Luna's Command: The Continuing Wibbly-Wobbly Saga (Topic Two, to be Absolutely Clear)

Spoiler:

TheCavalry wrote:"That's... an odd thing to ask."

Silver frowned, tilting her head a little. It was a question that she wasn't used too- but why should she be? Everypony who knew her knew she was always smiling or laughing. And if somepony was doing that, it meant they had to be happy, didn't it?

But... there was something about his tone. Maybe it was that promise not to harm the security team. Maybe it was that look.

"I don't know," she said, honestly. "I should be. I mean, everypony in Equestria is supposed to be happy, aren't they? I have the job I always wanted. I make a good wage, and I get to make other ponies happy by mixing up rainbows. It's what I always wanted. Even if it's not exactly how I thought it would be..."

"Everypony should be happy," Nihl says. "Not everypony is. The fact I have to ask whether you are happy shows that this world doesn't work properly. Though I am glad to hear that you are, in fact, quite pleased with your current lot in life. I myself wouldn't be, but, different strokes . . ." He lifts the flask to his face, as if it needed any more inspecting. "I intend to fix this world. By myself, if necessary - but everyone needs some help now and again."

Nihl steps over to the cabinet. "I'm looking for a specific chemical - if combined with what I have here, introduced to the liquid rainbow vats and left to run through the water cycle for a generation or two - perhaps three - it'll make something very important."

Dream Axis wrote:
"so.....if your not going to tell me anything else, could you at least tell me where il likely end up when you let me out of here......and if that would be any time soon?"
maybe there was a good reason for them to keep themselves hidden, but being secretive to your allies was just another way to breed resentment and disloyalty. he gave a sigh at that.... maybe it was just his nerves talking, he disliked cramped spaces after all and this....could defiantly be considered a cramped space .

IT WILL BE NOW.

Some voices cause even the most unimaginative souls to turn into poets, if only by necessity. They're too notable, those voices - too descriptive of themselves. Some voices can only be described as "resonant" or "sonorous" or "choked with the blood of the innocent". Others may only pass through one's thoughts as being "sunny" or in some extreme cases "like unto a balm to the wounds of the heart".

This voice wasn't like that at all. It was simply big.

Something - not necessarily someone, but the possibility has not yet been eliminated - writhes into the room. It's certainly got mass, but other than that and the phrase "flagrant disregard for people's comfort zones" not much can be said to describe it. For some reason, it can be seen quite clearly through the magic bubble that holds Dream.

"I thought I said to stay out of-"

NONE TAKE ORDERS FROM YOU. TIME GROWS SHORT. THE POSSIBILITY DOES NOT YET EXIST.

"Alright, alright, keep your tentacles on," The horesish figure looks towards Dream. "I guess this is where we part. Sorry I couldn't be of more assistance. I hope you enjoy life." She looks sad, suddenly. "After everything this is going to do to you, you deserve it."

On this ominous portent, the world goes -

0-0-0-0
From somewhere behind Ms. Note, the world goes -
0-0-0-0
From the edge of the jungle, the world goes -
0-0-0-0
". . . run through the water cycle for a generation or two, it should -"

There is a loud humming sound from the edge of the room, cutting Nihl off quite nicely. Something, somewhere, begins splitting at the seams. The walls? The table? Something . . . something else?

Nihl, for his part, nearly drops his flask with surprise. "So you intrude," he murmurs at last, and makes it heard above the growling wind, something that's turning into a roar. "Fine, then. Direct confrontation?"

He steps over near the edge of the room, where suddenly a white wall - a jagged edge to it - materializes, sending cracks throughout the air, both in sound and in light. Within seconds, several black and slimy tentacles shoot out threateningly.

Nihl, in response, cries and shoots a red beam of eldritch light from his horn, the thing in the portal screams, and -
0-0-0-0
From the edge of the jungle, the world does not go white.
0-0-0-0
From somewhere behind Ms. Note, the world does not go white.
0-0-0-0
On this ominous portent, the blueish mare gives a great cry of pain, and is sent flying backwards by some unseen force. The ball of magic bursts around Starfall, leaving him relatively unharmed, not counting the slight jolt of pain as he hits the ground.

(The ground, by the way, feels soft and wet in exactly the way that ground never should - imagine a rainstorm inside a frog, and you're close.)[/quote]

starfall gave a twitch as his claws sunk into the ground...no not the ground? maybe cloud? he shook his head at that and took in the world around him, even if his mind was going into overdrive about what the buck was going on, he still needed to be on guard lest....something happen to him again.

What was

Silver felt nauseous, a pain like vertigo splitting her head. Vertigo? For a Pegasus?
Still, it was the only way to explain the strange dizziness, the confusion? Did Nihl say what he was doing would make something important happen? Or did he get cut off saying it should...something?

Her train of thoughts was immediately disrupted by the emerging...whatever. The pegasus' eyes bulged, and she nearly fell to her flank; she had a sudden urge to run away. This day had just gotten a lot more confusing.

Except, if she ran away, what would happen to the guards? She wasn't fast- or strong- enough to carry all three to safety at once, was she?
For that matter... what about Nihl?

Okay, that thought was dumb. He broke into the factory, dispatched three guards, and was trying to mix up some kind of potion.
But on the other hoof...
On the other hoof, he promised the guards wouldn't be hurt. He said that every pony deserved to be happy. And he said they needed help sometimes.

Silver Lining didn't think she was particularly brave. But she didn't think she was a coward, either.

She swallowed, bracing herself. She stopped, pulling a piece of cloud-floor off and churning it between her hooves, making the small white fluff turn grey, then black, and start to roil...

Spoiler:

Xel Unknown wrote:"Agreed... But personally I always saw Harmony as more a mix of Chaos & Order..." Lunar comments, mostly to himself.

"Perhaps. I am not one to speak on harmony. Chaos maybe, but not the other. Irrelevant though. You have a mission, yes?" Gypsy bowwed deeply to the strange creatures before him. "We are as servants unto you."

The black fire above him snapped and crackled indignantly and he swatted at her with his rattish tail. "Yes, that does include you, Esther."

"Okay then, this way." Scorch flies continues to fly towards the disturbance...

Dream Axis wrote:starfall gave a twitch as his claws sunk into the ground...no not the ground? maybe cloud? he shook his head at that and took in the world around him, even if his mind was going into overdrive about what the buck was going on, he still needed to be on guard lest....something happen to him again.

THE PORTAL LIES THAT WAY, CREATURE. GO TO IT.

Sure enough, there is in fact a portal lying across the room, which is pleasant alternative to look at considering the writhing bestiary the voice is coming from. To the right, the blue mare lies in front of a different portal, weakly shooting some sort of beam into it. She seems to be struggling, and . . . honestly looks more like a windigo than a pony, now that she may be seen clearly. Semi-clearly; she's translucent, and fading fast.

IT SEEMS I MUST TAKE CARE OF THIS PROBLEM MYSELF.

TheCavalry wrote:

Spoiler:

Silver Lining may not be brave, or a coward, but what she is is an excellent weathersmith.

Maybe even more than she knows, as the lightning arcs through the air and runs down the length of the monstrosity's . .. let's hope that's a tentacle. A shriek of rage that sounds oddly like a pony's later, and several of the limbs retreat wherever it was they came from.

Two more, however, pop up in front of Silver from underneath the ground. This might be trouble.

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Paper Shadow wrote:"Okay then, this way." Scorch flies continues to fly towards the disturbance...

The rest of the group, all three or four of them, follows after without too much in the way of hesitation or destructive impulses.

That's all saved for when they get there.

The expanse before them is yawning, and the hum in the air is palpable, and there's a great big white glowing portal screaming in the clearing. Nihl and some of his troops stand in front of it - Nihl is marching inside.

The stealthy option is all but killed as Drizzle suddenly leaps hooves first into the clearing and lands roughly on some poor pegasus pony, who doesn't get back up when she gets off. "NIHL!"

The pony in question just sort of sighs as his guards raise their weaponry.

"Nihl?"

"NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHHHHHHHHHHHHHLLLLLL!"

Scorch begins to soar above and circle with fury, only dropping attitude if Wandering Eye wishes to get off...

Spoiler:

Silver jumped backwards with a yelp, the tentacles sudden appearance taking her off-guard.

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"Shout in my ear a little louder, why don't you?" Wandering Eye says, still being clutched in Scorch's grasp. As he watches Drizzle go into the fray, he thinks, What did she mean when she said she hated Harmony? Yet she's really going at this... what is she fighting for? What are we fighting for?

Star had never considered himself a coward, not any more at least.... but this? This was to much
weird windigo ponies? Tentacle monsters, world ending stuff? It all sounded like something out of a bad sci-fi novel!
So when the tentacle creature pointed the portal out he felt his legs tensing immediately, screw the brave act he’d been putting up with till nowm he wanted to get the buck out of here!

Lightning sparking off his wings as his kicked off into the air, wings beating together as one in order to provide him with the much needed speed that he was so desperate from right now, it took less then a second for him to reach the portal with his fear induced speed.
His world was consumed with white.

Paper Shadow wrote:"Nihl?"

"NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHHHHHHHHHHHHHLLLLLL!"

Scorch begins to soar above and circle with fury, only dropping attitude if Wandering Eye wishes to get off...

In response to this, several of the ECHO soldiers raise their weapons to the skies, ready to fire on Nihl's signal. He doesn't seem to say anything, even as Drizzle faces down the nearest bodyguards, who seem to be -

Dream Axis wrote:Star had never considered himself a coward, not any more at least.... but this? This was to much
weird windigo ponies? Tentacle monsters, world ending stuff? It all sounded like something out of a bad sci-fi novel!
So when the tentacle creature pointed the portal out he felt his legs tensing immediately, screw the brave act he’d been putting up with till nowm he wanted to get the buck out of here!

Lightning sparking off his wings as his kicked off into the air, wings beating together as one in order to provide him with the much needed speed that he was so desperate from right now, it took less then a second for him to reach the portal with his fear induced speed.
His world was consumed with white.

A whirling shape spirals out of the portal at the jungle - it's Starfall, and he's falling forwards, from the look of things. Right into the group of ECHO soldiers.

Nihl just looks down at him for a moment before suddenly darting - darting? - darting! - into the portal himself.

TheCavalry wrote:

Spoiler:

Silver jumped backwards with a yelp, the tentacles sudden appearance taking her off-guard.

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The two tentacles flash out at once, almost faster than the eye can follow. Bu speed is irrelevant to these things anyhow, probably, judging by the way they strike at Silver's front half and the pain is felt at the back. Eerie.

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Silver yelped again, recoiling from the tentacles touch. More on nervous reflex than anything else, she squeezed the black thundercloud still in her hooves.

It must have had some last bit of juice left. There was a bright flash, and suddenly, Silvers grey mane and tail looked frazzled, and the mare herself looked a little... singed.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

"NNNNNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!"

With tremendous speed, Scorch dives down towards the earth, then pulling up horizontally and rushing straight towards Nihl, carefully dropping Wandering Eye (well, as careful as he could) as he prepares to tackle and grapple the unicorn away from the portal...

(Athletics Check: Natural 20. Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh...)

Star's eyes shot open as the light disappeared from view and the scenery around him shifted dramatically......and left him in a crash course with several solder ponies.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" he screamed, eyes widened in horror at that ,wings tensing before lashing out while his claws dug into the earth bellow in a effort to stop him from crashing into anyone, he'd just come from somewhere extremely freaky and now he was.....in a battlefield....well it certainly looked like one, especially  with the dragon currently dive bombing ....towards him?!

....today was not a good day to be him.

athletics:

Scorch . . . scorches by, leaving a trail of metaphorical flame in his wake as he descends upon Starfall, plucking him from the middle of the soldiers and letting his battle cry ring throughout the enclosure.

The soldiers look after the red blur for several moments before one Earth pony, smaller than the others, pipes up. "He's, uh . . . Nihl's out right now."

Meanwhile, so to speak . . .

TheCavalry wrote:

Spoiler:

Silver yelped again, recoiling from the tentacles touch. More on nervous reflex than anything else, she squeezed the black thundercloud still in her hooves.

It must have had some last bit of juice left. There was a bright flash, and suddenly, Silvers grey mane and tail looked frazzled, and the mare herself looked a little... singed.

Spoiler:

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The tentacles rear back in pain, some sort of magical aura blitzing around their slimy lengths, which is a description that should not be used immediately before said lengths attempt - and succeed - at grabbing a pony. Silver, in this case. There's a brief buzzing sensation, and then they jsut as readily drop Silver.

In the background, Nihl takes a step forwards. He's apparently winning this battle.

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Silver wasn't a stranger to electricity, and the magical shock from the tentacles wasn't that much worse than the one she got from her thundercloud... in theory. In practice, it felt much worse, probably not least of all because of the feeling of the tentacles themselves...

A second later, she was dropped roughly to the ground. She picked herself up just as quickly and scurried away, her wings buzzing. She glanced at Nihl, then back at the things in front of her, and swallowed.

"Th-this is private property," she said, despite the fact she was sure the tentacles couldn't hear her. "On behalf of Cloudsdale weather management, I-I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

She swallowed again. She didn't expect a response, of course, but at least she'd been official about the whole thing. She glanced at the unconscious security team -Unconcious because of who, a small and guilty thought added- and thought about what one of them might do.

Despite the fact she was sure the tentacles couldn't see her either, she steeled her expression. Her lip was trembling and her legs were shaking, but still...
She took a deep breath, then brought a hoof down on the cloud floor. Hard.
Hard enough to turn a fluffy cloud into a thunderstorm, and loose six electric blue lightning bolts.

Spoiler:

Starfalls body stiffened the moment the dragon caught him, before his body began to spark with cracking electricity.  "Putmedownputmedownputmedown" he screamed, eyes wide and frantic, his every instinct was currently telling him to get away as quickly as possable and in this situation he was inclined to agree.

scorch:

if let go: