friendship is magic part 2

[allcomplete]

The forest is dark (Clarity and Guiding Star light their horns to see by, but it's almost worse than nothing, making the distant shadowed spaces darker by comparison; they soon give up). The plants that make it up are closely spaced, not all of them have friendly textures, and it is full of scary noises, only some of them the harmless snapped twigs and disturbed leaves of their own passage.

Before they've fully adjusted to the darkness, and are aware via anything but the feel of earth under their hooves that the path has sloped downward a little, it has given way under them, some of the flora and some distressingly large rocks along with it. Clarity can't even teleport. It's too dark to see where she might be going.

Comments

[clearthestorm]

"Yes. Hello," she says dryly, taking them to the ground in a reasonably paced dive. They reach the bottom slightly before Blaze, who is still going slowly to keep Joy safely on her back; as soon as Guiding Star has all four hooves underneath her, Streak springs into the air to go back for Clarity.

She takes the extra second to poke her head up above the cliff edge and look for any trace of Cordy in the path of the landslide.

No such trace exists where she can see - but she can tell the path splits halfway up, around a harder shelf of rock. Logically, therefore, Cherry Cordial must have gone the other way. If she had been flattened in any visible area, there would be signs.

Down goes Streak to extract Clarity from her tree.

[allcomplete]

Clarity is nervous about being carried but lets go of the tree anyway.

"Thank you," she says, shaking a little.

[clearthestorm]

"You are of course welcome."

Being in less of a hurry this time around, she can carry Clarity down more sedately.

[allcomplete]

"Where's Cordial?" she asks when she's on the ground and has done a headcount. "Is Joy okay?"

[clearthestorm]

"Cordial was carried a different way by the landslide," says Streak. "I don't know where she is exactly, but it's likely to be that way." She points in the appropriate direction.

[on_what_wings]

"I think Joy's okay," says Blaze. "I hope Joy's okay." She pokes him with a tentative hoof.

[joyfulnoise]

He stirs briefly, but doesn't wake up.

[allcomplete]

"Here, I know a little healing magic, everypony close your eyes if you don't want to have to readjust to the darkness -" She bends over Joy, shuts her own eyes, and casts a spell good for blunt trauma.

[joyfulnoise]

"Wargh," says Joy, blinking awake. "Hi, Clarity."

[allcomplete]

"Hi. Better?" she asks, dimming her horn and opening her eyes. "You caught the landslide worst."

[joyfulnoise]

"I'm good. How big a rock did I hit?" he wonders.

[on_what_wings]

Blaze points a hoof. The rock in question is bigger than Joy is.

[joyfulnoise]

"Whoa," says Joy, blinking. "Guess I'm pretty tough."

[allcomplete]

"Well, you do have scales. Okay, let's see if we can find Cordial, I guess - unless anyone else wants a healing spell?"

[clearthestorm]

Streak shakes her head.

[on_what_wings]

Blaze likewise.

[follow_polaris]

"I'm good," says Guiding. "Uh, everypony close your eyes again though, lemme see if we're going to be on the right track for finding Cordy." She shuts hers, and casts.

"Yeah, at - some time - I have no idea how to tell what time given the little eternal night problem - we are all back together again in a part of the forest we haven't been yet."

[clearthestorm]

"This information may not be as useful as it appears," says Streak. "One of those times when you look at the outcome before the plan is decided. I would have advocated for heading for the Elements as directly as we can; it seems Clarity would have advocated for finding Cordial first. Which choice would we have made?"

[allcomplete]

"I'm inclined to go ahead and follow your plan, since you'd be who I'd ask if I wanted to know how hard it would be to find her. The most obvious danger in the forest is wild animals and Cordial's better equipped to handle those alone than anybody else would be, and it could take hours if not days to find her."

[clearthestorm]

She looks at the other three.

[on_what_wings]

"I'm with you, Sis," says Blaze.

[joyfulnoise]

"Same," says Joy.

[follow_polaris]

"I mean, it sounds like we'll run into her if we do that, doesn't it? So let's."

[clearthestorm]

Streak nods, assesses the group, determines that everyone is ready, and starts walking. She pays close attention to the footing, but not so close that she might miss other dangers.

[alicornucopia]

Like that rampaging manticore up ahead? That kind of danger?