Ponysona 4, the Campaign.

"Relax, Soul. I bet it's just somepony who thought your antics yesterday made for a good ghost story. You look a little pale all the time, anyway." replies Tilt, deciding against touching the startled pegasus, "Besides, if the ghost kills us it won't get to go to your 'Hello to Ineighba' party."

Tilt pauses, then closes her mouth, frowning and furrowing her brow. No, better not to say anything yet, matters were serious enough without laying it on top of the ghost talk. Good to have a bit of fun, risky gambits could come later. One thing at a time.

Melody can gleam from gossip that Mizumi is one of the hotspots for teenage ponies as either date spots, or for places to eat with close family. with her knowledge of Shiro, she can happily understand it's more of the latter feeling than the former. Shiro shrugs softly, his mood a bit dampened still. "I'm doing ok. Though.... I'm not really helpful in the fights am I? Arachne learns about them, and then I just stand around bonking baddies with beads..." Shiro sighs. "I don't want to run anymore..."
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Blood smirks a little bit and walks over to Icing with a sly smirk. "Good way of twisting words prankster. How about... Well, if rumor serves you're next class isn't for a while. How about you and I play a bit of a game. I win.... You show me where that film was taken. You win, I'll mostly ignore you. As a matter of fact, you can choose a possible game for us. After all, you're a 'foal'. I'm sure you love playing games with other ponies."
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Rumor taps her chin, looking at a calender. "How about two days from now, this saturday? School's closed the next day so we can sleep in, and as an added bonus, we can try and get a big group for a Test of Courage! I wonder how many ponies we can get to gether... Let's see..." Rumor starts mulling over names, pretending to be oblivious to Soul's fear, as it's what she thinks the mare would like at this moment.
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Dojima slightly stares at Zeela, pulling out a scribbled drawing and passing it to her, the drawing like a child's rendition of Sugar in all her glory. "Was this one of them? I saw Nanako drawing this two nights ago...'

Zeela nods. "Yes... That one we've dealt with. Thankfully... It was odd... There was a second shadow that was pared with it for some reason. but after we fought that one... We were too tired and weak from battle to move on. So we've decided to take today off... To recover."

"This saturday, then." Tilt glances over at Soul again, then decides to change the subject. "Hey, you remember how I was telling you about the big shadow mystery we've been working on? Things are picking up fast. Arcana's been lying to us, and some of us are looking to break away and start our own team before he decides we've outlived our usefulness. But there's a lot of secrets that neither he nor his enemy are letting anypony else know."

The unicorn looks about, and leans in a little conspiratorially.

"I need your help, Rumour. It's a little fast, but you're the best pony I know for finding things out. Arcana's trapped himself, but Zeela's going to be looking to release him soon, and there's not much time to get a lot of mysteries solved before he and his rival can collectively lock us out."

Spoiler:

Rumor looks at Tilt, biting her lip. "I'm... I'm really just a storyteller. I don't know how I can help... But..." Rumor looks between Soul and Tilt, smiling softly. "I guess I can't become a good writer if I don't learn from the source material."

Spoiler:

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Dojima nods. "Of course, it's something that I've learned on the force. Going all out leads to burn out. Same for stretching yourself too thin. Maybe you should hold off on going back into the television for a short while. Maybe until next week or so? There's a bit of rain planned for sunday, so check it that day to see what's going on."

"And I'm really just a little filly that likes to run and helps watch the store a few days a week." replies Tilt with a smile, as a thin card with the emblem of the moon on the back slides across the table to stop in front of Rumour.

"We're all little ponies, when it comes down to it. But we have to try."

She reaches into her bag, and holds out three little brass pins with the design of a red plum blossom on them, then looks to the other two.

Soul relaxes a little at the change in subject, still uncomfortable, if no longer looking to bolt. "I'm glad you're with us, Rumour." She sidles up to Tilt to lean into her. She continues a little more jovially with the contact, "Mind if I call you Rummy? If we're gonna be allies, Rumour is fine, Rummy is awesome!" The pun doesn't quite make it through to Neighponese, falling flat.

"For the record Tilt, I'm still feeling things out. I trust you fully, but I still see what this all means. I've only met Arcana once, and he seemed nice, if a bit creepy. So what are those for? And that card?"

"That... Would be wiser... But... I mostly hate having one place half-done and another one that we've yet to even see... And the second one is basically holding up the closest the group had to that "Mysterious Mentor" pony... Sure, one of the team lacks any trust in that pony... Or whatever he is... But regardless of his goals I still trust him to be helping arm this little group with knowledge." Zeela rambles.

 "You'd be surprised how helpful just being able to scan is..." Melody said quietly, thinking. "You find out the chinks in their armor, those who can take advantage can exploit it, bring a foe down long before it can do any real damage...I'd imagine it gives you a lot of insight into how others work as well, realize it or not...Every group needs a tactician...Still, even if you don't think that's enough, you stand with us when it'd be easier to flee...I'd say you're doing about the furthest thing from running, Shiro..." She looked at him, taking a breath. "Sorry, I didn't mean to ramble...I think Zeela's rubbing off on me. Quick, am I growing stripes?" She feigned worry, looking over herself., but she looked at him, hoping some of that had gotten through, at least...She liked to think it all made sense.

Icing looks to the sun; watches and cell phone clocks were so mainstream. He smirks at the suggestion. "I could be patently unfair when given the advantage of the field of battle, but I was raised to be nothing if not sporting. If you want something that will last a while, we cannot exactly just go with twenty questions, so how about a riddle contest? We keep going until one person does not get an appropriate answer in one try, and then their opponent correctly gets the next riddle. I figure it is better to avoid things too physical that would give an Earther an advantage, and unfortunately I was not fortunate enough to be born with a cranial protrusion."

He gives a bow. "If this is acceptable, I shall even allow you the advantage of striking the first blow, though I would understand if you would shy away from such a thing."

"It seems like he's perfectly happy and healthy.
George takes a sidealong glance at Ebony.
"So what about him has you worried?"

"The pins are enchanted with a little hedge charm I learned to help ward off bad weather. It's... okay, it's not much, but it's the strongest one I learned to make stick." explains Tilt, "And you know what the card is, Soul - you have one too, remember? Tartarus, you were standing right next to me when we got them out of the chest!" she looks back at Rumour, "It's not really the easiest thing to explain over coffee, but it's like a guardian spirit that you can call on to help you in the TV world."

Ebony frowns and kicks her hoof. "That's precisely it. His last guardians died less than a month ago, and he's... like that. Not the healthy part, that's been quite a lot of work on my end, but... He's acting as though it never happened. I'm a bit worried that he'll..." Ebony bites her lip gingerly and looks over at him again."
---
Dojima nods a bit at that. "Honestly, if I were in Tilt's horseshoes I'd be a bit hesitant to trust anypony who's sort of a forced mentor myself. You never know just what sort of agendas they have." Dojima writes a few notes, hiding it from Zeela's view before continuing. "But if you ask me there's a saying in equestrian. "Keeps your friends close and your enemies closer". If Tilt is worried about this mentor pony, I myself would recommend keeping him within arm's reach. But that's just the policepony in me talking."
---
"A contest of riddles, eh?" Blood smirks, walking around Icing and flicking his tail as he hums. "Sounds interesting, and if you'll allow me to go first...

"I am the seeable yet I am unseen
for without reflection, unable to gleam
a childish contest, a small tete-a-tete
lost once seen is unseen, with burning regret."
--
Shiro lets out a small little laugh at Melody's antics, and she can almost see his smile grow just a little bit wider. "No, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised if you did. And... thanks. I'm trying my hardest not to hide and run. It's still hard though.. Mom and Dad were actually historians and focused on Samurai and ninjas respectively, both were honorable and fought for what they believed in... I grew up knowing that running wasn't the ideal thing to do and that standing to fight was better and what you should do... heh, who knew..."
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Rumor attaches the pin to her lapel, looking at it back and forth with a happy sound. "Nice design. As for this..." Rumor floats the tarot card, looking at it. "Moon... The card of lies, illusions, and trickery huh? Any reason for this?" Rumor's words were a bit teasing here, but the other two knew she was actually asking why.

Tilt looks up at the ceiling, making a show of thinking about it, "Welllllll, I guess the moon could represent you as a storyteller, which usually involves some measure of fiction..." she begins, before looking back to Rumour with a wry smile. "Though really it's because it's one of the ones we found last night. Your personal one you get from facing your own shadow, which is a lot harder."

Icing frowns. "Hmm, I do not believe I have heard that one before, from the mainland I presume?"

He taps his hoof on the floor a few times, mumbling the riddle to himself. "Seen but not seen... Since it is not a mirror it must be a concept. If it is a concept with a reflection, it either is something useless without diametric opposite or otherwise a two-pony emotion. And a face-to-face removes it, meaning an intimate meeting invalidates it and returns it to invisibility... And it is a positive thing, since losing it causes regret... The word choice there is awful. "Lost once seen is unseen"? You do know "is" is a proper verb, right? It should not be used so flagrantly, Unseen is a noun by your riddle's structure, not an adjective or an adverb. But going on the assumption that you will abuse our language as much as you abuse my generosity..."

Icing purses his lips in thought. "Hmm... My answer would be... The concept of "Innocence". Without the despoiled to reflect from, innocence is a meaningless quality, and a small chat or contest gone wrong in childhood can easily remove it. But you do not see it go, there is no true exact moment, the concept becoming seen as "innocent" is the marker of having your own fully become unseen, though you do regret losing the view of the world being perfect and harmonious."

Blood promplty shakes his head after Icing finishes his explanation, tutting and walking around him. "I didn't realize the contest would be over so quickly. The answer is "Eyes"." The mage's horn alit as the riddle he had spoken appears in the air and he lights them up line by line during his explaination.
""I am the seeable yet I am unseen, for without reflection, unable to gleam.". These lines stand for how an eye is visible, however you're unable to see your own eyes without looking into a reflection. The next two lines further hinted at it. "a childish contest, a small tete-a-tete. Lost once seen is unseen, with burning regret.". On the contrary to what you had said "Seen" was the noun in that statement. The childish contest was a staring contest, and once the eyes are 'unseen' due to the burn from keeping them open for so long, they feel regret."

Blood's tail lightly flicks the back of Icing's head as the unicorn shakes his own. "You were thinking to abstractly, and that was why something with quite a lot of literal meaning went over your head. Why did you think I'd try to go so elaborately to trick you, when something so simple did the job just fine?"

"You've got a good point... I'll try to bring this up with Tilt when I'm able... After all said mentor is locked in with basically the worst parts of himself that might or might not kill him if we don't do act fast enough..." Zeela states with a lot of worry and a hint of panic in her voice. "But... Maybe... Not... After all Arcana is the pony who seems to know the most about these Shadows... So maybe he'll know how to just sit and wait with one long enough before we can deal with saving him..." Mostly the Winged Zebra was just trying to calm herself down. And it was half-working at best.

"Huh. I'm still getting used to your rules in there. This one is pretty different from mine, though." Soul switches to Rumour's side(literally) to get a closer look as she puts on one earring. "We didn't get...extra help like this back home. We had help from the locals a lot, sure, but the way you ponies keep getting new toys is rather silly."

She puts on an old-mare voice and shakes a hoof weakly. "Back in my day, we didn' have these fancy cards 'n tricks, we had to make do with out out own powers. Uphill. Both ways! In the chocolate rain!"

"I apologize, I clearly thought too highly of your intelligence. I will aspire to aim at the mundane and pedestrian in the future." Icing replies to Blood Mage.

"But your riddle is quite flawed. My answer was just as valid as yours, and in fact, when approached your way, a blind minotaur's hands is just as valid an answer too. Eyes do not burn, they desiccate, and they do gleam without reflections, and 'for' used there is a key flaw as the fact they cannot be seen is not reliant upon the fact they cannot gleam, unlike metaphysical concepts." Icing shrugs. "But it was your first try, so I shall be magnanimous and give it to you that I did not get your exact answer, but keeping in mind that you are the one who initiated that rule."

The pale blue pony gives an evil smile at that statement. "Which means, I believe, it is my turn. You must defeat this one to win:"

"Eternal bound, a single sound, contract taken then you're free,
A passing smile, using my guile, worth as dross to filigree.
Taken, lending, given, mending, but never a guarantee,
Used in bribes, when one imbibes, there you'll never truly see,
...But what do I ever be?"

"Could have fooled me, you do a good job of being brave..." Melody looked a bit serious, smiling. "Still, samurai and ninja, huh...?" She paused, seeming a bit impressed. Most didn't really focus on war and the like, to her knowledge. "I'm sure they're proud of you, Shiro...Not only are you facing your fears, but you're helping others face theirs, too." The 'unicorn' chuckled...Still, he considered her to be like family...She wasn't quite sure what to think of that at the moment...

Blood stares Icing down and shakes his head. "Really? Well then. The answer to your riddle is an oath, a promise, an agreement, a swear, any number of words that more or less mean that you give your word to someone else." The unicorn flicks his mane softly. "It's a trick riddle, since the answer is so many that are the same. Due to me saying it needs to be the exact answer, you can easily say that it is anything along that list, and it'd still be perfectly viable."
((you'll need to roll a persuasion check to convince him if you deny this, even if this wasn't your intention.))
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Shiro looks down at the ground as he and the changeling walk, biting his lip. "Yeah... I think they are..." The earth pony foal looks at her with a bit of a pleading look on his face for a moment, before he decides against saying whatever it was he was going to. "That... unicorn. Arcana. He told me when I was searching for Star that personas have reasons for coming. With Mars and Tilt, I'm not surprised she's starting to fight for what she believes more... I researched Arachne and Sirens last night. Sirens were creatures who lulled sailors into a false pleasure and entranced them with their songs to their demises. Icing is a milder version of that, a smooth talking pony with a sadistic and schadenfreude sense of humor. But Arachne... Arachne's pride lead to either the death of her family and her own suicide, or the transformation into a spider out of spite. What does that mean for me..."
((You can roll History to see how much, in character, Melody knows about Arachne and her myth.))
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Dojima is fiddling with a few papers that Zeela might be able to get a glance at, not really responding and letting the mare vent to him. ((Perception Check!))
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Rumor's ears perk up as she notices ponies starting to listen in on their conversation at the mention of chocolate rain, seeing a few ponies starting to stare. The pony slips the tarot card into her chest pocket, coughing again and going from a Tokyo dialect (Trotkyo for you punners) to a Hokaido one, and starting to talk about some of the 'cute colts' in school, though the others can tell something is off about her topics.
((Streetwise, perception, or persuasion checks to learn about the colts she's talking about/read into what she's saying/ ask her what's up.))
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Ebony nods quietly, looking down. "I just.... I don't know what I can do to help him. I mean, Ivory's always been closed off but now? He's going out and distracting himself. Before they died he was a homebody, and loved his parents dearly... He's changed so much I'm worried it's a farce to forget..."

Arachne, huh...? Melody knew the basic story, but she really didn't know the specifics...She'd have to look it up later. For now, she shrugged, thinking. "Sorry, I don't know the myth well enough to really make a judgement...But if that's true, I don't think you need to worry...Didn't she become the creator of a whole new species or something? So, I mean, it's not all that bad...And besides, you said spiders have strong survival instincts...So worst case scenario, maybe you're just too stubborn to quit...?" She looked thoughtful, she didn't feel like that was the right thing to say, but without more knowledge of the situation, she couldn't do much...Which was irritating, though she could practically feel his desperation. It tasted a little sour, to be honest, and she...Really needed to stop thinking about it that way...She shook her head, trying to think. "Can't help but think if I knew the myth better I'd be able to shed a little more light on this..."
 

History:

Tilt plays along, talking idly about some of her teammates on the athletics team, suddenly just as conscious of the stares. It's not hard to tell that there's a bit of a bitter edge to her comments.

"...at least I thought he was nice enough then he asked me out, and when I told him I wanted to focus on my running he just stopped being my friend, and the whole track team is muttering about me behind my back now. Well buck 'em, I say, I can outrun the lot of them combined and I'm pretty sure some of them are doping..."

Horse Sense:

Icing frowns.

"You are somewhat off-base. How does the equivalent to giving one's own word relate to passing smiles or indeed, my own intellect's use by the term guile? I do not ever use my guile as a promise, an oath, those are from the gut, they are soulful things, agreements. Beyond which, a promise is the opposite of the first line. You cannot give, lend, or take a promise and then be free of it. Gratitude, a thanks, on the other hand, that fulfills all the requirements. So..."

Icing gives a passing smile.

"Take my thanks, I lend it freely, given just for now to hopefully mend this tragic rift. Of course, seeing as this thanks is a bit of a bribe, it is certainly not true. I believe this means I get a second shot, though if you need time to think of a better riddle process, I do not mind coming back later."

Persuason:
Roll(1d20)+8:
14,+8
Total:22