The Sun Sets

"Stay here meaning this room, or this building?" Bells says, in Equestrian.

Bells:
"This room." The other grunts, and the accented guard curtly adds "Please." As they close the door, one of them almost trips over Snuggles, who runs in the room, jumping onto your bed.

"That works for me." Bells says, making her way to her bed and reaching for a book to read or notes to look over.

Not knowing how truly useful it could be, Kanen took the last sample of the plant.
I have no idea what this is but its too good to just leave out here.
He looks up at where he just jumped and mentally kicked himself for doing something so reckless. After a brief moment, he walks around the house looking for the entrance.

Kanen:
You walk around the to the front of the house to the front door. Nearby are two ponies laying in a crumpled heap, and you can hear shouting upstairs from one of the broken windows.

Bells:
You try to reach for something, but you can't move your front legs. The shackles, while not connected to each other, are magically holding them in place.

Bells sighs. Hey Snuggles, think you can help me out here? Like maybe removing these rings?

If it wasn't clear, Scales was, once again, lost at this point. The rest of the gang came back, that's bad, but they went around acting if everything is hunky-dory, which was good, and also very confusing. They didn't even welcome him back awake. They just said "Oh, don't you fall out the window silly" and went back to acting if everything is okay...

Then the deer fell out of the window anyway...

Night Scales decided to fly after him. When she reaches the deer, she whispers "We should skedaddle to the town hall."

Bells:
"I guess so." Snuggles hops down and over to you, looking at your hooves. After a moment, he finds a small hole, and inserts a claw into it. Bells hooves instantly feel lighter, and she can move them, freely, but they are still slow to use. The rings do not come off. "Is there something else I'm supposed to do?"

I would appreciate it if you went and searched for clues as to what killed those two ponies, or you could go look for a nice, fat mouse. Whichever you want, I guess. With her hooves now able to move, Bells collects her notebooks and takes them to her bed, where she starts scanning through them for any information she may have gotten from Figure Head on the disease affecting the town, or how the Void works.

History:

Ok, had to check what I already said you would know.

---

Bells:
Snuggles runs out of the room again, through the other door.
The disease, which sprung up too rapidly for him to properly study, is not annotated anywhere in any notes you have from him. At most you can recall him speaking about how the antidote was incorrect, and he would need to experiment to find what else was needed. Figure Head did happen to leave you with a few notes on the Void Window, though they are not well known, as he was never able to really experiment with that either. Attached is one passage from a mythology encyclopedia. It details what the Void supposedly is (the dream world), the so-called Void Window, how it might be accessible, and potential dangers of the void. In particular, a few things jump out at you:

...While the Princess of the Night Legend speaks that she may enter, and control the Dream world, and the dreams of ponies, there is nothing in recent history to support that a physical being in our world ever had such a capability, and no such Princess of the Night exists now...

...The Void, should it be accessible by the waking mind, would make a pony capable of unlimited creation in their own world of infinite space and time- The Earth Walkers who created the Void Window sought this power, but didn't realize at the time that nothing from the Void would come to pass as reality in our world...

...Of course with all mythological realms, the Dreamworld would not be without its share of dangers. Earth Walker drawings and glyphs illustrate the fiends that make the Void their home- the Shades, which are said to be manifestations of the emotions of waking creatures given life through subconsciousness in the Void; and the Nightmares, the native demons who inhabit the place. They are said to feed on fear, and when they feed enough, grow in power and may escape the void and take physical forms in the waking world. Nightmare Moon, some mythos theorize, was actually corrupted by one of these true Nightmare Demons, but no evidence supports this against the official historical claims. Neither of these creatures are fundamentally proven to exist or not exist, as they would only be accessible in dreams, if at all...

Scales, Kanen:
Before either of you can go anywhere, you both see a pair of Royal Guards exit in the broken window. They look down at the broken bodies, and then at you two. They regard you uneasily, and then both take off flying toward Town Hall.

Dodger, Storm (Gearick?):
While you decide what to do here, Bells' cat runs in the room, and, seeing Dodger, claws his way up onto his back and begins pawing at it.

Dodger reacts to stuff and blindly follows turns to Snuggles as best he can. Given that the cat's on his back he doesn't exactly have a great view, but he has no intention of shaking the cat off. For one, that would be rude. For another thing, cats are mean.

"You're Bells' cat, aren't you?" asked Dodger. "Any idea where she might have gone?"

He didn't really feel that silly talking to a cat, considering everything else he's been through in the last few days.

Bells:
"I'm trying."

Dodger:
The cat spins a bit on your back and then jumps on your head (with claws, again). Then it jumps down and runs out the door.

Ow.

Like Dodger thought before, cats are mean. He took a moment to readjust his hair before turning to Storm.

"I'll be back in a minute," said Dodger, following Snuggles.

Dodger:
The cat takes you back past the door containing the zombie, past the door to the tower, past the small blood stain where a zombie should be laying, and through the guest suite to Bells's room, where you find her sporting some new jewelry and casually leafing through papers.

Dodger blinks twice, taking in the scene.

"Is there anything in there about distilling a cure for Blue Moon?" asked Dodger. "Because Storm is in the lab and he could really use notes like those. And you, by the way."

Bells looks up at Dodger and crosses her hooves. "I am sorry, I have no notes on the cure, but I do have some very interesting and useful information on the Void. For one thing, that voice we heard during the battle with the alicorn and the smoke griffon may have been something called a Nightmare, a creature that comes from the Void that feeds from the fears of ponies - and, keeping in mind some interactions I had in the Void with the deer, other creatures too. My notes say that these Nightmares escape only when they have fed on enough fear, but it seems this one found a shortcut thanks to what Gearick said. Another thing, it is possible to create quite literally anything, do anything, in the Void, though nothing created there can leave the Void. Thinking on it now, it may be possible that, if we can get all of the infected into the Void, we could cure them there. Once they are free of the infection, we can let them out of the Void and back to their ordinary lives." Compared to other monologues of hers, this one was not unclear because of her accent, probably because she had been mulling over the topic since she got to her notes.

OOC: tl;dr the Void = 42

Storm goes back into the lab(if he's not there already) and clears a space to work. He opens the cabinet and removes some glassware and equipment. He thinks for a moment and starts shoving as much as he can into his saddlebags and waits for Dodger to return.

OOC:Just had a thought. It may be better to work in the Apothecary(Room with the saber). Storm will have access to ingredients he might not have otherwise.

Storm:
The right hand cabinet is well stocked in glassware, and the left is full of neutralizing agents of every type. Lyme, baking soda, Nitrogen pellets, etc. Probably in case of hazardous spills. regardless, you have everything you need to distill a blood sample, minus the sample.

---

Hmm, that it might be. And now that you've reminded me that it exists, I may need to think about how to popualte it.

"Really?" asked Dodger. "Now that is interesting. I'm sure Storm would love to hear that. Now come on, let's go tell him about this!"

Dodger hurries back to the lab, assuming (perhaps foolishly) that Bells was following.

"Follow me," Scales tells the deer as she begins to move to the Town Hall in a good pace...

"Sorry, about this, but can you grab what you can?  I'm moving my setup elsewhere.  There's another room that might have what be able to help us out better.  I'll show you where it is."

Once Dodger and Gearick are ready, they'll head over to the Apothecary.

Bells sighs and scribbles down a note on a scrap of paper, then gives it to Snuggles. Take this to Storm, please?

Note (using Spike, Take A Letter):

Storm, Gearick:
You get everything you think you'd need and head out to the hallway. The room with the Pegasus inside is still intact, so that's a good sign. You turn the corner and find Dodger, who was on his way back to find you.

Bells:
Snuggles takes the note and casually walks out again.