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

[Derjuin]

Talon nods solemnly. "I will await until further USERS enter range. Entering sleep mode again..." Somehow, it almost sounds sad to be doing this, though it cannot be helped. The projection slowly fades, and as it does, the disc returns to its rather inert state. Without the light, the ruined city once again grows depressingly dark.

"I WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK. I CAN SENSE SOME FORM OF... MAGICAL PERTURBATION. IN THE FABRIC OF THIS WORLD, GROWING STRONGER. BE CAREFUL, YOUNG PONIES." Medeus looks ceilingward, and for a moment, you feel it too - something feels very wrong, but it's a distant feeling and one that doesn't necessarily instill dread into you immediately.

Spoiler: Dawn

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You sense that this wrongness is definitely magical in nature, and the feeling it gives you is quite similar to the magic Starcutter's library was enchanted with. It feels otherworldly, as if two very different places were suddenly connected in a strange and unnatural way...

Luckily, Medeus seems distracted enough that you are able to secure Tetrath in rope bindings and sneak him away, if that is still your plan. The light fades away under the oppressive shadows of the dragon, and you once again are plunged into near-total darkness. The faint light from the element of life and Lucida's phone are enough to illuminate the street, though it doesn't seem like she really needs it.

Suddenly you come to a set of stairs, and Lucida lifts her light into the air, the face of a mighty stone castle coming into view. "welp, we're here. time to find dinilysia and get you ponies on the road again-"

Just as suddenly, you feel an immense, primal tumult in your minds, a stronger and more wrenching feeling of wrongness than before...

And then, a voice rips into your minds, and the wrongness intensifies for a moment, and then dissipates...

The curse continues. The PRINCESS OF BLOOD has arrived.

"what in the worlds? did you hear that?" Lucida suddenly, says, whirling around to face you. "please tell me i'm not the only one that heard that. 'the curse continues, the PRINCESS OF BLOOD has arrived?"

Standing in the arched entryway to the castle, nothing seems to have changed...

[DigoDragon]

"So, there was this... otherworldly magical connection I sensed waaay back in Starcutter's library, right? I'm feeling that same sense here at this old castle," Dawn explains. "Do you think we might be able to... um... I dunno, contact the changelings with the mirror thingie again? Maybe we can check up on them and ask if they been here in their session."

"Should I turn on a light?" Dawn asks, pointing to her horn.

[Theoboldi]

Silver shortly bucks up his back, gently dropping the still unconscious Tetrath so he can get at the mirror instead.

“Light would be nice, yeah.“ he says, pondering the arrival of yet another player in this already complex situation. “Is that another pony who just came in? Guess the world spell is trying to replace the forgotten ones. Though this one felt weirdly different.“

He proceeds to attempt to activate the mirror, hoping to get more comparison points with the changelings.

[DigoDragon]

Dawn casts light from her horn.

((2d6)[6][3](9)+7 = 16)
Blaster Caster (1d6)[2], pay 3.

[igordragonian]

Nobility follow along, nodding. Waiting for Silver to activate the mirror

[Derjuin]

As Dawn's horn flares up with magic, a bright light comes into being at its tip, dancing ever so slightly with her movement. You can now clearly see the halls of the castle... and boy, are they in bad shape. Torn tapestries and deep claw marks mar the walls, and the floor is scratched and broken in places. The carpeting is ripped and bunched up in spots, stained a dark, nearly black color.

Further in, you see several weapons and pieces of metal in the vague shape of armor against walls; cobwebs likewise line the walls near the ceiling, and each lantern above holds a sad reminder of a candle overtaken by shadows. The feeling of wrongness you felt before continues to infest this area.

"the throne room's just up ahead. diny should be up there looking for the portal to equinia. we should probably meet up with her before anything else." Lucida says, hunched over as she begins a solemn march forward.

Silver retrieves the mirror and with a few flicks of the hoof and wing, it begins to buzz as the magic in it searches for its connection in the changeling timeline. After a moment of waiting, the mirror's surface flickers and a face appears. It's Roshanak!

"Hey! Silver and Nobility, right? What crazy timing. We were just about to message you as well." Roshanak says, looking excited. "We found out what one of the Archmage's old contraptions is for-whoa, you guys are in the Purgist castle?" She stops herself after a moment, noticing some of the decor behind you. "How are you not absolutely swamped with guards?"

"Actually... it looks like you've already beaten them, in which case, I have to say, awesome! That's a really annoying part of the area. Anyway," She trails off for a moment, and you can see a lot of movement behind her, and she seems to be waiting for it to die down slightly.

"I don't know if you can tell but we're pretty abuzz with excitement over the machine. It can take stuff and mix it together, and produce a more amazing thing in return! Like, I took my knife, the Slice of Light if you remember, and combined it with some other things, and it came out stronger, and it's not even a knife anymore. The contraption told me it was called the Variegated Durendal, whatever that means, but hey, I'm not complaining. It's a rainbow sword now!" She holds up with her mouth a sword which is ornate in the extreme, featuring motifs of bird wings and gold leafing in such excruciating detail that it might be impossible to make without magic or extreme skill. And, true to her description, the blade is a solid flat plane of coursing rainbow light.

"Oh! Right! You called us. Did you need something?" She half-says, mumbling around the grip of the sword (which seems perfectly cut to fit in one's mouth) before dropping it on the ground. Behind her you see two of the changelings take interest in Roshanak and the mirror as well, though Tychosus and Ereunike appear to be absent...

[Theoboldi]

As Dawn's magic lights up the room, Silver's eyes light up despite the gloomy atmosphere. Weapons! Tons of them! Ever since he had to sacrifice his sword, the young colt has felt almost naked, especially after he had used up his bottled lightning as well. But now, it's time gear up! Grinning enthusiastically, he'll pick up the most sturdy looking and badflank sword he can find!

"Sorry Lucida!" he tells the skeleton, brushing away layers of old dust with this wings. "This takes so much precedence you wouldn't even believe it!"

When the mirror finally finds its connection, and Roshanak misunderstands the situation in a way that makes him look really awesome, that's just the cherry on top of a good times sundae. "What can I say? We are pretty awesome." The smirk on his face is as smug as it has ever been, and he clearly enjoys the admiration, though it quickly is replaced by a strong amount of enthusiasm when Roshanak reveals the amazing new weapon she has gotten herself.

"Woah, for real? Dang, I want one too! That looks like it could smite so many bad guys! Does it shoot lasers?" Only once the buzz surrounding all of the sicknasty weaponry has died down, does Silver remember to actually get back to the mission at hoof.

"Actually, Dawn wanted to ask you about the castle. We just captured a guy from a previous cycle, and came here with Lucida for a portal back to Equinia. Anything important we should know about this place?"

[DigoDragon]

Dawn holds up the unconscious changeling, making him wave a hoof at the mirror. "Yeah, this, guy. Tetrath was it? He seems important,so I thought we could ask an expert on changelings bout this one."

[igordragonian]

"Yeah, he is a changling, and a jerk one. Somehow he is Staresh's sister.' Nobility add.

[Derjuin]

Among the rubble and ruin along the side of the walls, Silver is able to find a single perfectly serviceable sword with a gleaming, golden hilt, and a blade that seems like new ...until he picks it up, and half of the blade falls off, clattering to the floor as if cleanly cut, and yet it simply was never disturbed. Woe is ye, cruel fate, rotten irony! The halfswordsponyship continues.

Lucida nods and stops, leaning against the wall. "ill wait, then. but we shouldnt be long. i dont wanna get left behind." She says, crossing her arms.

Roshanak is about to comment on Silver's hubris when he suddenly shifts the conversation to her own weapon. "Well, we aren't really sure. I don't want to do anything fancy with it in here in case it does do something and the library reacts to it. But I can feel the power coursing through it... it's got some hidden power, I know it. I just don't know what yet."

When you all mention Tetrath, Roshanak looks deep in thought. "Tetrath? Is that name right? T-E-T-R-A-T-H. It's only 7 letters. Changelings have 8 letter names, it's like, part of our history. Wait, you say his sister's name is Staresh? Those are both 7-letter names..." Suddenly, she turns about and flits into the air, waving a hoofy thing wildly, and Ampelios quickly makes his way towards the mirror.

"Ampy, you know a lot about changeling history. Do you know anything about changelings with 7-letter names?" Roshanak asks, and Ampelios peeks his nose into the portal, greeting you with his bright minty eyes.

"Oh, uh, hello again. 7-letter names? What are the names? Tetrath and St- oh." He stops for a moment, eyeing Roshanak and the mirror. Ro's eyes widen as she keeps her gaze locked on him. "Those... those changelings aren't from our world. If I had to hazard a guess... I'd say they are from your world, ponies, because we didn't see any changelings native to Equinia. But-! But, both of those names are important because they're in..." He looks up and away from the mirror for a second, then shakes his head. "Darn it, I left it on the shelves. They're in one of Starcutter's journals. He mentions seeing them and recognizing their magical signatures, and being able to track it across timelines."

"Tetrath had a very strong signal... while Staresh's was blinding to the magical senses. She could barely be perceived from how much magical power she was giving off at every moment. I don't really remember the rest, but he recalled tracking their signatures into at least twenty different timelines he could reach into. They seemed to be in all of them."

"We never saw them, though? Right?"
"C-correct. I think we would all remember seven-letter-named-changelings."

"As for the castle, well, if you've already beaten the guards, then you obviously don't need to know much more about it." Roshanak says with a wry smile and a wink, then hoofs the mirror to Ampelios. "Here, Ampy, you know a lot about the old Purgist Castle. I need to go ask Xanthena something."

"Oh! The Castle? I could talk all day about it. There's a library there, but it used to belong to a demon lord, so i don't know if you're okay using it. Tychosus tried but he got a bit of backlash from the books... he said they didn't jive with his humors, whatever that means. Xanthena wanted nothing to do with them, so..." He taps his hoofy thing to his jawy thing, and murmurs something. "There's an armory and a vault, too. There's a staircase too... but it's very, very long, and at the bottom are some horrifically strong creatures. They say the staircase leads to the ancient dragons' kingdom, which was once ruled over by a dragon named Medeus. Dangerous things live down there. Below their kingdom is the core of Purgist, where a toxic ocean is said to be. The protector of Purgist was supposed to be there, but we never found anyone there."

"Aside from that, the king and queen should be able to help you get back to Equinia. We could do it ourselves at that point, but free travel was nice sometimes."

After a moment of relative silence, Tetrath begins to move the slightest of movements as a groan escapes his lips. He sounds... completely different from before. "Ung... where... am I..." he mumbles, remaining on the ground. His eyes, likewise, remain shut.

[DigoDragon]

"As for the castle, well, if you've already beaten the guards, then you obviously don't need to know much more about it." Roshanak says with a wry smile and a wink, then hoofs the mirror to Ampelios. "Here, Ampy, you know a lot about the old Purgist Castle. I need to go ask Xanthena something."

"Oh! The Castle? I could talk all day about it. There's a library there, but it used to belong to a demon lord, so i don't know if you're okay using it. Tychosus tried but he got a bit of backlash from the books... he said they didn't jive with his humors, whatever that means. Xanthena wanted nothing to do with them, so..." He taps his hoofy thing to his jawy thing, and murmurs something. "There's an armory and a vault, too. There's a staircase too... but it's very, very long, and at the bottom are some horrifically strong creatures. They say the staircase leads to the ancient dragons' kingdom, which was once ruled over by a dragon named Medeus. Dangerous things live down there. Below their kingdom is the core of Purgist, where a toxic ocean is said to be. The protector of Purgist was supposed to be there, but we never found anyone there."

"Aside from that, the king and queen should be able to help you get back to Equinia. We could do it ourselves at that point, but free travel was nice sometimes."

"Yeah, about that. The castle here on our end looks like it's been in ruins for a long time. Check it out." Dawn moves the hoof of whoever has the mirror to get a good look at the surrounding ruins.

"Haven't explored it all yet, so maybe the vault still has something useful. As for the armory, uh..." Dawn glances at the hilt remaining on Silver's sword. "Silver has a handle on that. Yup."

[Theoboldi]

Silver holds up his newfound blade aloft and stares at its glimmering steel, first with hopeful awe, then with crushing disappointment. Somehow, he feels as though he is the butt of some sort of cosmic joke. Even so, it's better than nothing, and he holsters the impromptu dagger close enough for his mouth to grab at a moment's notice.

Weapon, check. Cape, to be done later. Stink eye for Dawn in response to that pun, performing right now. "I don't see you crafting me a magic sword."

As the changelings proceed to give the group a small lesson on the nature of changeling names, something nags at the back of Silver's mind. At first, he's not quite able to place it, but when he recalls a certain piece of information about changelings from his own world, it all clicks into place for him. "Chrysalis. C-H-R-Y-S-A-L-I-S. Hang on, that's nine!"

Furrowing his brow slightly, he asks "Hang on, why do you all have eight letter names? The changelings from our world don't do that." Before he can get a full answer to his question, however, he will also add "We did meet both Tetrath and Staresh. And the part about their magic is true. They have some potent magic, way more than Dawn." Heh, petty revenge. "And the part about their timeline shenanigans is right on the money, too. Your Starcutter had it figured out pretty well."

When he picks up on the fact that Tetrath appears to be awakening, Silver will move a bit closer to the colt.....larva?...caterpillar?...whatever, just in case he gets any dumb ideas. Should the changeling open his eyes, he will be greeted by the sight of the pegasus keeping guard over him. "You're currently not being squished by a giant shadow monster, thanks to us. You're welcome, by the way."

[DigoDragon]

"We did meet both Tetrath and Staresh. And the part about their magic is true. They have some potent magic, way more than Dawn."

"Well you can't blame me," Dawn responds in a very casual manner. "I've only been around for a bit over a decade. Those two are probably old enough to qualify a second retirement."

[igordragonian]

Nobility does't take risks, and right away sit on Staresh's neck.
As a bully, you have to mark your dominance.
(And also read his feelings might be important)
"Don't move. I hate you, and won't hesistate to break your neck. You'l live, but it will hurt. A lot. So stay down."
She winked to Silver, have feeling he will apreciate it.
"So, the letter counting thing is such a big deal? Eh? Maybe only with nine letters you are allowed to have pupils?'

[DigoDragon]

Dawn raises an eyebrow. "Be careful how you use that weapon, Nobi."

[igordragonian]

"Eh. He will be fine, as ong as he behave." Nobility waved it off.

[DigoDragon]

"Eh. He will be fine, as ong as he behave." Nobility waved it off.

Dawn looks between Nobility and Tetrath and then turns away to roll her eyes. She giggled as her brain thinks up a funny fart joke.

[igordragonian]

"Wha..what is so funny?' Nobility is asking with sudden akwardness.

[DigoDragon]

"Nah, it's nothing important. Bad joke," Dawn replies.

[Theoboldi]

Silver is momentarily taken aback by Nobility's heavy-hooved methods, though decides to accept it for now, as Tetrath is pretty dangerous.

“Uh, she probably does mean it. And I guess you are getting squished now anyways. Still, it's gotta be better than the shadow monster.“

There is a slight blush on his face. Is it just him or is Nobility kind of impressive when she is as bold as himself?

About her question, he comments “Well, it is Dawn, so.....you don't wanna know, actually.“ When it comes to humour and quips, he is knowledgeable enough to predict what Dawn is giggling at.

[Derjuin]

Optional OST: Revelation

"Goodness. That's... that's horrible," Ampelios says to Dawn, taking in the ravaged castle. "That looks like some monster from below went berserk in the castle. The ones in the dragon caves are particularly nasty, but... they didn't seem to want to leave the caves when we were down there. I can't fathom what could have caused such horrible damage. Though, if you do find the vault sealed, you'll probably find some nice magical weapons in there. Ro found her weapon there, at least - the Slice of Light."

"We found other magic weapons there, too, like a spear and a shield, but we couldn't do anything with them. Ro's dagger lit up brilliantly when she touched it, but the others were... well, dull. I know Ereunike took the spear even though it wasn't glowing. I told her it was a bad idea, but... she didn't listen to me. Not that that's unusual, she never listens to me," Ampy says with a nervous chuckle, looking around as if expecting Ereunike to be right behind him.

"It's an old tradition, and it's only upheld by the Queens, really. No one wants to invoke their wrath, nor break any of the laws, so we all have eight-letter names. It started with Queen Listhera, who named all of her daughters and sons 8-letter names. Further Queens would do the same to honor her, as she was the first to unite the landmass of Listhera at the Megahive. The old stories say she was named after the landmass, but some say she named the land after conquering it." Ampelios continues on a for a bit about more Changeling Universe Lore™, before he seamlessly segues into the topic of Staresh and Tetrath. "Tetrath is an interesting case, because Starcutter didn't seem to know how or why this strange creature kept showing up in different timelines. His notes keep a rough tally and say that Tetrath has been in at least 22 timelines. His notes on Staresh, however, are... a fair bit less precise."

"Honestly, Xanthena could explain it better. She's the scholar, I-I just like stories... but, um, from what Starcutter had written down, between magical signatures and tendencies in background magical radiation and perpetuation, he theorized that Staresh was several billion years old." He shakes his head quickly and waves a hoofy thing. "I know, it sounds ludicrous. I don't know if he was losing his mind or something else, but... well, there you have it. The rest of his writings were really sound... but they became difficult to decipher after that. I think he was growing paranoid or something, as some of the journal entries are indecipherable."

"W-who are you p... ponies?" Tetrath mumbles, his body remaining still under threat of squish. You can sense panic in his voice, however. "Where are we? I don't... how did I get here...?" He would crane his neck to look at Silver, if it weren't currently pinned to the ground. "What? A shadow monster? I don't... I don't remember anything..."

[igordragonian]

Nobi
'You are under me, until I am certain you won't try to kill anyone.' She hiss at him, and turn her attention to the changleings, somehow wierded out, even though, lately their adventure was set of bizzare revelatations.
''How it possible? Is it because she turn back in time over and over?'

[Theoboldi]

Silver ponders the question of who wrecked the castle into its current state for a moment, only to quickly realize that there will be no easy answers. "There's too many candidates, especially since there's a lot we still don't know about our version of history." A sigh escapes him. Would the answer even mean anything to them? With any luck, it won't. Then again.... "Steven-..uh, I mean Medeus told us that Starcutter might have angered some greater power with his time travel. Could be it rampaged through here, but there's no way to tell after all this time."

For a while, Silver listens carefully, fully agreeing that Ereunike should not have taken that spear. Everyone knows spears are totally lame! Who'd even want to wield one of those?

However, his attention is once again piqued by the mention of Staresh. "It does sound crazy. But, it also has to be true. I don't quite get how it works, but she's some kind of focus point in the middle of the repeating cycles. Some kind of constant like Starcutter and Luna and Celestia, even though she must have been a player at some point." Silver pauses, mulling over that thought.

"At least it is consistent with what we already know. If the cycles can draw players from universes as different as ours, then there's no reason for there to be any kind of limit to the amount of them until Elysium has been activated. We got a glimpse of just how many players there have been when Staresh took us to some kind of weird...tower....dimension." He tilts his head aside to Dawn, asking "Do you remember what that place was? It was really weird."

---

Upon noticing the fear in Tetrath's voice, Silver raises a wing, gesturing for Nobility to at least let the poor bug get some air. Don't insects have really cruddy lungs, anyways? "We're not here to hurt you, if you're afraid. That's not our style. Got that memorized?" The colt points at his head in a playful manner. "A lot of stuff has happened, but let's figure out the basics first. What's your name, and what's the last thing you remember?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Silver will try and calm Tetrath down so he'll cooperate peacefully. Here's a Heart check in case it's needed. Don't think my Stage Magic proficiency applies here, since I'm not exactly trying to charm him or bluff him or something like that.

(2d6)[2][6](8) + 2 Heart = 10

[DigoDragon]

Dawn considers the changelings' story on the castle. "Slice of Light? Heh, that's clever. Well if there is a vault here, then I hope our version hasn't been looted yet. It would be nice to actually have something more than a saddlebag full of part-eaten dry food and bad ideas."

"Staresh ... several billion years old. Cutie... welp, so much for that dream of a little sister. Anyway, I wonder if Staresh is like... maybe the first player? Or whoever made this cycle game... yeah, I'm still hazy on the theories too. Unfortunately or fortunately, you changelings are a lot farther ahead than us on all this. And... we've lost half our players. Dunno how far we'll get, but... it is nice to talk to another group. You are all pretty nice. If somehow we find a way to actually connect our sides, I'm gonna give each of you a big hug for all your help."

She looks at Tetrath, who just woke up. "Guess we should wrap up our call. Our prisoner is awake. Oh! You all have a Talon in your game, right? What does it do for you all?"