Sunshine and Rainbows, Factory.

Seiko has a full minute to act before the Forcefield appears.

I understood that Glaring flew away upward.

Zkin wrote:I understood that Glaring flew away upward.

And was immediately knocked prone by Seiko ... and then hit with crescendo after that.

Re-reading the battle it's clear, although clearly I haven't said it before now. The only viable target for the last three parts of crescendo would have been Glaring, because the burned stallion would not be that hard to kill, and Seiko chose not to target the charmed thief Windy.

So, no. Sorry for the confusion. There's no runaway anywhere near this orchard.

Sugar Plum finally shows up, and hops over to the hole. She starts sniffing the entrance, and makes confused face.  After a few moments she says, "This doesn't smell right. This should smell like fresh dirt, or mold, but it doesn't, it smells like fresh air." She then presses her face back down into the hole, and continues to sniff.

after smelling for a bit longer, she looks up and says "The air smells thin, and some times moist. Like it's really high up, at the top of a hill where the clouds get stuck, but I still don't smell dirt, or trees, so it isn't the top of a hill. I don't understand. This is very strange." She then moves closer, and sticks her head father into the hole.

susan23027 wrote:Sugar Plum finally shows up, and hops over to the hole. She starts sniffing the entrance, and makes confused face.  After a few moments she says, "This doesn't smell right. This should smell like fresh dirt, or mold, but it doesn't, it smells like fresh air." She then presses her face back down into the hole, and continues to sniff.

At which point the last of the spell fades, launching loose, normal, mundane dirt back to it's former location. Unfortunately for a certain rabbit, her nose was occupying that space. The two overlap briefly, then she inhales.

Good news: it smells like dirt, now.
Bad news: so does everything else. Anypony got a kleenex?

Edit: alternatively, if you'd rather, you can let Windy slip away, through the hole. And yes, the bunny's nose smells aright, for the moment it had that chance.

"The bunny...IT TALKS?!"
"No, that's not important right now! So, Windy, was it? You're going to tell us EVERYTHING, or you're gonna be sorry!"

Windy sits up, and, looking around herself nervously, realizes she won't be able to escape. She squints her eyes shut, tightly, and clenches her jaw. A moment later she gasps, eyes open now.

After several breaths, she looks up at the unicorn who spoke to her. "It's alright. I don't remember anything, now. You can't hurt my friends, just because I failed. Because I don't remember them, now."

Tears fall afresh as she lies back down. Speaking softly, as if to herself, she adds "I do remember though. I remember flight school. I failed flight school."

She's shivering, now. It doesn't seem to match her breathing, so it's not racking sobs, but more likely she's ... terrified.

Well, I have to wait a minute while I form our 'signal flare,' and afterwards I have many wounds to tend to.

after recovering from her bout of sneezing, Sugar Plum hops over to Windy to comfort her and keep her warm.

Windy grabs the giant rabbit and hugs it close. "They're going to kill me, aren't they? But my tooth is missing. And I think that means I can't hurt my new family, since I don't know where they live."

She wipes her eyes on the cooperative bunny's soft coat, and mumbles "I wonder if I ever had a colt-friend?"

But about that time, and actually before Thunderscale can manage to make his flare, you hear trotting hoofbeats. Casting a 'light' spell, detective Rocks Turned is approaching, flanked by two brilliant white pegasus guards.

Windy drops the rabbit and looks towards them, eyes like saucer plates. She launches herself into the air, escaping both Seiko and Flarestar ... her greasy hide isn't helping her captors, any. But the pegasus guards are just as quick, and make chase, tackling her somewhere into the distant darkness. You can hear hooves striking against flesh just out of sight (they got far enough, Thunderscale, that your Night-Guard vision can't pick them up either).

Turnover frowns at the sky for a moment, then approaches with a bemused smirk. "Ah, they can take care of that. Who was that poor girl, anyway? I didn't recognize her, though clearly my associates did."

"We started this way when some alarms went off as a big spell discharged in this area." He looks around, at the scorched ground and the dead attackers. "Four pegasi total, hmm? I suppose some of the heists could be explained by flight, though I thought we'd looked into that."

Her neck and front legs held in ropes, crossing her body to be held in the mouth of the guard opposite the tied leg, two guards and Windy emerge from the darkness. One of the guards says "There's a warrant for this one's arrest, sir. We'll take her in now." To which Turnover nods, and doesn't bother watching them take her away. He seems not to notice the bunny in the poor light.

"Well. What all happened here?"

"There was a big magic igloo with crossbows, and crazy vampire pegasi, and a rabbit hole that turned into not-a-hole!"

Sugar Plum shakes her back and wiggles on the grass to try to get rid of the snot on her back, left by Windy.

"I have one important thing to say: I suspect all these are thralls, and not willfully so.  The rest can wait until I've done my job here."  Thunderscale stops the Windy procession.  "She has wounds that require my immediate attention," he says flatly.  His eyes glow in the darkness, catlike and eerily sinister.

Turnover is rubbing his chin idly with a hoof as Thunderscale interrupts the guards.

The pegasus guards almost run over the dragon, but stop in time to hear him. With a stern look, the one to Thunderscale's left says "This is a matter for the guard, now. She will be seen to as needed by the jail's nurse, but please stand aside sir."

Waving a hoof at the young dragon, Turnover jovially says to him "Mind control, eh? You're sure you didn't get hit by something?" Turning around the way he came, now the detective shouts "Hey, Sharp Pinion?"

A clattering of hooves is heard, as a one-winged pegasus, in half-way armor looking like a halfway point between Turnover's garb of pockets, and the pegasus battle armor,  comes into view. "Turnover?"

Turnover points to Windy, and says to his colleague "This one got caught. Took a lot of scratching but we caught one, already got a record I hear. Let nurse Deadheart know she's coming?"

The other detective snorts derisively, but sees how well restrained Windy is. "Alright. I guess she's a pony, she get's a pony's respect regardless." Just before Pinion turns away, he sees the three fallen ponies. "Right mess. So, send the mortician?" to which Turnover agrees.

Then turns back to the two equines to whisper "I do hope you two have more sense that what your scaly friend is showing so far. Anyway" And in a normal tone of conversation, continues, "I really need to know where you'll be tonight so I can find you in the morning, for a more complete statement. Meanwhile Pinion & I will be going over the scene for signs of arcane intervention. See if we can figure their spells out."

At this, Turnover's horn glares orange, which appears to be his color, and Seiko, you feel a spell wash over you. It's clearly not changing anything, and seems to be a detection spell looking for ...something, but it's gone before you can examine it more closely. "So, mage Seiko. Is there any chance he's right? We know simple memory spells are used sometimes ... what about domination spells? I believe you're clear so I'll hear your advice."

With a wink, he adds "Though I don't promise to follow it."

"She was run through with a sword and received only combat treatment.  After your little tustle, she will be bleeding internally.  You will allow me to treat her.  Now."  If necessary, Thunderscale will physically stop them - he is a lot faster and stronger than he looks.  Indicating to Turnover that he was changing topics, "Not mind control - some form of blackmail.  Sounded very... involved."

-edit- I just realized that not training in healing is apparently contrary to my character.

-edit 2- Since you're probably going to arrest me and IRL I don't have any patience for this, my character will allow them to arrest him (assuming they do not overstep their authority with force) and then point out Windy's growing pallor and other symptoms in a few minutes.  If they do not acknowledge her plight, he will attack.  If he does wind up at the station, he will, at his earliest opportunity, explain to their captain how his men endangered the life of their suspect by interfering with his medical duty.

Logic: We are out in the middle of nowhere, she has received minor treatment for a mortal wound and been running about and beaten since.  Without treatment, she will die of blood loss before she arrives at the station.  Furthermore, they have just been given the diagnosis of this, and peripherally are aware that Thunderscale has other injuries to treat and clearly triaged this as critical.  Their actions violate their duty and more importantly, together with their presumptuousness and the specifics of the ambush this makes them suspect, as Thunderscale already believes this is an inside job.

So, while trying to be stealthy, Sugar Plum approaches a guard pony to "borrow" a tissue to clean herself off with, only for him to notice her when her mouth is centimeters from his pocket....Which also just so happens to have his wallet.

"Hey! What is going on?!? Thief!"

Sugar Plum, unsure what else to do, runs over to Thunderscale, and begins gesturing wildly and chirping. She first uses one paw to point at Windy, then holds her paws over her nose, blows loudly, then sits up and twists her body so that the snot is obvious. She then looks at the guard pony with large, plaintive eyes.

I scan her, magically probing her mind for recent influence. (arcana)
Is her life in danger from those wounds? (heal)
How difficult is a mind control spell? (arcana2)
I try to seal her wounds with magic, like stitches.(Arcana3/Heal2)

"Anything is possible with magic, the problem would be how much power is required."

Arcana 13 +18 +*1 +*5 = 37
Heal 3 + 12 + *1 = 16
Arcana2 10 + 18 + *1 +*5 = 34
Arcana3 12 + 18 +*1 +*5 = 35
Heal2 10 +12 +*1 = 23

"Officer it couldn't hurt to have your prisoner treated here and now since we all are here and you have already proven that she cannot escape. She seems hysterical and either she was the subject of some sort of mind control or else some-ponies she holds dear are in danger, apparently threatened by us somehow. Or she is simply delusional, but that would be a boring explanation."

Persuasion 15 +11 +*1 +*5 (if logical) = 32

The guard will use what force proves necessary. The one on the right looked about ready to hog-tie Thunderscale and leave him in the drunk tank overnight.

But Turnover persuades the guards to wait until she can be proven to be at half-health, which doesn't take long as per the PM I sent to Seiko about those arcana knowledge rolls.

Further, Turnover promises to look into Windy's history ... though he guesses it's a pegasus thing as the guards knew her immediately, and he has only a vague memory of a trial held years ago that was probably that same pony. "A serious crime, to be sure, if it was her. But if not, then you can even visit her in the morning."

"Her wounds seem fine enough for now, but as I said, while mind-control is a possibility they would need a great amount of power for it to have a lasting effect, or for it to go beyond 30 feet from the source, these requirement combined make it highly unlikely that mind-control to be the major cause of her actions."

Can I magically reconstruct her memories?
Arcana 6 (Stubborn as a mule 2nd use)
Arcana 4 (Stubborn as a mule final use)
Arcana 18 +18 +*1 +*5 = 42

Seiko wrote:Can I magically reconstruct her memories?

As you begin trying to construct such a spell, arcane energy flows through you, lifting your sparse mane ... through the air it goes, and surrounds the pegasus' head.

She starts screaming as soon as she feels it hit. "NO! NO YOU CANT! I REFUSE! I CANT I REFUSE"

"I refuse" She is squinting now, and you can feel her fighting your spell with all her might. Which is surprisingly trained considering not only is she not a unicorn, she has shown no aptitude for the arcane arts before now.

Both of you panting, spent, your spell is done. You believe your spell failed.

The guards just held on and watched ... but the detective's head is tilted, one eye half-closed. "What" He straightens his head, blinks at Seiko. "Was that?"

"I was attempting to reconstruct her memories, strange though, she seems to remember enough to not only have the desire to, but the ability to resist my efforts. I had hoped to be of more assistance but I suppose if there is nothing else we can do we will be on our way." She looks at Flarestar and Thunderscale to see if there was anything left unsaid/undone on their parts and if not trots to the Orange's house for a good nights sleep.

Alright.  You originally told me my character thought she would die immediately without healing, such that I took a combat action to heal her rather than an ally in range.  So what is it: are her wounds only superficial, or is her condition critical?  Because right now, my character has the impression she has lost a lot of blood and is probably bleeding internally.

Furthermore, are these 'police' following procedure?  Are they just attacking me?  Because you make it sound like they're not saying anything, just going after me.

Lastly, why would they get in the way of someone who is obviously a doctor?  What happened to a right to medical attention and a physician's duty to those around him?  This all stinks to high heaven.

-edit- Now that I think about it, these guys have some serious explaining to do.  This attack was unique by Turnover's own description, and they were supposedly at a warehouse in town despite arriving here less than a minute from when they could have 'found out' about this incident.  If they make a move without properly declaring me under arrest, I will complete my prepared Forcefield and trap them all for some questioning.

OH CRAP.  I just figured it out.

I drop my Forcefield on them.

"Allright, you guys have some explaining to do.  First off: you got here in less than a minute.  I may not have a degree in math, but that still puts you within two hundred yards.  Not at your, 'stakeout'.  Secondly: Turnover, you said you found no evidence of magic at any of these scenes.  Either you're lying, or this attack was special.  In the second case, only you knew we were here.  Third: you seem far too eager to drag off our perp, at the expense of her health.  And willing to go after a physician in the pursuit of his duty."

-edit- "Oh, Seiko.  States of emotion affect the formation of memories, so this probably has to do with how she wound in this - the original blackmail.  The memory was clearly too strong to wipe out, probably due to trauma.  We need her."