Ponysona 4, the Campaign.

Tilt skids to a halt, spraying a plume of goop on the far wall. "Whew, is everypony okay? Nopony hurt?" she asks, lowering herself to let George and Alice off.

"Well, I suppose we have our answer. Going down, then!" When the others are ready, Tilt starts heading downstairs towards the shadows.

Melody nodded, following Tilt...She was worried...The other Shadows hadn't really moved...What was going on? Was it just toying with them? "At least they're nice enough not to gang up on us, I suppose..." she noted to herself, trying to get the goop off of herself...It was probably doomed to failure, the stuff seemed rather sticky...

Healing check:

"Your shadow is the part of you that you're keeping suppressed - don't worry, everypony has one - and this world gives it form and makes it try to kill you. Confronting it is a matter of keeping it from succeeding until you've had a chance to come to terms with it." replies Tilt.

Zeela blinks and smiles at seeing the rest of the group rejoin with the small trio, then went to answer Soul's question. "Well... So far we've only faced two shadows... NO wait... Three we've seen... And all three have been different from one another. It's hard to say how things will play out... And the fact that this place seems to have another two shadows... Just... If you realize you are facing your shadow... Be careful. That's all I can say for sure. Shiro's got super-powerful and changed when he denied it... Then we fought it, won, then it turned into Shiro's Persona... The Second one we faced somehow had swapped places with Tilt when we faced it and turned into some type of super-mode, but it wasn't the shadow in the super mode, but it was Tilt... Making us think we were fighting the Shadow... But we were in fact harming Tilt... But after that revial things seemed to turn good and resolve themself. And Star... Kinda cheated his to avoid fighting... But he didn't really except his flaws... Or that's what I take from that event... So he got kicked out of the group by Arcana."

"Out of Arcana's group, anyway." adds Tilt, a gentle reminder that she'd left Arcana's group too now. "Anyway, when the time comes for you, just do your best to stay calm, and use the opportunity to sort things out in your head - the rest of us will keep it under control while you figure things out."

Thinking for a minute on that, Soul visibly shudders. "I don't think I'd like to meet mine. I have a few ideas about what h-it would be like." Anyway, I still don't want tell them about that yet. I'm just not ready.

"Trust me, I don't even want to think about mine either...Just the thought gives me chills..." Melody looked at Soul, clearly able to sympathize with her on that front at least...They'd both have to face them eventually, but it didn't mean they had to like it...

Zeela looks to her cuite mark with worry in her face... Recalling the day she made that first potion... And what that means to her the more she thinks about it at this point in her life.

If Tilt noticed, she doesn't show it, instead putting a hoof around Soul and hugging her briefly to her side before stepping off and walking along beside her (it was slightly difficult to walk with one hoof up and Soul didn't exactly strike her as a sturdy pony)

"I know you don't. And don't worry about saying it, if you could it wouldn't be your shadow." she reassures, softly, "Just remember that when the time comes we'll be there to give you all the time you need. I was lucky, I didn't have time to get scared before I had to face mine. But that's why we're all here. Because nopony needs to go it alone."

She looks up and at everypony.

"Who are we? We're not our fears. We're more than just our horns, our wings, our talons. Our fears are just a little piece of us. Our hopes and dreams are also part of us. We can't forget that. Who do you want to be, after this is all over?" she asks, standing a little taller (even if still a little shorter than most of her peers), doing her best to ignore her heart taking a little skip as if to remind her of her own likely fate.

"I'm going to be the girl that gets gold. I'm going to go to the Equestrian Games, and come back with so many medals I'll have to hire somepony else to wear some for me." she states, proudly, forcing down the nagging doubt that told her she was most likely going to push herself too hard in training one day and keel over on the spot, having achieved nothing of consequence. "Who are you going to be?" she asks the others again, encouraging them to turn their minds towards the future and not the incoming storm. There was nothing to be done about it anyway, they were as prepared as they could be.

Zeela did agree with Tilt's sentiment, but the zebra didn't know what to say out when it came to who she'd be... So she just nods. "Yeah... Lets get moving foreword... We've still got Icing to save. And two Shadows to fight."

"You can't live in your shadows, Zeela, no matter what the cost of defiance may be. Fear is the little death that will obliterate you as totally as any wrath." half-whispers Tilt, as the zebra brushes past her.

Daisoujo and Alice finish their quiet conversation and trot back up to the others as they reach the first basement floor, Sugar giggling and beckoning them. The pegasus, flaps his wings for a moment, making a put out face as his wings stay stuck to the goop. "I do agree with Tilt-sama's sentiments. We cannot be afraid of the part of ourselves that are hidden in the shadows."

Alice on the other hoof, fidgets and mumbles, "But sometimes you can't help but be afraid..."

"Yes, imouto.... I know..."

Shiro's screen appears and he looks a bit solemn. "You can still be afraid of it and accept that it's part of you..." The colt mumbles softly, turning to another screen and nodding, before turning back. "Sugar's portions of the dungeon seem to be on the right side of the castle, while Wraith's are now on the left..." He taps his screen a few times and the others can note he's a bit gooped himself.

There's a large gap in the floor ahead of the group, now, with a large drop down with no visible bottom.

George flicks his talons and wings in an attempt to get some of the goo off.
Roll! (Heal. Getting the goo down to manageable levels.)

Roll:

"I know when we get out of here I'm having a shower to get this stuff off."

He then goes up to the edge of the gap in the floor.
"Regardless we know Icing is with his shadow so I'm going to right to help him confront his shadow. It is down here and to the right correct Shiro?"

"Um..." Shiro's voice comes from the staircase behind you guys. "I think that's essentially it, but we've got... Melody, me, Alice, and Tilt who can't fly down. The gap's probably directly to the shadow, or a bottomless pit. I can't really tell. One sec." Shiro rushes down and he takes a metal cup from his barrista bag, dropping it down. "......."

"What I want...Huh...I plan on being a singer, or something similar, but..." Melody trailed off, thinking for a moment before listening for the cup hitting bottom...But really, the lack of sound said everything she needed to know. "...That far, huh? Yeah, pretty sure if we just jumped, those of us who can't fly wouldn't be walking once we hit bottom..." She blinked, looking at the gap. "Well, I think we could probably jump it, or if nothng else, if those of you with wings don't mind, you could ferry us across?" she suggested, trying to think quickly.

Zeela looked offended at Tilt's comment... Then wordlessly in five seconds makes a potion... Without telling what it'll do the winged Zebra's coat lights up braking the potion bottle as a MAGICAL FIREBALL OF DOOM engughs the party... To burn off all the goo.

skill checks:

Every member of the party is engulfed in flames for a few moments, painful and searinb before Alice can summon her persona and let out a burst of cold air with mabufu, panting. "W-what... what he hell was that for!" Every member of the group is singed and burnt, painful but not anywhere near enough to knock them out.

Spoiler:

"Well... To show why I'm afraid of my shadow." Zeela explains as she starts to cry. "And what I'm really afraid of... Cause this is what I'm good at."

"YOW!!" Melody hopped around a bit before the flames burnt out, taking deep breaths afterwards...That had really hurt...Though thankfully the acid was gone before it could make things worse...She looked at Zeela, shaking her head. "You could have just said something...Nnngh. Zeela, relax...The theme with these guys, if you can admit it, even sideways like that, I don't think you need to worry about your shadow pulling it on you...We saw it with Tilt and Star...Remember? Neither of them even wanted to think about what their Shadows were telling them at first...The fact you can say you're scared of that means it probably isn't the case." She reminded the zebra, trying to encourage her. "Also, so what if you're good at lighting things up? Sounds to me like if all else fails you've got a career in demolition ahead of you...Just...Try to avoid setting us on fire next time, huh?" She smiled at the end, shaking her head. She was trying to cheer her up a bit...But on the other hand, if this was what she was scared of and could admit, it did raise the question of what she had buried away...

Tilt screams in pain, and swings about with her right hoof, creating a clear 'slap' of hoof on cheek as she catches the yet again angsting Zeela in the face.

"Do you think I'm not scared? Do you think I've got no fear? There's every chance I will never be older than you are right now. There's every chance that I'll suffer a massive heart attack before then and drop dead on the spot. Full Tilt: Died Before Her Time. That's all they'll say. You think that doesn't still terrify me? You think that didn't keep me up at night? But it didn't stop me. Not then, not now. I still have hopes, dreams. I still want them. Because you can't let fear rule you. Everypony is scared, but you can't let it take over. Once it takes over, once we've stopped because our fear is in charge, we've died. Our fear will have killed us more thoroughly than a shadow ever could."

Tilt's voice gradually softens from its initial harshness until it's back to the slower, gentler tone. She pulls out her first aid kit, opening it up and starting to work on the others' burns - not as expertly as George could, but she gives it a shot all the same.

"And I'm more than just a quick set of legs, you know. I can teleport some of us across."

Spoiler:

"I... ah, nevermind. You don't need to deal with it just yet. Just... try to dream. Don't let your shadow kill you before you've even seen it. Let's go, we should go help Icing first. At least we don't need to deal with any more of the goop, so there's that at least." sighs Tilt when everypony falls dead silent, backing up, picking up a little speed, then leaping over to the opposite side.

She turns around on the opposite end, and beckons to the others, firing up her horn to a bright glow. "Okay, one at a time, just do your best and I'll catch you with my magic if you fall."

Spoiler:

Soul overreacted a little to the flame, jumping back and looking for an attacker, but calmed down when she saw what had happened. "Ouch. Uh, that hurt." She shook the soot from her coat and attended to her own wounds.

Spoiler:

Listening to Tilt's speeches, she finally came up with a good response. The short pause gave her time to think, and now it seemed like the right time. "You live in the moment. I know what it's like to never know when you might not wake up tomorrow; when you are living on borrowed time, you find ways to keep going, no matter the obstacle. It took me a while to get used to the hardships in my life, but it sounds like you've had a lot longer to think about your's." She nuzzled Tilt affectionately before continuing. "My own path in life was set before I came here. I was to be the greatest writer in Equestria. Thanks to what you've shown me...I guess I kinda succeeded! I have you to thank for showing me that, and in the future, I want to continue being the best.




"You, though, Tilt, just stress and stress about the 'now,' when you should be having fun! Yo need to lighten up more! If you don't think you have long to live...then live it up! After we get outta here, I'll organize you all the best party ever, and if you aren't drunk like a hobo by the end, then my names not Soul Spinner!" After that exclamation she bounded across the gap triumphantly, a new spring in her step.

"Hey, you may be getting free room and board for now but if you're going to start planning parties on my purse you've got to start helping out in the shop!" snipes back Tilt, the grin plastered on her face belying her words.

Soul just sticks her tongue out in a grin and trots on ahead. "Not just your bits, but everypony else's too! Getting a job is next."