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

[DigoDragon]

Dawn squints a little. Maybe Nobility is on to something. She'l casually work her way into the crowd and casually ask, "Is that who I think it is?", pointing to the lavender pony.

[Zelphas]

Curtain Call shivers unconsciously, pushing away the odd feeling as the group passes into the courtyard. He eyes the stone statue with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation. Lifelike 'set-dressing', or important character that we meet later? he thinks to himself, noting its exquisite detailing. Or is it a pony trapped in stone?

"Probably not the same one, but the one for this universe, maybe?" Curtain Call responds to Dawn, resisting the urge to fly up over the crowd to get a better look. It's probably a good idea to keep a low profile for now...

[Lord Raziere]

Malachite

How long had it been since the darkness began? You feel tired, and a headache radiates from your horn into your head as a horrid chill creeps up your back. You feel the magic around you twisting and churning in alien ways, completely different from Equestria's magic. And yet, at the same time, there's familiarity to it; it is definitely Equestrian magic.

In your mind, a hideous voice scrapes and grinds against your sanity... it's incredibly difficult to make out what it is even trying to communicate.

Spoiler: The Voice

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I͚͉̟̤̙͇ͅǹt̟̜̟̞͈̼̀r̴̗̜̩̣͇̺͙u͕̯̕ͅd̷̖̺̮e̼͖̤r͉̘̟̖

Y̽̈͏̧̗̦̭͓̹̞͕͉̗o͋҉̝͚̰̕u̪͙͚̰̓̈̄̅̈́̂ ͙̗͚̜͕̳͔̮̀̑ŵ̵̯̺͓̲͗͊ͨ͋̓̔̓͘͜ḣ̡͕̰̠͇ö̢̧̝̦̞̻́ͬͬ ̸̹̮̱̤̹͓̲̠͚̂̈ͭ̃̑̈́ͫ̾͜d͓̈́͌ͤ̐ͩǫ̵͎̼̪̯̯͉̇̾̉ͫ̌ͭͤ̄̍͞ȩ̺ͥ̓ s̵̛̲̳̙̺ͨ͒̌ ̵̩̹̲͔̣̞̌ͩ́ͭ̃͒͑̔̀n̒͠҉̣̯̺̞̼̱̮̙̩͝ȍ̓͛ͨ͂̿͋͑҉̯͔͎̳̻͍̯t̓̆ ̨̝̪͔̞̞̘͍ͩ̃ͭͤ͜ͅ ̹̩̹͍̲̲̫̝̘ͣͭͦ̑̑̽̓͑b̝̟̱̖͌ͩ͂͘͘e̶̦̩͈̗̼̞̳ͪ̓ͣl̷̯̖̬̒ͨͩ̾̿́ ̜ơ̶̧̫ͯ̋͌̐n̝̺͍ͪ͑̊͗ͫ̎ǵ̛̬͔̺̼̲͖̠̱͎͐̋̿̃̑͊̓ͣ́,̎͌̒̎̊͑ͣ͂ ̷̀҉̟̰̮̫͙ ̭͚͕̱̞̇̈̅ͫͮ̒́̍͝ş̯̱̞͚̬̤̬͍̀̋̎̔ͭͩh̸̵̼̀̽̾͂̊̀̒͜ǎ̶̸̀͒̆͜ ̦̦̩l̹͈̙̞̦ͬ̓͢l̛̞̦̫̠̠̯̪͖͛̊̇ͣͣͧ̍ ̴̢̝̻͚̼͙̟͍͓͐̀ͅḭ͈̜͈̟̹̳̘͗̿͋̈̀̃̍ͥṇ̱͓̣̣̥͇̖̊͜ḩ̎̉̋̓ͨ͌͑ ̭͕͚͇̼͜ę̶͓͙͚̘͇̱̉̄̀r̟̮̰̖̼̗͛ͧͣͩͤ̕ḭ͕̭̰̬̰̯̞̔̍̈ͬ̆̎̂t̔ͥ ̵͙͔̯͙͓͙͔̬̮ͭ̾͋̽ͪ́ ̢̫̘̫̯̺͑ͧͩ͋̍͢ț̗̰̫̯̻̼̩ͪ̀̓h̘̦̗͙̭͐ͬ̏ͫ͌̑̉̀̓e̱ͣͥͫͤͦ̈́̃͢͜ ̟̮̥̲̪̺̙ ̟̱̤͉̻̻͎͊̍̀ͅȩ̮̞ͮͬ͂m̳͇ͯ̽̚ͅbͤ̂̂ͨ͑҉̥̕ṙ͗͐͂̎̇̌҉͏̪̼̟̜a̻͓̪̝̰͋͆̔̄͆̉͢ ̹͔̬͓ć̷͖̩̹̞̣͇͐̋ȩ̭̹̱͍̅͗̐͢͡ ͍̱̲͉͈̔͜͞ͅơ̬̞̱̰̺͉̌́͜f̞͙͙̽͋̉͆̒̍͂̊ ̷͈̟̖̳͕̥̮̄ͪ͝t̵̰̜̳ͭ͊̉̃̋ͫͬ͊͘͟ḧ͕̻̰̘̅̀͆ͨ͡ē̉҉̼͚̯̺̪ ̟ ̷̰͚̼̥̩̺̪ͩ̐vͧ̔͒̒̆͘͏̬͎͙͉ǒ̺͑̄͌ͬ͆͒́͜͠i̧̛͎̲͈͍̖͍͉̲͇͑̀̈́͌ d̸̟̭͉̝͇ͥͧ̌̽ͯ̀

Ý̶͢҉͉̙͚̰̭̫̫̺̘̤o̶̗̼͔̳͖͍̪̦̕ͅu̶̷̹̞̞̯͉̟̬͡ ̴̼̪̲̬̭͙͍͓̣̬̙̀̕ͅͅw̩̭̣̩͙̳̯͚̻̝͖̯͉̜̩̟͇̼͝ì̧̛͇̲̰̥̩̥̱͞ͅl ̟͈͖̪̩̀ĺ̲̱̣͉̼͇̟͔̻̳̦̠͍̼̩̘̕͜͜ͅ ̷̪̦̣̳͔̫̬̥̝̣͙̻̞͟ņ̸̸͇̠͕͍̰̟͇̫̲̜͓̝͖ò̶̷͙̭̗̰̯̙̠̠͓̥͠͝t̕ ̡̣͚̱̲̘̯̜̯̦͈͙̳̥̳͕͜ͅ ̴̸̠̦͍͉̜̯̩̪̣̖́͞ͅs̴͓̖̹̯̫̟͍͜͞͞͝ừ̖͍͔̼͢r̺̳͚̠̠͙͔̻̫͜v̶͟ ̶̶̤̣̥͕̤̺͖̯̯̮̼ͅi̷̹̰̖͇̩͜ͅv̵̺̙͙̻͎͚̯̲̠̞͚̪͚͉̀e͔͔̥͎̞̕͜͜͜ ̹͕̗̘̰̗ͅ

Suddenly, the horrible chill is gone, as is your headache; however, a sense of deepening darkness and falling gloom looms over you, as if something in the endless expanse of nothingness all about you is an actual, corporeal creature.

Spoiler: OOC

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Welcome aboard, Raziere! Malachite is not yet in Equinia, but will be soon.

Malachite blinks and frowns at this.
"What? Whose there? What is this outrage!? Infinite blackness. By Celestia, have I been sent into an out of bounds area? Hey developers! I discovered a glitch in your game! Bug report: tampering with code somehow sucks player into game unwillingly, deposits them in a black room then makes weird voice proclaim something that gives you a headache, potential mental health hazard. "
She reaches for her magic, little blocks of green digital magic surrounding her horn. If it was Equestrian magic it should run the same principles on some level. All she had to do was to manually cast the command spell to get out of the game and theoretically she'll pop back out. She tries a few common commands:
"((CTRL-ALT-DEL)=THECYCLEENTRANCE.EXE)"

"RUN>EXITPLAYER_EXEC."

"/EMERGENCY_ESCAPE_FUNC>>RUN"

"//TRANSPORT/AREAVAL=00000000/WOR"

"oh come on what kind of developer doesn't put in an unstuck command? Its just common safety practice. Maybe //[THE CYCLE.EXE] - MALACHITE_MATRIX.PER//T >> EQUESTRIA.WOR?"

[DigoDragon]

"Probably not the same one, but the one for this universe, maybe?" Curtain Call responds to Dawn, resisting the urge to fly up over the crowd to get a better look.

"You're likely right, but I just want to confirm the mare's name," Dawn says. "Just to see how on-target Nobility is."

[igordragonian]

Nobility was in awe. Sure- logicly, she expected it. But seeing a Twilight Sparkle dimensional clone with her very own eyes... wierded her so much.
"Of course I am on the target, dear. It's all in the blood. Should we aporach her? She might know a thing or two about the elements.." she side looked at Cutie.
"Especialy the element of Magic."

[Derjuin]

Curtain, Nobility and Dawn

As you approach the lavendar unicorn around which everypony is gathering, you get a better look at her features: she wears thick-rimmed glasses and her mane into a bun, though strands have escaped and dangle half-way-curled just in front of her ears. Her robes are definitely academic in nature, almost looking like the kind of coat you'd wear while doing experiments.

When she glances your way, she waves a hoof towards you. "Come on! It's almost time!" she says, trotting toward a large, glowing circle on the ground. On the left, you see smaller concentric circles around a stylistic sun, and on the right, you see concentric circles around a crescent moon. Many of the younger ponies approach carefully, and some of the adults gasp as they recognize the signs.

Malachite

The unending blackness surrounding you continues unabated regardless of your commands, the threads of magic still charting their alien path along an unknowable map. Suddenly, the magic changes and a red swirling mist seeps out of what appears to be a wound in the fabric of the zone you've found yourself in, and it slowly contorts into the vague shape of a face, reminiscent of a filly's, but it lacks definition as it floats freely among the space it inhabits.

Its mouth opens, and its jaw swings wide, as if to howl or shout, but silence is all you hear... and then the horrid, grating voice returns in your head.

Spoiler: The Voice

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T̠̦͢ͅŕ͕̖͔e̢̞̟͔̦̭̞ͅs̸̫͉p͖̱͓͇̦̙a͎s͕̟̳̭͕͍͍͚̫s̡̡͏͈̙̤e ̶̢̫͕͎̩͓͖̠̰́r̶̵͖̮̳͓.̟͍̯̦̹̞̗̺
̜̘̞̝̙́͢͝
̴̫͈͉͉̞̫Y̵̢̟̮̦̗̱̰ͅo̧̤̘͞͝u̢̻̯ ͎̦̯͕̙͖̀a̷̻̟̱̣̘͎̦r̛̬̳͎͔̩͕̥̜e̡͙͓̤̫̫̲̣͎ͅ ̸̴̣̗͔͉̤͔̞̟̘n͏͏̟̝̤͈͕͎o̙̮t̴͍͙̜̞͘ ̢̻͙͝t̡͙̺̥͖͓h̩̭͜e͜҉̥̟ ҉̮̪m̵̳̰̤̬͚̣̜̜á̼̯͟ṣ̷͚͜t̛͏̝̮̮͓̫e̝̻̖̩̼͜ŗ̘̰̮͟ ̛̩̱͍͍̼̥̻͝o҉̶̯͇̘̩f̶̙̝̻̙̦̺ ̷̠̙̮̻͚͍͇̻́t̵͓͍̭͞ḩ̖͉̻i͔̝͍͙̙̣̣̫̻͟ṣ̝̝̜̹̹̺̣̀ ̧̨̮͈̭́ͅw͈̰͈͚͎͈̪̥͘̕͢o͜͏͎̠̲̯̭r͚̗̞͖̘̼̗̹̀͢͜ĺ͔̤͇̤̮̜̻̗͝ d̙̜͔̪͙̙͢͠.̢͓͚̖͡
̸̧͇͉̩̯̗̣̖̰
͎̺̙̯͔͇̱̣̞I҉̙̺͡t҉͙̹̦͓̫s͏̣̤ ͕̫̜̗̜͠ͅm҉҉̠͖ḁ͖͜͝ǵ̷̜̹̝̭̩̩͓̱i͍̰̕ć̢̛ͅ ҉ͅw̶͇̺̙͞i̸̵̖̫͎l̸͉͎̱̤̼̼̜ͅl̷͇̺͈̪͚͞ ̡͈̖̦ṇ̲̥͙͚̜̻̩̗͠ò̲̬̦̠̥͕̲̰͜t̸̛̙̟͓̝̕ ̨̫̰̺̙͇̰́̕y̕͏̳͕̩̬͕͓̗ͅi̷͓̳͈̪̰̪͞ͅe̯̜̠̹̲͈̩͜ͅl͢҉͙̘̱̟̮̭d ̮̩̜͎͈̼ ̫͓͇͇̀͢t̷͈̱͠o͏͇̱ ̡̛̼ͅo̶̖̗͠͠ņ̛̹͓̙̺͙͎ȩ̜͎̰̦̳ ̵̨͎̩̣̼̠̲̞̺s͕̝̳͍͚̕͘u̸͏̨̩͍͙̭̩̰̣̙ć͖̜̟̩͢h̫̙ ̟͕͘ḁ̶̳̗̝̼̯͈̭͇̕s̘͟͟ ̸͎̥̮͜y҉̠͢o͚̞͈͓͘͝ù̜̮̱̘̣́͜ͅr̤̫͎̯͚͟s̩̲̮̙̱̮͍͈̰e҉̵͙l̷҉ ̲̦̖f̵̰̰̬͍͔͈̝͢.̷̘͚̲̘̬̥̻̖
͟͏̘̟̯̬̙̻
̩͓̩̬͙͇̹͝ͅA̵͎͕͇̻̘̳̗̪͠n̸̵̻d̺̜͍͖̱͘ ͇͘͜y̷͓ͅe͟҉̨̼͖̫̺t̴̟̹͉̥̩͍͟,̛̺̜ ̻͙̫̯̱͉̀y̵̨҉̟̖̘̯̟͎̝̱̭o̙͎̪̫͍̖̯ͅu̧͈̯̯͡ ̟̞͎̼͉m͇͎͓͈̖̘͜a͏̱͍̱y҉̰͈̣̮̩̦ ̷͇̦͕͎̲̤̦͔p̡̡͎̜̟͟r̭̹̟͕̮̲̪̕͠͡o͏̻̲̗͕̰͔͔̙͢v̗̰̝̘͜͟ę̛̳̣ ̜̹̟̠̮ ̮̗̗͙̥u͏̱͉̹́s̥̱̭͓̘̯͚̝̳͜ḛ͉̩͖̼͇̫f̶̱̥̹̠̱͇̣u̱̳̭̣̯̘̙ͅl̸ ̹̩̀ ̷̡͔͔̳́i̶̻͘n͏̣ ̲̤y̧̨̥͈͉o̶̥͙͇͞u̺͍͚͉͟r̴͍̗̤͓͢͝ ̶̣̣v̪̥̙̹̠͟͟ͅi̺͓͍̠̣͜ó̡̙͕̟̻̭͘l̸͙̤̦̹̯a̵̭͍̲̗̹̟̥̦̳ţ̧̪ i͝҉̗̙̞̻̪̩̟ͅo̵̢̩͍͡n̢̘̤̪͟.̝̦̫͝͡
̣̯͙̖
̴̗̞̩̮̥̰̩̥̀ͅR͇̝̟͔e̦̳l̸̨̟̜͎͕̤̫̦͙ḙ̳͙̹̬̭̰͡͠a̶̢̲͍͓̬̪͇͘ ̙̤ͅs̲̰̼͈͖͈̺͘͠ẹ̸̛̹̜̳ ̸̧͕̫͓͎̜͉͢E̢̛̮͜l̬͇͎y̵̮͙̥͚͟s̮͈̮i̴͏͕̦̹̭̜̞̤̞ͅú̮͇̪̖̗̰m ̶̵̨͚̣̘̮,̻̮͎̜͉̫̟̳́ ̘̘̲̻̻̥͟͜͞a̬̱͇̠̹̖͝ņ̣͍̜̠͚̞̺͔d̶̟͙̟̰͢͝ ̨͈̖͕̫̱̺͘b̷̭̦̪̳̯̱̘̠͙e̴̸͎̞͈̫̥͖ͅ ̭̞͓͖͓͝a͙͎̲̫̜͙͕̮b̹̯̬̱̦͕̻s̱̹̭̻̥̼͍̹̀o̗͉͝l̷̢̝͓̟̤̱͔͘ͅv̸ ̼̬̙͈͇̫̻̟́e̼̺d͚͚̠͕͇͟.̝͓̯͚̹̕
̨̡̦͖͉͕̥
̮̳̜̳͚̭̹̗F̣̩̯͔̞ạ̢̲̼͙i͇̞̳l̨͚̦͡ ̸͎͚a͈̬̮̘̲̙̞ͅn͡͏̯͉͘d̵̜͎̭͠ͅ ̻͚͕e̸͉̳͓͉̳m̴̴̻͙̘͇̟̖̟̪ͅb̬̠͔͕̮͞ŗ̠̕ͅa̴̧̗̝͍͔̮̯̺c̣͢e͘͟ ̵̤̮̺̤ͅ ͇̠͢t̢͇̫̬̮͝ḩ͖̰̥̗̻͙̝̩e͎͙͈ ҉͇͇͓v̜̰̭̤o͏̢̩̝i̡̳̱̯d̸͈͉͇̺̠̥͙̲͜.̷̨̺͓͍̟̬͢

The mist rumbles as if with lightning and thunder, its form warped and wrapped with black clouds; it begins expanding, approaching and yet growing distant at once - instead of covering you, it colors the blanket of blackness that confined you before. All around you feel a powerful magic led by an intelligence, though you aren't able to discern what exactly it could be.

Another voice reaches out to you, much clearer than the other...

Spoiler: The Clear Voice

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"Reach out, little one, and find purpose..."

"You must help the heroes... become one yourself..."

"Save us all from the tyrant of time..."

[Lord Raziere]

Malachite
Malachite is confused. She raises an eyebrow at all this, showing absolutely no reverence towards the mystical weirdness happening around her.
"What. The. Buuuuuuck? Did I activate a quest by accident? This seems like one of those epic quests given by gods and spirits, did I skip to late game content? Huh. Well at least its better than beating up rats at level one. And all the trespassers talk and such.....did I activate some karma/morality meter or do the devs really just not like hackers? Not getting out though....thats concerning. Glitch, caught in weird cutscene or spiteful dev design? You make the call!"
She paces about getting this all straight in her head.
"So lets see: Other players, final boss to stop, Probably time based powers, release this Elysium thing, makes sense that this is an MMO, I guess. Why make such a big world just for one person when you can have multiple instead? Saves time and energy, build only one world instead of multiple instances for each player. Did all I get that right, great bipolar voice in the sky? Or are you two voices, you can tell Mr. Gratinghoof McDoomDeep to speak a little clearer right? Ah who am I kidding your probably some script reading out the stock lines for this quest...I'mma call you Clarity. You seem like a Clarity to me, because you speak clearer than the other guy. I like you. More informative."
She was guessing she tripped some sort of quest or morality system that was there to provide multiple options for people for how their game goes. Maybe more upright people just get Clarity congratulating them or something.
"But I can't do this if I'm stuck here, so um.....get out. How do? or do I just wait for the cutscene to end?"

[DigoDragon]

Dawn looks at her friends and shrugs. "I guess we come closer?"

She moves closer to the circles to get a clear view.

[igordragonian]

Nobility whined "We haven't bought dresses fitting such royal occasion!" but trotted alongside Dawn.

[DigoDragon]

Nobility whined "We haven't bought dresses fitting such royal occasion!" but trotted alongside Dawn.

"I don't think we have that kind of money with us. I mean, I don't even have pockets. Just a saddlebag of food."

[igordragonian]

"Darling, of course we have this kind of money, just not in cash mind you!" Nobility giggled dismissvly, with a "Ho Ho Ho!" of sophisticated ponies of her social class.
"You don't expet such heroic actions as our to go unrewarded are you? I am sure every merchant understand, we have the royal credit to back us up. You just need to know how to make them realize that."

[DigoDragon]

Dawn raises an eyebrow. "Okay, do tell, cause I'm curious to see this actually work."

[igordragonian]

"I will glad to. Once I'll have the chance."

[Derjuin]

Curtain-Nobility-Dawn

Suddenly, the circle glows a bright gold, and the lavender unicorn approaches it eagerly. "Here it is! The big surprise, everything this festival is about!" The crowds grow thick as even distracted ponies begin to turn and watch, and many (on-duty) guardsponies taking up places around the herd. About then, you notice that Cutie is nowhere to be seen.

"A long time ago, we - Equinia - lost something dear to us." The unicorn says, her horn sparkling with magic and a ball of light levitating from it to hovering above the crowd, slowly growing larger. As it expands, you see within it a planet, much like Equestria, except it has two moons that orbit it, and it slowly rotates around a large star in the center. "We lost our sun, our moons, and our protectors." Many of the ponies start to murmur in the crowd, some looking worried while many looking confused. Several of the guardsponies, too, look confused - and others look curious. "I, Twilight Sparkle, have been tasked with keeping every bit of knowledge archived on these things, hidden away from us by horrible clouds and the Veil. In particular, I know all about our protectors, and the boons they gave to our world."

A small filly approaches the glowing ring of magical runes, tilting her head as she looks up to Twilight. "Who were they?" she squeaks, standing at the edge of the circle.

"Two ponies who gave their lives to keep us safe," Twilight says, from speaking to the filly to shouting over the crowd's growing muttering. "Celestia, and Luna." As she says their names, some of the adults in the crowd grow wide-eyed, and others slack-jawed. "Yes, those same two alicorns some of us were told never existed. Those same two alicorns some of us were told had died, or had struck deals with the angels and demons." The circle grows brighter, and the ball of light collapses in on itself and smashes into the ground, sending out a veritable spray of sparkles, shimmers and glimmers.

"With the help of the fated heroes, the ponies of the prophecy, we have had our goddesses returned to us." Those sparkles that remained within the circle begin to whirl about the area furiously, condensing into two forms which stand upon the symbolic sun and moon. Then, the same Celestia and Luna you saw back in the temple appear from the light, though there is something to their appearance that they lacked in the Ark room - both their regalia and manes shine powerfully in the new light, and they seem to exude magical power.

In synchronization, Celestia and Luna raise their wings, and bow their heads in your direction. "This is a day everypony will remember forever, one that changed our world." With a powerful flap of their wings, Celestia and Luna ascend into the air above the crowd, looking down upon the ponies gathered.

"Your salvation has come." They say together, and for what seems like the first time in forever, the sun ascends over the walls of Marinev and blanket the city below in sunlight, the skies now a sea of pale blue, clear of clouds (with the exception of Cloudheim, of course).

Malachite

The red and black haze that has invaded the area around you continues its rumbling, pulsing and weaving, with no further hideous voice to accompany it. All of a sudden, a great, white light flashes through the thunderous mist far away - like a star gone nova - and rapidly travels like an electric current through it. Almost as sudden as the light, you see a quite tall pale blue unicorn clad in white-gold metal armor reminiscent of filigree appear before you, encased in a shimmering yellow bubble and huddled into a fetal position in mid-air. One of her eyes flutters open for just a second, and you hear the clear voice once again, though it speaks much more quickly, and in more complete phrases...

Spoiler: The Clear Voice

Show

"I am free, if only for a moment. Little one, I am Princess Rose. It is no accident you are here - you wouldn't have survived if it were not fated. My world of Equinia has been locked in the middle of a war between blind order, wanton chaos and the tyrant of time for many ages. There are heroes now among the ponies there who need your help. Dawn Star, Nobility, Curtain Call... help them, please! I will use my power to get you into the world... but I cannot help for much more than that..."

The yellow orb, along with the unicorn, quickly fades away, as does the black and red mist in the distance, and you feel yourself being pulled slowly downwards...

[DigoDragon]

Dawn claps along with the crowd? Well, she tries to fit in. "Curtain, Nobi, have either of you seen where Cutie ran off to?"

[igordragonian]

Nobility puffed her chest forward with pride, almost purring.
"heroes."

She blinked.
"Eh... What?' she looked around. "Oh dear. How irresponsble of us! Don't you worry dear, I'v got an idea."
Nobility flew to the stage- normally, she would avoided flying, because she still flew in clumay embarssing way- but there were urgency to get to the stage.

"CUTIE PIE! COME HERE TO THE STAGE! PRINCESS CELESTIA AND LUNA WANT TO THANK YOU!" she yelled, while clumsily floating.

[DigoDragon]

"Uh..." Dawn was quite shocked that Nobility suddenly jumped up on stage like that! Is she crazy? Maybe they all were considering the job title. "Come on, Curtain. I think we should go join her before the limelight runs out."

Dawn tries to squeeze her way toward the stage.

[Zelphas]

Curtain Call watches, dumbstruck, as Celestia and Luna simply... reveal themselves. In front of everyone. Did... did we just activate Hard Mode?

"Um..." is Curtain Call's only reply before Nobility is on the podium. He follows her and Dawn on stage, his acting training kicking in with a professional smile for the crowd; however, his thoughts are too caught up in the new turn of events to do much more than smile and wave.

[Lord Raziere]

"Wait did you just call players by name? But shouldn't be possi-BLEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!"
Malachite says as she is pulled downwards, mistaking it for falling. She screams as she thinks she is heading downwards, but otherwise is not really sure what to do in this situation. Was she going to encounter these people? Was she going to land somewhere? It didn't seem to be up to her to decide.

[Derjuin]

Dawn, Nobility, Curtain

Slowly, Celestia and Luna descend from their positions above, landing on each side of the glowing circle they appeared from. Almost as soon as their hooves touch ground, an immense pillar of white and gold light erupts from the circle, surging skywards, and you see the form of a pony within it, outlined in an eerie black aura from which teal lightning leaps. Suddenly, the entire column is tainted by a dark cloud, pulsing with red mist within it, and the light quickly fades, as if strangled out of existence.

With it, the dark cloud disappears as well as the aura, leaving behind a black-coated pony with a vibrant green mane and tail...

Malachite

The feeling of sinking quickly speeds up into a full-fledged fall, and you feel as if being pulled and stretched beyond your shape and size... and suddenly the darkness below you parts, and you see a spherical world growing larger and larger beneath you - or perhaps it's getting closer? Then, as suddenly as the darkness parts, a bright white light envelops your vision, and you feel hard stone under your hooves.

At first, it feels like something is still trying to tear you away from the world, and then suddenly, it snaps and the blinding light fades, slowly revealing a huge group of ponies, all staring wide-eyed toward you and three fillies/colts around your age right in front of you - and to your left and right, what looks like the princesses Celestia and Luna.

Everypony

"Behold, the catalysts of our shared paradise," Celestia says, pointing a wing towards your group. "The heroes of prophecy have been gathered." Luna says, mirroring Celestia.

"There is but one we are missing..." Celestia takes a few steps forward, her eyes trailing up the statue of the winged unicorn holding the heart-shaped stone. "The one who will shepherd the new paradise." Both Luna's and Celestia's horns glow brightly as the statue shimmers between yellow and bright blue, and slowly it changes color and texture - the stony grey shifts toward a pale pink, and the rough edges smooth out to the fine coat of a living pony. The pony's mane takes on colors of purple, pink and pale yellow, and the heart stone reveals itself to be like a crystal.

After color returns to the pony, a bright light explodes outward from it, and she falls forward with a gasp, the heart-shaped crystal levitating in a pale blue aura, shared by the alicorn's horn. Celestia and Luna take up positions at her sides, and she stands up between them, not quite as tall as the two; her eyes shimmer as she sees the herd of ponies before her, and the crowd's curious murmur slowly evolves into a monstrous roar of cheers and hoots. "Welcome back, Cadenza," you can hear Celestia say to the pink alicorn, though just barely over the crowd's bellowing. The pink alicorn, meanwhile, says nothing.

[DigoDragon]

Dawn, a bit confused at how much this is all paralleling her own world, joins in the cheers just to not feel too out of place. "Anyone know whats going on?" she whispers to her friends, noting the green mane pony that also had arrived.

[igordragonian]

"Yes! My show stealing was stolen!" Nobility hissed back to Dawn.
Ah.
Yes.
And also, searching for Cutie failed. What up with this filly, dissapearing at such scenes- did she had allergy to magic or something?

Also...
Catalysts.... it sounded more technical than attractive to her.


But she could bare that.

AIn all that chaos.. a pony with color pattern like of Cutie's appeared.. and it seemed his/her show stealing was stolen as well.

It seemed the goddesses were busy saying hello to each other, after being prisoned and all, so for now.. Cutie will have to wait.

She turned to the Cutie-ish looking pony.
"Greetings. I am Nobility. You don't happen to apear from Equestria.. now do you?'

[Lord Raziere]

Malachite groans and gets up.
"Uuuuuuuugh, thats was weird and painful.....huh where am I?"
Malachite looks around, a little dazed and getting her bearings straight
"Lets see.....Celestia.....Luna.....that pony, three ponies over here....oh. Nobility. you were one of the ponies I'm supposed to meet up with? Cool. Wow, Do I keep getting dropped into cutscenes or what? This game, just....this game. Let me guess you three are the other players? Cool, I have things to talk to you about. Don't worry about the NPC's its not as if they can hear us. Probably all just prerecorded script anyways, you know how these games work, I'm sure we can guess the plot."
She looks at the two
"And you are Dawn star and Curtain Call? Names Malachite Matrix by the way."
She just stated all this out loud without any thought for the consequences. As if this was any other game. By Celestia, she was acting like a stereotypical gamer complete with lingo. How bad is this going to be?

[igordragonian]

Nobility was wierded out, that this random pony, knew their names.
but there something else that disturbed her even more. She looked at Dawn.
"Translation." she demanded.

She knew she should, pay attention to the return of the goddesses, and looking for Cutie...
but right now, the godesses were busy looking epic and dramatic, and without getting everypony's attention, she wasn't sure how to look for Cutie.

[DigoDragon]

"Translation." she demanded.

"I think she believes this to be a video game, as Curtain does. Or did... or is it does? Anyway, seems she's another element to join our quest," Dawn translates.

She holds out a hoof. "Good to meet you, Malachite. You seem to know us already."

[Lord Raziere]

"I think she believes this to be a video game, as Curtain does. Or did... or is it does? Anyway, seems she's another element to join our quest," Dawn translates.

She holds out a hoof. "Good to meet you, Malachite. You seem to know us already."

"Well yeah, of course it is a game. I just got the stupid disk, hacked into it to see the code to try and figure out how it works, see what I could do with it, y'know beta-testing, then this stupid game sucked me in and put in this stupid voidy place with two weird voices.

How I know you is that one of those voices turned out to be someone named Princess Rose, told me about you and some quest involving a tyrant of time. Kind of odd for a NPC to call you guys out specifically, have the developers got their magic design that good? Also there was this other deep grindy voice told me I was a trespasser or transgressor or something. I think I tripped some weird late-game quest involving a karma meter, I think the game thinks I took a bunch of villain options and need to redeem myself by fighting a big end game boss? Its weird.

By the way, you guys know how to get out? Because I've been trying all the usual commands to exit but nothing is working."
She gestures with her hooves a bit as she speaks, seemingly looking around in thought as she did so. Wow this place was like a recreation of Equestria or something. Why would the game designers do that, was this supposed to be one of those sandbox games that simulate physics and location so well and you can do whatever you want in it? No wait there are quests. What was this, Skyride?

[DigoDragon]

Dawn looks over to Curtain and back to the new pony. "You two will get along well together."

She brushes some stray bangs aside. "I don't think this is a game... It feels too real for it. But, Curtain seems to have his theories. Don't you, C?"

[igordragonian]

Nobility derped her eye, toward her strangely striped ear.
"Yeah... I have ny own reasons to doubt. Gee. Am I the only none-dorkish speaker?' she groaned.
"Curtain? Your bride in the box arrived. Say something."

[Derjuin]

As you begin conversing about the state of the game, Cutie weaves her way into your presence from the surrounding crowd, creeping low to the ground. No pony seems to notice her, though, with all the attention focused on Celestia, Luna and Cadenza.

"Hi there," Cutie squeaks to Malachite, appearing suddenly next to the filly. "Yeah, magic commands aren't gonna get anyone out of here. This world's magic isn't as free as Equestria's, unfortunately." Cutie remarks, glancing around. "Though, it seems like some ponies' places in the world are getting a little unstable. I hope we're all still okay."

"And furthermore, none of this is a game," Celestia says, having turned away from the crowd as they hail Cadenza. "Real ponies with real lives on the line are engaged in these very real conflicts... please don't let yourself be distracted by how different our world might seem." She looks into the sky, the sun traveling higher in it. "Remember how similar they are, too."

The stone carried aloft by Cadenza glimmers softly in the sunlight, though the pink alicorn remains completely silent, her weak smile fading into a frown. Luna, meanwhile, bows to the crowd, looking back for a moment to spot her sister.

Nobility

Spoiler

Show

I do not like this, a strange voice invades your thoughts, and your sight focuses on Luna, even though she's only in your peripheral vision. I feel as if we are in grave danger - all of us, goddesses included.

[DigoDragon]

Dawn lets out a sigh of relief now that Cutie has been accounted for. She waves at her friend.

"The only-non-dorkish speaker? I guess so, though i'm not fluent mind you," Dawn says to Nobility.