|
Post by Becka on Dec 11, 2012 15:39:51 GMT -5
[Continued from the old C03 Inc: c03inc.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=dv&action=display&thread=103&page=3]The first thing Kail noticed when she woke was her headache. She'd never had a headache before. The second thing she noticed was the soreness in her muscles, which was also an oddity for her. The third thing was the vast, cold emptiness inside her where the green stripe of the Rainbow used to be. "No." She sat up with a gasp, hooves grasping at the second symbol on her chest. It was still there underneath the compass, but she remembered the feeling of emptiness from the morning after the War of the Rainbows, before the stripe returned to her. The green stripe was gone. It was the worst feeling in the world. Was it because of the fight on the ship? How she tore the Champions apart? There had never been discord between the Champions before – they’d always worked as a team. Perhaps this was her punishment for trying to leave the group behind and fix things on her own. If only Razz had been in his right mind, he could have stopped her. "Razz? Razzaroo?" She turned a circle, peering into the dim light of the forest for his familiar purple coat. She'd managed to keep a hold on him in the sea - she knew she had. She remembered her hooves scraping the sandy shore as she held him, the rain pounding down around them in the storm. They'd made it to shore together, she remembered that. So why were they in a forest? Had they crawled away from the shore and not realized it? It was entirely possible. The only thing going through her mind as the ship's hull cracked against the reef and they were swept into the icy water was the need to save Razz. "Razzaroo!" She yelled, and then screamed it in her head. But if she'd lost her stripe it was entirely possible he'd lost his and couldn't hear her anymore. Or he could still be under the effects of Silverfall. "No. No no no no no no no." She spun circles, trying to catch even a tiny glimpse of something that could be a pony. There was nothing near her. The forest was empty except for the Green Champion of the Rainbow. Kail sank onto her haunches, but it was such an absurdly Razzaroo thing to do that she stood again. She had to find Razz, and the other Champions, and figure out what happened to the Rainbow. She vaulted into the air until she broke out above the treetops to get a better look at her surroundings. She hoped to see the faint glow of a Champion stripe somewhere below, but the first thing that struck her was the sun. There was something wrong with the sun. It was in the sky….yes, she could tell it was there. But something eclipsed it with darkness. The gloom of the forest floor covered the entire land. Which was the second thing that struck her. There was no ocean here. The last thing she remembered was the shipwreck and trying desperately to keep Razz from drowning in the cold, salty water. She could see water below her, but no ocean, just mountains. There was a town beyond the forest, but how did she get from a shipwreck to the middle of a mountain valley? Surely she didn’t walk all that way without remembering? Then again, bouts of amnesia did run in her family… She hovered above the trees and tried yelling again. “Razz! Jewel! Champions! Where are you?” (I forgot how nice it is to RP Kail <3 It's like putting on a favorite pair of slippers again)
|
|
|
Post by Nightbow on Dec 12, 2012 12:55:25 GMT -5
[Cont. from c03inc.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=nursery&action=display&thread=77&page=2]Whisper Wind had just been blinking sleepily at Bella's suggestion. She didn't mind spending the night on the nursery floor (it's not like the beds had been plentiful on her last visit to the nursery), but in her current state the teenage unicorn couldn't quite grasp the meaning of pegasus' words. She was just about to ask, by her usual politeness, why the older pony wasn't going to use the bed - when she felt her stomach turn and her emerald eyes slammed shut. Before Whisper could finish the thought; I think I'm gonna be sick, instead of words the still-hot soup spilled from her muzzle. She felt herself falling to the floor, sickening sensation amplified when it softly cushioned her weight. Something snapped underneath her. She coughed. She hacked. She reopened her eyes. It was dark in the room. Moonbeams fell through the windows. So many windows. Whisper couldn't count them all. Her vision grew steadily clearer, revealing a wall of tree trunks, filtering light from above. "Wh-what? What happened?" Had she fallen asleep, right where she stood in the room? The youth scrambled to her hooves, another twig breaking beneath them with a dry snap. No. It felt too real. The unicorn's ears fell flat as she eyed her surroundings cautiously from the corners of her eyes, scared to move. As if this actually was a dream and too intense a move would break its fabric, leaving her falling into this waking nightmare. "Bella?" She prodded the moss in front of her, pondering. Can one actually feel things when in a coma? She put the hoof down, taking a good look around. Trees as far as her gaze could reach. Then she took another step. And another. The dark purple unicorn cantered through the trees. She listened to the wind in her ears, reaching for an inner voice, thinking as hard as she could: Here I am! Please! Anypony! But surely, there was nopony around to hear her frantic telepathic calls, even if she would successfully transmit them. Panic crept upon her as she finally came to a stop. "Please!" She called out loud as tears stained her face. "... Anypony!" And then, before she would fall into despair, a voice bounced between the trees. "Hello? Hello!"
|
|
|
Post by Becka on Dec 12, 2012 13:27:13 GMT -5
A voice. Kail swore she heard a voice in the trees. She dipped down below the canopy and slowly made her way between the trees, still high enough to keep out of any threats on the ground.
"Hello? Hello!"
There it was again, to her right. Kail turned that way and it didn't take long to find the owner of the voice. The coat was dark purple, just like Razz, but the voice clearly wasn't his. It sounded familiar though....
Kail hovered above the pony for a moment - she didn't want to scare the poor thing by dropping down right before it. "Up here," she said instead. "I'm not going to hurt you - can I come down?"
|
|
|
Post by Nightbow on Dec 12, 2012 13:54:01 GMT -5
Whisper thought she heard a soft rustle in her left ear. She turned her head but saw nothing, intensifying her listening. Was it just those whispers in her ears?
"Up here."
The voice came from above. Whisper looked up, taken aback by the pony floating form in the dim light under the tops of the trees. It didn't sound hostile, nor did it look hostile. The unicorn squinted. The colours where hard to define in the dusk, but she could discern the beating of wings.
"I'm not going to hurt you - can I come down?"
Whisp started with recognition. The pitch was familiar, even though it was from long ago. About a year ago. "...Kail?" She couldn't believe it. Eyes fluttered wide open, mouth hanging open with disbelief. Kailani wasn't supposed to be in Ponyville. Then again she wasn't sure she was in Ponyville anymore.
|
|
|
Post by Becka on Dec 12, 2012 14:48:01 GMT -5
The unicorn looked straight at Kail, and while the white hair stood out in the gloom, it was hard to tell any other features. But then the unicorn made a little surprised movement and spoke.
"...Kail?"
Oh thank the Rainbow, it was someone she knew. The pegasus swooped to the ground and landed softly before the unicorn, then cocked her head to the side. She'd met so many ponies since the War of the Rainbows it took a moment to place this one.
"Whisper Wind, right? You lived at the Nursery for a time?"
The unicorn had shown up the same night as Triple Treat and his trunk full of money. It was the only thing that kept the Nursery open that year. But Kail remembered this filly - she was young, but eager to help with the children in any way she could until she left. That had been, what? A year ago? It felt much longer.
|
|
|
Post by Nightbow on Dec 12, 2012 16:44:51 GMT -5
It was Kailani. Whisper Wind lowered her head a little, meeting her hoof half way to brush a tear of her cheek. The unicorn suddenly felt thankful for the surrounding darkness - her eyes would gleam wet with tears, but hopefully the sea green mare wouldn't be able to tell. At least that was what Whisp would have wanted to imagine.
"Yea ... yeah. I fell. Through a waterfall, that is," Whisper Wind tried to explain, stumbling clumsily over her own words, as customary. She sighed, a deep trembling sigh. There was no hiding that she'd be crying. "Look, it doesn't matter," she stated, truly believing so. The whole tale about Butterfly Island could wait.
"I was gone for three seasons, and I didn't even tell anyone, and when I figured out how to come back, well, you weren't. That is, weren't in the nursery. But Karma and Shadoweaver was. And your mother came to visit, too! She said you were, um ... going to save the world?"
She fell silent, staring quizzically at Kail and expecting the same look in return. Boy did she feel dumb, letting herself chatter on like that. Especially in front of Kail. Whisp blushed, invisibly.
"Anyway, I'm so glad you're here. ...Do you know what this place is?"
She had always looked up to the pegasus, who looked like she was about the same age as herself. But Kail was much more than that, thought Whisp, recalling Razzaroo's tale of a dark rainbow. Razz, Whisper thought. The purple male had too always been present in the nursery.
"Hey, where's Razz? I thought he went away with you?" To take care of business. Wasn't that what Delphinbella had said?
|
|
|
Post by Becka on Dec 12, 2012 17:19:28 GMT -5
Kail couldn't blame Whisp for running all her words together and stumbling over what she was trying to say - she'd somehow made it to Course, after all. Somewhere in Course that even Kail didn't recognize, for all the visits she'd made.
"I was gone for three seasons, and I didn't even tell anyone, and when I figured out how to come back, well, you weren't. That is, weren't in the nursery. But Karma and Shadoweaver was. And your mother came to visit, too! She said you were, um ... going to save the world?"
"My mother was at the Nursery?" That didn't make any sense. Why would her mother have gone to help Karma at the Nursery? Karma could surely take care of a few kids, with Shadoweaver's help.
...Do you know what this place is?"
The peg's feathers ruffled as she shrugged. "Somewhere in Course, I believe. That's where the ships were headed when we wrecked, although I have no idea how I got so far inland without remembering. We're in a forest in the middle of a mountain valley, I guess. And the sun is being weird."
She didn't want to frighten Whisper Wind, but the filly had lived through the War of the Gods, so Kail supposed she could handle a little unexpected travel.
"Hey, where's Razz? I thought he went away with you?"
It was a punch in the gut and Kail's wings and ears sunk as she dropped her head. "I don't know," she whispered. "I can't find any of the Champions. We made it to the beach after the shipwreck - I know we did. But..." She peered into the forest around them again, hoping to see the faint glow of Razz's stripe, or hear his voice in her head as he called to her. "I can't remember what happened after we reached the beach."
|
|
|
Post by Nightbow on Dec 12, 2012 18:20:04 GMT -5
The young unicorn could only frown at Kailani's respone. Course? She vaguely recalled the name of such a place, but she would place it overseas on her inner Ponyland map. She had no idea how she would have ended up in Course, but Whisp would take the peg's word for it. She could fly. She must have seen something up there that told her it was so.
However Whisp's certainty that everything would be okay as long as Kail was there was swiftly flip-turned. The sun was weird? Kail had been shipwrecked? And Razz was missing? Unwilling to go against the beliefs of the pegasus, the naïve youth hesitated before speaking again.
"Are you sure we're in Course?" Her mind raced, quickly going through every possibility, every far-fetched explanation to their current whereabouts. But she has already established that the most likely answer - that they were sharing a strange dream - was not it.
"Do you ... suppose we're dead?" She whimpered pitifully.
|
|
|
Post by Becka on Dec 13, 2012 10:35:49 GMT -5
[Sorry! I thought the eclipse was going on the entire time Eclipse was in Equestria! Oops]
"Are you sure we're in Course?"
Logic said it was the only place they could be. Kail clearly remembered dragging Razz onto the sandy shore of Course. But the forest and mountains surrounding them looked nothing like the southern continent.
"Do you ... suppose we're dead?"
The peg had to stop herself from snorting at the absurdity of that. "We're not dead, Whisp. At least I'm not - I can't drown. And you..."
She reached out a sea green hoof and touched Whisper Wind's shoulder. Solid. "You're not a ghost, that's for sure. I'm not sure how you got here if you were just at the Nursery." She scratched her head. "How far can unicorns wink? I didn't think you could cross oceans." At least, her father couldn't cross oceans by winking. Maybe Whisp was more powerful than she looked.
[You can bring in the bad guys whenever]
|
|
|
Post by Nightbow on Dec 13, 2012 13:44:32 GMT -5
[No probs, I'll edit Refuge whenever I get around to it.]
Whisper, not being particularly magically talented, suddenly felt embarrassed in front of the healer. "A couple of meters, I'd think. At least." She took comfort from the feeling of Kail's warm hoof on her. The radiating heat went in deep underneath Whisper's skin, and she realised how dank the forest was. She calmed down a little, leaving her face with a slight frown. "I have never heard of a unicorn winking further than it can see, though.
A low grumbling sound was heard. The teen looked around for its source, and after a moment of hesitation settled on the most plausible - Kailani's stomach. Young unicorn was only lent a second to meet the pegasus' gaze of blue; then it was clearly audible. A groan, or a roar of sorts, emerged from the shadows behind them along with its owner - a huge granite grey armadillo with the jaws of an alligator.
Whisper Wind's body tensed up as she stared into the monster's reptile eyes, it staring right back at her.
Frothing jaws hinged open as the ground behind it tore apart, and three others like it crawled out of their muddy trench, grunting hungrily from being denied a buffet of pony just that morning. They charged.
Whisper Wind screamed.
|
|
|
Post by Becka on Dec 14, 2012 10:35:18 GMT -5
[Sorry it took me so long to reply. I spent all day yesterday reading old C03 posts ] So a unicorn couldn't wink any further than it could see. That made sense - Kail's father had never been able to wink very far. She was about to ask Whisp what she was doing before she ended up here, but was interrupted by a low growl. On instinct, Kail spread her wings. It would make her appear larger to whatever the creature was, and if the growling thing didn't back down, she could easily jump into the air. "Whisp...stay calm." Kail wanted to reach out and touch her again, but she didn't want to aggravate the creature by moving. It didn't seem to matter, as three others appeared behind it. They charged, Whisper Wind screamed, and Kail yelled "wink!" as she jumped into the air, out of the creatures' reach.
|
|
|
Post by Nightbow on Dec 14, 2012 13:58:07 GMT -5
[No sweat. I had to scoot over there to re-read my last WW posts, and gee ... fun times, fun times. Man was my English limited. XD] The monsters were fast. Whisper would have spun around and galloped for her life, had she only had the time. Now the giant jaws snapped shut in her space with a moist click. The pegasus' yell saved her. Winking did not come naturally to the awkward teenage unicorn but it was after all instinctive, like in so many generations of unicorns before her. But since Whisper Wind was facing forwards, that was also the direction which she teleported in. She materialised a split second later, some distance away from the first creatures tail - and just in front of the maw of the second. "Waah! No - AAAAARGH!" The small, dagger like fangs penetrated the unicorn's skin, and when Whispering Wind reared to escape them it was too late. Her flesh was thorn, forcing her down into a sitting position. At the same time, the first monster turned himself around. They weren't going to let this one go. Whisper thought for sure she was going to become an afternoon snack when the monster that bit down on her left front leg winched. She wailed and teared up, feeling dizzy from the pain. Why did her hoof feel so wet? *** [Cont. from Refuge] Knight Shade neighed a battle cry as he approached the pack of stonebacks from behind at top speed. He could make out the voices of two different ponies before he heard the hysterical cry of a young mare. "Get away from them, you monsters!" A second wince from the attackers, and then one of them released the grip of a young unicorn with blood gushing from her front hoof. Oh no. Knight Shade felt a lump in his throat. He'd been too late! "Scram! Shoo! Begone, you foul beasts!" It was working. The closer the white little stallion came, the stronger the effect from his pulsating necklace seemed to be on the beings, now fleeing the waves of vibration. In a matter of seconds, they were gone.
|
|
|
Post by Becka on Dec 14, 2012 14:12:25 GMT -5
The unicorn disappeared just before the first monster got to her, and Kail breathed a sigh of relief, until she re-appeared in the midst of the others. "Whisp - No!" Whisper Wind's scream as the monster grabbed her leg sent a shot of anger and guilt right through Kail, and she dove at the beast.
"Get away from them, you monsters!"
Before Kail could reach them a voice sounded, and the beasts released Whisp and began to back away. Soon they were running from a white stallion. It was his voice Kail had heard, but she didn't have time to thank him - blood was gushing from Whisper Wind's legs.
Kail landed and wrapped Whisp in her wings. "Shhh, Whisp. You're going to be fine." Then she began to sing the dolphin's song, calling up the energy of the healing stone to do its work and mend the young unicorn.
|
|
|
Post by Nightbow on Dec 14, 2012 15:24:53 GMT -5
Knight Shade was trying to catch his breath after screaming and running all the way from the Elder Forest. He gently touched the pendant that hung around his neck, stilling its seismic-imitating magic. His pulse rang like bells in his ears. He was just about to ask if the little pony was okay, when the pegasus shielded her from view. Instead he felt his mouth run dry, merely able to watch.
Whisper Wind fell cloaked behind the veil of Kail's seagreen feathers into the healers warm embrace. Her hoof was aching, and somewhere in her foggy mind she was carried back to a moment that seemed to have played out a lifetime ago, that stormy day at the Cotton Candy Café. The throbbing subsided, replaced by a searing feeling. It stung at first, tissue weaving back together, rebuilding. Then she was left with a distinct tenderness, tickling underneath her newly formed skin. A surprised gasp escaped Whisp's muzzle. "I - I'm okay," she proclaimed dizzily. As the healing song worked it's magic, her mind became clear again. "Thank you." Obviously the blood loss had not been too severe.
|
|
|
Post by Becka on Dec 14, 2012 17:08:49 GMT -5
Kail sat back as the warmth returned to her, but the emptiness where the green stripe used to be was still cold. She'd become much too used to being a Champion - she'd always known the stripe would leave her someday.
When she looked up, the white stallion was staring at them. She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.
"Thank you. I don't know what good I could have done against those...things...myself."
|
|