Hope's Refraction

"As I said.. MY name is Hidden Gem... I'm something... Mix of a Spider & Changeling... I guess.... A spiderling... As that card called me." The Hat Wearing Spiderling states looking down to into the hole to see if the lava was in fact rising or not... "You know... We all seem to just be assuming the lava is still rising... It might've stopped... You know..."

"Well, why don't you know jump down there she check," Scales muttered, nearly biting her tongue. She shook her hair, and stood a little more confidently than she had before.

"I said who I was before, so youshould still remember it- Soft Scales. I'm Storms little sister, and if you even think about causing trouble..."
She trailed off, glancing at the group as a whole, but lingering on the Spider Pony.

"Don't. Got it?"

"Nope... Miss Softscales... I wont..." Hidden Gem states outright with total fear of her in her voice.

As far as you know the lava has yet to stop rising.
(Though it will when it nears the top, as i said in occ awhile ago.)

When shadow pushes slightly on the middle of the door, a section of it gives way slightly, enough for her to realise that there is actually a smaller door built into the middle of it. Whether the giant ‘door’ is in fact some sort of trick or its possible to open it however is anyone’s guess, one thing’s for sure though, as soon as you start to push it open you all hear some sort of unearthly scream from the ceiling as a large section of the rock stars trying to dislodge itself.

The room on the other side has to main features to it, a large set of stairs leading up to a relatively simplistic door with the image of a sun emblazed upon it, at the suns Centre is a small keyhole.

The other is a familiar  sight, the large gold table and sofa’s from the compartment now sit at the canter of the room, along with the buffet carts from before still steaming with a assortment of hot food.

What’s new however is that there are 6 pairs of saddlebags (or similar if you wish) situated on said table, each with a particular plush poking its head out of the flap. There is also a sealed letter resting in the middle.

"Like I said before, name's Shadow Dancer, performer by trade, and-...Oh, come on!" She paused, looking up for a moment. "Okay, everypony! Walk while you talk! Through here!" She stepped through the smaller door, noting the table, but looking back to make sure the others were present. "In here looks...Fairly safe. We can probably take a moment to catch our breath."

Hidden quickly takes the AJ one and/or the one that looked like herself.

"Loot!"
Scales attitude dropped in an instant as she took in the revealed room, her eyes lighting up with the same glow they had in the first train carriage. She rushed forward, towards the satchel that the familiar plush-toy was sticking out of.

She opened the bag, stuck her nose in... and pulled her head out a second later with something clamped in her teeth.
"Knew I forgot something," she said, holding the bauble she'd ripped out of the carriage floor.

She beamed, looking for all the world like a child who had found her favourite toy... except when she looked at Shadow. Despite the grin on her face, her eyes looked a little harder, flicking towards the spiderling then back again:
We need to talk about it.

So, maybe her attitude didn't quite vanish, even if she was smiling like a foal.

Spoiler:

After managing to calm down in the cooler room with a nice cool drink, Milky Way goes to pick up her saddle bags, putting it on and making sure her little plushie is safe and snug. Curious, she also picks up the letter and opens it, reading it out loud for everypony to hear.

Shadow didn't speak for the immediate moment, following Scales's gaze before giving a slight nod to indicate she understood. She trotted over, taking the saddlebag that seemed the most likely match, telekinesing a drink for herself as she examined the plush in it...

Perception: Assessing the plush, Take 2!:

"Err... I don't know? It's what someponies call what I am... And some other bugpones called me spiderling too I think, or FREAK-CHANGELING! Before they started to freak out and hate me..." Gem explains with a shurg honestly didn't knowing more about herself then that. "I'd guess it stands for "fakepony" or "shapeshfiter pony"... Don't really know for sure... Only have ever had that term used at me... Everypony else just seemed to assume I knew what they meant & was lying when I told them I didn't understand. I swear on AJ the Bearer of Honesty's LIFE that I don't know what it means... Hope one of you might know and could tell me? Or what a Spiderling is? That term's also been thrown around at me... I think it's what I am... But... As I said... Nopony ever believed that I never really knew what it was. I think like I also can feed on emotions... But I've never tried for fear of that outing me or something... Wait... No... That's a lie... Forgot that I killed... My mom... Eating on her love..." Then the Spiderling that didn't know anything cried so hard. "I DIDN'T KNOW I'D KILL HER!!! I SWEAR!!!" She yelled softly at herself... Just hating herself so much right now, looking back at the... Well Lava-Hole... Clearly thinking and willing to jump in there right now if somebody tried to push her "suicidal button"... Which would be a really bad thing if anyone was heartless enough to SAY SUCH A THING... After everything else that had been said by the Spiderling.

((OOC: Hope that somebody use this as an opening to give Gem some TLC & like along with some changeling and/or spiderling info! I mean it's clear in character that EVERY word that Gem states is as true as it can be, right?))

Shadow...Ignored the overdramatic thing's latest outburst. Flatly, its constant whining was tiresome, and acknowledging it a chore. So she simply read the letter, moving towards one wall as she considered it. "I can field the changeling question if no one else does in a moment, if you don't mind waiting until we've figured-...That's...Disturbing, on many levels. Something powerful enough to outright destroy the god of chaos? And if-...Oh, no, I thought that was just him being-...No, no, no...This can't be happening..." she spoke more and more quietly as the implications of the situation dawned on her. Everything...Everyone they knew was...Just gone. The hive...Chrysalis...And she hadn't even stopped to worry about them...Shadow took several deep breaths, holding them before exhaling, trying to compose herself, at least enough to keep the mask up. The group already had one hysterical creature, they didn't need another.

Scales tilted her head onto her shoulders, the letters contents momentarily dissuading her from rummaging through her (and likely everyone else's) saddlebags.

"Gotta agree with Starflank. What has Discord got to do with any of us?"

"Well... Personally... Part of me is hopeful that this isn't really real... And at the end... Of this seemingly epic adventure... We'll all laugh..." Was Gem's reaction, assuming they were all the same right now, because odds are all of the letters they're all given are the same at this point... "But let's disact ourselves from the whole... Well... Madness that we're all stuck in for now. What are changelings & spinderlings... Miss... Hatesmemost? I'm sorry.....not good with recalling names when I know they hate me..."

"Then there's no reason for me to tell you mine yet again." Shadow looked at the spiderling, stepping away reflexively before looking at Storm. "Alright, alright...You wanted to know...Y-Yeah, I can explain that...Get my mind off of...Y-yeah." She was stammering a bit, trying to suppress her own feelings, to keep it together. They were safe for now, but not out of the woods yet. She could freak out later. For now...Well, just like on a mission. Focus on the objective, not the big picture. She took a deep breath yet again, holding and shaking her head before exhaling. She was still visibly rattled, but she was...more-or-less functional. "Right, anyhow. Since you asked...Changelings are shapeshifters, infiltrators by nature. Their true form is a black, pony-shaped insect-like creature, with a...A mishapen horn and holes through the legs. Eerie to look at. Their usual MO is to infiltrate a society, either via replacing somepony or as a new face in the...Town, pack...Uhm, whatever it is a group of dragons is called (though that last one is really hard due to size differences,) and es-essentially...Live among them. They feed on emotions, you see...Particularly l-love." She paused for a moment, acting like she was trying to remember any further details. While she had rather...intimate knowledge of changelings due to her nature, it was...trying to think about how much the average laypony would know. Then again, with the attack on Canterlot, learning about it might have been wise. "Ah...They attacked Canterlot a couple of years ago, almost took the city...Never seen anything like it. Though...I think they were desperate, to go all-out like that..."

Sometime after grabbing her saddlebags and hearing the letter Zakiyya sat down in order to try and come close to understanding the in utterly failing in that to simply rest for a few brief moments. After the explanation on changelings she begins writing out a message rather slowly and crafully. "Miss Shadow Dancer may I ask how you happen to know so much about changelings? It seems as if the topic and Miss Diamond are distressing for you." After a moment's hesitation she scrawls out a single extra line "I wouldn't judge you if you weren't what you look like." before passing over the sketch book to Shadow.

"Oh yeah... I recall hearing about that... Knew never to try and well... like... Err... Show my true self. After reading the headline on that. Was kinda freaking out on how much more of a freak it made me feel. And almost outed myself too thanks to that..." The Spiderling rambles not seeing the words written by the Zebra. "But anything... Well anything you know about like Spiderlings... Like what makes them different races or something? Or like that's what your hate-rant at me seemed to imply..."

"That's a little more difficult. Far as I know, spiderlings tend to either infiltrate changeling hives or slip into pre-existing cells, often mimicing the changelings themselves...Difficult, but doable. However, they have no regard for 'sustainable feedings,' simply capturing whoever happens to be nearby when they hunger and devouring them. For some reason, they seem to prefer changelings, though nopony's safe from their appetites. Nothing's left after a spiderling's feeding, not someone with an odd void where there feelings for their mother were, not a brain-damaged victim, nothing. At best, a corpse. At worst...The body's never found. That's why you're a monster. That's why I'm not going to turn my back on you." She glared pointedly at Gem before reading Zakkiya's note, shaking her head. "That's...Not something I'm really prepared to discuss right now. Ask me when we're through with this. I know it sounds suspicious, but I'd rather make sure we're out of the woods before I get into it." She sighed, returning the sketchbook to the zebra as she thought. 'I did some research' might not fly with the spiderling details, she might need to work on her lie.

Zakiyya shrugs and then nods at Shadow giving a slight understanding smile.

The Spiderling just... Felt horrible... The worst... Recalling how she used to "teething for the longest of times" when she was just a baby on her the ponies she had called her and still view as her folks... "Thank you... I don't know how you learned that... But... Everything... About my life... Makes sense... I must be like the a paradox... A living monster that's scared of itself now... I'm scared of the nightmares I'm going to have... OR WORSE... They don't feel like nightmares, but sweet dreams... Not sure is worse... Not sure what is worse... The years of not knowing anything and wanting to sell my very soul... Then... The day I got it... I want to think myself dead... But too scared to trust myself to do right... I'm too scared of myself to kill myself... AND THAT'S THE ONLY GOOD THING ABOUT HOW I FEEL RIGHT NOW!"

Milky way blinks. "Uh... how do you have such intimate knowledge of spiderlings, when you seem to know little more about changelings? I've never even heard of spiderlings, and yet you know little more about changelings than I do."

"Knowledge about changelings isn't hard to find, if you know where to look. After all, there's still ones slumming it from after...Whatever happened at Canterlot went down." She paused, realizing that was an unfortunate gap in her knowledge, one that wasn't exactly easy to fill. Especially considering she heavily doubted the official story. "As for Spiderlings...Well...My knowledge of them comes mostly from the changelings themselves. They're a boogeyman to them, you see. While some of the information was easily discarded as old mare's tales, some of it was consistent enough to form a profile of how the work. And anything that would scare a changeling...Well, it'd be bad news, I think." She hoped the bluff was successful, or at least that she'd confuse the unicorn long enough to dissuade her from pressing further. She made a show of looking at the plush and the contents of her saddlebag, nodding in satisfaction.