Ponysona 4, the Campaign.

"Hey, nothing wrong with a little pampering now and again!" protests Tilt, in mock offense, glancing around before leaning against the table a little, "But yeah, there's nothing wrong with dressing up on special occasions, but it's so tiring, having to pamper every day just so ponies won't ask if you're really a girly stallion. And none of it lasts through a training session, anyway."

Tilt shrugs, downing a little coffee, "I don't blame you, not wanting anything to do with that. Besides, your wings are so pretty already!"

Cocking her head in thought, Soul grins at a thought as a small blush shows on her cheeks. She fans her feathers out to display all the black tips, not just the primaries which usually grab the most attention. "Thanks! I'll admit my wings are the one look I really take take pride in. If they get messy they look even worse than normal feathers, though."

Soul, wings splayed, looks to either side at her companions and shrugs. She pulls them both Tilt and Rumour in and smiles happily at being the center of such a move. Ignoring any protests at being moved away from their lunches, she continues, "Hard to take care of much else when you spend so much time in the air. Winds don't really favor complex mane style. I've actually thought about cutting it short recently, what do you think?"

Tilt is dragged in by the forces of comedy and collides with the side of the pegasus with a soft 'oof'. "I think it's more fun going running with a longer mane, but who knows? Maybe the look will be good on you!" responds Tilt, smooshed against Soul's side, gradually working free a foreleg to bat at Soul's forelock. "Have you got a bit of curly in you?"

George frowned and rubbed his beak, thinking about what it could be.
Roll! (History: George may be medicine rather than psychology, but has he heard of something like this?)

Roll:

He gave up and rubbed his eyes.
I need coffee

Before getting squished to Soul's Side, Rumor's talk of colt dies down to just watching the other two, even after a loud squeak comes from her mouth and she bursts into giggles at the grooming talk. "Tilt, your hair is fine even after you go for a run if what some of the other girls on the team say is any indication. I mean really your mane and tailstyles seem just natural to you. And Souil, your wings are gorgeous. Makes me wish I was a pegasus just so I could have some like yours. A horn just doesn't have the same appeal."  Rumor clinks her horn with a little bit of magic, not moving from the hug with an embarassed blush. "Besides, all the boys in this school obsess over making their horns pointy as a pin and who has the longest horn." Rumor glares at a few colts who were staring at the three mares- one of whom even decided to wolf whistle, and three loud telekinetic slaps sound through the room as she continues. "Colts. But back to us mares, I seriously don't know how Earth ponies or pegasi take care of their tails themselves. It's already hard for me to do it without looking in a mirror."
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George can't really gleam anything from that. He's a Doctor not a doctorate after all.
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((Nat 1 Sense roll to resist urge to suck Shiro's Desperation))
"But I just need to kno-" Shiro staggers a bit on the side street as Melody feels the slightly sour taste of his emotion nourishing her, and the colt falls over on the sidewalk once she is finished.
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Blood makes a face before he shakes his head and laughs. "Ah, you're right. I focused on the idea of tricking me with multiple possible answers that mean the same thing. How about we write down our riddle's answers so that doesn't work?" Blood pulls out a pen with blue ink and writes down on a piece of paper a word as he speaks.

"I am thicker than Water, and magically too
The blood that runs through me is not within you.
Though Family is one thing, The bonds that are shared
Can save us from evil, if simply they're there." Blood folds his paper in half, smirking over to Icing. "What am I?"

"Need to know what...Shiro...?" Melody gasped as Shiro collapsed, realizing a little too late she'd done a lot more than sample his emotions..."Shiro!! Oh no...I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, I-" She glanced around for a moment...She...didn't think anyone had seen, that was good, but what was she going to do with him...? She...She couldn't leave the poor colt in the street...She needed to calm down and think...Okay...Get him to his home, call one of the others...They...They might be able to help, she knew she was the last person that should be asked for medical care...She gently picked Shiro up, letting him 'rest' on her back with a combination of strength and ponykinesis as she glanced around again...Okay...Okay, She could...She could do this...Hopefully she could fix things with Shiro if he remembered..Maybe...Maybe she should-NO! No, she vetoed the idea of messing with his memory immediately, beginning to walk to his home, really hoping the door was unlocked. "C-Come on...Get you home and maybe...Maybe someone else will know what to do...?"

Zeela then starts to slowly calm and mutter to herself about well everything, and how at best she could only just train in the TV World by herself or try to scout out the next dungeon's beginning.

Perception Check:

"The horn thing? Oh stars, it's even worse in Canterlot. Unicorns up to your dock, and all of them competing to be top pony. And for your information, tail-care really isn't that much different from wing-care. Being limber helps. And I guess a longer mane is nice in the air. Not having to do much with it only a side benefit." Soul runs a hoof through her mane and sighs.


"And...curly? Nope. Born-and-bred Imperial Pegasus. I'm a little on the small size, but you can tell by my wingspan."  She fluffs said wings against her friends, demonstrating for a second close just how wide they are. She continues in a smaller voice."And I read that my lineage is still going strong besides, especially in northern Equestria. So yeah, this head of hair is just me."

Tilt winces, looking for all the world like Soul had just run her through with a knife. "Girl's got to shoot for something..." she mumbles.

"What? Oh, I didn't mean it like that, Tilt!" Soul takes one wing from Rumour to put both around Tilt. "It's alright to have high goals, you just haven't met the nobles from back home. They use their appearance as a sort of...game, and having the best horn is just a part of it. They're just snobs, well, most of them anyway, and I reallyreallyreally meant nothing by it." She nuzzles her friend while holding her closely.

"Okay?"

"Well, I suppose so..."

Tilt looks up at the gawkers and grumbles to try and move off the topic. "Come on, girls, let's take our things and go. We don't need the horn gallery's comments."

Rumor continues her giggles and subconciously moves closer to Soul before Tilt's and her quick little down session. Rumor slips over to Tilt's side and nuzzles her gently before shooting glares at the others. "Right, I have to agree we should move. Though Tilt, can I talk to you alone before we head out? Maybe we could stop by the library..."
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Zeela can notice that there seems to be white-on-black crayon sketch. Dojima slides it over to her and she can see that it looks like Soul "Nanako scribbled that after the last Midnight Channel. It's supposedly the 'pretty mare who's being called there'. I'm starting to be worried for her sanity, but this isn't the first time Nanako's dealt with the Midnight Channel. Bout a year ago her cousin was on it. She drew him and what, looking back, was probably his shadow and last I heard Narukami was found curled up in his room with every tv in the house shattered. Moved to Equestria after that.... Nanako is stronger than I am I guess."
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Melody can easily find her way to Shiro's house and the unconscious Shiro seems to be twitching in his sleep, mumbling quietly and seeming like he's having a nightmare of some sort, one that.... surprisingly he seems hopeful to surpass.

Spoiler:

"Huh? Oh, sure!" Tilt assents, looking over to Soul. "Catch you at the library in, oh, five?"

Melody looked over her shoulder at Shiro, checking the door as she did so..."Sorry, Shiro...Didn't mean to throw you into that...I'm...I'm here for you, little as I'm sure that means..." If the door was open, she'd head in, intending to at least get him in his bed before calling for help...She still felt really guilty...She'd completely lost control...She just hoped nothing permanent had been done to him...

Knowledge check:

Icing frowns. He raises his head slightly to see if he could get a glimpse of how the quill moved as it wrote out the answer, but a mysterious force blurred the movements of the scribing tool. Or maybe it was just bright out. Most likely the latter. The world couldn't be expressly designed to make his life hard, after all. That would be paranoia in the highest degree, very frowned upon in society.

"Thicker than water and magical? If this turns out to be some sort of mundane alchemic quicksilver, I shall be deeply disappointed by the abuse of the common term 'Thicker Than Water'. Blood is the traditional statement, and I assure, Blood is thicker than many things, water least of all, but that is discounted in the second phrase. Differentiating us apart... and not by blood, not by family, implying a relationship of some sort is the answer..."

Icing ponders this for a moment. "But what could save us from evil just by being there? And a bond of some sort... So... That's not it... Hmm..."

"Bonds... Kizuna... Bonds... Stocks... Bonds... Ropes... Bonds... Some sort of fraternal or sororital organization would fit, family but not family, its bonds if known being enough to ward off trouble from troubling its members. Like the Yak'Uza. It's far too long for what you wrote, but in the spirit of fair play, I give that as my answer: A fraternity or sorority."

He holds up a hoof. "Before you tell me, you've got a riddle too. And I should have a paper right here...

If you flip out and take my measure.
I will fail in a hoof's jitter to your eyes.
Giving and taking is my object's pleasure,
I shrink as I age, and yet stay the same size.

One more hint, no matter what you may know,
In the end? My best friend...
Is your certain foe."

Icing turns his back to Blood and sits down. Concealed with his body, he writes a short note and places his hoof atop it, concealed against the roof's floor.

George shakes his head.
"Well if something does happen give me a call, I'll be happy to help out any way I can."

LoganAura wrote:Zeela can notice that there seems to be white-on-black crayon sketch. Dojima slides it over to her and she can see that it looks like Soul "Nanako scribbled that after the last Midnight Channel. It's supposedly the 'pretty mare who's being called there'. I'm starting to be worried for her sanity, but this isn't the first time Nanako's dealt with the Midnight Channel. Bout a year ago her cousin was on it. She drew him and what, looking back, was probably his shadow and last I heard Narukami was found curled up in his room with every tv in the house shattered. Moved to Equestria after that.... Nanako is stronger than I am I guess."

Zeela's eyes light up with shock at seeing that crayon sketch. "That's Soul Spinner...!" then adds under her breath. "Alight... That's one minor mystery solved..." Next she looks back to Dojima. "Narukami? Mmm... He likely has had a run in with his shadow... I'd figure... Any idea if I could maybe get into contact with him? He might know something... Or worse... Being hunting by his shadow, by what you've said. Either way, he might at least enjoy learning that other ponies have gone though this and know he's not crazy or something..."

Rumor Has It: Rumor + Tilt
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TQCjYi_poewgx5YlJ_0m583viGtUlNGNzT4jQLFfo8A/edit
((Too lazy to go through it and color fix.))
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Entering the house, Melody can find that it seems to have cleaned up considerably- but is also more messy. Shiro must've taken some time to continue the work she had helped him with, however there is a maze of various books on the floor ranging from mythology to yearbooks and such. The colt continues to mumble on her back, though what he's saying has turned into just sighs and mumbles.
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Ebony smiles over to the griffon, a happy, wider smile as she nods. "Thank you, Mister Redcross. Even though it's not an injury you really care for our wellbeings... Thank you once again."
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Blood's head shakes once more as he trots around Icing, staring down at his adversary of wits with a chuckle. "No, Mister Sugar. It is definately something other than that. Everything I said points to one thing." The hemomancer floats his note over to the candypony and smirks. "But, I'll save my reasons for a bit. Let's see, I was about to say time, however that is your 'best friend' is it not? At the end of 'time', after all, ponies are told to die. ? And then I was about to say "An hourglass", however that is your object. It gives and takes, on both ends, you. And then you had mentioned Jitter.... Took me a little bit to remember it's something regarding clocks, though I might be a tad mistaken. You are 'The sand in an hourglass' aren't you? After all, a majority of your riddle could pinpoint just that."
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"I'll talk to him and see if he'd mind sending you messages since he knows about it at least." The police pony nods a little bit and stands, staring Zeela down. "You ponies are risking your lives to help protect others. I'm doing anything in my power to help you all. Remember that. If you need more weapons, I'll pull some strings. Might take a little bit."

Tilt trots up to Soul in the library, waving, "Heya Soul! Sorry, bathroom break. What's that?"

LoganAura wrote:"I'll talk to him and see if he'd mind sending you messages since he knows about it at least." The police pony nods a little bit and stands, staring Zeela down. "You ponies are risking your lives to help protect others. I'm doing anything in my power to help you all. Remember that. If you need more weapons, I'll pull some strings. Might take a little bit."

Zeela nods. "Thanks... I am grateful for what you can do for us. And I'll keep trying to keep you in the know. Totally will send your offer along to the rest of the group. Not sure what weapons everypony could want or need off the top of my head... But I'm sure they'll be grateful to know of the offer regardless. "

Melody shook her head...She'd messed up bad...He didn't look hurt, but...Given how linked the Shadows and presumably Personas were to pony's hearts and minds...She was worried she might have done more than she initially thought...She put Shiro into his bed, tucking him in and looking through some of the books, trying to find anything interesting...The Arachne myth in particular was something she was interested in finding more on, all things considered...Especially since this mess was at least partially her fault...She had to make it right somehow...She had to!

History check for doing research with the books, focusing on the Arachne myth:

...But regardless, she needed to get Shiro some actual help in case she'd hurt him more than she could tell...She pulled out her phone, looking through her contacts...George wasn't here...Why wasn't George in her list!? ...Right, no phone. She made a mental note to bug him about that later before looking through the other contacts...Zeela knew what she was, but...She didn't want the zebra seeing this side of her...Icing...Well...Given his apparent tendencies to cause trouble for the 'deserving,' she wasn't sure she wanted to risk revealing herself to him this way...No, he was a last resort. Tilt...She might understand, but she'd likely be furious with Melody as well if the memory incident was an indication...Soul...If she freaked out from seeing George, the changeling didn't want to know what she'd do with something that had actually caused trouble...And she didn't have Alice or Daisoujou's numbers anyhow...So...Really, she didn't want to call anyone, but she needed to...She'd have to take the risk, if Soul had been dealing with Discord back then, she probably had the best idea how to fix it...She'd just have to hope that if things got bad she could outrun the pegasus.

_________________________________________

((So yes, TL;DR version: Gotta call someone, but who? No, no, no, no, no...Screw it. Calling Soul and hoping.))

George smiled.
"You are quite welcome."
He rubbed his beak again.
"Speaking of which I have somepony else I haven't checked on in a few days, I should go visit him."
and turned to leave.
"Again if you need any help you know where to find me."

S-Link: Phone Calls and Phonies:

Dun dun dunnnnnnn!

Tilt blinks in surprise. "I think we just got ditched." she says, after a moment, looking down at her vest and crossing her eyes for a moment trying to spot some sort of change in her horn or something, talking side-on to Rumour, "Geeze, not that obvious, is it? You didn't knock me in the head with a rubber stamp?"

But no, it seemed clear now - that strange new mare, Soul... No, she wasn't a friend. A lodger, perhaps, but it seemed they shared neither interests nor outlook. She wouldn't break from Arcana, even not knowing him. It was because she was living in her hospitality, Tilt concluded, the connection just wasn't there. Maybe there was hope of making her a true ally yet, she could use a mare like her in her own just-forming band, but it seemed she'd already blown that opportunity.

Tilt runs a hoof around her horn, making motions as though there were a hoofprint embedded around it. She smiles for Rumour, "I never would have guessed that song was so literal," giggling with the idea before jumping with a start when the bell chimes one. "Oh buck I'm meant to be on the track! I'll see you later Rumes, if I don't gallop my coach is going to have me doing air kicks for an hour!" she blurts, catching Rumour in a quick hug and nose press and stumbling as she nearly bowls the other mare right over in her haste, colliding with a nearby chair as she tries to right her friend without slowing down before finally managing to gallop out the door, earning herself the enmity of the librarian on the way.