MLP The Cycle 2: ETalUSUaSTWG 2 - The Good, the Bad and the Cutie: APØNYCALYPSE

Celestia and Luna swiftly disappear with a flash of gold and blue, and suddenly the room dims considerably. The stone sphere in the middle still stands, but now it somehow feels empty, or mundane, despite its unusual appearance.

Cutie turns to look at the group, her brow knitted up and her eyes wide. "I'm sorry if... if I did something wrong," Cutie tries to say, stepping away from the group and putting her head down and her forehooves together. "I... I did keep some secrets. I didn't know if I could trust you all... I really, really wanted to, but... sometimes... you have to keep secrets. Some things, when known, make things harder." She looks up to Dawn, and then to Silver and Curtain, and finally to Brazen and Nobility, then closes her eyes. "I hope you understand..."

After a moment, she gives Nobility a shy smile, and pulls what seems to be her missing brush from within her mane. "Is this it?" The brush bristles with teal lightning for a moment before it rests in Cutie's hoof.

"It's fine Cutie. We all have secrets we keep to ourselves," Dawn says. "I mean, it is hard to trust anyone around here, but... I can understand how your secret would be a bit personal. Let's get back to the city and we'll work out things. We are all still friends."

Nobility smiled. "To be honest, either I could have known that you are trustworthy.... But you have passed my test. And in this dimension of madness it mean something. The brush is your." she said, despite her thousands of worth mane cut, revreted into a bizzare nest like thingy

"I believe Freckle Star is correct. We should get back to some place... That is more sane than here. Though...." she looked around.


"There are so much things we have to understand and decide."

Silver, for a moment, hesitates as Cutie looks at him. Doubt crawls into him. Does she really mean what she is saying?

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Yeah, if at all possible I'd like to try another Heart check. Silver is cautious enough at this point.

[roll0] + 2 Heart = 13

o_O

When did Silver become the Seer of Heart?

But eventually, he sighs, willing to let it go for now. Whatever his gut tells him, now would not be the time to confront her about it anyways.

"I understand, Cutie. In a world like this one, we all have our secrets. Just, please, we need to be able to trust one another if we ever want to help anypony or get out of here. Is there anything else you have not told us yet?"

"Truth can burn, though not telling the truth can burn just as hard. Just depends on the situation? Or whether others even need to know?" Brazen shrugs. "But yes getting back to the sisters would be good. No telling what has happened with the angels that were here now..."

Spoiler: Silver

Show

Despite your attempts to divine Cutie's veracity, you can't seem to get a solid grip on whether or not she's playing or hiding anything other than the information she knows and hasn't revealed.

"There's... a lot. Let's... let's try talking about stuff when we're in a safer place, though," Cutie says, the brush once again disappearing into her hair. "Th... thanks, Nobility." She offers a small smile, and then suddenly opens her mouth wide and yawns mightily. "Is anypony else... like, really sleepy?"

She starts trudging back towards the doorway, looking up to and smiling at each of you, though she's quick to look back toward the floor. On your way back, you traverse across the rocky caverns and through empty halls, devoid even of the sound of angels. Eventually you find Melaina, along with Ophelia and Meliora, in the same storage room as before. Melaina waves to you with a hoof, though Ophelia and Meliora are still unconscious. The gorgon herself looks exhausted, and doesn't offer much more than a winded "Hey. Everything go okay?"

"Kinda I think. We found someone named Celestia. That sound like a name you've heard before?"

Silver, though still apprehensive, follows Cutie quietly all the way back to Melaina. For a while, he just enjoys the silence. It's oddly comforting to have some time to think about everything that has happened.

When he reaches Melaina, however, he offers her a comforting, entertainer's smile. "We beat up a giant shadow monster too. How are your sisters?"

Nobility smiled. 'Meh. After you, this shadow monster, wasn't scary at all. A common threat at best.' but she looked weary.

'We got to wake them up.' she said.

Curtain Call is lost in thought throughout most of the walk back to Melaina, trying to figure out how much of the world around them is 'like a video game'. Are the people here real people, or NPCs? I mean, they're trapped and stuck in an endless cycle, so that suggests that at the very least they're being controlled. That means that their actions aren't always going to be their own. Right?

When they come up to Melaina, Curtain Call is struck by how tired the gorgon princess looks. "We did what we came here to do, I think," he replies, moving to support one of the unconscious gorgon sisters. "Right now, I think everyone needs some fresh air."

"Yea... Ah don't know if we can carry them both out." Brazen looks over the sleeping sisters. "Though it might be safeish here? Depends on what the angels do."

"I don't think this place is safe at all," Dawn says. "I think we should try Nobility's suggestion. See if we can wake them."

Nobility got near the ears of Ophelia


'WAKE UP ALREADY!!!!!! she yelled.



Heart?

[roll0]+3

Curtain call is about to agree with the others that they should probably try to wake the gorgons up and get going... when Nobility takes things into her own hooves.

"How considerate of you..." he mutters mostly to himself.

"Wait, what?" Melaina freezes and stares at Dawn for a moment, her brow knotted up. "...Celestia? You're sure that's who you met?" She shakes her head, her frayed mane waving lazily as she chuckles. "Figures. I go and make some friends, and it turns out they're talking to old gods. What've I gotten myself into...?" She coughs and looks back to Dawn with a weary smile. "Not necessarily heard-of heard-of. It's not a name anypony speaks much anymore, really." She offers a weak shrug, while slithering back to her sisters' side.

"Well, at least the shadow monster's gone. Ophelia is doing a bit better, even if we had to rough her up a little to get that slime off her. It seems like she's just asleep, now. Meliora, on the other hoof, is still pretty much out cold. She woke up long enough for me to help her up here, but as soon as we got inside, she collapsed again. We probably won't be moving for a while. At least, not until Meli is feeling well enough to move around. I don't trust going out the front, and I definitely can't carry her up the well." Melaina leans against the wall and slides down a bit, her large serpentine bottom half coiling up on itself. She looks up to Nobility and smirks, baring a fang in the process. "Yeah? You think I'm scary? I'm... really not," she says, putting a hoof to her forehead as she sags forward a little, her mane falling across her face. "I'm just a performer. A musician. Yeah, I'm the daughter of the Queen of Monsters, big whoop. Ophelia's a better mage than I'll ever be, and Meliora's got some crazy skill with weapons. I talk a big game, but that's all I am, really."

When Curtain speaks of completing their objectives, Melaina rolls her head back and looks up, and even in the diminished light, you can see a bit of a sparkle to her eyes. "Yeah, I guess we all did. I found my sisters and even found Mom's pendant, which makes literally zero sense. You fillies and colts talked with an old god who's supposed to be sealed away by ancient magic. Which also makes literally zero sense."

"But... who's counting?" Cutie chimes in, with a small smile. "The world doesn't make a lot of sense sometimes. Weird things sometimes happen for reasons no one will ever know," she says, sitting next to the sleeping Ophelia. "Sometimes... we just gotta take the good, even when it doesn't seem to make sense."

"You know, that's actually pretty moving..." Melaina says, looking to Cutie with what looks like a newfound sense of respect. "It's pretty safe here, at least so far. I don't think the angels here are really interested in keeping the security of the temple in check anymore, just their own safety... but who knows when-" she starts to explain, as she sees Nobility creep close to Ophelia.

"Wait-"

As Nobi shouts right next to Ophelia's ears, the sleeping gorgon bolts upright and a patterned hood flares out from her neck as she gasps loudly. "I'M AWAKE! I'M AWAKE! I'M SORRY! I'M... awake..." Then she begins to sag and rub her eyes, letting out a groan. Even as she pulls her hooves away, she seems very much out of it. "Ngh... Laina? W'time izzit..." She slowly looks to her sister, who sits coiled up now with her eyes and jaw wide open.

Even Meliora stirs, though it seems she's content to remain on the ground for now... and lets loose a horrible sound from her mouth, like a combination of a roar and a snore. A snoar, obviously.

"Nobi, that was kind of rude," Dawn says quietly to her. "We'll be okay taking it slow. They need to rest after being possessed by that oil stuff."

Silver at first jumps from the sheer volume of Nobility's shout, and then once again from the volume of the snoar. Then, realizing that due to her possession, Meliora must not have brushed her teeth in weeks, she waves away the Gorgon's now revealed terrible breath.

"Urgh! That's it, when we get back to town, I'm buying some mints!"

Nobility just nodded to Melania with sympathy.


Nobility was too disgusted from all what happened before to even care.

Nobility sighed. 'Freckle.. darling. Do you think this is the best place to rest at? I am sure even gorgons could use safer place than this.'

Nobility collapsed. 'I guess it can't be helped...' weary, mostly emotionally.
'Sorry...' she sighed.
'So while we at it.. why don't you tell about your mother?'

"I think maybe you fillies and colts should get back to Mareinev. Don't worry about us. If the angels could actually secure the temple, I think they'd have done it by now." She looks to Ophelia, who weakly groans, but otherwise holds her place. "This part is mostly on us, now, but thank you for helping me find my sisters again."

"You ponies still have that mirror from the Tower, right?" Melaina asks, looking between your group. "Pretty sure I can use the Bass to communicate with it. Or, at least Ophelia knows a spell for it." She backs up slowly and coils up next to Ophelia, and places a hoof on Meliora's sleeping form. "We'll be fine. You five should get back to adventurin'. I'll send for you all once we're all awake and good to go, okay?"

Spoiler: OOC

Show

The Miniature Projectifier (the magic hand mirror) is currently in Silver's possession, just fyi

'We are in no hurry. I think we have done enough adventuring for one day.' Nobility argued.
'Right?' she turned to her friends.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by igordragonian

'We are in no hurry. I think we have done enough adventuring for one day.' Nobility argued.
'Right?' she turned to her friends.

---

"Well, thinking about this logically--if we wait for the other gorgons awaken, I don't know that they'd be able to get close to the city. Angels control that place and if they see us cavorting with monsters... we could get barred from entry, and then miss the meetup with the two alicorn sisters." Dawn turns around to face the other direction.

"So! It makes better sense for us to go back now, alone, and then once we're done with the meet up and have free time, we can rejoin the gorgons outside the city."

'Ooook.. I suppose..' Nobility said unsure.
'WAIT! NOT OK! COMPLETLY NOT OK!" she all of the sudden panicked.
'My mane! I can't go to offical meeting, looking like this!"

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by igordragonian

'WAIT! NOT OK! COMPLETLY NOT OK!" she all of the sudden panicked.
'My mane! I can't go to offical meeting, looking like this!"

---

"Oh that? Pffft. Easy. Yeah, totally have this one. Pfft, in my sleep, you know," Dawn just waves her hoof. "Okay, Cutie, brush please."

Dawn ponders her predicament. She did mess Nobility's mane. She wasn't a fashionista of any sort though to put it back... not... oh wait. Duh. Magic! That fixes everything! "Hang on to your bangs, princess! One manetastic makeover in three two one alakazam!!"

Spoiler: all downhill from here.

Show

Spellcasting: [roll0] +3 Mind +1 Arcane Talent = 13!

Blaster Caster: [roll1]
Chaos Magic!: [roll2]

Paying in Willpower

Spoiler: Spell--Mend Hair

Show

Mend Hair
Target: Individual
Range: Contact
Duration: Immediate
Effect: Combine
Subject: Body
Spell Level: 5 (Easy, DT 5)
Description: A Spell to repair and sometimes lengthen the mane, tail or even moustache. It molds hair together even if the hair strands are from different origin or color, the hair flowing smoothly together.

Even Brazen winces from the loudness of the shout. "Well if they are still around they know we're here now." The colt rubbing his ears. "I guess we could go on our own. Just don't like leaving friends in odd places."

Curtain Call nods along with Dawn's statement. "That would probably make the most sense; getting everyone to work together is probably our best chance at a good 'ending', but we can't get them all to agree right away," he says half to himself. "Hopefully, the good ending is clearly marked; it doesn't seem like this 'game' works on insane video game log--"

Suddenly realizing that he is talking out loud, Curtain Call claps a hoof to his mouth. S-sorry... j-just ignore me..."

Nobility backed off.
'What are you doing, Freckle Face- Wait- NOOO!"
Nobility blinked.
'My mane? Is it ok? Is it... GREEN?!" Nobility started to panic, as she didn't against the shadow monsters...

Silver immediately ignores Curtain's request and freely replies to him. "I wonder if the game part of this world really has multiple endings. It certainly can't hurt to make some friends, though.

Oh, right. Melaina, turns out this world does function by some kind of weird game logic, but the people are real. Or at least that's what Celestia claimed. It's kind of weird."

It is in that moment that he notices Dawn preparing to cast a spell to fix up Nobility's mane. Heh. Will that lazy filly never change? Though admittedly, the way she helps others is kind of endear-

....wait a moment. Didn't Grandfather Clock mention something about fixing up manes with magic at some point? Didn't he say something back when a much young Silver asked him to buff up his mane into a magical wig at some point several years back?

Fearing the results of the spell, he quietly ducks down. "Dawn, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Not sure what you're talking about, uh, Silver," Melaina says with a sigh, shaking her head. "What do you mean, 'game logic'? This is our world... it just sort of, is, I guess. Well, whatever. I don't know Celestia in the slightest so I'm not really inclined to listen to her if she thinks it's all just a game or something."

"And, uh... yeah, sorry, we're not going anywhere near Mareinev. Not until the angels leave. And even when they do, there's still the whole issue of, y'know, the ponies still being afraid." Melaina shrugs, then looks over her shoulder as she hears Dawn intone words of magic...

Suddenly, Nobility's frazzled mane shimmers with sparkles of magic, then slowly weaves itself back together, beginning to curl... and for a moment, it seems like it's going to mend itself without issue. But it continues to curl, and the colors begin to surge and mutate, changing from a rainbow of dull hues to a bright lime green as the mane tightly wraps itself into what is possibly both the most astoundingly fashionable, and also most incredibly gaudy, pompadour anypony had ever seen. For a moment, the magic seems to settle and the glow of the hair begins to fade...

...

Then it suddenly rears itself up with another flash, as if into tentacles, and curls in a more gentler way, returning to the softly curled mane the pegasus once enjoyed. The color shifts and warps again until, having exhausted all colors of the rainbow, it returns to its natural shade.

And then it's gone, replaced with a slightly unkempt crimson mane, which looks suspiciously a lot like Dawn's. Upon Dawn's head rests a writhing mass of mane that was once Nobility's, and then the two switch places again on their own. This time, the manes remaining upon their respective heads. Nobility's, having been mended, now appears exactly as it had before being mussed by all this adventurin'. Except threaded with several noticeable crimson hairs, and Dawn's is suddenly threaded with multiple white-silver hairs - the same kind from Nobility's mane.

"Uh... what was that all about?"

"Th-that was, an amazing display of mane magic. Yeah, mane magic." Dawn mentally pats herself on the back for whatever that was. "It's... mostly right?"

She plucks one of the white-silver hairs from her head and studies it. "Huh."

Realising that nobody has died from the pyrotechnics display that just took place, Silver gets back up from his prone position. He observes the results of the spell, slightly astonished that it worked, and even more astonished that it actually looks kind of fashionable.

"I mean, I guess it looks pretty good...." he offers as a comment, not sure what to say.

Then, hoping that Nobility will not have an aneurysm from the change wrought on her mane, he turns back to Melaina for a moment. "About Celestia, it's not that she thinks that this is all just a game. But what she told us about the prophecy and some other things related to it sure makes it sound like somebody set it up like a game, similar to ones we had back at home. But with, uh, much lower stakes than this. And more player consent.

We'll have to look more into the history of the elements and the creator of the prophecy at some point."