Wanderlust: Equestrian Nights

((In case the rest of you are wondering, sunbeam got a PM and edited accordingly.))

The cultist pricks his own ears, apparently unaffected by the pain. "One is sacrificed," he says in a dramatic tone as the rest of his coat starts to burn. The rest of you start to notice a whistling sound, getting steadily louder... And higher pitched. "Many are saved!" he shouts, as the whistle hits a crescendo in the form of a skylight breaking over head! A crystal orb, about the size of a kickball, wedges itself into the floor....

((React accordingly.))

Wandering Eye's eyes go wide when the cultist is set on fire. "I don't think that's going to-" He's cut off, however, by the orb landing amidst the group. He backs up, trying to get a magical feel for the object. Is it dangerous?

Skill Check:

Bubbling Spring starts as the crystal orb lands, but he assumes the worst and reacts quickly. He hits it with a jet of water, forcing it into the far corner of the house. "Run!" he shouts, before picking up the filly and all but throwing her out the open window, jumping out after her.

OOC:

Bubbling Spring has no difficulty chucking Lavender and himself out the window. The rest of you, however, aren't so fortunate. The crystal orb starts letting off a white vapor, that rapidly fills the room, your nostrils, and your mind...

((Wandering Eye and Twins, roll Endurance and/or be creative. Bubbling Spring and Lavender, react accordingly.))

Wandering Eye, in reaction to the gas, quickly exhales, then bolts for the open window, trying not to breathe in on his way there...

Spoiler:

((Starting the process of dropping Copper Rose, at her request.))

Wandering Eye makes it to the door... However, the gas is leeching his strength away at an alarming rate, and he collapses at the window sill. ((You have a -2 penalty to all checks except Endurance until further notice.))

The twins, however, are not so fortunate: the battle had already worn on them, and the gas proved to be just the trick to knock them both out.

Meanwhile, Bubbling Spring notices another issue. The same crystal orbs are dropping all over Ponyville: most of the other volunteers are retreating into their barricades.

Bubbling Spring picks himself up carefully, looking over the filly to make sure she's alright, before registering that nobody else exited the house."What did I tell you?" He mutters to nobody, walking back towards the window. A square of water coalesces in the window, forming a barrier between Bubbling Spring and the gas. He takes a deep breath and pushes his head through.

OOC:

The cultist does not seem bothered by the gas initially; however, when he tries to put out the flames by rolling on them, he fails on account of the duck tape holding him down. He closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath in and succumbs to the gas, letting it take the pain of burning to death away.

But, Bubbling Spring has his own problem. He pulls on Wandering Eye, and manages to pull the unicorn through the window before the gas take over completely.

Bubbling Spring extracts his head from the wall of water, gasping for breath as he pulls Wandering Eye out of the window.
"Kid, do something to wake him up. Poke him or something. And figure out where everyone is retreating to." Bubbling Spring barks, pushing Wandering Eye's unconscious form towards her. He takes a few deep breaths, then puts his head back through the window. He locates the Steam Twins and his horn lights up. After a quick shimmering, an ice path forms from their unconscious bodies to the window. He grabs them with his telekinesis and drags them along the slick path, closer and closer to his outstretched hooves.

OOC:

Lavender coughed, still a bit drained after her earlier use of magic. She mostly checked to make sure Teddy was still on her back, and ignored the other actions around her. then it occured to her that the unicorn who had given her a ride might still be in trouble, and looked around for him.

Wandering Eye coughed and got up, and noticed what his rescuer was doing. He held his breath and stepped up to the window, lending his own telekinesis to the effort to bring the twins over.

Skill Checks:

Between the two of them, Bubbling Spring and Wandering Eye have no troubles getting the twins out.

Lavender notices this, as well something a little more sinister: the same crystal orbs as from within the house are littering Ponyville, and the same, ominous gas is covering the ground. ((It's not affecfing you yet, but you might want to consider acting on it.))

"Thanks." Bubbling Spring grumbles as Wandering Eye helps him lift the second twin over the window sill. "Kid, can you tell me where we're going yet?" He calls to the filly, turning towards her to check and finally noticing the encroaching gas. "This sure would be a good time to have a weather-controlling pegasus with us." He says, glaring at Water Drop's unmoving frame and shaking her telekinetically.

OOC:

((...Fiiiiine...))

Bubbling Spring's shaking does nothing to revive the Pegasus. As he's doing it, the hairclip starts talking again.

"Everypony take cover! I'm going to get rid of this gas, and you do not want to get caught in my back-wash." Sure enough, a glance upwards shows a rainbow streak climbing upwards like a rocket to the stars...

"That works." Bubbling Spring says, pleasantly surprised. "Now RUN! I mean it this time!" He lifts the unconscious Pegasus onto his back and charges over to the nearest barricade.

OOC:

Wandering Eye picks up the other twin and places her on his back, before wordlessly following the water-shaper to the barricade.

Lavender had been uncertain of what exactly she should be doing, when she heard the unicorn calling. She hurried over to him, wishing she could think of something to do. "Need help?""she asked.

As the party heads for the barricades (Along with most of the Royal Guard) a lone, purple figure can be seen dashing for the center, horn a-glow. You see Twilight stop at the center, where she takes to the air: hovering about 50 feet of the ground, a red bubble forms around her, the purpose of which becomes apparent when you see a rainbow blur coming from the east end of the sky... Directly towards it.

"Brace yourselves!" Twilight's voice rang out over the hairclips.

The enemy seems confused by this, advancing into town cautiously... Only to be too late in turning around when Rainbow Dash hits the Princess' shield, ricocheting away as the legendary Sonic Rainboom echoes out over Ponyville.

Sure enough, the gas is more or less obliterated. Houses shake, and anything not nailed down falls over, including many of the cultists: the ones that don't end up flying through the air. One of them even lands in your barricade, slamming into the wall with a sickening crunch.

Several long moments later, the dust settles: by now, however, any of the cultists that lived have apparently left. Nothing moves. And then Princess Twilight's voice booms across town:

"Good job, everypony: we won!"

Bubbling Spring looks at the half-burnt house next to the barricade. "If you say so, Princess." He says to no one in particular.

Wandering Eye turns to the water-shaper. "We still have that fire to put out. Let's go. I don't think I got your name, by the way..."

"Bubbling Spring. The fire got obliterated during the fight." Bubbling Spring says. "I've never seen fire act like that, really. It was like it was getting strangled by the air itself."

Lavender approached the two of them. "I'm Lavender Rain! And this is Teddy D. Bear."

Bubbling Spring blinks, then grins. "Hey, I finally know your name!"

((...Yeah, sorry, I want to move things along now.))


It has been just over a day since the attack on Ponyville. Nerves have calmed a little, and the refreshingly few damages have been repaired: the Volunteers program has been deemed a success in keeping Ponyville intact, even if a little more training and organization would have helped more.

Surprisingly, there were no casualties on the Ponyvillian side: although, that doesn't mean nobody got hurt. In particular, the Steam Twins - Water Drop and Glowing Soft - have been comatose all night and most of the morning. The gas they were breathing was determined to be a simple "knock-out" gas, and it was decided the best course was to just let them sleep it off. Wandering Eye and a certain voice in his head have been anxiously awaiting their awakening, staying by thier side all night. A nervous looking mare with a yellow coat and pink mane has joined them in waiting - who knows what she's doing here? But the doctors and guards let her in, so she can't be that bad... right?

((Jen, that's your cue. Wake up. ...WAKE UP!!!))

---

Meanwhile, a certain small filly is in a certain small predicament. As luck would have it, the mass evacuation system was designed by non other than Equestria's resident God of Chaos, and he wants very badly to know just how his system managed to miss someone. As a result, Lavender Rain has been escorted down to his lair by a pegasus guard - who has turned out to be surprisingly nice, letting her ride piggy-back down the long spiral staircase down into the depths of Ponyville underground.

Naturally, Discord is also interested in the one who found her, and was surprised to learn that they had already met: which is why Bubbling Spring is also working his way down the stairs right behind them, accompanied by an earth pony guard (Who does not give piggy-back rides, certainly not to a full-grown stallion like Bubbling Spring). Upon reaching the bottom, the guards turn silently to leave them at the end of a long hallway that seems deliberately designed to feel ominous...

Bubbling Spring looks at the hallway, then at Lavender. "Hey kid. I bet you a bit the hall swallows us whole and we wind up somewhere completely different."