The Darkness Returns

[tupelocase]

"Well thank ya."  Applejack lightly nodded her head towards Magus, "But are you serious that she asked everypony?  I mean, I get that things aren't so great right now but you'd think most ponies would try to help fix it."

[Cage Blackpaw]

"Well, I can't see why she would ask for me specifically," Prairie Sage replied, almost in a mumble, glancing at the unicorn.  "I'm nopony special."

 

But Magus lightly smiled and shook his head.  "Everypony's special."  Looking back to the farmpony, he said, "Then maybe we were all called.  I certainly wasn't at the drafting of the...'invitation.'"

 

"Come on, slowponies!"  Sky Dive was waiting at the top of the stairs, lifting one forehoof then the other in a sort of walking-in-place motion.

 

The four--Magus, the Sages, and Applejack--joined him shortly after, everypony else behind them, and they walked into the room.

 

Celestia stood at one end of a long table, a guard seated on either side of her, and she gave a subtle nod of acknowledgment as the ponies made their way into the room.  Once everyone was inside, two guards stepped out, closing the doors behind them.  "Again, I want to thank you all for your swift responses.  Already Equestria is in your debt."  She spread her wings, looking out over the group, her gaze slowly rolling over everypony individually.  "But now is the time to back down.  I'm sure you all have many questions, but I can't begin to address them until I'm sure everypony is committed."

 

"I'm in."  The bandaged pegasus set a hoof down on the table, his blue eyes glinting with a subtle sense of determination, a small grin on his muzzle.

 

"And we're not going home, either!" Little Sage proudly announced, a sheepish smile soon passing over her sister's face.

 

But Prairie Sage nodded all the same.  "We intend to stay until the problem is solved," she said.

 

"It is the same with me, your Highness," spoke Magus with a small bow of his head, his horn glowing softly to keep his glasses from sliding off.

[Gestalt]

Rarity felt inwardly hesitant about the contractual gravity of the situation, but she dared not let it show in front of her princess. Instead, she bit her tongue and gave a barely verbal yet strikingly posh, "uh-huh," that was meticulously tucked in behind the other ponies responses.

[Arashikage]

Rainbow Dash nodded to her friends and the other ponies, looking at Celestia as she valiantly made her way to the closest end of the table to her, nodding as she firmly planted her hooves on the ground, "I'm in!" She proudly said.  

 

Twilight was a little more modest, looking down, then back at Princess Celestia, as her faithful student, she couldn't refuse this task.  Not only that, but she genuinely wanted to help her mentor.  "I won't let you down, Princess Celestia!  You can count on me!" She came out with.  

"Me too!" Came the inevitable agreement from Twilight's dragon companion.

[tupelocase]

Applejack readjusted her hat and clopped one hoof on the ground, "You've got mah help for sure Princess.  I won't let ya down!"  She looked at the others with a beaming smile, ready to face whatever the world might throw at them.

[Hospitallerwolf]

The sound of hoof steps reverberated off of the high stone ceilings as two ponies rushed across the black and white tiled floor.

"Hurry up Vinyl! We cannot let the Princess down. I told you we didn't have time for you to play one last 'song' as you called it." The grey Earth pony shook some of her long charcoal mane out of her eyes as she galloped at top speed toward the room that the guard had said the meeting was in.

"Come on Tavi, you know that one had an absolutely sick beat to it!" The reply came from the white unicorn rushing not far behind Octavia. Her signature purple glasses flashed in the light shinning in through the large castle windows. 

"Sick would certainly describe what it made me." Octavia replied flatly. She looked over her shoulder back towards her companion, 

"And honestly, I believe I told you not to wear that silly thing. It makes you look ridiculous!"

"You're just jealous that you don't have enough swag to pull this look off!" Came the unconcerned reply.

"Vinyl, we are going to be meeting with Her Royal Highness, Princess Celestia. There is no way that your 'swag' has any place in her presence. We are not secret agents, so take off the fedora."

"Fine, Mom." Vinyl Scratch used her magic to lift the fedora off her head, revealing a vibrant cobalt and cyan mane and then placing it in her saddle bag. "but only because no one can handle all of my swag." She muttered to herself.

"At least I don't look as foolish as you do! Do you have to take that thing everywhere?"

"Of course I must! You never know when a cello might prove to be useful! Now come on we must hurry!"

Vinyl smirked as they rounded a corner rather too swiftly and the cello on her back caused Octavia to temporarily loose her balance before she gracefully caught herself. Vinyl had to admit that she was curious as to why Celestia would send out a summons to the population at large. Didn't she have a secret service force or something for that? She thought back to earlier that morning when she had been working out a tune she had heard in a dream the night before. Octavia had suddenly flown into the room blathering on and on about how late they were and how she couldn't believe she had forgotten the summons. Vinyl had fought very hard, clinging to her precious practice turntable, but unfortunately for her, Octavia had grown immune to the assault of her bass speakers in the months that they had been roommates. Now here they were flying to the aid of an all powerful alicorn princess who couldn't possibly need the help of a couple of musicians, and Vinyl hadn't gotten to eat breakfast, and to top it all off, now she couldn't wear her hat. This had better be very important, or very awesome. Or better yet, both.

 

"HALT" suddenly a strong voice tore Vinyl from her thoughts as a large pegasus guard landed in front of them, stopping them several lengths down the hall from a large wooden door guarded by a mix of several pegasus and unicorn royal guards. Octavia skidded to a halt and Vinyl slammed into her, sending them sprawling on the floor at the guard's feet.

"What purpose do you have here?"

He looked down at Octavia's cello case, and being rather uncultured, took a sudden defensive stance,

"Are you assassin's!? What caliber of weapon requires a casing of that size?"

"A cello does." Octavia said, lifting herself up to look the guard in the eye.

"And we are not assassins, we are answering the personal summons of Princess Celestia herself!" She retorted, straightening her pink bow tie and noticed the door guards trying to hide their snickers.

"Oh... uh... my mistake, miss! I am terribly sorry, right through that door."

Octavia nodded and began to hurry towards the door, Vinyl followed barely holding in her laughter at the guards dumbfounded expression.

 

Inside the room, the solemn meeting continued as each of the members professing their acceptance of the summons when suddenly a tremendous crash caused everyone to look up suddenly as two ponies and a cello fell through the large door.

Octavia was the first to recover, elegantly regaining her hooves and bowing before speaking

"I do apologize for our tardiness, I hope we haven't missed anything too important, yet."

"Yeah what she said!"Octavia shot her a pointed look, furiously mouthing the word "manners" "...uh your Highness." Vinyl added sheepishly.

Then both ponies bowed their heads and surveyed the peculiar fellowship before them, Octavia with a neutral expression and an expectant grin on Vinyl's face.

 

 

(OOC: Okay, long convoluted post I know, but I wanted to get Octavia and Vinyl right to the action where everypony else was)

[Fedora]

Pinkie was immediate (OOC: Unlike this poster in his posting lolololololol) "Of course you can count on us, Princess! We'll never let you down!"

 

Fluttershy had to steel herself. Before giving her answer, "Yes. We won't let you down. Um, of course. We'll be brave to - EEP!"  Fluttershy was cut off as two musicians burst in the door and landing in a crumpled heap. She only came put from behind Twilight after the two introduced themselves as also answering the princess's call. 

 

Pinkie immediately recognized Vinyl. "What up, egg beatah! Haven't seen you since the wedding!"

[Cage Blackpaw]

Sky Dive, though a little surprised at first, lightly smirked when Rainbow Dash made her way in front of him.  She seemed to share the same sense of determination that he did.

 

When Octavia and Vinyl crashed through.  Little Sage's ears shot up, and she quickly leaned in toward her sister, whispering, "That looks like a heavy pack, too!"

 

But the princess merely gave a small nod; that was everyone, even the two ponies who showed up a little later than everypony else.  "Thank you.  Now, this is an...interesting situation," began the alicorn.  "I'm sure some of you have already fallen victim to, or perhaps have witnessed, the unusual circumstances."  She looked, for a moment, at Sky Dive in particular, who offered only a subtle nod.  "As far as we're able to determine, the problem is simply bad luck.  But there are other, more objective, concerns..."  From where she sat, Celestia turned her head back towards a large, arched window, the day's sunlight still filtering through.  "As you have no doubt noticed, the days have been growing shorter, though it's far from the time of Winter Welcoming."

 

"Princess," Prairie Sage began with hesitance in her voice, not wanting to interrupt the alicorn, "forgive me, but...don't you and Princess Luna raise the sun and moon?"

 

Princess Celestia slowly nodded.  "That's something we don't understand.  Princess Luna and I haven't changed our ways.  The sun has been rising and setting seemingly of its own accord."

[Gestalt]

"If this is true then sun checking in early is not the only thing we lost control of, Celestia." Rarity searched herself for the best way convey this.."Things have been...well...off. Your crippled power coupled with  our 'bad luck' cannot amount to mere coincidence. What such of a force could so easily throw us off guard? How could we ever contend with it? Wha--
 
Rarity caught herself feeling as though she had spoken too straightforward to her princess. "Twilight, what do think? Don't you see a correlation?"

[Arashikage]

"I think it's entirely possible that there's another force doing this.  Something that may be throwing our guard off.  But just what... I can't say for certain..." Twilight trailed off, hoping that somepony else could help her out.  

"It's almost like when Discord took over!" Spike instantly related, looking to his purple companion

 

"It can't be Discord, can it?" Rainbow Dash asked almost in disbelief.  If it was, they could stop him, they have before.  If not, who knows what would happen?  It couldn't be if Princess Celestia had called more than just Twilight and her friends.  "If it was, why was everypony else called in as well?"

[Cage Blackpaw]

"Well, if it is Discord again," Sky Dive began, "then maybe he's learned how to combat however it was you guys last beat him."  He seemed a little stiff, and he almost sounded defensive; was the blue-feathered pegasus implying that he and the others weren't needed?

 

"Whether or not he has grown more powerful--assuming Discord is, in fact, behind this--an increased advantage in numbers wouldn't hurt," Magus added with a cool nod.  "But for all we know, it may not even be a living thing causing all this.  Perhaps just a rebel energy?"

 

Princess Celestia was listening carefully as everypony spoke, not offended nor disconcerted.  "It's true, we're not sure who or what is the cause of all this.  And that's why you are here," she said.  "I would ask that you all journey together to find the source of the problem and then return to Canterlot."

 

Little Sage frowned slightly.  "Why do we have to come back?  We can get rid of the problem, too!"

[Hospitallerwolf]

Vinyl relaxed instantly at the sight of her old friend from Ponyville, "WASSUP PINKIE!" The DJ practically yelled in her laid back, and rather loud, announcing voice. "I've been stuck in Canterlot playing a bunch of high society gigs, 'parently playing for the first royal wedding in centuries really got my name out there in the rich pony crowd. Fortunately my buddy Tavi here happened to be in the market for an apartment, so we split one." 

She nudged Octavia in the ribs lightly as she spoke, Octavia replied with a sour glance. Even though Vinyl was certainly the best friend she had, the DJ had a tendency to embarrass her in this kind of situation. So as per usual, she took charge, stepping in front of Vinyl as she began to open her mouth to speak again.

"I am quite certain that your little chat is absolutely critical, but there are far more pressing matters to be dealt with."

She took a step forward, "If this is the work of Discord, we must find him before he gets bored of small inconveniences and progresses to something far worse."

Octavia stopped when the Princess spoke, then looked down as a little filly she hadn't noticed at first spoke up. Octavia smiled lightly at the young pony, "I am certain everypony present would like to stop this ourselves if we can, but aren't you just a tad young for this sort of adventuring?"

"Oh stop it Tavi!" Vinyl trotted past the charcoal maned earth pony to stand next to the young filly. "I bet this one could take on a dragon if she wanted to!" Vinyl playfully lifted Little Sage off of the ground a bit with her magic, "So what's your name, Blue Eyes?" Vinyl looked up at the other ponies suddenly, "For that matter, what are every bodies names? I can't go adventuring if I don't know the name of my crew! Having unnameds is always bad, those are always the first to go in the Daring Do books...." She trailed off as Octavia facehoofed.

[tupelocase]

Applejack looked to the pony with the ridiculous, um, glasses?  "Now hold on, I know I've seen you somewhere before.."  She lightly clopped her hoof a few times before a resounding thud and beamed at the mare, "Ah know!  You handled the music at Princess Cadance and Shining Armor's reception!  Great job by the way"

 

Turning to the grey mare beside her, Applejack's face curled to one side in confusion,  "Come on now, you look real familiar.."  After an awkward pause she threw her hat down in disgust,  "Confound it!  Ahm sorry, my memory's just not performin' up to standards today."  Applejack extended a hoof towards the mare, "You are?"

[Cage Blackpaw]

Little Sage looked just a titch indignant at the grey mare's comment, but then Vinyl made up for it.  A small grin crossed her muzzle at the DJ's vote of confidence, and a little squee escaped her as she was lifted into the air.  "I'm Little Sage," she giggled.

 

But as the white unicorn addressed the rest of the group, Magus glanced almost nervously at Celestia.  When Celestia showed no immediate signs of impatience, even though he knew that the matter she was presenting was an urgent one, he felt a little more relaxed.  "I'm Magus," he said.  "A pleasure to meet the both of you."

 

"And I'm Sky Dive," spoke the pegasus, his hooves on the table as he leaned over to get a better view of the two ponies further down.  "So you played at the royal wedding?  You must be pretty talented!"

 

It almost felt strange for the mare to introduce herself at that point, but, with lightly shifting hooves, Prairie Sage gave a small smile and nod towards the two.  "I'm Prairie," she said.  Seeing the joy still present on the filly's face, Prairie's smile grew.  "Little Sage is my sister," she added for context.

[Cage Blackpaw]

(Hopeful bump?)

[Hospitallerwolf]

Octavia committed each of the ponies' names to memory as they spoke. She accepted the mare named Applejack's extended hoof and shook it. "I am Octavia Cavatina Melody at your service." The hoof shake died a slow death as she looked over Applejack's shoulder and it dawned upon her who the pink pony that couldn't sit still was. Sudden images of being grabbed and her precious cello flung into the air combined with ridiculously inappropriate song requests bombarded her mind and her eye gave an involuntary twitch. She very nearly had a more pronounced reaction until her years of high Canterlot upbringing switched into high gear. It would be very déclassé top have a meltdown before Princess Celestia. She distracted herself with quick thoughts about the task at hand. She straightened up, turned to the Princess and then took a small step forward, "Now that we have all of these formalities out of the way, Vinyl." She gave the white unicorn next to her a slight scowl for wasting possibly precious time, "Where do you expect us to begin, Your Highness? Surely we have some sort of direction more specific than 'Equestria'?" Octavia felt certain as she looked up at the Princess that Celestia already knew something more than had been presented. She had to, she was the princess and Octavia simply couldn't conceive of her great leader not knowing everything or at least, almost everything.

Vinyl on the other hand was almost completely relaxed. To the pegasus's comment she smiled, "Yeah, I'd say I'm pretty popular, even with the upity  high class of Canterlot. Probably has something to do with that photo shoot I had with that one mare... what was her name..."  "Vinyl Scratch." Octavia interrupted as the mare went soaring off into left field. "No,that wasn't her name, her name was something el-" Vinyl was cut off by a hoof placed unceremoniously in her mouth by Octavia. "I do apologize. When someone gets her started on her own exploits, Vinyl can lose sight of the main conversation completely."

Vinyl knocked Octavia's hoof out of her mouth and gave a pouty face. "He started it." She mumbled under her breath.

 

(OOC: I have come to the conclusion that this thread cannot be allowed to die! I want to know where this is going!)

[Arashikage]

Rainbow Dash was growing impatient again.  "That's great and all, but what about this threat?  We have to go soon!" She proclaimed.  With any luck, they'd listen and they could head out soon.

 

"Don't worry, Rainbow.  We'll be moving soon." Twilight responded, giving her a nod of reassurance as she stepped forward, closer to the group, and the princess.  "I'm sure Princess Celestia will tell us where we're going before we set off" She assured the grey pony.  She hoped that she would at least.  But Princess Celestia hasn't let her down yet.  Why should she worry?

[Gestalt]

Now that Octavia and Vinyl had made there way into the center of the lingering confusion, Rarity immediately recognized them both. Why it was none other than the purple-eyed mare that was on tour with Manehatten Symphonic for the season Rarity had visited. "And, DJpon3..." She muttered. { I really must inquire about her acoustic services at my next runway event.  Maybe even have them both. Yes, That would be perfect. } Rarity made way to edge closer to the two when...

"EEK...What in Northern Equestria is that?!" Something beyond Canterlot Castle's window had frightened her. "Look out the window! It's darkness." The night had already fallen in the short time that had transpired at the summons. Rarity noticed something else eerie to it. "The night, It's very opaque in nature. Almost, unnatural. Neigh,'tis unnatural. Those strange happenings we spoke of. I do believe they're happening." Rarity ushered Magus and the others to observe the phenomena.{ First my summons is misplaced, then I'm bumping into everypony, and now this. It's no longer subtle. We must leave.}

 

(OOC: Darnit guys, you got me color coding too. Also, let me know if I oversteped any bounds. I wasn't entirely clear on the control we have over the environment.)

[Cage Blackpaw]

(OOC:  haha There will be times where it can't be fiddled with, but it should be fine here.  Gives them all a reason to wrap it up, anyway )

 

Though having full intentions of responding to the concerns of Octavia, Rainbow Dash, and the others, Princess Celestia merely closed her eyes when Rarity pointed out the dark sky.  She nodded another slow, confirming nod.  "And as you all were here to see, I played no part in setting the sun," she spoke, an almost saddened edge to her voice.

 

"But...what could outdo your magic, your Highness?" asked Sky Dive as he peered out the window, his tail lightly twitching behind him.

 

Magus lightly "hm"d in response.

 

Glancing first to the musicians, then back to the alicorn, Prairie Sage gave a small nod.  "I agree with Octavia," she began.  "It would make things much easier if we had an idea of where to look."

 

Quietly opening her eyes, Celestia wore just a hint of a smile as her horn began to glow a faint yellow.  "Thank you, everypony.  Yes, we do have an idea of where to look..."  With a 'poof' of magic, a large map appeared above her head so everypony could see.

 

 

"We have heard from most of the major cities across," Celestia continued, "and we've narrowed the location down to the southeastern lands.  The status of the Macintosh Hills, Badlands, and Haysead Swamps is currently unknown to us."

 

His ears lightly perking up, Sky Dive left the window and returned to his spot at the table--he probably should have done that when the princess had started speaking.  "Princess, why don't you just send a group of pegasus to scout?"

 

In response, Celestia's gaze fell upon Sky Dive, her eyes slowly trailing down to his bandages.

 

His own gaze soon followed suit.  "Oh...Right..."

 

She nodded.  "I feel that it is becoming too risky to fly too high, or for too long.  And it is important that you all stick together as you go about this journey."

 

"We will, Princess!" Little Sage promised with a smile and brisk little nod.

 

With the nods of other ponies backing the filly's claim, Celestia smiled.  "Then if you have no more questions, you should gather your supplies and rest for tomorrow.  You will first back back to Ponyville, and continue south from there; and I recommend you speak to Zecora.  She may know something about this."

 

Opening one wing, Celestia looked to the side.  As the map above her grew smaller and fell onto the table, rolling up neatly before Twilight, a door opened at the side of the room.

 

(As per my brother's request:

)

 

Inside were bountiful supplies:  Pots and pans and plates and bowls; breads and cakes and pies and rolls; pillows, blankets, mats, a tent; mirrors, water, drink ferment.

 

Among other things.  Of course, ponies could only carry so much.

 

(OOC:  No weapons, etc.  Clear with me.  lol)

[Gestalt]

(Assuming the role of Applejack per OOC)

 

"Ah reckon provisioning would be a mite easier if we actually knew what we where up against," Applejack admitted while pilfering through the castle's stores. She eyed a fine rope and bit down on it few times to ensure it was tough enough to suit her. "More than likely we'll be shootin' this one from the hip. I suggest we pack basic items and restock perishables at junctions along the way."

 

"Basic, eh?" said Rarity while adding a few more cases to her already towering tower of towered luggage.

 

"Rarity, No."

 

"Wha--, you said yourself we don't know what we're up against. Why there could be a blizzard - or no- a dust-storm, maybe a flood. It could be day then night then day again in a moments notice. Oooh, what if there's a handsome prince or a distinguished dignitary or humble nobleman that may find our company..."

 

"Okay, look. Everypony carries there own saddle bags. If think you need it...bring it, but its your own burden. Fair enough?"

 

"Fair Enough." Each of the ponies gave a hoof-bumb with Rarity slowly but surely coming into realization of what she had agreed to. "Alright colts and mares I once we get to ponyville I think I might head on back over to Sweet Apple Acres to pick up a few tools better suited for the campin and cookin side of things. I'll meetcha at Zecora's. Sound like a plan?"

[Hospitallerwolf]

Octavia looked through the supplies and gathered together very light and practical things necessary for a long journey; by the time she was done, she had a rain cape, some blankets, several water containers, and the like stuffed into the saddle bags nestled on each side of her cello case, which (impractical as it seemed) she would not part with.

 

Vinyl, figuring she already had all of her essentials packed, wasn't even going to go into the room until she noticed something on the wall. She trotted over to the mass of off white fabric hanging from the wall. "Awwww yeeeaaahhh," She exclaimed, using her magic to spread wide a slightly tattered off-white duster coat. She examined it all over before standing on her hind legs and throwing it over her shoulders and resuming her normal quadrupedal stance. The coat flowed around her, giving her an instant sense of epicness and adventure that she always felt when reading Daring Do. "Tavi, Check this out!" She said doing a quick spin that caused the tails of the coat to billow out. "Now Vinyl, how on earth is that going to be a practical thing? That looks almost as ridiculous as that hat you had earlier."

"Come on Tavi, give me a break! You're taking that featherin' cello with you! This thing is like a rain coat, jacket, blanket, and straight up awesome adventure gear all in one!"

"I ah, well..." Octavia let it go, feeling slightly meek at having, for the first time ever, to admit that the white unicorn's logic was sound. And as she thought about it, Vinyl did look pretty good in it. To quickly get her mind off of this life altering feeling, she turned to the Princess. "I believe that Vinyl and I are ready to go now." She then pulled Vinyl out of the storage room with her so as to leave more room for the others.

 

(OOC: I don't know how you feel about no-canon clothings and such, but I've seen a lot of fan art like that, and I always thought Vinyl looked cool in the long white coats... if you don't approve I'll certainly have her take it off or something)
 

[Cage Blackpaw]

(OOC: lol Clothing's canon in the universe, so it's cool   And Arashikage, do you want to post first?)

[Arashikage]

(Sorry, I was supposed to respond WAYYY sooner than this!  Sorry!  Anyway, if I posted second, would you find someone to post first?)

[Cage Blackpaw]

(OOC:  Well, do you have contact with Fedora?  Maybe he'd be up for it.  I just probably shouldn't post twice in a row, and I don't have too easy communication with the others.)

[CrypticQuery]

This RP seems to be dead - a lock is in order.  If you'd like to have it reopened, PM me.