Ponysona 4, the Campaign.

LoganAura wrote:Zeela: Daisoujo chuckles quietly and shakes his head. "I had no intentions of making you uncomfortable, Zeela. Is there anything I can do to help that?" Daisoujo tilts his head, nodding slightly towards a temple. "Maybe if we had a bit of privacy you'd feel a bit better."

"Well... I more just am unsure how to best ask the questions, I've got on my mind..." Zeela mutters as they head into the temple regardless then just asks outright. "I mean, how'd you get wrapped into this? And how'd you get those powers you showed in the TV Realm?"

"Yes. For something as important as this, absolutely." replies Tilt, reassuringly, pressing her hoof up on the bottom of the other filly's chin and gently pushing to make her look up again. "Nopony can face their demons alone. I didn't. I couldn't have. And we're not like other ponies any more, we can't just lock them away and bury them in our hearts. Sooner or later, they come to us, and we have no choice but to face them, or die trying." She moves her hoof away from Alice and rests it against her own chest for emphasis.

"When you do meet her, remember - she's you. Tell me, what would you say if I asked you to go and hurt your brother?"

Tilt doesn't let the filly respond, a moment for her expression to change was enough.

"Exactly. She wouldn't either. Because she's still you, and you're still her. It's still not going to be easy when it happens, though. Because we hide those parts away because they can hurt us, but we can't hurt them because they're still part of us - it was only because the other ponies managed to hold the other part of me back long enough for me to understand that I've survived to be here. There's no doubt in my mind that your brother will stand up for you too when the time comes - I've seen the proof."

She glances meaningfully at the pin on Alice's lapel - the offer obvious without the need for words. They could be there too, as friends and allies, beyond the squabbles of higher powers - all she had to do was to accept. An exchange of gifts, to cement a new friendship.

George opened his beak to say something...
Roll (Persuasion: Persuading Ebony to talk about it.)

Roll:

(Proccing Try Again!)
Then stopped himself, cleared his throat and started again.
"Well it can't cost you anything to talk about it now can it?"
Roll (Persuasion, Try Again!: Persuading Ebony to talk about it. For reals this time.)

Roll:

Zeela: "I... Simply put, I followed Alice. She found her way into the TV world because she wanted to help "The colt who's hurting", and we got our personas from Kuro, awakening the sides of ourselves. Sadly, we haven't gone through the same sort of self-discovery, meaning that Daisoujo and Alice aren't our true selves." Daisoujo slips into the small building, picking up a bag and slipping on a uniform over his mawashi. "He starts buttoning his shirt with his feathers and makes a quiet, contemplative noise. "I don't actually know how Alice actually found her way in, but she wanted to help Shiro, I believe."

George: Ebony looks down and says. "I... Haven't really been eating recently. I think it's the stress of three jobs and trying to save enough money up." She looks down at herself. "I know it's not the healthiest thing, but I need to earn enough..." Ebony lsighs softly before shaking herself. "I've lost a lot of weight recently, because my appetite's been non-existant out of worry for a foal I know."

Tilt: Alice looks at Tilt, eyes wide and teary before hugging her, slightly sobbing into Tilt's chest for a moment before pulling back. "T-thank you, M... Nee-chan." Alice sniffles a bit and collects the fish as it is delievered. "I'll... See you around." She pushes the cart quickly away.

Spoiler:

Tilt hugs back. "Us little ponies have to stick together..." Tilt pauses, about to give the obvious response, when it hits her. No, it wasn't just childish affection. Nor just a new friendship. A far older, and more fundamental one. "Imoto-chan." she finishes, pressing her nose against the filly's nose for a moment before pulling back as well.

---

"See you soon!" Tilt watches Alice leave, and idly traces a little wheel on the top of the counter. "A sister across lifetimes." she mumbles to herself. She didn't know where this whole ordeal would take her, or how far she'd get to go, but she was glad she'd had the chance to meet Alice properly.

"It's funny how Shiro seems to be at the start of most of this..." Zeela comments. "Seeing Shiro in danger was what got me into this too."

Daisoujo nods slowly and sighs. "I don't think he truly is the root of things. He just rests at the center of the web that entangles us all." Daisoujo finishes getting dressed and softly trots beside Zeela. "Thank you for speaking with me, miss. It's definately better to speak with somepony around my age rather than simply Alice." Daisoujo flaps his wings once and, with remarkable ease, flies off.

Spoiler:

Zeela smiles and waves him off... Agreeing with him that Shiro isn't the source of everything that is goin' on... But he was but only the starting point for most of these pieces. Then afterwards, the zebra remembers something that she's been meaning to do since she had woken up, and she headed to inform Dojima of basically everything that's happened since she and the group went to the Carnival of Lies...

George looks worried at this.
"So how long has she been like this? Speaking of which do you know what symptoms she displays?"
I guess the root of this is whatever problem the Filly has. Help her and maybe Ebony too.

"He. I... Haven't actually seen him in a few weeks. I've had to deal with my husband enough and I can't really focus on spending time with him." Ebony sighs, standing up. "I'm worried more for him than myself right now."

George tilts his head as he mentally corrects himself and processes the implications.
"I see, that is worrying. I can't really recommend much more than keeping your chin up and making yourself eat once in a while regardless of you appetite then, you would be in an even worse position than you are currently if you collapsed from hunger."
Family troubles. Dang, I have no idea how I can help with those. Rather close to home in any case...dammit! I'm doing it again.

"Y-yes, sir. Thank you." She sighs a bit, walks a bit wobbly, and grabs an apple from her purse. "I'll try to remind myself..."

Ebony looks at George and nods, smiling softly.

Spoiler:

Tilt chatters idly while she prints the receipt for the pony in front of her. "You're lucky you got here when you did, Mrs. Serofan, we were just about to close up shop." she says, passing the receipt over, "I'm surprised your husband didn't come too, are you going to be okay with this many groceries?" An annoyed grunt issues from a stallion standing just behind and to the right of Mrs. Serofan.

"Oh yes, we'll be just fine, Miss Tilt. Thank you for your concern." responds the mare, hitching up the two pony cart and leaving. Tilt follows her to the door, and waves them goodbye.

"See you, Mrs. Serofan!" she calls, as she slides the grating shut and seals it shut with a padlock. "Tiānxià dàshì, fēnjiǔbìhé, hé jiǔ bì fēn.*" she whispers, enchanting the lock with her horn like usual.

She yawns and heads back upstairs, flumping back onto the couch and pulling a book off the shelf to read while she waited for the Midnight Channel to come on.

Spoiler:

After fully informing the Police Chief about how the whole TV Realm events were going, and politely asking that maybe they should look into who this Kuro person was. Zeela just headed back to her apartment and tried a bit of working on her whole Fire-Trick power... After making sure she had some antifire potions setup to use at the first sign of any bit of her place catching fire... They were used more times then the Winged Zebra would like to admit... She was happy she mostly used only fireproof stuff, a little habit she caught from growing up with a pyromaniac of a father. Eventually she passed out, but luckly woke up in time for the midnight channel to appear.

Melody headed home after helping Shiro dust his apartment off, trying to work on her homework and practice her instrument playing a bit...Though, as it got closer to midnight, she paused, looking at the TV and wondering what'd come on the Midnight Channel tonight...

Icing paced. The shop was dark. Unlike normally when he was on the clock, his cell phone was in plain view sitting on the counter. He sent out that text, so everypony should be watching. He continued to push his broom, cleaning up the day's messes, but his eyes keep switching to the clock, and then to the large TV in the corner.

George started up his television when he got home, leaving it the first channel he found, and sat at his desk with a half-finished letter in front of him. He had a lot to think about and didn't want to risk another coffee mug by making it before the Midnight Channel came on.
...I'm going to need to buy some glue and fix that one I dropped...

The screen flashes on to what appears to be a stone building, almost like a castle with many stockades and shackles riddling the walls. A single pony stands in front, ready for the camera. A mare, that much is obvious. She shares the same hues with Icing Sugar, though more deeply saturated. Long legs and sleek, lithe body are vivid sapphire tones, while her full and luscious hair is a dark cerise. Her features were slight; a cute, elegantly pointed nose and large liquid-gold bedroom eyes turned to face the screen, yet keeping her back to the camera. She gives the screen and viewers all a slow, cheeky grin as her back arched. Fans of reddish-brown blades, almost like wings, decorated her back... clinking with anticipation as she shudders. A slow turn begins with finishing arching her back and bringing her front low, presenting herself.

Her voice is an intense husky tone. "My, you all certainly come on strong... Not that I mind. Do whatever you want to me... I'll be whatever you need, I'm just a plaything to mould to your deepest desires." A hoof raises to push up immaculate hair behind an ear, revealing barbed hooks along the edge of rusty iron horseshoes that she combs through it, sighing lustfully. "Then I get to do whatever I want to you, I promise it'll be like nothing you've ever experienced." the mare chuckles once, the words Sugar's dungeon appearing on the bottom of the screen in immaculate cursive before the image fades

The screen flashes to white, before flashing back on with a green, half visible stallion skeleton with a wide, evil smirk. The stallion chuckles a bit, in the same space that Sugar had just occupied moments before. "Hello, and welcome to my dungeon. I hope you all will get... Close to me." The stallion drips a bit of small slime from his teeth and chuckles. "But I'm sure none of you wish it, so... I'll force it myself. After all, nopony wants to grow close to a monster." The stallion shudders a little bit, and the camera pans back, showing diseased ground underneath him as he spreads his wings, more slime dripping down. "And there's no greater monster than I." in rough, harsh script is what appears to be old equestrian

Spoiler:

The screen fades to black again, and this time no pony appears on it. However Zeela, watching her tv, hears a faint sound, and after a minute a blue pegasus mare falls out of it, tumbling forward.

Zeela just blinks and stares in shock at seeing the newcomer exit her TV.

Mass Text:

"So... Anyone know either of these two? I don't recognize them, but I think the one is the same as the one Pearl Mage talked about being on yesterday."

Mass Text:
"A pony came out of my TV..."

"What...the buck...Is wrong with this town!?" Melody asked herself, blinking at the scene for a moment...Those blades were really rusty-looking, was that even...Ugh, and what she'd said...Ponies were completely and utterly insane! Was it something in the water? Was she going to go crazy too? She blinked, but didn't get long to reflect on the twisted nature of "Sugar's Dungeon" before the next 'show' came on...That one, despite the clear decay theme, was somehow less disturbing, though her intuition told her it wouldn't be something she'd want to tangle with herself...Not that there'd be a choice...Melody focused for a moment, reinforcing her disguise a bit as a momentary distraction as she read the script...Still, she completely and utterly failed at deciphering the script, concluding it must have been Saddle Arabian or something...Still, she tried to get a better look at both shows to try and get some insight into them...For the moment, Melody's phone just rang as she tried to concentrate, the texts present if not being read just yet.

Midnight Channel Checks:

"Ugh, that was a new one. Now where did that little snake g-what?" The blue-white pony looks around, taking in her surroundings. "This... is not an airship. And why am I-" She feels her body up and down for a second, before mumbling, "Weirder things have happened.... You! With the stripes! have you seen any mad-gods traipsing around recently?"