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Refuge
Feb 18, 2012 3:06:20 GMT -5
Post by Nightbow on Feb 18, 2012 3:06:20 GMT -5
[46th of Summer, following the events of Through lapsing continuums for Knight Shade.] It was morning and the sun hung darkened in the sky, moon partly blotting out the light. The eclipse was almost complete. Queen Eclipse stood in the highest tower of the ruins of Elder Forest, a natural refuge for the fallen winged unicorn. She had watched Celestia's normally golden glowing sun - it was not the only thing that had rose again this morning. Even if it bothered Eclipse, she was back at square one. She had been gone for so long, and nopony would remember her. Evidently, nopony knew Gaia and her daughters back in the day, but at least they knew their demonstrated power. No matter. The self-proclaimed queen of Equestria would use this to her advantage. The figure of white turned around, dark veil of mane flowing behind her. Dark eyes narrowed with delight - her magic had already taken effect. As she padded down the cold stone stairs, they were no longer naked, but covered with a red carpet. The torches on the walls lit her way, and as she entered the great hall candlelight greeted her. All furniture had materialised, the castle was as good as restored - with just a little bit of a draft. In front of one of the broken windows lay a little white pony on a divan. Eclipse approached him silently with a tell-tale cold smirk on her face. Oh yes, she would have plans for this follower. This subject. *** "Uhnn ... huh?" He moaned, finally coming to his senses. What the heck was happening? Yeah, that's right ... I was at the bar. No ... that's not right. That's not right at all. I woke up in the forest and then ... had he been dreaming it all? A face came into view. Someone was standing in front of him. Someone tall. His view was blurred, and Knight Shade was starting to panic once again. " There there, calm down," an unfamiliar consoled with a voice slipping like water and echoing like dripping. It was soothing. Motherly. " You are safe now, little pony." As Knight Shade came to his senses, he was strangely calm. The sight of Eclipse was frightening, but his fear quickly ebbed away as he saw the compassion in her eyes. " You have been asleep the entire night. Poor dear. The stonebacks almost got you," she chimed sadly, letting her words caress his soul. "Where am I? Who are you?" He finally asked. " You are lost, just like I have been for thousands of years. But fret not. This is my residence, and the only safe place in this world. I am Eclipse, the rightful queen of Equestria, usurped by my younger sisters." Eclipse looked truly bereft. She cast a sorrowful gaze out the window. Knight Shade followed it to the forest outside, dense and dark and dangerous. He imagined that she could picture something more beautiful outside. Something that once had been. "E-equestria? So this is not Ponyland?" " No. But I think it once was." "I don't understand?" " You see, I have been gone from this world since the day I was banished five millennia ago. Since then my sisters abandoned this world to its fate. War waged over the lands. It was only when the ponies despaired the most that they would return as heroines and take the place upon the throne that would have been mine. I wowed revenge, but it wouldn't come easily. Only when the younger sister, Luna, turned upon Princess Celestia, I finally got my chance to escape from my prison in the dark dimension of the Opaque. Celestia sent her champions to lock me right back inside, but I managed to thwart their attempt despite being weakened from thousands of years in my pitch black cell. In the process the unicorn Twilight ripped a hole in the fabric of existence and disrupted the time-and-space continuum. And that is how you must have descended here." Knight Shade couldn't believe it. During a moment of silence, Eclipse waited for the boy to put the puzzle together. "So what you're basically telling me, is ... that Ponyland - Greyvale, Dream Valley, Flutter Valley ... are gone?" He exclaimed with bewilderment. " Yes. Long gone. A time epoch to be found on the history pages.
" She fell dead silent, letting the news sink in. "Oh, Rainbows. Dear mother, she's ... all my friends ... goodness ..." His world had been turned upside down. Or rather, died. The world that he originated from, a world under the rainbows ... it had seemed so safe. " Please," queen Eclipse seemingly begged. Do not despair. All is not lost. Knight Shade looked up at her. His gaze told her he thought she was crazy, but so it softened to intensify yet again, bearing the desperate desire to listen. She got him. " This world rightfully belongs to me. If only I could restore the glory of the kingdom, if only the ponies would unite ... if only they would turn to me ... I could regain my power and restore order. I could send you back where you belong." "...Truly?" It was the only way. Knight Shade felt as lost as ever. But there was hope. A tiny light in this world of darkness. Queen Eclipse smiled at him. [Timeskipping. Knight Shade next appears in The Champion.]
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Refuge
Dec 16, 2012 6:27:25 GMT -5
Post by Nightbow on Dec 16, 2012 6:27:25 GMT -5
[Cont. from The Champion. It's now midday.] They climbed the hill and entered a clearing, and in the distance towered a castle. In this light, the young unicorn noticed that Knight Shade had a bandaged hoof. It seemed that he had been less lucky in his encounter with the monsters. Whisper Wind raised her gaze to the heavens, where the eclipsed sun had risen to the right of the castle. As a "child of the moon", Whisp could barely contain her anxiousness. She whimpered quietly, like a scared puppy. What had happened to the skies? The ancient wild-wood that was the Elder Forest didn't get much less wild here. What must long ago have been a garden leading up to the building had old trees fallen across it and new plant life springing around their dead trunks. but there was a paved path, and Knight Shade led the mares safely across it. Kailani spoke up. "I must ask, have you met any others today? Anyone who calls themselves a Champion? Anyone who...glows with a certain light?"Knight's Shade's pace slowed for a second before he picked it right back up. He swallowed, clearing his throat. Light? He had to think for a moment before he answered her question. The last thing he remembered before waking in Queen Eclipses' castle was a flash of lightning. But the only ponies he had met that morning was a pink pegasus whom he wasn't sure when she had disappeared, and that huge stallion who had abandoned him. And he did not recall any of them wielding a certain light. "I'm sorry, but no, no glowing ponies. I did meet a female pegasus and a male earthling, but I don't know where any of them went."
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Refuge
Dec 16, 2012 22:29:47 GMT -5
Post by Becka on Dec 16, 2012 22:29:47 GMT -5
A female pegasus and a male earther? That could have been Jewel and Razz...or Hollow, or Roux. And if Razz was here, wouldn't he have heard her cries by now? Kail kept a steady mental scream of his name going in her mind, so if he did wake in this dreadful place he'd know she was here as well. Although, if he didn't have his stripe...
She shook her head as they crossed the path to the castle, the cold emptiness creeping in and threatening to sink her into despair. The green peg did not do well in situations she couldn't control.
"You never gave us a name. I'm Kailani, and my friend is Whisper Wind. We're from Ponyville."
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Refuge
Dec 17, 2012 11:39:08 GMT -5
Post by Nightbow on Dec 17, 2012 11:39:08 GMT -5
Another stab in the chest for the white stallion. "Oh, um, my name's Knight Shade." He hesitated when Kailani mentioned her home town. These ponies wouldn't know what he had been told by Queen Eclipse; That Dream Valley was long gone - or rather, had changed both its name and face. The mere thought made Knight Shade anxious. But at least he wasn't alone. These ponies had too been transported into the future, and that served as some form of consolation for him. All in due time, he breathed soundlessly to himself.
"Ponyville, eh? I'm afraid that's not a town I've heard of. I come from Bright Valley, but I've been touring all around Dream Valley. You probably heard of me." He smiled again, putting on that flashy rock star façade that drove those adoring fans crazy. Then he remembered that he had only acted like that in the presence of Zeb (be it direct or indirect). Feeling that he wasn't true to himself, tail drooped in shame. "But, um, that was a long time ago." Unbeknownst to Knight Shade, he had been on tour centuries before any of the mares where born.
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Refuge
Dec 17, 2012 12:09:07 GMT -5
Post by Becka on Dec 17, 2012 12:09:07 GMT -5
The name Knight Shade sounded vaguely familiar, but Kail couldn't place it. "I'm from Dream Valley originally, but it's been years since I've lived there. I'm sorry I haven't heard of you." Not that Kail had ever been much of one to listen to rock music - she preferred the more somber hymns to the Rainbow.
"I don't suppose you know where in Course we are, Knight Shade? I've visited many times, but I don't recognize this valley, and I'm worried about the other Champions. It seems I up and left them after the shipwreck, although I don't remember it."
Her ears sank and brow furrowed as she tried desperately to remember what happened to bring her to this forest, and more importantly why she would have left the other Champions at all. She'd been admonished once already for going off on her own to get the locket - she wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.
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Refuge
Dec 17, 2012 14:25:49 GMT -5
Post by Nightbow on Dec 17, 2012 14:25:49 GMT -5
The white earthling steadily approached the huge oaken gate as he listened to the pegasus' words about the land in the south. Or rather, where it had been. Knight Shade did not know it, but Course had been located somewhere around the parts that were now called Saddle Arabia. There was no hiding it anymore. But it didn't matter - they were almost there. "I'm sorry Kailani. But you're not in Course." He rose to his hind legs to reach the bronze knocker and knocked three times.
Whispering Wind watched in amazement as the doors opened by themselves under a deafening groan. Before them lay a courtyard that led them to the entrance of the castle.
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Refuge
Dec 17, 2012 14:40:35 GMT -5
Post by Becka on Dec 17, 2012 14:40:35 GMT -5
"I'm sorry Kailani. But you're not in Course."
So the beach hadn't been the Coursian beach then? She was sure it was when they landed...then again it was raining and she was exhausted from trying to keep Razz from drowning. Could it be Jadus Marinus? No, from what she remembered of Jadus the castle could be seen across the entire island, and it certainly wasn't the castle they were currently approaching.
A flutter in her stomach as they stepped through the gates put her on edge. It wasn't the same overwhelming nausea she experienced when the Dark Rainbow was present, but she didn't trust anything that made her stomach flutter where the rainbow tried to kill her. There was something dark in this castle. Something powerfully dark.
"Perhaps you can tell us where we are then? And why?"
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Refuge
Dec 17, 2012 14:54:51 GMT -5
Post by Nightbow on Dec 17, 2012 14:54:51 GMT -5
"Don't worry, it will all be explained very soon," Knight Shade promised before the gates swung shut behind them with a bang. "But not by me. As I said, I'm just as lost as you are." The white stallion sounded solemn. But he kept smiling. It was a friendly smile. A pitiful smile. Misery loves company.
Whisper Wind, young and certainly not hard of hearing, mumbled a complaint when the loud sound hurt her ears. When she looked up at the castle and realized that they where shut inside the courtyard, she couldn't help but feeling a sting of claustrophobia - despite the size of the place.
"Follow along, if you please," Knight Shade kindly prompted as he took them up the stairs and through the open doors. "She's waiting for you."
[If this is an inconvenient place to end, just let me know and I'll continue on.]
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Refuge
Dec 17, 2012 15:06:12 GMT -5
Post by Becka on Dec 17, 2012 15:06:12 GMT -5
Kail winced as the gates swung shut behind them. She wasn't claustrophobic (after all, the courtyard had no roof, and she had wings), but the fluttery feeling in her stomach only became worse as they neared the castle's massive doors. Knight Shade's words didn't help.
"She's waiting for you."
As the castle doors opened, the nausea started in earnest. No longer was it a case of butterflies in the stomach, but the full feeling of the Dark Rainbow. Kail put a hoof to her stomach and stopped in the doorway, but she couldn't leave Whisper Wind and Knight Shade to deal with the darkness alone. Kail was a Champion, even without the stripe, and it was her duty to protect those who couldn't even tell what they were dealing with.
"She who?"
If it was Tawny's mustard colored coat Kail saw, she would attack first and explain later.
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Refuge
Dec 17, 2012 16:35:37 GMT -5
Post by Nightbow on Dec 17, 2012 16:35:37 GMT -5
The unicorn stopped right inside of the doorway when she noticed that Kail had fallen behind. She looked unwell, but something in her eyes told Whisper to go on. She lingered, standing by.
Knight Shade had entered the centre of the saloon, underneath a huge chandelier, looking over his shoulder to answer the pegasus. Two big stairwells led to an upstairs alcove, where an arch led into the innermost parts of the castle. The stallion barely opened his mouth before a voice echoed from beyond the arch.
"Welcome, my little ponies."
It crept disembodied into the room, filled every corner, breathed them in the necks. Whispering Wind felt an involuntary shiver run down her spine.
"Lost children of the time void, do not fret. Thou who hast been relentlessly tossed into this world of darkness - these unwelcoming lands."
Youth knew nothing of what the voice spoke, but it scared her. Of the situation. Of the unknown place. Shyness aside, Whisp spoke up, brain tingling with questions she feared the answers to: "Who are you?"
"A mere shadow of my former self", the voice slippered forth. "Just like thy have become." It seems the latter sentence was whispered to them, just nearby.
"What do you mean?" Asked Whisper Wind, understanding little about the talk of shadows. Hadn't Knight Shade offered them an opportunity for safety and clarity?
"Thou have met a terrible fate," came the reply. Simply. "My castle is but thine humble refuge. Here thou hast naught to fear. For here, thou are home!" Emphasis was put into the last word.
The unicorn probably understood less than she had before, but it mattered little. The warmth in the room had made her drowsy and there was a smell of newly baked pie in the air. I wonder if there are any beds around, Whisper thought with an expression of bliss.
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Refuge
Dec 17, 2012 17:02:26 GMT -5
Post by Becka on Dec 17, 2012 17:02:26 GMT -5
The disembodied voice sent a shiver through Kail, from the tip of her green ears, through her second symbol, to the tip of her blue tail. She twitched it in agitation, but was content to let Whisp ask the questions.
Lost children of the time void, she called them. Tossed into dark lands? What in the Rainbow did that mean? And how did the voice sneak around them like a corporeal being? There was magic here that Kail did not like.
Damn the pie, Kail wanted answers. What had Knight Shade called this woman? Queen something. Kail had grown up with the royals of Dream Valley and Course, and interacting with Queens hardly phased her anymore. Kail bowed, one forleg stuck out before her and the other tucked beneath her chest. "Forgive me, Queen...? Ponyville is home. We'll find it again, in time. Until then, I'm sure I speak for Whisper Wind as well when I thank you for your hospitality and refuge."
She stood upright again. "Perhaps first you can tell us where we are, and why."
A shadow of their former selves. It was certainly true in Kailani's case, for she no longer glowed with the soft green light of the rainbow's healing stripe.
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Refuge
Dec 18, 2012 4:22:01 GMT -5
Post by Nightbow on Dec 18, 2012 4:22:01 GMT -5
"Y-yes, thank you!" exclaimed the unicorn hurriedly, quickly following Kailani's example by bowing her head like the ponies of Xanadia did to pay homage. Through the shadow shot an excited jolt that a sensitive pony would deem a tad too forceful to be positive.
Queen Eclipse's aura was smiling. The ponies where submitting. Would she have been in her fully physical forme, a grin would have been flashed, leaking her ominous intentions. She withdrew from her hiding place - the shadows. Atop the stairs, a light began to flow in mid-air. From it's cold glow she materialised, mane of opaque darkness spreading first, white pelt glinting into view just after. Before them stood now a tall winged unicorn with black eyes, whose expression did not match the wave of force they had just felt. It was solemn and full of pity.
"I am Queen Eclipse." Her booming voice had now turned surprisingly dewy. She started to walk down the stairs, slowly. "I hast sensed thine presence in the darkness, thusly sending Knight Shade to aid thou, lest thou had been eaten by the monsters." She stopped at the foot of the stairs.
The little unicorn flinched in her presence, intimidated by her size. Looking directly at Eclipse's face was unbearable to the shy youth. Yet Whisper Wind felt that it was finally time for some answers, and she felt thankful for it, making sure to keep politely smiling.
The alicorn looked directly at the Pegasus pony as she addressed her. "Thou are in the land of Equestria," she said. Then she added, foreboding: "But I am afraid that without my help, thou will never find your way back."
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Refuge
Dec 18, 2012 10:36:23 GMT -5
Post by Becka on Dec 18, 2012 10:36:23 GMT -5
Kail didn't back down from the Queen. She'd be polite, because if nothing else Kail was unerringly polite, but she'd faced dark magic before, and a Queen could never be as powerful as the Dark Rainbow. Even if this particular Queen sent waves of nausea through her.
Kail glanced around the room quickly, looking for any sign of the monochrome ponies that were the embodiment of the Dark Rainbow's stripes. When she returned her gaze to the Queen's black eyes another shudder went through her.
"Queen Eclipse of Equestria, we thank you for sending Knight Shade to rescue us from the stonebacks. If you truly can help us find our way back to Ponyville we would be eternally grateful."
[Has Eclipse been able to see what was going on in Ponyland all this time? Or is she just as clue-less to the history as everyone else?]
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Refuge
Dec 19, 2012 19:59:31 GMT -5
Post by Nightbow on Dec 19, 2012 19:59:31 GMT -5
The devious Eclipse skillfully concealed her delight. The ponies of the Rift are easier to handle than I thought, the self-proclaimed queen thought as Kailani seemed to have walked right into her trap. After thanking Knight Shade for his service and dismissing him (where after the stallion headed for the dining hall), her - almost motherly - expression turned dark. "Come," she inquired gravely. "There is something I must show thee."
Up the stairs they walked. Through the corridor of a huge hallway and up a spiralling staircase. Eclipses' strides were long but slow as to let the others keep up with her pace. The young unicorn, who had been exhausted for hours and robbed of her meal, went through a line in her head three times in order to take care not to sound impatient or ungrateful. "Where are you taking us," she finally asked, "your highness?" Remembering to be polite this time.
"To the highest tower," said Eclipse.
"Will we see Ponyville from there?"
The answer came immediately. "Yes. And no."
The ponies exited a doorway and were suddenly out in the open, alicorn leading them up to the ledge. Whisper Wind found herself toiling in a structure far above the Elder Forest and clutched at the edge of the balcony, feeling giddy.
"Are thou feeling alright, my dear?"
"Yeah," answered the unicorn. "I just, uh, don't appreciate heights." Below they could clearly see the forest and surrounding mountains. To the southwest in a big valley lay a city. But most prominent was the black aurora that danced between the trees - Whisper recognized it instantly as the part of the forest from which they had come. Eclipse had spent she did not know how long in the dark realm. In the Opaque any amount of time stretched endlessly, and she knew nothing of what had happened in these lands since then. But she vaugely recognized them, and so would hopefully the unicorn and pegasus. The Dark Veil that they now observed called out to her. It was much like the portal through which Gaia had sent her, and Eclipse felt a connection to it. She feared it. The stonebacks were the first to be spat out through the time rift, and it had caused the alicorn to tingle in every fibre of her being. When she had gotten hold of Knight Shade her suspicions had been confirmed: Clearly it was a portal to another world. Well - this world, only some thousand years ago.
Whisper Wind, who had taken in the fresh air and felt slightly more stable (but nonetheless freaked out by standing so close to the ledge), lingered. Whatever where they supposed to look at?
"To the north," Eclipse gasped quietly. On the horizon lay ...
"... Ponyville?" Wondered the unicorn. Whisper narrowed her eyes, a flitter of hope awakening in her stomach. There it was. Eclipse had helped them, and now they could go home! ... Well, perhaps after a good night's sleep.
The little one was dim, but she couldn't help it. She was so young. So easy to control, thought Eclipse. Yes. After a good scare the unicorn would make a most loyal - although disposable - servant. She could count on Whisper to freak out the rest of the Rift ponies, effectively winning them over to her side. Eclipse waited dramatically before finally dropping the bomb: "Yes - but not as thou know it."
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Refuge
Dec 19, 2012 22:32:59 GMT -5
Post by Becka on Dec 19, 2012 22:32:59 GMT -5
As they made their way up the winding steps of the tower Kail expected her nausea to ease, but it only worsened. She kept looking behind her, wondering if it was a trap and one of the dark rainbow's monochrome ponies was going to saunter up the steps behind her, but there were no hooffalls, and no shadow of another following.
When they reached the tower Kail nearly threw herself out the window for a breath of fresh air. The feeling of the dark rainbow was almost overwhelming in these small quarters, and as she looked out at the forest they had come from she shivered. The black ribbon of magic around teh trees could come from nothing other than the Rainbow of Darkness. Somehow it had managed to pull a Champion through to...wherever Equestria was. And it managed to rid her of her stripe. How?
She looked north at the Queen's words, her hoofs on the sill and her head hanging out at far as she could get it without using her wings. It was easier to breathe out here. In the distance she could just make out a castle against the horizon, but it was impossible to tell if it was the newely rebuilt Ponyville castle or not.
"Yes - but not as thou know it."
Not as they knew it. What could have possibly changed since Kail left? She'd been gone a month, at the most. Had the delusional "old gods" returned and destroyed the town? Had the pony popsicle melted and the Dark Rainbow took over again? What about the Nursery - the kids? Her already pale face grew even paler. She had to get home.
Drawing her head back into the tower, Kail closed her eyes and pressed her lips together at the wave of nausea that overwhelmed her.
"What has happened to Ponyville? I should be there. I should help."
[ooc: does Ponyville in the show have a castle? If not she's seeing some other large building and assuming it's the castle]
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