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

[joyfulnoise]

And on the other side, after only a few more bends in the path...

"I thiiink that's the castle up ahead," says Joy.

[allcomplete]

"It looks like it! We made it - except for the obvious chasm all around the place, anyway. Is there a bridge? Or, it looks like there's room to fly, if the fliers want to make a few trips..."

[joyfulnoise]

Joy peers at the chasm.

[clearthestorm]

So does Streak. She spots it first.

"There was a bridge," she says, pointing a hoof at the bridgeposts. "It may be possible to repair it."

[follow_polaris]

"That'd probably be less nerve-wracking than getting flown, I vote bridge."

[clearthestorm]

Streak glances at her sister.

[on_what_wings]

"Yeah, I'm on it," says Blaze, trotting over to the bridge and beginning an inspection. First of the posts on this side, then the bridge slats and rope dangling into the chasm, then the posts on the other side.

She comes back to the non-castle side to deliver her final assessment. "Looks pretty solid, just a matter of hauling up the part that fell down and tying it nice and tight around those posts on the other side. Joy, wanna help?"

[joyfulnoise]

"Sure thing!" he says agreeably. Together they fly down to pick up the dropped bridge, then carry the far end across the chasm and secure it appropriately.

[on_what_wings]

Blaze trots back across the bridge, wings folded, to demonstrate its sturdiness.

[follow_polaris]

Across the bridge they go!

The castle is dark and in very poor repair and pretty spooky. But the door opens easily.

[joyfulnoise]

Joy looks around curiously once they're all inside.

"Cozy," he comments, probably ironically although with Joy it can be a little hard to tell.

[allcomplete]

Clarity snorts a little, and then peers up at the pedestal on which there appear to be several symbol-stamped rocks.

"Thoooose might be them," she says.

[joyfulnoise]

"Ooh."

[clearthestorm]

Streak and Blaze join Joy in crowding up to peer at the rocks.

[ipso_amore]

Cordy follows more sedately.

[allcomplete]

Clarity trots around the pedestal on which they're sitting. "There's only five, which - still means these are probably them, because the sixth one is supposed to be 'revealed' via a 'spark' when the five ones with known names are present. Can somepony bring them down for me? I should probably start trying things that might complete the set."

[joyfulnoise]

Joy, being conveniently bipedal, scoops all the round stones into his arms and carries them down to set the whole pile in front of Clarity.

[allcomplete]

"Whoa - careful - they've lasted this long, but - okay," says Clarity, calming down when they've all safely reached the ground. She caaaarefully rolls them into a sort of ring shape and sits in the middle. She squints and starts the magical equivalent of feeling around in the dark.

[joyfulnoise]

Between watching her to see if anything interesting happens, and looking the other way to keep his night vision in the event of hornglow, Joy picks the second thing.

[clearthestorm]

So does Streak.

[and_admiration]

A cloud of smoke wisps in from the window -

and arcs with sudden speed towards the five Elements and whips up a tornado of darkness around them and Clarity both.

[allcomplete]

"Aah! That wasn't me this isn't me doing a thing -"

And then she and Elements and smoke are all

gone.

[clearthestorm]

Streak tries to intercept the cloud the moment it appears - but she's on the wrong side of Clarity, and just slightly too far to reach her before the tornado forms. She checks herself before she can stumble into it.

When the tornado vanishes, she immediately takes to the air to see if she can spot any signs of where it might have gone.

[allcomplete]

How about that glow up in the windows of that tower in the other wing of the castle?

Meanwhile, Clarity is coughing on the floor of the room, which is, as evidenced by the window-glow, brightly lit by ominous lightning. She blinks to clear the spots from her vision.

She gets to her feet, sees Nightmare Moon on the opposite side of the crumbling old room with the Elements in orbit around her - and -

has an idea, which will mostly only work if she can gallop a short distance without tripping, but maybe she can -

She breaks into a rapid gait, charging straight at Nightmare Moon.

[and_admiration]

Nightmare Moon laughs. "You're kidding, right?"

But she charges, too, horn aglow to match Clarity's -