Ponysona 4, the Campaign.

George glanced at the door, hoping that no-one else was listening.
"Well..."
The griffon took a swig of coffee and sat down.
"It's in the notebook but your heartbeat is currently very strong, but it's still getting more irregular. From my research I believe it is being maintained by a combination of some type of magic you are unconsciously casting on yourself and your own resolve but without someway to get a good look at your heart it's only a theory. Of course this means if your resolve wavers..."

The two changelings let out a burst of laughter, turning into Shiro and Zeela now with a taunting look on their faces. "Why would I even care about someone like YOU?" Zeela's changeling snapped, face twisted in rage. "All you are is just another bug, like them. THAT is why I stay with you."

Shiro's changeling's face turns sorrowful and tearful. "You hurt me, knocked me out, and didn't even think to help me. You just ran and hid like the roach you are."

"You're no better than the monsters you ran from." The two of them turn their heads away from Melody and it feels as though their words pierce into her heart as they turn back into changelings.

Spoiler:

----
Yu is silent for a few moments once again, before letting out a quiet sigh. "I never defeated my 'Shadow' as you called it. If I remember my cousin's words correctly, a young colt... Shiro I believe his name was, had done the same as me and found a way out of the TV world. I simply ran to prepare myself for facing him once again, no matter what my demon..." He paused once more and sighed. "... Admittedly, I ran because I was afraid of my demon. I have to admit it or else my Demon can twist and hurt me with my own feelings."

"Well. I... wish I could help you with that." Wraith looks around him. This thing wasn't very forthcoming. Not like Wraith to talk, but at least he made conversation. "So...yeah. What's it like being a non-corporeal, non-linear being of pure thought?"

Zeela frowns, was hoping to hear a different outcome. She's not sure why, but she just was hoping there was some hidden way to win these fights might've been found or something. "Mmmmm... So then, thanks for your time if nothing else. Would love to offer trying to help you overcome that Deamon of yours, cause I figure it's still out there... Maybe... So yeah."

"I...That's not-! I'm not-!" Melody froze for a moment, opening and closing her mouth a few times...Was...Was that really what they thought...? Was she really that bad of a monster...? She stepped back, lowering her weapon for a moment, hurt more by that act than by the blows she'd endured...But...

...It was just an act...A guilt trip...It had to be, these shadows were toying with her...It was the only conclusion that made sense to the changeling at the moment, and despair turned to fury as she sttacked wildly, lunging at one of the shadows, trying to tackle it to the ground and stomp its head into the ground, the fact she had a weapon more or less forgotten for the moment. "Shut up! I said SHUT UP! How dare you say that wearing their faces!? What gives you the right, huh!?" Her screaming punctuated by stomps, bucks, and general losing of what little cool she still possessed. "Crawl back to whatever hole you fell out of! We all know you're not me, you're not my friends, you're not! You hear me!? You're nothing!" In retrospect, she'd likely note this as one of the more foolish things she had done.

Combat Data:

"It is... Cold? Away? You are very warm, though. Like a blanket." Wraith feels a strange tingling, like somepony was rubbing their head against his chest, and yet nothing is there. "Here feels warm. Better than Away. I want to stay Here... Do you think you can help me stay?" Hoof's voice quiets a bit, almost silent.

---

Zeela can hear the rustle of curtians coming from Yu's side of the phone, and the stallion softly sighs. "It's late on my end... I don't have anywhere to be tomorrow though." The rustle stops and she hears the noise of Yu's hooves on his floor. "I'm not too prepared to face him again. It takes quite a lot to build up the courage to face yourself alone."

---

The changeling that had taken Zeela's image shatters almost literally into red, blue, and green pieces of glass after a few smacks with Melody's guitar. The other changeling bursts into flames, sending some of them at Melody as it takes a few steps back.

Spoiler:

Melody probably would have kept ranting and raving had the victim of her violent outburst not exploded and the other attacker not set her on fire. The impact made her stumble, and she whirled to confront the other changeling, still furious, trying to catch her breath before she continued her attack. "What's wrong? Nothing else to try and taunt me with? Huh!? ...Doesn't matter, I'll tune you just like your little buddy!" Part of her hoped it would do the smart thing and run, though, this fighting was REALLY starting to sting, she wasn't sure how much longer she could keep it up.

Combat Status:

The changeling turns back into Shiro, eyes wide in fear, reflecting the rage-filled melody's face into her eyes as he steps back a couple of times, quietly yelping as he falls onto the ground. Even though she knew that this was a fake, even though she knew it was a changeling, something just got her taken aback seeing Shiro in such a state.

Spoiler:

Melody had drawn back , already swinging to smash its teeth in when it shifted forms, and for a moment, she pulled her swing, the guitar swooshing just in front of the changeling as she blinked, breathing heavily..."Shi-...No, it's just a trick...It's just a trick..." Which would be easier if in her mind she wasn't picturing the expression he'd had when she'd drained him. "Stop it...Stop hiding behind his face...!" Her tone was more quiet, afraid and desperate as she glanced towards the alley's exit...Would it...Would it just let her run?

Combat Data:

"W-why would you do this?" The voice seemed to come from her head, not from the pony in front of her as he curled up and started sobbing. "Why would you hurt me? I-I thought we were friends... y-you really are no better than any other changeling are you?" Melody can sense, after the words sting her down to her core, the malice behind the shadow.

Spoiler:

"Shut up! I...I'm not...I'm not like them...I can't be..." Melody faltered a moment, shaking her head as the words hit her where it hurt...this stupid Shadow, it was trying to break her...And what scared her most was, she couldn't tell if it was working or not...But...She had to end this quick...She couldn't let it keep messing with her head...She closed her eyes, smashing her guitar down where it was curled up..."I said SHUT UP!!" She put everything she had into the swing...If this didn't finish it, she was in touble, she didn't have much fight left in her...

Combat Data:

The Shiro Changeling shatters in the same red, green, and blue glass that the other one had exploded into, and she can hear the sound of a TV turning off.

She can see a small, white spider out of the corner of her eye, one that somehow looks angry, zip off towards the hospital.

"Don't...Don't ever look like my friends again...You got that!?" Melody panted a bit, trying to catch her breath...A TV? Here? She focused for a brief moment, trying to pick up on any residual magic in the area...They were definately Shadows, not just normal changelings (Among other things, changelings didn't explode...Usually.) But she didn't focus for long before she noticed the spider...It was like one of the ones Shiro had-...Wait, WHAT!? She diverted her attention, lunging to catch the insect, though she was careful not to crush it, simply wanting to catch it and see what was going on...As she got nearer, she scooped it up in her forehooves, low to the ground as she looked at it.

ROLLS!:

Tilt blinks in disbelief, and slowly raises a hoof to her chest. "Y-you're saying I'm a dead mare walking?" she gasps, rolling over the words in disbelief - she'd long since thought it but to hear it repeated back to her by a professional was jarring to say the least - "I mean... I've already told everypony that I've got a family history of heart problems and I could go at any time but you're saying the only reason I'm still walking is because I'm willing myself alive?"

...I should have seen this coming...
George kept his voice measured and did his best to sound reassuring.
Roll! (Persuasion. Sound reassuring.)

roll:

"I said it was only a theory, without a way to get a good look at your heart I cannot say for certain."

The words seem to have the desired effect, and the unicorn's ears slowly settle back into something resembling a relaxed position - it was still plain to see the mare had been startled and unnerved by the diagnosis, but at least she didn't seem to be quite so alarmed.

"But... I don't understand. I mean, it takes focus even to move things around," she levitates up the griffon's mug and swings it for emphasis, only the timely sip standing between an unwise choice of object and a terrible mess all over the desk, "how could I be doing that with my heart? I thought reflexive psychosomagic was always focussed on the horn?"

George scratched his beak.
"Well it's most likely 'Magia Naturali: Biologicum Amplificationem' if anything."
The griffon took a moment for this to sink in.
"That is to say 'Natural Magic: Biolgical Enhancement' in Equestrian and Neighponese."
Another moment.
"It's found in the hooves of pegasi or the bodies of earth ponies or the claws of gryphons. In unicorns it is rare but possible and doesn't have the normal glow of unicorn magic or any obvious effects like in pegasi which it allows them to push clouds and so on, it instead alters and enhances a specific physical feature for the sake of the pony in question, like Equestrian apple farmers using it to buck trees with great precision. In most cases this type of magic isn't noticed and identified until its effects are, such as...say...a Sonic Rainboom being possible because of the pegasus enhancing his or her bodies natural resistance to G-forces and such to break the barriers of sound and light."
He took a deep breath.
"Of course it does drain the pony's physical and magical abilities, you've been having trouble with magic correct?"

LoganAura wrote:Zeela can hear the rustle of curtians coming from Yu's side of the phone, and the stallion softly sighs. "It's late on my end... I don't have anywhere to be tomorrow though." The rustle stops and she hears the noise of Yu's hooves on his floor. "I'm not too prepared to face him again. It takes quite a lot to build up the courage to face yourself alone."

"Just... Stay safe... And if something happens. Don't worry, me and my friends will find and save you." Zeela swears, mostly to claim her own minor fears she had from hearing the curtians rustling on Yu's end andfearing the worst.

"Well, I know a few spells but I guess I'm not really great at it," agrees Tilt, begrudgingly, "So... correct."

She sighs, and looks back down at the notepad, flipping over to the first page and starting to scribble on the inside of the cover. She doesn't look back up as she speaks, her brow furrowed in thought.

"It's unbelievable. If you'd told me this a week ago I'd have called you a quack. But it's no use saying it's just a theory," she mumbles, "I'm not stupid. I'm pretty sure you're not stupid. You wouldn't be wasting our time if you thought there was any chance it could just be arrhythmia."

Tilt looks up. She doesn't opt to lift the book up to show George, but he can see parts of a drawing of a horse - definitely a horse, it had too long a head to be even a pony stallion - over the desk.

"Suppose you're right. What does that mean?"

LoganAura wrote:"It is... Cold? Away? You are very warm, though. Like a blanket." Wraith feels a strange tingling, like somepony was rubbing their head against his chest, and yet nothing is there. "Here feels warm. Better than Away. I want to stay Here... Do you think you can help me stay?" Hoof's voice quiets a bit, almost silent.

"I...Sure, I'll help you. However I can." This Hoof is almost like a foal, turning it...him away would be wrong. Wraith holds an arm out over the tingling sensation, then moves it as if patting a head. "Anything come to mind?"

Coming from behind melody, she can hear the ponies outside of the alley again. Only now does she realize that once the changelings appeared, she couldnt' hear anything else even though the street behind her was loud and bustling. The white spider caught in her hoof makes it's way onto her leg and she can hear a slightly staticy voice of Shiro in her head.
"It's ok-y. That wasn-t what I thought of y-u. I f-rgave you for kn-cking me out, and I'm sure Z--la doesn't think that eithe-."
-----
Yu lets out a soft breath, almost silent and ghostlike. "... heh. Figures, huh? Turns out that's precisely what I needed to hear-somepony else would help me if I needed. I don't want to become a victim, but if you're going to be there to help me, maybe I can be of service. There's some information in Equestria that you might not have in Neighpon." Yu yawns softly. "Or, well, that's just busy work. Thank you Miss Zeela. I didn't realize I needed somepony to talk to until Uncle told me about you."
-----
"No, nothing really. All I know is that being Here feels like I could be Here for longer. I am worried though. What if being Here and going Away means it's easier to go Away like before?" Wraith can't feel anything substancial as he moves to stroke Hoof's mane, but he does feel a softer tingle against his coat, accompanied by the sound of Hoof sighing.

Zeela laughs hard her sense of humor just reacting from this bit of info in a very unexpected way. "Your in Equestria? I'm from Equestria! Oh, boy this just feels funny like we're in some ways mirrors of eachother, maybe... Unlikely, but the idea is totally silly don't you think?" And Yu can tell that she could've used a silly laugh after the clear fear she having for the friend over the phone. "And I'm happy to help be that ear you can talk with, Yu, from what I've been learning of your family over here they're good ponies. Bet they're still worried about you being a hermit and whatnot after that little event of yours. Or that's what I believe they've said about how you've been. Hope you maybe send them a call too if you've got the energy to do it."

"I'm sorry, Shiro! I'm so sorry...I-...I'm sorry..." Melody apologized several more times before she was truly calm enough to think straight, taking breaths. "Okay...Okay, I think...I think I'm a little better for the moment...B-But...Were those Shadows!? How did they get onto this side...!? H-How did they know what they did!?" She blinked, still a little rattled, looking out of the alley...She hadn't even noticed...She kind of hoped nopony heard her shrieking like she had been. And she was denying that those could have been connected to her out of hoof. It had to be Kuro targeting her, or some cruel joke, or...Or something.

Tilt twitches, snorts, then bursts out in laughter, a clean peal of gaiety breaking the morose tone. "Pffhahahahaha hahaha haha, hee hee, haaaah. Thanks, George. I needed that." she giggles, sighing with the release of tension. "I suppose... all I can do is hope I'm doing the right thing."