luck the golems made out of them left.” He pauses and places the crystal in front of you, “Let’s close those leaks, some of them, now – should we?”

“What is that?” you ask him.

“I’m not sure,” he shrugs, “It’s soft and gentle on the touch but I threw it against the wall a couple of time and it looks fine; we won’t find anything better in here, unless you want to fix your body with sandstone and quartz.” He stops for a moment and then finishes with, “Also, we do not have time for you to sleep. I’ll have to fix you like this.”

>What do you do now?

>>29688600
>Can't sleep trough a repair.
Let get it over with so we stop leaking poison.
This is going to be hell for aurora.

>>29688600
Let's do it then.

“J-just a little bit of sleep?” your voice jerks as you smile sheepishly at him in your mind

He shakes his head in a negative, “It’s almost impossible to wake you up, and we don’t know how much ‘recharging’ of your magic will take; I don’t know if you know yourself? Sometimes it takes an hour, sometimes it takes more.”

“I don’t know…” you raise your shoulders in a shrug and a sigh, “Be gentle, alright?”

“I’ll have to smooth down and grind some of your flesh to apply the crystal properly,” he sighs, “Just turn your head away, and imagine that it’s somepony like the Royal Centurion or whatever who’s doing this to you instead of me.”

“What are you saying?!” you shyly exclaim at him as he strikes the chisel against something; it’s not your body, but the velvet jade he is holding. Your crystallized heart skips a beat as you, mentally, narrow your eyes and forcefully push the veil of darkness that so hypnotically attempts to cover your vision and leave all of this awkward repairing behind you. You shake your head away as you’re met eye to eye with Lunar Meridian, who’s in a pain of her own right now. There’s another strike of a chisel and another gasp on your part, this is going to be a nightmare!

Just imagine, Aurora, just imagine. You look into the unlit darkness and allow your imagination to shape your reality. Now, with every strike of the chisel and pickaxe you imagine the hooves of your friend and close companion: Golden Shield. The loving, pretty stallion is tender and caring in his repairs, and he smiles at you the way only he is able to when you look at him in a fret – he tells you not to. Certainly, you are also able to imagine, and hear, his voice.

Now, Golden Shield is rubbing a sharp emery paper around your ankle, leg, neck and face; all the places you have either a crack or a fracture in. Those are intimate places, certainly, and despite being a crystal golem with crystal skin, this body is your body and letting somepony but him touch it is… vulgar. Thankfully, it is a stallion you care about, it is Golden Shield. Finding the temptation of sleep is even harder now, as this sort of thing is similar to a relaxing massage - every mare’s dream. Still, if you can’t sleep, you can, at least, and going to enjoy this moment.

>Body Changes:
10% [+10] Velvet Jade [Crystal]
13% [-10] Crystalline Debris [Damage]

“Aurora?” Red Sulfur’s voice ruptures your imagination as you literally jump out of your trance and look at him with a creeping deceit. The stallion narrows his eyes at you in disbelief, “You were not sleeping, now were you?”

“No- I weren’t.”

“I must say,” Lunar Meridian’s voice speaks as she flexes her, thankfully healthy, if not slightly bend, wings, “The speed and effectiveness you’ve repaired her with is freaking impressive, for a stallion.” The bat nods at you.

“Thanks, I guess,” he answers the deaf companion with a yawn, “Oh right,” he gives her a harsh nod.

Oh yeah, it wasn’t Golden Shield, it was Red Sulfur who have repaired you. You touch the place of your fixed fractures to find a surprisingly soft and gentle material in bright, velvet colors. It’s barely been ten minutes.

“What?” he asks you once he notices your monotone reaction.

“Thank you,” your voice grinds in a mutter, “For fixing me, that is.”

“Well, it’s best for all of us if you don’t die, Aurora,” he shrugs his shoulders as his hood tightens over his head.

There’s nothing else to waste your time with in the golem chamber. Petroglyph is corrupted by the veil of Sombra’s dark magic, and he’s not going to make any more sculptures anytime soon. It appears that the moment he finishes a golem, it is ordered to leave the castle and either patrol it, or do something else; you might stumble upon some of the stronger variety in the future.

Regardless, you leave the stallion behind. The three of you continue on your way through the hallway until you are faced with an empty room and an iron, porcupine gate to the Royal Dungeon. There are no guards here either, although the door appears to be locked. Lunar Meridian strikes her hooves against each other in a gesture that shows that she got this and then, she charges through the room towards the entrance.

She ignores your warning to be careful but, thankfully, she’s able to stop just in time to avoid the trap that activates. Suddenly, hundreds of rusty, metallic chains rain from the top of the ceiling and crash against the floor with an eminent, visible force. The curtain of chains is now blocking you from reaching the dungeon; it wouldn’t be that hard if every single chain was not covered in spikes and what appears to be leaking, acid poison.

>What do you do now?

>>29689099
So those blocks of stone in the carver room can help us get through this bullshit.

>>29689099
Where are the chains comig from? Throw some of the crystals or stones at the chains to see what happens.
We could try to knot them together with telekinesis and create a path that way.

I'm pausing here, thanks for playing. We'll see if I can run tomorrow. The dungeon has something very interesting.

>>29689307
Again I find myself surprised how intimate and immersive you can be with your writing, especially with Aurora's imagining or Shield here. I feel like if you were to start another quest you could really implement that somehow since you're so good at it.

>>29689832

>>29690713

>>29691418

>>29692554

>>29693016

You raise your head towards the tall ceiling to see if there’s anything that is holding the chains in place. You pick up a piece of a crystal nearby and then, you toss it into the ceiling with all of your strength. The heavy crystal stone flies through the air, ending up hitting several of the chains on its way. Your toss throws the chains in a chaotic quake as they thrust the chains nearby in a ringing and increasingly cacophonic melody. Your tossed crystal, eventually, reaches the ceiling and, after an impact, it breaks into four pieces; neither of the chains appears to be damaged.

The pieces of the crystal land in front of you with a dull and hollow sound; they are covered in yellowish poison that is quickly eating through them like white ants through timber. Red Sulfur’s face has a visible bleakness as he notices this; he throws a glance towards spiked chains and, pitifully, mutters, “Those traps are awfully ludicrous…”

Meanwhile, Lunar Meridian has somehow managed to follow the reasoning behind your actions and has lifted herself as close to the ceiling as possible, staying away from the long curtain of murderous chains. The bat pony hovers a few inches away in a deep though and ponder before she yells down to you as loud as possible, “They are coming from the freaking ceiling, Aurora. I don’t think it’s possible to rip them off unless you’re a fucking dragon!”

Tartarus curses, you mentally bite your lip and throw your head in annoyance. You can only think of one way dealing with this frustrating trap: it is magic. You draw the symbols on the dark magic on the canvas of your mind and release a torrent of dark energy, like a growing, mad wave, towards the chains before yourself. You use your powerful, telekinetic hold to knot every single chain in your presence together. You toss them away, clearing a path.

>Body Changes:
18% [-1] Alicorn ‘Dark’ Magic [Magic]
10% [+1] Volatile Arcane [Magic]

The three of you rush through the opening pathway and reach the closed porcupine gate in a matter of seconds, long before your magic fades away and your hold over the chains is no longer present. Lunar Meridian pushes both of her legs against the leaning walls and grabs each of the portcullis’ grilles with her hooves. Like a mad monkey she attempts to break the gate out of its hinges but, eventually, she gives up. There’s an obvious unhappiness and defeat in her eyes when you, with only a couple of bucks, manage to break the gate off and send it riding down the stairs.

You, Red Sulfur and Lunar Meridian trail into the dungeon. The jail is isolated; practically all of the iron and rusty cells are long opened and abandoned. If there were any prisoners here at some points, they have either escaped or been brainwashed into serving the King with them having no reason to remain here. However – however - you hush when Red Sulfur gives you a gesticulation to remain silent. You give Lunar Meridian the same king of gesture, to which she simply harrumphs but eventually, obeys to. She lands and hides herself behind the wall the same way as you do.

You are able to hear a foul whine of pain and a horrible sound of an iron horseshoe punching somepony over and over again. In the deep darkness, they are only ever present and maleficent purple crystal lamps present; you are able to see blurred shadows of a mare chained to broken and small stallion who is practically torturing her in there.

>What do you do now?

>>29694001
Oh shit it's the Vizier and her bro. Break in. Be M E N A C I N G.

>>29694001
This look like a good time to give this pony a suplex of his life.

>>29694001
Time to choke a dude.

File: CS Fair Trade II.png (1MB, 1102x1199px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 1102x1199px

You stomp your hoof and simply whisper to your companions that you are about to go all in. You step out of the corner with a dangerous and maleficent presence; your gemstone eyes are burning with scare. Before you is a massive cell, it is one that has long been unused and forsaken. Even more, half of the interior of this cell is a non-grinded and unfinished crystal carcass; Fair Trade, the Vizier, is chained to the massive crystal formation by chains.

You spot the mare that is barely able to stand on her two heavily injured legs weighted down by an ebonite ball and a rustic, bone-crunching chain. Her bleeding front legs are raised above her – they are vehemently holding her in her position, with cuffs restricting her every movement. Her “regal” mane is now crunched, slashed and in utter disarray; the usually bright green color of her hair is now putrid dark. She has no coat and, practically, none of clothes; her naked body is covered in days of abuse from her jailor. Her entire body is covered in all kinds of bruises, rends and cuts.

Salt Sphere is standing in a menacing silence as nearly his entire body is consumed by the leaning shadows; his metallic hooves are covered in fresh as well as long dried out blood. He has grown tall and bulky in those two years… His head slowly turns to face you as the green veil of corruption passes by his eyes. It is then that Meridian bursts out of her hiding and strikes one of her leg towards his face, only to have her attacked blocked. The stallion attempts to push her off but, Meridian simply twists her entire body and sends the stallion flying into the ground.

A silent crack follows.

“Don’t… don’t hurt him,” the lips of Fair Trade shiver as she is barely able to lift her head to face you.

>What do you do now?

>>29694272
Don't worry Fair, I'll make sure to only knock him out.

>>29694272
You're in no position to order us. But we won't hurt him.

>>29694272
Let get her out of those chains. Believe me Fair, I want to back hoof him for what he force onto Nifty in Dragon Ridge.

>>29694409
Are you fucking insane?

>>29694417
How am I insane. Is it because her brother is still awake and possessed?

>>29694429
It's fucking Fair Trade. The Vizier. The one who is responsible for most of this shit.

>>29694409
Dont let her out or tell her about Nifty. We can use this as leverage to make her tell us why she went after the supposedly useless book.

>>29694436
She been striped of her powers by sombre. didn't you read that she is heavily damage likely from the fight she had awhile ago with sombre, or are you wanting her to stay there as we go trough all her bullshit traps to find the crystal heart.

“I’m not going to hurt him,” you say as you turn to face the imprisoned mare, “But not because you told me to.”

“Just knock him up,” he lips painfully curl as her emerald irises shine at you from under the shadow of her eyes.

“I know,” you rudely raise your head at her, “As I said, don’t order me around.” You look at Lunar Meridian who’s looking over the knocked out body of Salt “Monument” Sphere; it did not take much to take the stallion out.

Fair Trade bends her head in a painful cough as she then attempts to force a smile upon her lips. “I’m surprised you’re still alive, Aurora Flare,” she says, “Quite surprised – in fact; I would have thought you were long dead.”

“Just your luck I’m not, then,” you stomp your hoof in her direction.

“I see you have the Royal Agent with you as well,” she creepily looks over in Meridian’s direction.

“Freaking right,” she quickly hovers to her shoves her hoof in her face, “It looks that that Sombra tricked you as well? You don’t look so good, oh Vizier. Well, don’t worry - we’re going to beat him the fuck up!”

“So this is the Vizier?” Red Sulfur glances behind your shoulder, “This is the first time I see her so close...”

“I usually look more fabulous than this,” her voice cracks as she spits blood on the cell floor beneath her.

>What do you do now?

>>29694523
Alright, no more games. I understand killing Sombra, but when I went to the base of the Rebellion Song. Guess what I found?
You personally went after a 'harmless' rebellion to get a 'useless' book. I will only ask this once: What trade did you make with the book, and why do you want it back so bad?

>>29694523
We should patch her up.

“Are you the one who put all those traps through the entire castle?” Red Sulfur asks with a narrow of his eyes.

“Guilty as charged,” she answer him with a tired exhale and painful smirk, “When I heard that there were news that Sombra, somehow, emerged from Tartarus I decided to protect myself… and the Empire, with as much traps as I could. But as you see now,” her eyes blink as she looks over the chains, “It did not help much, he ignored them all.”

“I have some questions to ask you, Trade,” you place your hoof against her chest, “I need some answers here.”

“Heh,” she sighs in return, “How about you help me out here, first?” she asks you straight. Fair Trade pulls her front legs in a pitiable but overall useless attempt; the heavy ebonite stone barely lift from their place and the metal chains barely jiggle in a response.

“What?” you ask her in a shocked retort, “You’re not going anywhere before I deem it necessary.”

“Crude,” she lowers her head in a fake sadness, “He cursed my horn.I can’t really use my magic.”

You strike your hoof against her chest causing her an immense, visibly pain. You lean your head to face her face to face, directly, “Cut the bullshit, I know that, while I was busy saving Golden Shield, you went after the Rebellion Song. Were they not ‘harmless’, Trade? Why were you seeking the ‘useless’ book? I’m only asking this once, Trade.”

“…Tche,” she looks to the side and rolls his eyes at you, “It’s simple, they stole the book from me – I didn’t deem it any necessary to take it back unless I had to. I’ve consumed as much magic as I could from it, that’s what the phantom told me, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted the book for myself to find a way to drain its last magic from it.”

“And what deal did you make with the Crystal Note to be allowed its magic?”

“I don’t see why it matters, maybe you can free me and I’ll tell you.”

>What do you do now?

>>29694872
You better tell me. Let free her, we do need her to get trough her bullshit traps.

>>29694872
You are in no fucking position to negotiate, Fair. I hope you're proud of yourself. You're nothing but a hipocrite. You called me a traitor to become Sombra's apprentice, but as soon as you had the note you went and groveled at his hooves. Obeyed his orders better than I ever could have.

Punch her some. I plan on breaking her horn, then once she gets us through her traps we kill her.

>>29695014
Wow you need to dull those edges.

>>29695026
I refuse. I'vs been waiting fucking FOREVER for this moment. I will abuse the shit out of Fair. I will do anything short of phisically raping her. I hate the Vizier.

>>29695053
Dude she already physically and magically raped by Sombre, even with everything she try to do failed.
She went from apprentice to prisoner and forcefully beaten up by her own brother, So what ever we do to her is just pointless. Also we still need her to get trough her bullshit traps.

>>29695103
>So what ever we do to her is just pointless.
It serves to give me/Aurora the self destructive satisfaction of making the one who killed her suffer by our own hoof. But yeah we're definitely going to use her to get through the traps.

>>29695150
So pointless revenge while the main bad guy might be coming back and we still don't know where the crystal heart is.

“You’re in no position to negotiate here. I hope you are proud of yourself. You're nothing but a hypocrite. I gave you the note to defeat Sombra and instead you come to grovel at his hooves and obey his very and single command.”

“I’m the one who should be angry here,” she spits onto the ground in a short taunt, “What did you tell me exactly - that the ‘Crystal Note’ is the only thing that could defeat him? Sure, it’s my fault for trusting you Aurora Flare, but I actually decided to be nice and went to face Sombra with the Note in my hooves. What happened? It was useless, even after accepting its deal Sombra has still defeated me; but, I’m not angry. I’m not stone-faced about this situation as you are. I wished to stay alive, and so I did. And I had a chance to improve the Empire in his absence.”

You grab her by the horn with your crystallized hoof and then, you pull her towards yourself; you are extremely angry, “You didn’t improve anything, Fair Trade; you didn’t save shit. Look at the Empire, all of this is your burden.”

“None of us expected Sombra to be still alive – not me, not my brother, not you and not even the forces of Equestria. But I’ll humor you: so what?” she asks you with a twisted, growing smile, “I can name a dozen of reasons why killing me is a bad idea, but I’m sure you know some of them already. You need me to pass my traps, correct?”

“We can find a way to pass the traps, Trade,” your crystal hoof squeezes over her horn, “What was your deal…?”

“The moment I am dead the phantom of the Crystal Note is going to take over my body,” she sneers, “But that’s not even the greatest reason, Aurora. I’m carrying a foal in me right now; do you think you can kill a pregnant mare?”

“You… you are pregnant? I don’t believe your bullshit, Fair Trade – I know for certain that you are cunning cunt.”

“Exactly,” she smirks at you, “Sombra won’t kill me because he doesn’t want the phantom freed and you, you won’t kill me because you’ll be killing an innocent foal. Of course, this was not a measure against you exactly but…”

Red Sulfur and Lunar Meridian both exchange tentative glances, though Meridian is showing less of a care and more a surprise towards you. The bat pony swings herself towards the ceiling and lays herself on the stones, observing.

“Aurora,” Red Sulfur approaches you hesitantly, “I know how horrible she is and what she did but, it might be useful to use her help. I'm stopping you as you have stopped me before: your revenge can wait.”

>What do you do now?

>>29695252
Fucking great. As if Sombra wouldn't be our biggest problem, we now got a ticking time bomb in the form of Fair Trade. How the fuck does this not matter? She isn't an immortal and will free the phantom eventually, who is just as bad if not worse.

>>29695252
Who is the father? And what sort of threat is the Note? I know that if Sombra hasn't killed your ass yet it must be extremely powerful.

I don't trust anything she says for a second.

>>29695252
Well Trade just put herself into the worst/best situation ever. The phantom really hate the king and freeing him would mean the end of Sombre, but we would be killing a foal at the same time. Sulfur should have the eye check if she is really pregnant and if so who is the father? Let her free so we can get trough this trap filled castle.

“I don’t trust anything you say for even a second,” you finally release her horn from your hold.

“You don’t have to be, we can all be ignorant. You don’t want me to starve and die here, now do you?” she smiles.

“How powerful is the Note? I know that if Sombra hasn't killed your ass yet it must be extremely powerful.”

“I’m not sure,” she shakes her head, “But you had your own small talk with the phantom, have you not? He is not really a friend of King Sombra, he was used by him. I’m sure that if Sombra will be able to defeat him, it’ll be close.”

“And who’s the father?” you move your head closer once again, “Make up his name on the spot, come on – do it.”

The bruised and injured mare sighs under her breath and, with disappointment, and even some kind of pity, she shakes her head at you, “I don’t have to make up his name, Aurora Flare. He is a stallion who has managed to pass through my trial of traps and surprise me. He did that by himself; however, he said he did all of this to show me his diligence and how much he wanted to serve me and the Empire; an impressive feat, I made him the new Overseer.”

Red Sulfur literally spits the air out of his lungs in a shock, “Your lover is that asshole pony from Manehattan?!”

“Oh, so you do know his name,” Fair Trade sneers at you gingerly, “He’s so wonderful and hardworking. There’s no way I could say no when he started making advances – I knew he was after position alone but… he is incredible in bed, he’s a sex fiend.”

“That’s enough,” you grumble as you turn yourself around and prepare for a kick; she flinches when you buck and completely destroy one of the chains holding her in place. You follow with the second, the third and finally, the fourth chain and a set of ebonite crystals. Fair Trade falls on her knees and hooves with a relaxed, if not slightly painful, expression. The Vizier catches her breath and finally, with a struggle, she stands up and gives you a nod.

You do not return it.

“Are you guys done there already?” Lunar Meridian comments from the top of the jail-cell as she stretches her muscles by pushing up one of the wooden pillars, “We’re here to kick Sombra’s ass, are we not?”

“Yes- We are done!” you scream at Lunar Meridian who ignores you; of course, she’s fucking deaf – she just waves.

Meanwhile, Fair Trade manages to approach her unconscious brother with a struggling wobble following every single one of her steps. The mare gently moves her hoof across her mane and adjusts it, just barely. Then, she lifts her hoof and kicks her brother right across his stomach, “Get up, you lazy sack of dirt, your sister is being taken away!”

“What are you doing?!” Red Sulfur exclaims at her in shock.

“This is the only way he’s going to wake up from his curse,” she ponders as she grabs him by his shoulders and begins shaking him, “I’m not completely sure how Sombra’s spell works but, if the Royal Agent is not under his control, I’m sure there’s a way aside from being the master of Dark Arts – or maybe I am wrong, Aurora Flare?”

“You said that the deal does not matter – how does it no matter?!” you ask her with growing and hostile grind of your head, “You’re a ticking bomb. You are not immortal, Fair Trade; the phantom is going to be freed eventually.”

She gives you an egotistic and nonchalant shrug: “But I don’t really care what happens after I am dead, Aurora.”

>What do you do now?

>>29695902
The only way we manage to break the curse on Lunar is her strong hatred for lazy stallions so I try to get Sulfur to kiss her as I held her down. If the curse only break when the pony has a fear worst then what the king is showing to them, then it should break the curse.

>>29695902
Not even about your own brother or child? I know you're no saint, but even you aren't that big of an asshole. Admit it, you where just desperate to do anything when Sombra was about to kill you, not thinking about the consequences.
Unlike you, I refused an almost identical offer, saving both you and your brother from getting killed by a possessed Flare. I didn't agree to an unfair trade, knowing it would only make matters worse. Nice to see I did the right thing, even if it killed me.
I wouldn't wake him up, even torturing you wasn't enough to break his curse.

I'm pausing here for today and I'll be taking a break tomorrow as my holiday ends and I'll be returning to work and usual schedule. Sadly, we were unable to finish the CYOA during this week so we'll have to prolong it for now. Thank you all very much for playing and sticking around - much appreciated; I hope you have been enjoying this long session, the story overall and the CYOA so far.

>>29695902
I would assume that a mother would care for the future of her child but it seems I have overestimated you.

I mean, we can still kill her.

>>29696367
Why would aroura kill a foal. You're worse then Sombre for wanting to kill a pregnant mare.

>>29696496
Guess we'll just hold her and torture her daily until the foal is born, then kill her. I'm sure at that point we'll have figured out how to deal with Note. We sure as hell are going to kill the Overseer as soon as we can. Anybody Fair admires and respects deserves death. It might make her feel bad if we kill him in front of her so we should do that.

File: baitpony loves the taste.png (69KB, 405x431px) Image search: [Google]

69KB, 405x431px

>>29696863
I fill like you're baiting, but if you're not baiting then you have more edges then bismuth.

>>29696980
I feel only edges for Fair. My hatred for her us immeasurable. I've been soft the entire quest, only now am I playing by Edgequest's rules. Fair deserves to suffer.

>>29697594
I do think daily torture is too much though. I got carried away with that one.