The Haunted House: Part 4: The Haunted House!

[Bardigan]

= The path to Nettleglum's house is not the most fun one to take, but the fact of the matter is, the information Fluttershy gave them means that this house is the source of all the recent troubles. Even though Bardigan has a ragtag bandage on his head from the radio that clonked him, and his chest still aches in the chest from a chair blow, there's no time to waste. The Shadow is free and the town is unprotected. If they can't keep this thing contained, the only thing a gentlepony can do is try to nip this problem at the source. He leads the way up to the house, face set with determination. No monster whacks him with a radio and gets away without a stern talking to. He's not going inside without the others, however... they need to see if Fluttershy was successful in gathering the other Elements.

Snow_Bolt had been in his room at the inn when all of the strange things had begun to happen. For a long while he had just stayed put, figuring that there was little that he could do and that it would pass on its own, but when the strangeness continued he figured that he could go to the MRC and see just what the heck is going on. After all weirdness is there speciality. However, when he he arrived at the Center he found that place in disarray as well. It seems that there is something rather evil loose in town and so he has joined this merry band to go and see what can be done about it.

"So what happens when an Element of Harmony dies, anyway?" Dinky asks Fluttershy. "Does it, like...what's the word? Devolve? Something like that? Does it devolve onto someone else? 'Cause I'm hoping it's not that creepy Jelly Belly guy, even if he does laugh a lot. Would you even know if that Changeling -had- killed Pinkie?"

Dusk has kept the Center magically sealed up for now, even though the Darkness isn't in it anymore. The swirling energy thing is, and best to keep any ponies out and away. He's been working with Bardigan and Fluttershy as far as getting info. He also shares the note he found after the encounter. The one with "True Night" amongst the scrawl. "Lady Fluttershy, isn't there a true night at the Lunararium?" He follows along with the path to Nettie's. The glowy mists are still about but seem much fainter and smaller away from town, only here and there in small patches. Or maybe this is normal around Nettie's place. He listens to Dinky and hmms. He suspects it would eventually associate with another. But might have to be a whole new generation before it did. A newborn or such.

"W-what?!" Fluttershy stops short, cringing deeply. "Oh, Dinky, please don't say that! I-I'm sure Pinkie is all right, and, um...a-anyway, I don't know. No Element has ever died before...that we know of..." Her ears fold back; her eyes dart around anxiously. Now she has to question it. It doesn't help that the Everfree is itself an ancient and wild place full of secrets, and *very* dark. "Oh, yes, Dusk. I-it's a piece of Luna's magic, or...something like that."

( "I don't want to think about that," Eclipse says with a frown. "But you have a point, how...how /does/ it pass from pony to pony and all?" He looks to Dinky and then to Fluttershy, as if Fluttershy would have all the answers. )

Dinky walks along at a steady clip, despite her lack of recent sleep. Her sack is fastened shut again, and she's eaten some of the candy within. "Right. So, no guarantee Chrysalis didn't kill Pinkie outright. And that means, no Elements of Harmony. And that means no vanquishing Nightmare Moon. Which means, I guess, we'll be eating mushrooms and, like phosphorous bars for the rest of our lives. I guess I should probably be saving my candy, huh?" She turns from Eclipse and Fluttershy to Dusk. "So, what exactly are we after, here? Some sort of Dark Shadow?"

"It does," Bardigan says over his shoulder. "It does. That's all we know and all we need to know. If one dies, then it will pass... who has heard of the chain of bearers being broken before? They've always been here in some form or some pony. The Elements aren't here right now, anyway. So we need a way to beat this ourselves. Fluttershy tells us the spirit or... whoever it was... said the house was where we need to go and find a way to make us... 'forget' what we saw." He shakes his head. "It looks like we'll just have to go inside and look for clues. "

Solar_Solstice is, as seems to the usual thing nowadays, tagging along at the rear. He had run back to his house to pick up one item, just one, the watch that hangs around his neck right now. Why is it so important to him? Well, hopefully nopony else will have to find out. He steels himself and trots to the middle of the group, looking into the ominous woods - and the house barely visible - with trepidition. He swallows, and feels his legs shake, but at some point, he has to commit, and he does. "I'm ready. Let's do this."

Snow_Bolt isn't exactly excited to be a part of this. This whole affair is downright creepy, but if you already have strangeness going on you might as well be with the ponies that know what is going on. He listens to the conversation about the potential death of Pinkie and other assorted gloomy things and finds himself wondering similar things. If the elements of harmony are sidelined things could be very very bad indeed. And who knows what they will find when they go into the house. The place is creepy

Dusk nods to Fluttershy, "It is an unsettling thought. I do hope Miss Pie well." Who knows what the Queen might have done. She might be.. locked up in a room with nothing but bran muffins, and not even milk! He turns to Dinky, "Well as it appears, it seems to be some sort of dark pony-like creature, at least visually. It certainly seems to have significant powers. Even Mr. Chance was just standing up to it before it left. It could just be some kind of unknown creature. Or may be some other kind of force or magic." Of course it's not a ghost or supernatural being. He looks around as we come up to the old and quite unusual house. "Well, this seems fitting." He glances back at the herd of ponies gathered here as if taking in a mental image of the moment.

Solar_Eclipse is in a similar situation to Dinky. Hasn't slept much, hasn't eaten anything really (Candy would be a /bad/ idea). He looks up to Nettie's house and huhs, "Well, I mean I've /been/ here before. A lot. I don't know what the big deal is with Nettie's house." He looks to Dinky and makes a curious sound, "You know, all this stuff going on, I'm starting to lose track of it all."

Fluttershy lowers her head a little more - now she's twitchier than usual on top of melancholy. "I...I dunno what it was. I-I just know that she said only I could see her, a-and she had a gray rabbit that...didn't seem right. I-it really scared Angel. And I think she lives here." She looks toward the deeper woods, ears alert. "W-who owned this house before Nettleglum again?"

"Great," retorts Dinky to the magical expert. "So, we know, like...-nothing.- And our plan is...?" She sighs and nods to Eclipse. "Yeah, it's a lot for one Nightmare Night. I hope I'm not supposed to be a hero or anything. Like I can -actually- talk with the dead more than anyone else. Yeah, right. Hey, Eclipse, wouldn't it be a hoot if I got my cutie mark here? Kinda morbid. Even more so if it kills us." She trots past Snow Bolt and Solstice to get to Bardigan, who's nearing the house. "So, why exactly are we doing -what the thing tells us to?- And why do we want to forget it?"

"Because we have nothing else to go on, and whatever it was that spoke to Fluttershy seemed to be different than what attacked us in the town..." He's interrupted by a horrible noise from deeper in the woods, similar to the bellowing roar the Shadow let loose in the town. Behind them, trees are shaken and fall with a loud crash, sending up a cloud of birds. A familiar, energetic wind swoops down upon them, gusting towards the house and ruffling their manes. "And it seems to have followed us here," Bardigan finishes, trying to sound brave but it comes out more as lame resignation. But the pall of shadow still hangs thick over the town; it wasn't dissipating but growing stronger as they left. "Whatever this thing is, this is where it came from." He turns back to the house and goes to the door, pushing through the almost tangible feeling of dread that assails him. "So this is where we go." And he pushes the door open into darkness beyond.

Chalice_Flame follows the other ponies towards the interesting house, she doesn't seem to be frightened or feeling much of anything. She shrugs, "Cutie marks are over-rated".

Solar_Solstice jumps when the spooky noises echo throughout the woods. Even the non-Shadowy Everfree Forest wasn't this creepy! He gapes at the door as Bardigan steps through. He wants to run away and hide, find a safe place until all of this is over, but...he doesn't want to. He wants to see this through. "Right behind you," he declares, following Bardigan closely.

Snow_Bolt blinks as he feels the wind flow through his mane. That is definitely not natural. Not natural at all. And if its not natural its probably not a good thing. He's half tempted to bring up a wind and blow back at it, but what is it? And where is it? It seemes that everyone is headed into the house and so into the house he goes. He's going to stick close to Dusk and Chance, probably the best way to ensure that he figures out quickly what is going on, not to mention surviving.

Dusk listens and nods to each. "Well, Miss Dinky, that's easy. We learn more! And with that we can figure out how to stop this thing. And apparently there's some sort of 'idea' we're suppose to then forget. Forget the Darkness perhaps? Not easy to forget that if so." He turns at the bellowing and crashing of trees. "Certainly seems much more tangible than an idea to me." He waits for Bardigan to open the door and follows in with the rest of the ponies, glancing over to Snow with a nod. "Well I guess we'll find out soon."

The inside is... surprisingly normal. At least by Nettleglum standards. Whatever is in this house now, it hasn't completely warped the environment like it did the research center. A few candleabras are lit, but just sends a chill down Bardigan's spine; who lit them if Nettleglum isn't here? He steps over the threshold and nothing attacks. There's just curtains over the windows and long halls watched over by disturbingly life-like paintings stretching off into the deeper reaches of the house. The shadows are long and deep, given how meager the light from the candles is. "Goodness. I wonder how big it really is?" he whispers, his hooves leaving prints in the dust.

Solar_Eclipse blinks, "We learn more by forgetting it?" Seems a bit odd to him. "Why's it hanging around Nettie's. We should probably tell her when she gets back so she can get some back rent from this." He boldly steps toward the door, even if there's that loud sound. To him, it's just a house and he's eager to put an end to at least /one/ problem. "Chas, you know you're not suppose to play with the matches," he says as he sees the candles then blinks at the shadows, giving one a light poke, making it sway even though whatever it's a shadow of doesn't move.

Chalice_Flame becomes increasingly nervious about this situation and is trying to hide it. She tries to follow closely beside whiche-ever random pony she can. "What's going on here?".

Fluttershy is the last one left outside. She hangs back, staring ahead into the gloomy dark, and she can't deny the feeling that it's staring back into her, too; a feeling of beckoning, of mocking...of sadness? A long time goes by in her mind before she manages to pull her hooves off the ground and step forward, into the house...at least it isn't *actually* totally dark inside.

Dinky nods in sympathy with the way Eclipse puts it. "Yeah, doesn't make a lot of sense. This ghost can't rest until we forget it ever existed? Pretty sad, really. You die in real life, at least you want to live on in people's minds, right? Maybe I'm naive. Probably that." She leaps at the crash of a tree and darts into the dark house. "Wow. Prince, you've been here a bunch, right? You probably know the place best. Where's the room with the good stuff?"

"I think that might mean something different," says Solar Solstice, peering into the gloomy house. At first sight, it doesn't seem quite as bad as he thought it would be, being just an ornate, old-fashioned house. Certainly the Inner Sanctum at his house was probably creepier, but he also knows that looks can be deceiving. "We should start with the rooms on the ground floor," he suggests. "Clear out the whole place systematically."

Snow_Bolt glances around inside, this place could certainly be worse, but there is definitely something odd about it. Why anypony would want to live in such a strange place is a bit beyond him. If the creature is somehow tied to the house the simplest way to deal with the situation would just be to burn the place down. A tragedy for the owner to be sure, but dire situations call for dire solutions, "Why don't we just burn the place down?" he says, finally speaking his mind, "We could just get everyone out and set it ablaze."

Dusk grins to Eclipse, "I know. Try and figure what one out." He looks around inside. He's interacted with Nettie quite a number of times. She's pretty much friends with Fluttershy and Dusk had been staying with Fluttershy after got to town, helping with little BlueFeather. So he has a bit of an idea of what sort of thing to expect. Yet he never actually had been inside her home, and finds it very curious, looking around, taking in the little details. Such as the lit candleabras with what seem like fresh candles. It couldn't have been burning for long. He chuckle at Eclipse about the rent. Dusk however is positioned to keep an eye both inside and making sure all the ponies get in safe, ready to deflect if some debris - such as a tree - should fly by. "We're trying to track down the cause of the Darkness and related problems, Miss Flame." He makes sure Fluttershy and all others are in, and closes the door tight and secured. "That sounds like a good plan to me, Mr. Solstice, barring anypony having better. Probably sticking together, or at least in sizable groups is best." He grins at Blot, "Isn't that the same plan you had for 'fixing' the vine problem at the Center, Mr Bolt?"

Chalice_Flame shakes her head no, "Arson is not a good solution". She nods to Dusk, " I haven't followed much of this darkness, it's just there".

"We're not burning anything," Bardigan says over his shoulder. "This is Nettleglum's house, and on my honor I won't leave a mare homeless just because we've had a spot of trouble from it." He looks around the entrance and shudders. Even though the pony living here is a good soul, she certainly has... eclectic tastes. He pauses in front of a staircase and the hallway next to it. "Well. If I was a horrible, dark secret, where would I hide?" he wonders aloud. "It must have something to do with the history of this place... I'm assuming it was here long before Nettleglum arrived. Does anypony know where something *old* might be in here?"

Solar_Eclipse's brow furrows up at the burning it down suggestion. "We're not burning down Nettie's house." He shakes his head, "Probably wouldn't work anyhow. I mean, not like ghosts burn. Or spirits for that matter." He looks over to Dinky. "Good stuff? What sort of good stuff. I mean...it's a house, what are we looking for? THere's some graves in the garden. I mean, if it's a ghost...?" Bardigan gets an odd look and he says, "Really?"

"Yes," says Fluttershy tremulously, from the very back of the group. "I-I went back there once..." She turns, slowly and makes her way toward the back door, but...stops short of actually opening it. "T-the plants in the garden aren't as well-behaved as Chas. Oh, dear..."

Bardigan sighs, mostly at a loss. "Well, we need to start *somewhere.* Unless we want to go through this place room by room..." And behind his back comes the sound of what appears to be hooves, running away from the group. Bardigan turns on a dime and stares into the dark.

Fluttershy whips around, too, breath caught in her throat.

Dinky agrees with the sentiment against burning, though she doesn't have anything to add on that score. "Huh?" she replies to the prince. "Oh, you know. Like, key items. Clues. The core of the house, if there's one." To Bardigan: "We are looking for clues, right?" She seems willing to do things Solar Solstice's way, if he'll direct it. "Oh, hey. Speaking of clues, there was something that the ghosts or whatever whispered to me back at the Center. It wasn't about forgetting, though... it was about remembering. Something like..." She shakes her mane to help remember. "Thanks for remembering me, we'll all remember soon, we're free now and we'll start here, yadda yadda yadda. Annoying."

Chalice_Flame has no idea what other ponies are talking about, she tries to avoid being confused and avoids asking too many questions. She does catch on that ponies are seeking something so she starts to search following and watching other ponies closely.

Solar_Solstice doesn't totally understand what's important in this place, or who 'Chas' is, or all that. He does hear BArdigan and Dinky, however. "Yeah...I'm guessing that whatever It is, it'll be related to whatever is important, or spooky, or both, that's in this house. But...I don't know where that is, so maybe we should just walk through every room until we find one that's interesting." He doesn't have any other ideas, so this will have to do.

Snow_Bolt actually had made multiple suggestions during the vine incident...only one of which had been burning the vine out, "Among other ideas..." he says in response to Dusk. No. He isn't really a pyro. It seems that everyone else is pretty much dead set against the idea so he will let it rest for the moment. He too turns toward the sound, ready to react to whatever might be coming or going. He does keep an ear on what Dinky said as well as what others have said about it being a ghost. He isn't sure that he believes in ghosts, and Dusk really doesn't seem to either. There is more likely a natural explaination. At least thats what he keeps telling himself.

"Well I mean there's old stuff everywhere. I'm not sure what exactly we're hunting," he says and then sighs. Eclipse shifts again then at the sound he makes a 'huh' and turns quickly to look too.

Dusk nods to Bardigan, "Well something dark would probably tend to be in a dark place. Those tend to be down and deep, but can be in obscure attics and closed off rooms. However Lady Fluttershy did say something about shouldn't have been digging. I think that suggests downwards." He is curious about the message Dinky got, though it doesn't tell us quite yet what 'me' or 'we' are. He chuckles to Snow, "Quite fair enough."

Dinky shrugs. "Well, I dunno whether we're supposed to be remembering or forgetting," she gripes. "Maybe both. Not like that's routine or anything like that. I think I'll just let my brain do what it does and probably just end up remembering and forgetting at random." The sound of a receding presence catches her ear. "Whoa. Do we chase whatever that was?" She's certainly not gonna go -first.-
Chalice_Flame nods, I'll go look for an atic or crawl space, any pony want to come with me?, so we can be searching more efficiently?". She peers around for a response. She doesn't want to go off alone and nerviously waits.

"Down. Wonderful," Bardigan mutters. "Because going 'down' in a haunted house never means trouble... well, going anywhere in a haunted house means trouble. This thing is likely all around us... wherever we go won't make much difference." He is the first to follow the sound of the running hooves, which don't repeat themselves. They walk under the scrutiny of the paintings on the walls, passing under sputtering candles and old cobwebs, the groans and creaks of the old house surrounding them. They pass a few rooms, all of which are equally dreary and dust-ridden, sitting rooms full of old, fancy couches and boudoirs, and even an old dining room. One in particular does have something: as the last pony in line goes by, something inside it glitters. Just for a moment, out of the corner of the eye. Something that grabs the attention and then is lost just as quickly... but unmistakably there.

Fluttershy turns to follow, glad to leave the garden door behind her for now. As the ponies creep through Grimdark Manor, Flutters' eyes dart from corner to corner; this house didn't seem so bad before, but now - now it's like the house could swallow her mind at any second. "H-hello?" she calls out quietly. "...Chas?"

Solar_Solstice proceeds after Bardigan post-haste, looking around cautiously for anything strange. It's just regular creepiness so far (if such a thing was even possible), no further signs of hoofprints. It sure is dusty; doesn't Nettleglum clean this place regularly? These and many other thoughts plague him.
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Snow_Bolt also follows along with the group, at this point there is little else that he can do. Hopefully they won't have to go too far into this creepy house to find whatever it is they are looking for. The deeper in they go the more difficult it will be to get out if something goes south.

"Uhh I don't think it'd be a good idea to split up," Eclipse suggests, then peeks about. He checks under a chair, seeing only one of the creepy stray shadows that inhabit Nettie's house. "Hi," he tells it before continuing to look until the idea of goign down. "Oh, like in the catacomb areas?"

Dinky wanders through the quaint, dim rooms of the house until she spies the sparkly thing and frowns. "Wait. Wait, what's that?" She points it out and stands aside, letting others decide what to do.

Dusk noticed the sounds, but has been hearing and seeing all sorts of strange things since the spreading mist. Is there any in the house here? And there, the sparkles. It's hard to tell what's real or not with these strange.. side effects. Yes. "Who is Chas, Lady Fluttershy?" he wonders, looking around for somepony perhaps. "And yes, at least for now, let's stick together."

Chalice_Flame nods, "Ok, I won't go off and try and find an attic then" ...for now.".

Fluttershy turns back. "What is it, Dinky?" By the time she looks, the sparkle is probably long gone; not even Fluttershy's sensitive eyes can spot a light that's no longer there. "Did you find a plant? I-if you do, maybe we can ask them if they saw anything...Chas is Nettie's favorite plant. H-he's sort of like a puppy."

Chalice_Flame says "A plant has a name?, who names their houseplants?."

"And he likes cookies," Eclipse adds. "Real sweet tooth. Well, if he had teeth." He shrugs and looks about now as everyone else seems to.

Solar_Solstice peers at Fluttershy. "A plant? Is it...like a venus flytray, or something?" That sounds like the kind of plant Nettleglum would own. He looks to where Dinky was looking. Hmm..

That 'something' that Dinky notices appears to be little more than a little bit of jewelry displayed among other bits of jewelry, all of them in musty old glass cases that have a thin, though doubtlessly pleasing to the Grimdark family, film of dust over them all. The room itself isn't important, more of a sitting area than anything else. But the shimmering piece is in the shape of, of all things, a small sapphire rabbit with ears perked. "... Well," Bardigan murmurs. "I hope this means something to somepony... it certainly stands out from the rest. I never thought the Grimdarks were fans of fluffy bunnies."

"Oh!" Fluttershy presses forward for a closer look. "That's so cute! A-and it looks just like..." She puts a hoof to her mouth, as if something's just struck her. "It looks just like Averroes."


Dusk ahs and nods to Fluttershy. "A pet plant? Quite interesting." He finally realizes the sparkles are jewlery. There just as he figured. Nothing unusual. He nods to Bardigan, "It does seem different." He turns back to Fluttershy, "Averroes? Oh is that the rabbit you were speaking of earlier, that showed up at your cottage?"

Chance has been wandering around himself, glancing at what the house holds, trotting along with Dusk. He blinks as Fluttershy has an epiphany, glancing over to her. "Is that an odd thing Fluttershy? I think I missed the part about Averroes.."

Chalice_Flame stands silently next to the nearest pony, she looks at the jewelry. Reaches out to pick some of it up and then decides not to pulling back.

"Well, isn't that interesting?" Bardigan wonders, peering at the small statuette. It's barely the size of a hoof, yet looks remarkably well crafted. Perhaps a unicorn created it. Seeing nopony else moving up to claim it, Bardigan is the first to... and the instant he touches it, a shadow springs out from behind the glass stand. Bardigan rears back with a start, but the only thing to be afraid of is the shadow of a rabbit, stuck to the wall and clambering over the shadows of everything else in the room, including the ponies. There's a sudden jolt of cold as it jumps onto the backs of their shadows, and then leaps out of the doorway, sliding around the wall. Bardigan snatches up the jewel and turns to follow. "After that ghost rabbit!" he announces... and then finds himself being flung into the air and into a wall with a shout. A shadowy tendril has grabbed a hold of *his* shadow and is tossing it around the room! And more are reaching for the other ponies!

"Averroes is--eep!" Fluttershy jumps like somepony poured ice across her back. "T-there! Averroes, wait! Come back!" The yellow mare turns to give chase, but she doesn't get far at all - a shadow tendril has seized her tail.

Solar_Solstice considers everything that is being said right now. He walks into the room with all the jewelry, eyeing the rabbit statue suspiciously when Fluttershy recognizes it. "That's him? But he's...a statue." Then again, strange things have been happening here lately. Maybe the statue really isn't a statue? Before he can meditate on that thought, however, the shadows suddenly leap about before his eyes! Yikes! "Watch out!" he yells, jumping aside when he sees /something/ try to grab his shadow. At once he gives chase after Fluttershy and the mysterious Averroes.

Chalice_Flame is startled by the sudden presence of what appears to be a spiritual being of some sort, she tries to leap away, there's not enough room she's been following the other ponies too closely. She's grabbed by a foreleg and lets out a "Noooo!" as she's grabbed.

Dusk glances over to Chance, glad that he was able to join along. "Did you find anything new back in town?" He watches Chalice reaching out and is about to suggest against it when she pulls her hoof back, so he doesn't say anything. Then Bardigan does the same. What is with these ponies. "Mr..!" but it's too late as the jewel is grabbed hastily. Then things start to go crazy. Shadows and shadow-jumping rabbits. He goes to help Fluttershy, but then he stops and starts to make a growing sphere of illumination. It doesn't shine, it's not a light source. But anything within it is illuminated as if lit from all sides evenly. He grows the sphere outwarads.

Solar_Eclipse looks about,s eeing everyone getting grabbed by shadow tentacles. He can stay and help or he can catch the rabbit thingie. He assumes getting the rabbit thingie can stop all of...everything, so he darts forward, "I'll try to get the thingie!!"

Chance shakes his head lightly to Dusk. "I didn't. Just that pervasive darkness, and.." And then shadows come out to play! A shadow tendril reaches for Chance's shadow, but Dusk's magic isn't fast enough. Turns out it doesn't need to be. The light around his shadow shimmers oddly, and fades away. He's no longer casting any type of shadow at all. He glances at Dusk's spell for a moment. "Good call Dusk!" and zips off toward the bunny thing as well!

( Flying over head as thje b est as she can Screen sees some ponies and lands with a hard thump. Seeing Dusk she rush over. "What in the hay.." )

"Thingie? I thought I had the- WAAH!" Bardigan is dragged *through* a chair by a particularly rude shadow-form, clonking his nose and messing up his wings something awful. He does, however, manage to keep hold of his hat, and the small rabbit jewel. The bard goes through another doorway, into deeper shadow before Dusk's sphere can reach him; in fact, *all* the ponies not immediately caught in the influence of the unicorn's magic are dragged in different directions as the shadows retreat from what they know is something that can counter them. Eclipse and Chance, however, are not so lucky either: Avveroes is invisible when he's not framed by light, making him hard to track... and behind them, slithering, crawling things flop and coil in the shadows all around, keeping track of their progress as the rabbit leads them all on a wild chase through musty corridors and tight corners.

Fluttershy whimpers and tugs, pulling away from the thing that's got her by the tail. Finally, with a great heave, she pulls away, leaving a lock of her tailhair behind, and scrambles forward, trying to make for the light. Once she's sure she's safe, she thrusts out a hoof and tries to grab any of her friends who're close enough, though the shadows force her back.

Chalice_Flame is unable to free herself, she flaps her wings wildly flying up to the ceiling. Anyone grabbing for her probably missed.

Solar_Solstice scrambles and dodges, breathing heavily at the strain of trying to not be shadow-napped. "Hey, Fluttershy, wait up!" he shouts, racing after her and, if he gets the opportunity, grabbing her forehoof and pulling her forward with him to speed their escape.

Dusk nods to Chance's comments but of course never got a chance to reply. He keeps spreading the illumination outwards while watching Eclipse and Chance run after the rabbit. Yes getting the rabbit is a good idea, but doesn't like the idea of ponies splitting up. He sees Screenplay show up, "Lady Screenplay! Do be careful. We're dealing with some dark forces here!" Dusk was one of the last ponies in, so some ponies would have gone into the room ahead of him. Being close to Fluttershy he reaches out and helps pull her in too as she struggles for the light. For any pulled into the room, or shadows retreating to there, the light soon covers the whole area. "Keep close!" he tells to Screenplay, Fluttershy, and any others he can gather up. He looks back the other way for any others that he can help as well. "Over here, Lady Flame, Mr. Solstice! Where's Mr. Bardigan?" Dusk keeps trying to peer into the dimness and shadows.

Solar_Eclipse looks about. This is going bad to worse. For some reason this bugs him. First off, he didn't ever think of having everypony's shadow jerk about would move them too. How awesome is that? It requires further looking into. Also, the shadows here are bad, wrong and /not/ listening. He's mad. Really mad. He stops each hoof into the ground once, closes his eyes, and then opens them once again and he bellows. It's not just loud, it's Royal Canterloanian loud. "ALL YOU SHADOWS JUST STOP!" A booming voice that's laced with anger, emotion, and massive amounts of magic. Sometime's a lil' pony just gotta let it out.

Chance skids to a stop when Solar stops, glancing over at the young prince when he yells. "You couldn't do that on the run? We're going to lose that rabbit.. thing if we stop now." he tells Eclipse seriously. He decides to continue after it. "If it's important, come on!"
Screenplay looks to see what is going on, "Dusk please tell me what is going on. I just find out the pimncess been missing for a week and.. well just relized that the sun hadn't raisen for some time. I thought it was.." She winnies as a shadow monster had come for hers and backs up

Chalice_Flame continues to thrash about with her wings flapping wildly, maybe she escapes this time?.
And then... they stop. Whatever is influencing the shadows here, the ones it controls are still in some small way under the thrall of a child of night. Eclipse's shout brings everything to an abrupt halt... but Bardigan is aleady gone. Averroes has stopped too, quivering under the light of a candle, perched on the shadow of its holder, paws over his head. The shadows attacking Dusk and the other ponies slither away back to their original homes. But then something else answers the young Prince's shout. It begins like a loud gust of wind, quickly growing into an all-encompassing *ROAR* of noise, as if an avalanche was given life and knew only sheer rage. The terrible noise rolls over all the ponies, the walls and ground shaking beneath them, and quickly fades into the dark once again. Averroes slowly uncurls and looks at Eclipse, expectantly.

Silence. Fluttershy slowly lowers her hoof, looking at the space where Bardigan just was; the room has finally gone quiet, save for the ringing in her ears. Her only response to the rumbling earth is to go wide-eyed and stare mutely ahead, until she gathers the courage to whisper, "Who...who *are* you?"

Solar_Solstice skids to a halt as suddenly the shadows disappear, quake, shudder, and back down, thanks to Eclipse's ministrations. What a strange, but fascinating, power the prince had! Perhaps he would be interested in knowing his sister, maybe. He looks upon the sapphire rabbit, waiting for it to respond, fearing that it might be less than friendly.

Dusk briefly glances back to look at the pegasus, "Lady Screenplay. We're searching Lady Nettie's home for some answer as to what might be causing the long night and strange Darkness," he tries explaining as he's reaching out for Chalice's hoof.. just as the shadows all let go. But he still tries to pull her into the light with the others, making sure nopony heads off. He hears the rumbling and looks around for the still missing ponies. Two he knows ran off. But the other. "MR. BARDIGAN!" he calls out loudly then goes silent waiting for a response.

( Worked perfectly! Eclispe is happy, till he realizes Bardigan is gone. Also there's that gusty wind and a roar. Where did Dinky go anyway? He could use somepony with Ghostbusting abilities right about now. His ears flatten back but he doesn't budge. He just looks over to Averroes, then to Fluttershy. "Ok, the bunnyshadow's stopped." He looks about, squinting, trying to see if he can find the missing pony before saying, "Can you help us, Bunnyshadow? We need our friend back! And we need to bring this whole thing to an end." )

Chance stops rather quickly once again when he suddenly realizes the bunny stops. He glances around as the shadows stop. "Oh, good job, Prince Eclipse." A moment later the roar sound travels through, and he pulls back his ears slightly annoyed. "Well, nice try at least." He trots to Eclipse's side and waits as he talks to the bunny-shadow.

Screenplay looks a bit comfused and then to Dusk. "I had no idea, I thought it was just a Nightmire night thing. I saw the ghost in your shop and thought it was a party..'

Chalice_Flame Is shaken from being flung across the room, she holds out a hoof accepting Dusk's offer to help her up. "Ouch, what was that thing?".

The Bunnyshadow twitches its ears and looks up and around, as if searching for something. He hops back down into the curve of the edge of the candle's light, then moves *up* and around the light's edge until he's upside down, still listening. It points a paw and bolts off again, heading up a distant staircase.

The Bunnyshadow twitches its ears and looks up and around, as if searching for something. He hops back down into the curve of the edge of the candle's light, then moves *up* and around the light's edge until he's upside down, still listening. It points a paw and bolts off again, heading up a distant staircase.

( Flutters whips around, looking toward where Eclipse and Chance ran off. She creeps after them, quickly but quietly, and makes sure not to get too far from any light, arriving just in time to see Averroes bolt away again. "W-wait! Averroes! Where is our friend?" )

"Only one way to find out!" Solar Solstice shouts, and with that he chases after the shadowrabbit up the stairs.

Dusk was trying to reach Chalice but seems she went flying off into a wall instead. Dusk winces, then helps her up. He waits for the rumbling to settle. Then he seems to keep looking around, staying in place. Like he was expecting something more to happen. He also keeps waiting for that answer from Bardigan. When neither happens he looks around to the small group with him. He nods to Screenplay. "I think many ponies think that. Even Lady Mirage thought the mist was just a special effect somepony did for Nightmare Night." He looks to Chalice and Fluttershy too, "Well I think we best go look for the others." But barely does he say that and Fluttershy is already off. He still keeps the sphere of illumination about them and hurries to keep up with Fluttershy, and making sure not to leave Screenplay or Chalice behind or too close to the shadows, should any come back.

( As things start happening, and the bunnyshadow points and darts, Eclipse lets out a few quick breaths. He smiles and looks to Fluttershy at her question, "Oh, I think it's showing us where he is. I hope. We should...probably also follow before whatever was roaring makes an appearance." He starts up the stairs too after a brief pause to make sure everypony he can see is ok and no one's being gobbled or anything. Barring that, he zips up after the shadowbunny. )

Chance runs up the stairs with the others, dropping back a bit to be with Fluttershy. Eclipse can take care of himself. Fluttershy.. well, she's Fluttershy! He glances back as the others come up from behind as well. "Any idea what that roar was about, Dusk?" he calls out.

Dinky dusts herself over, more than a little shaken and kind of trying to hide it. "Wouldn't have minded having my shadow grabbed if weren't frikkin' ATTACHED to me," she grumbles. "Apparently my shadow's a snitch. And I don't like being watched all the time whenever and wherever, either." She lets Solar Eclipse route her upstairs and eyes the bunny suspiciously. "Averroes, huh? I tell you, that's gotta be an anagram or something."

Chalice_Flame stumbled to her hooves upon being helped up and whimpers. It become apparent right afterwards why as she limps after the rest of the ponies.

Screenplay tries to fly but with the baggage she is really tired. "Dusk what about this enternal night. Again I thought they had a deal with the princess to keep it at night fora long party but I now see it's not
"Ever Sore?" mumbles Dinky mostly to herself. "Heh, kinda like me."

Averroes leads them up the stairs, and aside from shivery wooden planks nothing else seems to come at them. From the corner of their eyes he leads them, into some kind of study. It's nothing like what you'd call a quaint collection of books; this is on par with Twilight's library, easily! Books piled here and there, all yellowed and flaking, with several shelves worth of them waiting, asking to be looked at. But Averroes hops between the shadows of the shelves, heading down one in particular. As the last pony enters, the door slams shut behind them, and another roar rumbles through the house. Candles blow out and shadows deepen, then lengthen, then *move*, curling around the door and effectively blocking it in an impenetrable wall of inky darkness.

( Why'd the bunny lead them to the library? Eclipse lets out a breath, "I don't think Bardigan's in here," he says, looking at the shelves, "Unless he's fictional. Which...I don't think he is." Dinky gets a brief glance as she mentions her shadow being a snitch and he says "They can't lie to me." Of course then the door slams and the shadows bar it. Not ready to leave yet anyway, he doesn't yell at them and try to make them scatter. He, instead nudges Dinky and heads down the shelves, following Shadowfluffybunny. )

Fluttershy follows the ghost rabbit, flitting through the air. "Wait, please. A...Averroes? What are you trying to tell us? Can you talk?" Her voice is still quiet and timid - speaking to animals is perfectly normal, but talking to ghosts... When the door slams, Fluttershy's wings lock and she falls right to the floor. Thunk.

Chalice_Flame has the door slam after her, she spins around as quickly as injury will allow and tries to open the door, "Let us out, we want out". She gives the door the push with her body.

Dusk sees as we catch up to the others we're ready running off once more. "I can't imagine chasing a 'ghost' rabbit through a 'haunted' house is a grand idea. But I don't see how we'll get any better answers I suppose! Oh, Mr. Chase! Good to catch back up. Mr. Bardigan is missing! As for the noise... Either one of Lady Nettleglum's pets. Or we have company." He makes sure the group keeps moving and he goes on up the stairs with them too, helping Chalice along as needed. He's keeping very careful eye out though, particularly behind them too. He likes Dinky's thinking about the name, but his thought is interrupted with Screenplay's question, "We're not sure quite what's happening either. Hopefully we'll find out soon." Then he asides to Dinky, "Perhaps another name?" We get up the stairs, Dusk being careful not to catch the bunny or its shadow surfaces in the illumination. He's watching as the door slams and shadows close in, but they don't seem to be completely repelled by the light. But to keep up with the others and not worry Chalice, he doesn't have time to deal with them, even as the roar rumbles about. He'd catch Fluttershy but is already helping Chalice. But as they catch up he makes sure she's okay too. )

Dinky quirks up her face at the revelation. So her shadow couldn't even keep her secrets it if tried? Disturbing, but she does appreciate the facts being laid out for her straightforwardly. "Oh," she says. She nods vaguely to Dusk and follows Eclipse's nudge into the deep shelves after the bunny. "The library, huh? So what do you figure Ersavore here is trying to tell us? Maybe we're after some book in particular?"

Solar_Solstice gapes at the multitude of old tomes, the smell of old paper suffusing his sensitive equine nostrils. The bookcase stand tall, like sentinels guarding hidden secrets. Nightshade, he knows, would be positively excited about this place, if 'excitement' is a word that can be used to describe her, but more immediete was the present effect upon him. He feels as if he is walking into a land forgotten, the spooky and creepy embellishments of the house merely a deterrent from finding this treasure. He is mesmerized by the shadowrabbit, and everything else too

Averroes stops at a specific shelf after clambering up the shadows of books, jumping up and down near a window to let his shadow lengthen and catch their attention at a single book midway up one of the shelves. But before it can be more closely observed, the shadows swoop down, blotting most of the room in darkness. And then the books start to shake and shiver in their holds as shadows cling to them, taking a tight hold... and releasing. Books from every shelf, including the one Averroes is pointing at, fly out at blinding speeds, aiming for heads, flanks, legs, anything pony-shaped that isn't taking cover. Averroes' shadow clings tight to his chosen as it's propelled halfway across the study, away from the adventurers.

Fluttershy raises her head just in time for a book to whiz right past it, pulling her mane alone in its wake. "Eek! Oh, Celestia, what's going on?!" She turns and dives for the corner beside a bookshelf, ducking down, even as the whole shelf starts to rattle...

Chance pauses as he comes into the room, glancing around at all the books. "Okay, this is impressive. I wonder how old this place is? Perhaps.." But then the door slams shut, and a pony flops to the side of him. He glances down at Fluttershy and smiles gently. He kneels down and lightly pats her shoulder with a hoof. "I think it's okay, Fluttershy. That was just the door." He glances at the door, but doesn't mention the thick shadows covering it. He lifts his head to watch the strange shadow bunny, glancing at the book, then suddenly perks up in alarm as all the books go flying. He doesn't miss the fact that the bunny is clinging now to his flying book. "Dusk, the shadows are not the shadowbunny's friend!" he calls out, immediately getting between Fluttershy and the flying books. The air in front of him thickens in a improbable manner, and the books quickly slow, stop and drop in front of him. He doesn't see Fluttershy diving away.

( "Hey I think shadowbunny wants us to look at --ERP!" Eclipse is taken by surprise for once. He sees Chance helping Fluttershy and his instinct is to protect his friend. He manages to snag a few of the books from the air as they launch themselves at Dinky, setting them gently aside, one, another, another. N ormally they'd not be overwhelming, as he can lift alot, but he's protecting as many ponies as he can and eventually one makes it through and he takes a hit to the noggin, then the flank, and his ribs, and hsi head again, and it's not too long before he's getting buried in the literature. )
Screenplay trots out to find some info anyway sh4e can

Solar_Solstice gazes up, up, his eyes drawn to Averroes by a strange attraction, but his view breaks apart into many flying books, the revenge of knowledge against the overcurious. Several of them slam into his flanks and side, and he grunts aloud, but his sturdy earth pony body is rather tough, and he endures. "Grab that book!" he shouts, trying to scramble up the shelves to reach the shadowrabbit. his muscles visibly straining as he stretches upward in an unnatural position.

"Only me!" a voice whispers to Eclipse from under the pile of books attempting to crush him. "I'm the only one who will be remembered here! I *deserve* this!"

Chalice_Flame tries to hold her uninjured foreleg in front of her face to avoid being hit by flying books. This means her lean forward , almost on her knees( whatever you call those front joints). She's pelted by whatever books come her way."Owee,owee...cut it out!!!".

Dusk is up with the other and like them notices the bunny and the book. Sounds like a kids' story on its own. And seems the shadows do too. He nods to Chance, "So I see! Mr. Chance, I'll wager you two bits on getting that book and the bunny safely!" he calls over the rising noise. He's already starting to deflect books, not ducking. His magic is colorless though so it looks as though they just seem to keep missing him. He doing his best to block for other ponies as he can too, but sees the bookshelf. He reaches out and magically starts shoving it back the other way.

Dinky is all set to chase after the book in question--even determined to get it. Dinky does have a thing for books, after all. But now even that modest love is suddenly turned against her! Dinky gets bonked by one of the first books to go flying as she tries t get to the key one before the shadows pick them up and shroud the room. She swears sharply and loudly and falls to the floor. Fortunately, Eclipse manages to protect her from being hit by most of the rest. Still, she just lies there ironically, soaking up consternation and blowing out air through a newly bruised lip.

Fluttershy cowers; somewhere, in a box far away, the Element of Kindness is rattling against its case, but it can't help her now. The bookshelf creaks back and forth as the phantoms struggle with Dusk. Fluttershy lifts her head just in time to see it looming toward her and scrambles back toward Chance and the others, just before the wood starts to splinter completely.

Chalice_Flame hobbles over closer to Dusk seeing the books being deflected away, it's safer for her there. "I'm starting to wish I never came here".

Solar_Solstice clambers up the bookcase, up and up, his legs aching as he tries to climb, the acidic waste of his sinews burning him from the inside out. He huffs loudly as he presses upward, yelping a bit as his hind leg almost slips, but he preserves, he keeps going. He /has/ to get to that book before everything gets really bad! "Almost...there!" he grunts, his forehoof reaching for the book, just several inches short.

Chance says "No bet! Too many things can go wrong!" he calls back to Dusk. He spots Fluttershy and the tipsy bookshelf, and is about to dive in when he notices the bookshelf starting to tip away instead. He looks around and spots Eclipse buried under books, so he runs over and starts knocking books away with his hooves. As Fluttershy runs over he glances over to her. "Please help me with these books! Eclipse got buried under here!"

( Ok this is getting a bit rough. "Stop," Eclipse says to the shadows, but he's a bit zonked right now. Once pulled from the stack of books on him, he's got a bit of a lump on his head, a bruised eye, and his nose is a bit red, probably bleeding a bit from the strike. He'll probably sport a few new bruises. He asks himself why he decided to remove the armor, since this would be a /fantastic/ time for such devices, but he chocks it up to bad timing. He thanks Chance and asks him and Dinky, "Did you see where the book went?" )

Chalice_Flame possibly unknown and unseen to other ponies, finds herself a hiding place. She's done pretending not to be scared, now she's hurt and she's had enough of these books being hurled at her.

"Stop? No, no! This is where it *begins,*" the darkness whispers back to Eclipse. As the book goes whizzing by Solstice's position, Averroes reaches out with a little paw, and the brave earth pony gets a chill in the hoof. Down on the floor, from the meager moonlight streaming through the window, the truth of the drama unfolds: the little rabbit's shadow is holding onto the shadow of Solstice's hoof, not the pony himself. Which makes it all the more chilling when a tendril of shadow slithers out and grabs the shadow of the book and begins tugging with all its might. Poor Averroes is stuck on the ground, suspended lengthwise between Solstice's shadow and that of the book on the floor as he tries to keep a grip on both... and another shadow creatures snatches the shadow of the drapes, beginning to pull them over the moonlight. And once the room goes completely dark... well, best not to dwell on that.

Dusk holds off the bookcase until the old wood starts to shatter under the conflicting forces. Fortunately Fluttershy sees it all in time and makes a dash away, while Dusk keeps it from falling atop of her. Once she escapes the shadows slip off and the broken bits of shelf and remaining books fall part to the floor. A few flying books had clipped him during the struggle but nothing too serious. He hears Chance call off the bet and shakes his head, "Well go get the freeking book, one way or another, please!" he yells off to Chance. "It has to be important if Averroes and the shadows are all so determined!" Chalice scrambles up behind him and he does provide her as much cover as he can, his larger body alone helping shield her. But he can't protect everypony, seeing Dinky down and Fluttershy trying to take cover too. And he wants to go after that book himself. Someone has to! Well there is one thing he can do.. He sparks up a spark of bright normal light right before where the window is, making the bunny's shadow stronger and bolder. He can only hope that translates equally to the bunny.

Dinky groans on the floor in pitch blackness. "Unngh. No. I have no flipping clue where the @*#$&$ book is. Leave me alone." She lies there for a while before finally reconsidering and stirring, climbing achingly to her feet. "All right. All right. I can hear that crazy voice again. Someone wants to be the -only- one remembered here. So I guess they're into mass brainwashing or whatever. Errgh. Does anyone have a light spell or globe or anything, and does it actually -work- in this shadow sl--Oh." She blinks in the sudden flood of light. "Blech. Okay, now look for Oversear the bunny. Should still be clinging tight."

( Cold, like cruel winter, seeps into Solar Solstice's body, sapping his strength. He feels his tenuous 'grip' on the bookshelf weaken as warmth and life ebb through his leg. "No...no!" he cries out, his head snapping around, the tendons and ligaments of his neck creaking and twisting, molten by the fire of pain and muscle waste. He leans back, feeling his weight drag his downward, but the book is still there, right below him. If he can only reach for it...but it looks like he'll have to escalate his own danger. He takes the chance; he leaps downward, grasping for it with his numb hooves, or with his mouth, or /anything/. )

"Oh no, oh no," pants Fluttershy under her breath as she helps pull Prince Eclipse from the slushpile and backs into the light. She turns and sees Solstice reaching out; Fluttershy squeezes her eyes shut tight, scrunches up her body, and then *springs* toward the shadow rabbit and its book. "S-stop this at once!" she calls as she jumps, although it doesn't carry the same force it would if she were admonishing Angel; she's much too scared for that.

Chance glances over to Dusk once Eclipse is out, nodding to the other pony, then looks down at the shadow trying to snag the book away. He charges in, right through the shadow, and the light distortion that his talent is using to keep his shadow hidden effectively messes up the shadow's ability to hang onto the book's shadow, letting the shadowbunny get the book back, Solar get the bunny, and let Fluttershy hopefully help in the best way she can. Maybe by crashing into Solar? She does everything softly, so perhaps she'll do that softly, too.

( The Prince gives Dinky a brief glance as she tries to earn her Surliness Cutie Mark in his general direction. He's currently nursing a few headlumps so he thinks he's got more reason to be upset. Plus, he /did/ just try to keep her from gettig buried in books. Whatever. He agrees with a soft sound, "Yeh," he mumbles, "They're talking agian. Not sure which." Working himself up again, he moves after the others. His horntip now glows, but it doesn't cast much bright light, more that odd color that Luna's magic seems to be.. He moves around the room, looking for the bunnyshadow, or the book really, but during his circuit, he's unblocking any windows he can, by yanking curtains down. Take /that/ home decor! He actually assumes Nettie will like the new disarray. )

( Fluttershy's dive meets with success in a strange way. Her shadow, now elongated and strengthened by the bright light provided by Dusk, almost completely smothers Averroes and his book. The shadowy tendril loses its grip as its target disappears underneath Fluttershy and gets disrupted by Chance's shadow running over it, snapping away and withdrawing miserably into another dark corner. The book abruptly flops down to the ground where it had been suspended in mid-air, landing directly in front of Fluttershy. Averroes' shadow hops up on Shadowshy's head, cast against a far wall by Dusk's light and pointing furiously at the book. As more and more shadow is depleted by Eclipse's new renovations, the shadow creatures find less and less darkness to stick to, until they're pulling away into the deepest corners of the room, cowering under bookshelves. The book is theirs, and the house is not happy. A final roar, even more powerful than the last, rips through the building, and underneath the chaos Dinky, Eclipse, and Fluttershy are privy to the Dark's rage: "You will suffer! You will all suffer! I have your friend and when you come to him you will be inside me and then I will make you *nothing!* I will *not* be forgotten again! Not by you or anypony else! You think you can trust *her?* Then come down to meet me and *die!*" The Darkness leaves the door, and it snaps open. They are free. )

Solar_Solstice lands on the ground with a loud 'thump!' just as Dusk's spell begins to take full effect. His own shadow has also vanished amidst the bright light. Pain racks his side from the force of his fall, but he has to pull through it. Huffing again, he twists around and picks himself up on his hooves, only to find himself looking right at the book lying on the ground in front of him. "Right, let's get to the bottom of this," he says, reaching for the book's cover and opening it.

Dusk keeps the light going an providing what cover for ponies he can until the shadows finally relent. He breathes a sigh of relief and looks around. "Good! Hold the book tight there, Mr. Solstice! Is everypony okay?" He kneels down to tend to Chalice who has taken a few good hits and was already injured.

Dinky sighs and recites rotely: "Blah blah blah, I have your friend, when you come to him you'll be inside of me, I deserve to be remembered, jazz like that. Anypony missing? Oh right, Bardigan. Whatever. Maybe we should just not take the bait and call it a day. Night. Whatever." She ambles unsteadily over to the book to see what the hoopla's all about.

The now thoroughly wrecked library is the backdrop for the group of ponies that managed to survive the terrors of the house thus far. Before them is their prize: the book that they'd fought so hard to attain. Averroes hops off Fluttershadow's head and jumps over to the book, jumping up and down on top of it, eager to get the ponies to read. He can't quite get a grip on its shadow when it's flat beneath the covers!

Solar_Solstice, of course, is already reading the book, having hopped down from the bookcase where he was trying to get it just to secure the tome in his hooves. He's just opened it to the first page, his eyes hungry for clues to this shadowy mystery.

Chance stays near Fluttershy and Solar, ready to try to get in the way of any of the other shadowthings that keep trying to take the book. "See anything, Solar?"

Fluttershy never thought she'd be relieved to have a bunny get off her head, but, well, Averroes *is* awfully cold to the touch. She leans in closer and peeks over Solstice's shoulder...

( Dusk is standing back keeping an eye all around while the others check out the book. He'll have to rely on them to tell him what it's about while he makes sure no one has any surprises while they're focused on it. Chalice was behind him just earlier but things had calmed down. He's already looked to her injuries and done what he could with a little magic and magiced up bandages. Perhaps Fluttershy may want to take a better look than him. He also keeps the light he made shining though the shades are all open letting in moonlight too. While the others are busy he magics up some of the other books back into place, but not by lifting them. Instead they start appearing back in their correct places on the shelves, a book or three at a time, even dust and all, as if they hadn't been moved. )

Eclipse too helps pack a few books up on his way over to see the captured book that seems so important to the shadow folk. "What's all the hubub about?" he wonders, frowning. He's not liking that Nettie's house is getting trashed.

[Bardigan]

The rabbit keeps hopping, encouraging Solstice to continue flipping pages as he goes on. It appears to be a cross between a diary and scientific notes on the study of... something incredibly complex and magical by the looks of it. Sketches of runes, sigils, and formulas cover the pages. Mixed in between are snippets of another life, and a different time. There are mention of two ponies but Averroes isn't interested in any of them. He keeps stamping his foot until Solstice comes to a particular page. Averroes stamps his foot quickly, indicating somepony should read. There are no formulas or equations or descriptions of cheerful lunches had in happier times. Just a long, winding narrative.

Solar_Solstice's head swirls at all the over-complicated esoterica. Where was Nightshade when you needed her; she would understand all this pretty quickly! But Solstice does know a thing or two about high-end knowledge, thanks to the education he had received as a colt. The shadowrabbit has other ideas, however, and he can barely prase the basic meaning of the pages before Averroes forces him to turn the page. "Ok, ok!" he says, getting the message. He looks at the narrative; /this/ he can mostly understand, at least. He peers at the words beneath Dusk's light and starts to read...

And Fluttershy reads over Solstice's shoulder, eyes darting back and forsth, if slowly: the light isn't quite reading light, but she can still make out the words...

Chance watches closely, now and then glancing about, making sure no shadowcritters are sneaking up on them. He peeks at the page when Solar apparently finally finds it. He glances to the shadowbunny. "Thanks for helping, Averroes."

Squirrelly smiles as Eclipse helps a bit. Dusk himself is making increasingly better progress as he gets a handle on the multitude of paths of the various books. Fortunately they have been in place for so long and would have been if not disturbed today, it's easy to correct. The busted shelf, however, is another matter. It's in so many fragments and even tiny splinters that each would all need to be reverted at the same time, or he'd have to carefully rebuild it, and doesn't have that kind of time or focus, keeping primarily aware of everything around. Dusk does admittedly glance over at the book in question, seeing some of the interesting runes and formulas. But he goes back to his other tasks, listening to the narrative as Solstice starts to read.

Dusk smiles as Eclipse helps a bit. Dusk himself is making increasingly better progress as he gets a handle on the multitude of paths of the various books. Fortunately they have been in place for so long and would have been if not disturbed today, it's easy to correct. The busted shelf, however, is another matter. It's in so many fragments and even tiny splinters that each would all need to be reverted at the same time, or he'd have to carefully rebuild it, and doesn't have that kind of time or focus, keeping primarily aware of everything around. Dusk does admittedly glance over at the book in question, seeing some of the interesting runes and formulas. But he goes back to his other tasks, listening to the narrative as Solstice starts to read.

Oh, Eclipse suspects Nettie might be upset. Or maybe the shadows'll fix it. Who knows. He's just...tired at this point, wanting to get this thing solved and the day saved. There are apparently /other/ issues with his grandmother and the fact that he's having a hard time remembering the name of the pony he had as a roomie a while back. When his head pokes up to read over the other shoulder he makes a few curious noises too.

( "All my life I have dedicated myself to the answer of what a dream really means. Where we really go when we have them. In a world suffused with magic, where every feeling has power, who can tell us that dreams are merely a projection of random thoughts, like a film reel contained in our own heads? Within this book I've recorded everything we did in our attempt to explore the depths of not only magic, but the mind itself. We were like explorers, charting the depths of the jungle of the soul. Quicksilver, I'm so sorry. The tigers in that jungle found you first and now I haven't the slightest idea what to do. I can only do what I can, and I hope someday they'll be able to forgive us for what we had to do. The catacombs we uncovered are our best and only chance, my beloved. I know I will find you there. I know that whoever comes after me will find you too. I must believe there's still hope. Without that I have no hope of living with myself... and if all goes well, or as well as it can now, I will have a very, very long time to do that." Averroes stamps his foot again, beckoning Solstice to read more.

Solar_Solstice recites the words, his baritone voice surprisingly mellifluent. Dark regret escapes from the pages and haunts him, the story, though barely understandable without more context, strikes him. He can smell the tears of loss that the ancient must have had, so strong is the writing. Or is it because the book has some odd life of its own?

Dinky blinks, now standing beside Solar Eclipse again. "I don't get it. Could Oraverse here actually -be- this Quicksilver? Or maybe the pony who wrote this book? Only transformed in some messed up way by these dream tigers?" She scuffs the floor, wary of further shadow attacks.
Fluttershy leans back slowly and stiffly, raising her hoof from the floor. "I-I dunno," she mumbles, glancing at the shadow rabbit. She doesn't *want* to read any more...so she lets Solstice take care of that part.

Chance perks his ears and listens intently to the passage, his attention now grabbed fully by the description of what the ponies, inscribed into pages, went through.

Squirrelly is listening quite closely to the words with deep feeling and desire. They do make one want to reach out and help whoever these ponies are. If indeed they were ponies. Or what connection Averroes has to them. Or all the shadows and Darkness for this matter. "Perhaps this Darkness is what got them. And doesn't want us getting them. Or wants to get us too. Perhaps there is more in the book that can tell us how to find them, or how to stop this Darkness. It certainly didn't seem to want us to have it."
Solar_Eclipse blinks a little. Dreams? He thinks he knows a pony that knows a few things about dreams. In town. He just stares quietly though, looking back and forth then shrugs.

Averroes bids the others to follow him back into the dangerous hallways as the reading continues. "We never found the whole truth, and for that I am grateful. The mind is a landscape, a place where we can go and live, and in that place other entities can and do reside. A pony is what they are inside. Our feelings can change us. Shape us. Redefine us. But that means that other things can come into us besides what we already are. That is the fate that befell my beloved Silver. With dreams always come nightmares and that is what he has become. Regret. Fear. Desire for all the wrong things. Are the beings we encountered shades, symbols of what we feel? Do we make them real, or were they always there? To think I never told him the truth. To think I wore a mask to hide what was inside of me, my nose in my books, instead of against his mane where I longed to be. Would he believe me now? Would Averroes, my only friend, would he still trust me if he knew what I was about to do?"

As Solar Solstice continues, he begins to understand exactly what the mysterious writer was trying to achieve, what Quicksilver was trying to accomplish. A part of him rues his own perspicacity. "Dreams," he says. "They were experimenting with dreams and memories, the artifacts of the mind. This is...this is Old Magic." The words drop from his lips, heavy and ominous. "Averroes...Averroes, who are you, really?"

Dinky sighs and heads after the bunny into the hall. "Okay. This is the concerned friend, who may not be so trusting anymore. Can't blame him. Guess we do what the bunny wants." She tries not to think about the most disturbing of her own dreams.

"A-Averroes came to me," Fluttershy whispers as she walks shakily along the rabbit's trail. "H-he thought the pony he was with was in trouble. I-I don't think he's the same pony as Quicksilver..."
Chance says "If Averroes was the friend of the writer, do you think perhaps he's trying to help give them all peace?" His ears keep perked up as he continues listening to the text of dreams."

( Dusk listens intently to the story told. He has also made some good progress with the books, a good chunk of them back where they belong as if they had never been disturbed, should any pony happen to noice, not counting those of the shattered self. But the others will unfortunately be left for another time and probably another pony. For now we are off once more. The door free of his dark covering shadows. The Darkness moved on to elsewhere. Waiting for us to come. To make us nothing, or so it says. Dusk has some varying beliefs from those in the book. But clearly something is occurring and needs to be taken care of. He turns to Fluttershy, "The book mentions Averroes by name as well, as the friend of Quicksilver. Perhaps the mare you saw, Lady Fluttershy, was her." He nods to Chance, "Well peace, or if it is possible to find and free them from where they are. He mentions going to find her, and wanting someone to come find him." )

"I am at a crossroads," the book says as Averroes leads them to a set of stairs, leading down into greater darkness. Averroes is visible only by the light of a unicorn's horn, now. "One leads to freedom, but a life of regret. And then death. Death forever away from Quicksilver. The other leads to an eternity of solitude, but at the very least, I will have my little Averroes, and the knowledge that Quicksilver is not alone. The choice is clear to me now. I and my little friend must remain here. Forever if need be. I owe Silver that much."

( And Averroes... he is so trusting. He will not understand, but that will save him. He will never be turned as Silver was. As I may yet be. Like a dream, I must linger, but be forgotten. It is the only way to keep the Shadow contained, to forget that it ever existed, for ponies to forget that I or Silver were ever here. It is time to put our theories to the ultimate test." And the very next page is anything but encouraging. "It is done. I will remain. I have made a grave mistake. I have forgotten the dream that spawned Silver's nightmare, but I have forgotten him as well, and forgetting the nightmare has taken him away from me. So I linger, unable to affect him. Unable to speak to him. He knows not that I am here. I suspect this will be the last time I can write in this book, as I feel myself slowly slipping away from the world. From everything. It is done. Averroes, forgive me. You must reside here and be the help that I cannot. Silver, I love you. I will pray every day I may yet get a chance to tell you. For those who read this book, use it. Use Averroes. Follow him. as long as the gem persists, so will he. Help Silver remember everything. Forgetfulness, solitude, that is what got us here. Do not forget. *Make* him remember, but remember *all* of it. The good and the bad. Words to live by. Farewell."

Solar_Solstice stares at the book, the words on the page eliciting the genesis of nightmares. Lost in dreams, lost to memory...what a terrible fate. He feels as if he has lost years of life just from reading this, but his love for living persists. They must go on. "We have to undo this," he says. "We have to undo this...spell, this madness they've unleashed. That's the only way we can stop this. That's the only way they can be free. Averroes?" He looks up and sees the shadowrabbit's influence move down the stairs. "Quick, after him! That's where we need t go!"

"Sure," says Dinky, following Solar Solstice. "But... what did the spell -do?- Make someone forget and someone else remember? It's not clicking for me." She seems unmoved by the sorrow of the writer.
The current pose order is: {Fluttershy Chance Squirrelly Bardigan Solar_Solstice Dinky}.
"Averroes, wait!" Fluttershy dashes ahead again, rebounding off walls as if she were a rabbit herself - skills picked up from years of chasing after Angel, no doubt, and she *dearly* wishes her little companion were here right now. "S-slow down!"

Chance speeds up along with the others, though looks to be in solumn thought after the story has been read. He, like most of the others, has been affected in some way by the tale, though he doesn't voice anything about it.

Dusk travels quick but carefully along with the others, brining the light along with us, using a more normal light to keep Averroes's shadow safe and strong. He does feel the pangs of the story, and the concern. Though he doesn't seem as strongly moved as others, seeming to take a more practical view of it all. He does nod to Solstice, "I agree we must provide what help we can. Perhaps the Darkness itself needs to remember good things as well as the bad it clearly does?" He gives a glance around to the others. He also tries to peer ahead, seeing what rabbit hole we may be going down next.

Averroes leads them ever deeper into the darkness. The wooden stairs become stone, as well as the walls, and soon there's nothing but the long, winding corridors of stone that Nettleglum has apparently burrowed into with unseen help. There's not much to be said for this place: it's not old, but somehow it seems to exude a *feeling* of great age, as if these tunnels were scratching away at a scab over an old wound. Averroes is seen in flashes at the edges of vision, his bounding leaps taking them deeper and deeper, away from the house, away from everything. And there's still more to read after the final entry of the unknown writer, though most of it comes through in snippets amidst mad rambling. And then comes a door, which Averroes' shadow stands at, still and silent. It is a simple, yet old looking thing, merely rusting iron and jagged hinges. The handle invites the hooves of the ponies to open it.

Solar_Solstice has nabbed the book from the ground and shoved it into his saddlebag, the pages feeling heavier than they feel somehow. As he descends deeper into the darkness he feels his stomach spin, as if he's being pulled back in time. THe handle beckons before him, tempting with false promises. He swallows. "Everypony ready? Because..." He finds his hoof moving towards the handle until, with a final nervous twitch, he opens the door.

Dinky is as ready as she'll ever be. Which is... about as ready as she is for most things. Unsettled and prepared to gripe and maybe jump away in revulsion or fear if applicable. "Sounds like this Quicksilver is alone and miserable wherever he is. Maybe he's that voice that was whispering to me. If he forgot his lover ever existed, and he's got no friends, I can't blame him."


Fluttershy cringes back, shielding herself from the rushing dark behind Solstice and Dusk and the others...but she must be brave, she tells herself, and she tries to drown out the murmurs in her head as she raises it and peers into the darkness. She'll wish she hasn't soon.

Chance looks up to the door with no apprehension on his expression. He moves up beside Solar as the other pony opens the door, wondering what all they'll find in there.

( Dusk keeps the area as reasonably lit as he can without bothering ponies' eyes or keeping us from seeing further into the distance. But at the same time doesn't want any shadowy surprises at this depth. He doesn't much care that we do not have a lot of choices should we wish to retreat. Well in for a bit, in for it all. "The pony that Lady Fluttershy saw did say Lady Nettie should not have been digging. I bet this is what that was about." Then the door looms ahead of us and Solstice is reaching for it. Dusk nods though says nothing, ready to see the other side, lingering back with Fluttershy and the others so he can be ready to take action should anything get by the others. )

The door doesn't open. Nothing happens, really. Everything just sort of... stops. As if they collectively fell unconscious in front of the doorway. And then there's darkness, and it feels less than welcoming. Oppressive, thick, and cloying darkness that presses in from all around. And this time, they *all* hear the whispers. "You shouldn't be here," it hisses sibilantly. "Why did you come? You wanted to remember me? Well here I am! And here you are! All of you together like a crop to be harvested!" And then they are all *there,* together in the dark, able to see each other in a pale, ugly, yellow half-light. Shadowy silhouettes of random, everyday objects clutter the horizon as far as the eye can see, from lampposts to flower pots to fences. There's a spot of pure, achingly white *whiteness* nearby, and on it stands Bardigan, stock still, contemplating the sapphire statue of Averroes in total silence.

Solar_Solstice feels like he is falling, falling forever into inky shadow, but the voice grounds him. That voice, cruel and cold and disdainful, shakes him, and for a moment he feels the thousands accusing eyes of heaven denouncing him for his failures. Evil light breaks his reverie, the unnatural, sickly brightness twisting his sight. Solstice grits his teeth, as if he is about to choke, but then he glimpses Bardigan. He holds his head up, suppressing every spasm of discomfort. A pony is in need of help, and he has to answer. "Bardigan, hey!" he shouts, galloping right from the playwright. "Are you all right? Talk to us!"

Wow. Dinky's pupils get very small and so does she, in demeanor. She takes a harried couple of breaths without making much noise. Now what? Is it her job to -talk- to this crazy being? Because -she's- the future necromancer? That bites. But Dinky, reluctant though she is, tends not to shirk her part, whether it's in schoolwork or... well, the insane miscellany life tosses out every so often. Far too often. "Hi there. So." She turns to face the source of the whisper as best she can determine it, and if she can't, she picks a focal point not far from where Bardigan stands.

"Let's take things one at a time, shall we? First off, and foremost? -We don't know who the #$&@% you are.- That kind of pokes a hole in your whole, projected motivation or whatever for us. Yeah, we have clues from the old book, but it's still hazy as one of my mom's sentences. Second? We're here because we followed the bunny, Averroes (if that is its real name), and we did that for a reason--there is obviously a -problem- here. You seem miserable. You had a friend who was -also- miserable. Things didn't end well, mistakes were made. Which brings me to my third point." She stands tall and clears her throat. "We aren't a *&$@##$ crop to be harvested, wise-rump. We're here to help."

While Dinky swears up a storm, which is an impressive talent for a unicorn, Fluttershy backs slowly through the darkness, glancing around as the voice wraps its tendrils around her. She bumps into the shadow of a lamppost, finding that not only does it not look quite complete, but it tilts and sways as if it were much lighter than a lamppost should be, and it doesn't have the right texture, either; it's as if it's the memory of a lamppost as seen from a long, long way away. "W...what is this place?" she says. This is a far cry from cockatrices and manticores.

Chance looks confused at first when we enter this darkened realm, then he pulls his ears back as moment upon glacier slow moment draws over him. "The dreamrealm. The maze of the mind.." he says softly, as if in response to Fluttershy's question, though the timing is actually coincidental. "My dreams are my own. I shouldn't be here." He starts to creep back away from the others, his voice growing faint. He's a black-and-white pony, though the patterns on his pelt start to change. His cutie mark starts to fade, the black and white simple patterns start to twist a bit, and a soft glow, like a million points of almost invisible light, starts to brighten and glow around him. It's his talent, manifesting within the subconcious of the dream. The light probes at the shadows nearby, twinkling like tiny star-dust about him. He's losing himself to the dream.

"Shhh!" Bardigan hisses at the group. "Not here! Not so loud! It can *hear* you. And it's not quite in the mood to talk-" He looks up at the sound of another roar echoing through the darkness. A faint memory of wind blows through the dream, rustling manes and rattling fences without any air. "Get inside the light! Hurry!" Bardigan beckons them, and picks up the little statuette. The light moves with it, and it follows him until it envelops all the others. Everything else it passes over disappears, as if it were never there, until the light goes by and the shadow returns. And suddenly, Averroes is there with them, in body as well as shadow. He stands in the middle of them all, little bunny nose twitching. "Goodness, where have you all *been?*" Bardigan asks. "I've nearly died in here so many times I haven't cared to keep track! What happened out there? Did the shadows get you too?"

Squirrelly feels like he's coming too from a bad dream. Just to find himself in another. He looks and listens taking this all in as if unsure what to make of it all. But after a while and after what the book said, he come to much the same conclusion that Fluttershy did. That these are as memories or dreams of things not quite real. But how real are they? How much can they harm one? He's rather amazed at the litany curies and complaints to the Darkness itself, or whatever the voice is. Meanwhile Dusk has decided to start moving towards Bardigan and the bright light as he seems to contemplate the bunny figure.

( Dusk feels like he's coming too from a bad dream. Just to find himself in another. He looks and listens taking this all in as if unsure what to make of it all. But after a while and after what the book said, he come to much the same conclusion that Fluttershy did. That these are as memories or dreams of things not quite real. But how real are they? How much can they harm one? He's rather amazed at the litany curies and complaints to the Darkness itself, or whatever the voice is. Meanwhile Dusk has decided to start moving towards Bardigan and the bright light as he seems to contemplate the bunny figure. "Mr Bardigan?" Then he sees Chance and grows concern. Dusk has seen his talent in ways through his own. Though never quite like this. But he recognizes the patterns of it all. "Mr. Chance! Focus! Remember your meditation. Focus on yourself. Your talent." He finds even his own voice feels and sounds a bit unreal. As if taking across a great distance. )

Solar_Solstice feels totally lost. Here is Memory, or the fragments of memory, or the direct manifestations of memory in the physical world. All of these things were in the domain of unicorn studies, of ancient secrets, and he feels like he is a little foal grasping at his mother's leg, not understanding. But he is not a foal, but a stallion, and he does understand, if not the fine details or the dark secrets but the personal dimension, the sorrow, the rage. He knows ponies, but will that be enough? At once, under Bardigan's orders, he races for the light, skidding to a halt before he bumps into the pegasus. He peers at Averroes, wondering. He listens to Dinky, feeling oddly refreshed by her scurrilous language, but worrying that, in the end, she understands less than she thinks. He catchs a glimpse of Chance, fading and warping in the land of memory, and he swallows hard again; out of everything Chance as encountered, will /this/ place be his undoing?

Dinky shrugs with a huff when the voice fail to answer -any- of her soundly laid-out points. Honestly? Dinky doesn't think she understands that much. She hurries over along with Solstice to the white light of relative safety. "Has it been long for you? It's been, like, half an hour? We read a book after the bookcases pummeled us and then the bunny here led us down here." She squints at the lapine thing. "So you're real, huh, Roverase? Good to know. Now, since you led us here... what the #$^ do we do next?!"

Finally, it's somepony Fluttershy can *talk* to! She enters the light in one quick leap and slides to a stop, bending down on her foreknees to meet the rabbit face-to-face. Averroes, she decides, is definitely *not* a memory, or at least not anypony's but his own. She glances back at Chance as the stallion starts to break up, and says, "Averroes, don't be afraid." Now that she's face-to-face with a real animal again, Fluttershy's voice has regained some of that gentle authority. "Our friends are in trouble. What do we do?"

Chance looks up momentarily to Dusk, his pattern slowly warping further, like the creeping, shifting shapes of the dark shadows that surround us. He's not dissipating like some cloud, and manages to remain quite solid, but how he looks is changing. He stares through now-black eyes, that seem to soak in any ambient light that might be around. "I shouldn't be here.. endangering you all.. shouldn't be here.." His voice grows fainter as he moves backwards further into the shadows, even his talent-light starting to fade out into it.

"It hears everything," Bardigan whispers, and Averroes nods in response. "A long time, Dinky? It feels like it's been hours at *least.* I haven't the slightest idea what I'm doing here. Just that this little figurine has kept me safe. The light follows it." He lifts up the statue of Averroes. The actual rabbit shies away from it, scooting towards Fluttershy and looked at her. He points off into the dark, and bids them to follow again. And now the voice speaks again, sounding almost petulant. "I do not have to answer to *you*, child," it seems to answer Dinky's earlier invectives. "There is no help to be found here, especially not from you... but entertainment... revenge... those are things I draw from you all aplenty." Bardigan shivers as the wind picks up again, and the hazy light grows even more pallid. "Oh no. I remember this. Stand still!" Bardigan commands, just as slithering tendrils and crawling, hook-handed things begin to crawl out of the wreckage around them. "They won't come into the light.T
"Try to ignore them. Some of them-"
You say "CAaaAArE foR sOMeeE TEA? CHAMOMILE doEsssS -wonders- for... the diGEStion!" one of the shadows snaps."
"Are memories," Bardigan finishes in a somber whisper. "Snippets of dreams. Nightmares now." "Nightmares now!" a thousand voices whisper after him. "Whatever you do, don't look too closely. And do not leave the circle. This is the only true light here. Everything else is fake." He snaps his tail. "I almost lost my head learning that particular lesson." Averroes boldly goes forward, leading them through the gauntlet of babbling, mindless horrors. "The light does not protect you!" the darkness shrieks. "It is a trap! A prison! You are all here within me now, and even if I can't harm you, I can keep you as long as I wish. You have imprisoned yourselves here, ponies!"

For the first time in his life Solar Solstice starts to become acquainted with true, primal fear. He knows little of nightmares or despair, so protected was his upbringing, but he knows stories, stories such as the history of his parents when they finally took him into their confidence. He knows, also, his own knowledge of his own hidden fear, the fear of losing everything that has made him happy. He balks at the twisted creatures, seeing in their hateful shapes the personification of instinctive fright that he never knew existed. He looks at the statue of Averroes, trying to ignore the horrid wailing and chittering and mocking. Is this what happens when you try to make dreams come true?

( Dusk has already moved over into the light around Bardigan. But now he is focused on Chance, staying in the light be moving to the point nearest to Chance. Dusk wants to rush out and help his friend. But if Chance feels he is endangering the others he trusts his word. "We should try and get out of here soon as well.." he says to no pony particular. Then the voice comes, and the rumbling, speaking of trapping them there almost as in answer to his statement. Dusk takes a step back further into the light, but doesn't seem too upset by the visions. More almost curious. But he does heed Bardigan's advice and not stare too much. "Maybe if we think about good things. Happy things. But I think we need to find /it's/ happy things in particular. Maybe if we read some of the diary entries. Oh, and there goes Averroes." )

Dinky stands staunchly at Bardigan's side, not keen on following the rabbit just now, though the others can do what they want. "Then you'd better go," she says curtly to Chance, trusting that he can, somehow. For now, she's talking to this spook, whatever it may be. "Yeah, no. That's idiocy, and if you draw back and think a moment, you'll get that. You can't milk someone for revenge forever, and once you're done with us, what'll you have gotten done? Nothing. No more entertainment for you, you'll be bored again, problem not solved. You want to solve your basic problem? 'Cause we sure do. And the bunny has ideas, heck, so does Dusk, here. He wants to do more reading and work out just what happened between you and your friend. Give us all a break and we'll figure out how to make things right." She squints and sticks her head out toward the tentacles, though remaining within the light. "You remember what being happy is?" she challenges.

( Fluttershy doesn't say anything while the others are talking, though she offers the occasional nod, and she cringes when Dinky sticks her neck out in far too literal a fashion. The way the...*things* keep babbling is far too much, and soon she starts to whimper and crack, squeezing her eyes as shut as she can manage while still being able to see and follow her friends. )

Solar_Eclipse makes his way along with the group. He's dropped to silence, giving it more consideration. He just listens for now, though he does share some of the same questions Dinky has. What's the end game. He does chime up with, "Well... spirits aren't ponies, they're not like us, they don't think like we do. Perhaps this thing just has a different mind. It does what it does, driven by some wild instinct."

Bardigan shivers against the shadows, looking more tired and harried than he first appeared now that the others can get a good look at him. "I've tried talking to it," Bardigan mutters to Dinky. "But it wants to be engaged. It wants something to be angry at." "Like you, playwright?" the Darkness sneers. The shimmering, twisted things around them repeat the Darkness' words in hurried, broken whispers. "We had such a good talk while you were here! I'm not the pathetic one here. You don't even know what you want. Always reaching for something intangible. Always living up to some ideal for a goal you can't even put into words. So much for your /poetry./" Dinky can *feel* something turn towards her in the dark outside the light. "And you, little one. Spitting angry words to cover your fear. What inspired such a biting tongue? Do *you* remember happiness? I certainly do... and I despise every waking memory of it. I wonder what this place will show you, like it showed the bard? We have so much time now to get to know one another." Averroes taps the book, getting the attention of whoever holds it. Read it, he seems to be saying. It is a book of memories, and those seem to be all around them. The gibbering creatures of the dark surround them, hooting and hollering disjointed phrases from other lives.

Solar_Solstice wonders if the shadows know his secret dreams, his desire to explore the fallen kingdom of his parents' foalhoods, his earnest love of community and family, his ultimate goal to reach the stars...and his ultimate fear of losing the ones he loves. He feels a surge of shock when he feels /something/ touch his saddlebag, but turning around he sees that it's Averroes. "You want me to read more?" he says. "Guys, hang on, I gotta get this out!" He's no unicorn, so he has to twist around and remove the book from his bag by hoof, grunting with effort. At last, the big tome is on the ground before him again, the hoofwriting much clearer in the brighter lgiht of the statue. "Let's see..."

Dinky pfffts, her cheek hollowing as she spits air. She turns to her companion, Eclipse, and replies to his theories. "I'll tell you what. You tell me how to do my job, and I'll tell you how to... do... yours. Yeah, not quite what I meant." Looks like Dinky's starting to take her speaker-with-the-dead role to heart. Anyway. "Uh-huh. Sure. You remember happiness and you hate it? Not exactly grasping what happiness is, are we? No, I don't remember being happy. Not really. Not far more than an afternoon or night at a time, or just a moment. But I know it's what you've gotta try for. So what steps've you taken lately, huh, big nasty voice?" She teeters at the edge of the circle of light. Maybe she'll distract the thing from Solstice, at the minimum. "You psychoanalyze poor Bardigan here tabout trivial stuff and you think -I'm- the one hiding my feelings? -Do I sound like I'm hiding my feelings?!- Indeed, Dinky's voice is probably the loudest thing here by far, and her eyes are burning.

So far Fluttershy has gone unnoticed since entering the darkness' den - for the most part, she's shut out the world, withdrawing to a place deep inside her own mind. She can't hide forever, though, and the soft, sinister whispers still claw at the edges of her psyche. Soon, she can't take sitting idly any longer, and whispers, "S-stop. Please, stop. W-we can help you. We have the Elements of Harmony."
( As Dinky goes off on him, Eclipse gives a light frowns, "I was talking about shadows and night spirits, but, by all means keep yellin' at me. Really helping." He's growing more annoyed with his friend it seems. He lets out a big breath and settles back, growing quiet, starting to wonder if he could just teleport out, get some torches, then teleport back? Or just walk back. He's little to fear from the shadows, afterall. )

A random page shows another snippet of memory, much like everything here in the lair of darkness. "Today I found some strange mail in my mailbox. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be from Quicksilver himself. I hadn't gotten many letters from him before, save over business matters." And ahead of them, in the middle of the hazy yellow fog, a mailbox shimmers into existence, no longer a simple shade but a true thing, dredged up from the morass of memories that surround them. A little letter pokes out of it. "He asked me to share lunch with him. Just him." Against the hissing and snarling of the shadows around them, Bardigan gingerly takes a few steps towards it. The Darkness reacts immediately. "You want to know the whole story, but that is what will be your undoing! Go ahead and find more, little ponies. Convince yourself that what happened back then was something real. Something to believe in. Your false hope will be all the more wonderful to devour. you think I am trying to hide? On the contrary. Look around you. Look at what my world has become. What will become of yours."

Solar_Solstice tries not to listen, tries to ignore the voice's mockery. It's hard work, and he feels very degraded by it all. But he has to solve the mystery; he has to lift the shadow that has lain over this place for so long. "Dinky...stop taunting it. You'll make it worse. Please." He steps towards the mailbox, keeping in pace with Bardigan and the statue. He grips the book in his mouth, feeling his jaw ache due to how heavy it is.

Dinky throws her head high and snorts. "Yeah, you're right," she asides to the two Solars. "This thing's crazy. Doesn't make any sense. So, Bardigan. Didn't you say before we had to stay in the light, at all costs? 'Cause you're going for that mailbox and the bunny's over there and seems to think we should follow it, so I'm getting mixed messages."

WHen all else fails, follow a bunny. THat's Fluttershy's credo, but right now, it's a little difficult to stay with Averroes while Bardigan is carrying the light and the rabbit is somewhere else. She's forced to back up to stay with the only source of light, but she beckons to Averroes. "C-come on, now! D-don't fall behind..."

( Another glance is given to Dinky, but Eclipse doesn't say anything further. He just rubs his temples and works his jaws. He realizes that right now would probably be a pretty terrible time for one of his headaches and magic fluxes, so he tries to calm his mind best he can for a moment. )

"FLAX seeEEdss leaaave... a BiiITter afterTASTE," a random shadow quips as Bardigan turns back to Averroes, looking to him for instruction. The rabbit pauses a moment, looking around, taps his chin, and then points at the mailbox. "If it's real now... real as it can be," Bardigan says, leading the group to the mailbox, "then it won't..." And it doesn't. As the light passes over it, it remains solid and whole, unlike the shadows that give way around them. He reaches out and plucks the letter out, going to read it too. "An invitation to eat at a corner cafe called 'Joe's Oats,'" he reports to the others. "Signed, affectionately, Quicksilver." And to the right, at the top of a pile of knick-knacks, floorboards, and shadowy dolls, Joe's Oats materializes into existence. "Due to the continued lack of better ideas..." Bardigan trails off, heading for the cozy little building in the distance. "Ah, yes," the Darkness groans. "I remember that place. The start of such a beautiful friendship. It sounds like yours is a little strained. Feeling light-headed, little Prince?" it asks, rounding on Eclipse now. "These are not shadows you can control. What did the Mare in the Moon tell you? That you will lord over some glorious kingdom of shadows? There are things that even your precious Princesses do not comprehend. I wonder if you will sit comfortably on your gilded throne when you realize just how much are you being /lied/ to about the true nature of this world!"

Solar_Solstice is struck by how...mundane the dark memories are. How happy and content the mysterious voice's life must have been before all this! He feels, for the first time, a pang of sympathy for the hateful spirit. He closes his ears again and moves on, towards 'Joe's Oats'. Was he an ancestor of Donut Joe? "Anypony here?" he calls out facetiously, entering.

Dinky shrugs and heads after Bardigan, as the light is moving and the bunny ain't objecting. "Yeah, you've got no credibility," she snaps off casually to the taunting voice as she paces, trying to ignore everything that's not the objective--right now, the cafe. She glances at Solar Eclipse and tries to hold his eyes for a moment. Her message, if there is one, is not to take the spirit seriously. What does it know?

into the shadows. With the other ponies getting distracted by scenes of memories and taunting by shadow, ponies might miss a slight drop in temperature from his direction, hidden in the shadows, like a very slight cold chill sneaking through, a cold, frosty breath of air.

Fluttershy doesn't. She immediately whirls around to look in Chance's direction, but it's far too dark to see anything there now. "I-I think we lost somepony," Flutters says, shaking, but she's still forced into the cafe with all the others. She can tell that something is wrong with Eclipse, though, so she puts a wing on the back of each foal. "Don't be afraid," she whispers.

Solar_Eclipse catches the gaze but just sighs. His head aches a little, but he's a tough little guy, he can handle it. The shadows words get a light roll of his eyes. "They told me nothing of the sort." she tells it. "You're just...stupid. Harmless. You can't do anything but /talk/ Mister Darkness. If you could do more, you would have. You couldn't even grab me downstairs. Heck I told your shadows to go away, and they did. Did it take you a while to find them all? If you want I could call some of them back, save you some trouble."

That gets a reaction. The Darkness chuckles, a deep, rolling sound that sounds like a series of earthquakes, one after the other. When the Darkness speaks again, something about it is... different. Bolder. Deeper. Less frentic and mournful, and more cold, patient anger. "Child. You do not know what you are dealing with. You command and cast away these shades because they are not your own. But nopony commands the dark corners of their /own/ mind. I learned that lesson far too late. As did the Mare in the Moon. As one day you will too." "That's not the voice we heard before," Bardigan mutters suspiciously, ushering everypony inside the safety of the cafe. The shadows clambered at the windows and door outside, banging on the windows and making quite a racket. "Don't trust the light in here. Stay in the circle at all times." Half-formed silhouettes of ponies fill the chairs inside, and a shadowy bartender mechanically scrubs down the bar, cleaning a single spot over and over and over. Only one pony here seems 'real.' He sits at an empty table, waiting it seems for a friend who never came. Food and drink are arrayed before him, but he doesn't touch it. He doesn't even move, blink, or breathe. But his mane is a shocking silver.

Solar_Solstice continues to ignore the dark voice, regardless of its sudden transformation. The dark corners of the mind...a memory comes to him, a black one, one that epitomized his fears. His father...and his sister. He bites his lip, trying not to remember the look on Nightshade's face when- "Right right," he says to Bardigan, trying to listen to him, trying not to be distracted. The voice hasn't noticed him yet; that's good. He looks forward, at the silver maned stallion, a stranger yet, somehow, somepony he can quickly recognize. The mane gives him away. "Quicksilver?" he asks him, wondering if he can hear him. "Is that you?"

Dinky is walking without paying attention to the voice, new or old. Not trying to, anyway. She figures they must be on the right track now--it doesn't feel like a wrong one. She doesn't let Eclipse get out of her sight for long, but does walk up to the lonely pony at the table, recognizing that he's all there really is here. "Hey," she says to him, letting her mane fall into her eye and shaking it back. "Waiting for a friend?" The implication in his crusty voice is that, against the odds... she could be that friend, if he's not particular.

From the direction of Chance comes another slight breeze of icy air, a bit more defined, like a near imperceptible chill running up one's back, colder then even a shade's touch. Through the deepened shadow-voice, through the taunting, through the sounds of the shades, on the edge of audible perception, is a low, deep rumble, rippling through the pond of shadows like a ripple slips through an already disturbed lake of ripples and waves. For a brief moment it's like all the noises deepend, so very slightly, that one might wonder if the effect was real. At the same time there's a small vibration that travels through the ground. The scene around them is a memory, winding through a single span of moment forever. It shouldn't be disturbed by something as simple as a vibration. But the water in a glass on the counter barely ripples.

Solar_Eclipse winces a bit, not at the new voice, just a shot of pain. He doesn't realize he's being watched over by the Ghost Whisperer of Equestria, right now. The new voice, however, does make him perk, curiously. "Maybe one day," Eclipse says, "But it's not today. And still, we appear safe. I... I think I'm onto something there. Can't harm us. There are rules to this game."

Squirrelly steps into the cafe with the others looking around taking in the details, seeing if he can date it. He suspects is a memory of a place some time ago. He doesn't say anything just now, but listens to the others and any voices, and looks to the waiting pony Dinky talks to too.

( Dusk steps into the cafe with the others looking around taking in the details, seeing if he can date it. He suspects is a memory of a place some time ago. He doesn't say anything just now, but listens to the others and any voices, and looks to the waiting pony Dinky talks to too. )

"I cannot, 'tis true. But you can, little Prince," the Darkness whispers again, and falls away as they approach the pony in the cafe. He sits in silence, barely reacting to Dinky's question. His eyes flick in her direction. "No," he whispers. "Not anymore." He looks up at the windows, the ceiling, all around. "Goodness. Am I imagining ponies again already? It seemed that was over and done with last time. Quicksilver is my name. Not that it matters much." "It matters *everything,*" Bardigan presses. "We're stuck in here. With your nightmare. That's what it is, isn't it? Your nightmare?" "No," Quicksilver mutters. "It's much worse than that. Everything here is quite real. I made sure of that... no, no, not me... or was it me? Was it something else? Goodness, I can't remember." Quicksilver suddenly bangs his hooves on the table. "Forgetfulness! That's what got me here! What's keeping me here! But it doesn't matter. You all remembered me. So now I can get out. *It* can get out. And I'm going with it. No, I
( I *am* it. Or am I?" Averroes huddles behind Fluttershy's leg, loath to go any closer to the strange pony. He remembers quite clearly what really brought Silver to this place. )

"Only if you want it to be," Solar Solstice says, suddenly feeling so sure, so faithful to his own understanding of the world. Crisis is always the true test of character, a test that Solar finds grave enough to strive as hard as possible to overcome. He can feel the latent despair of the whole place - if this can be called a place at all - gnaw at him. A part of him wants to forget. A part of him wishes that they could just toss the book into a fire and be done with it, seal away this wretched plane forever. But that would never solve anything. "Everyone has a dark part of themselves they don't want to face. That part is true...but that's not the only part of us, not the part that really matters. We have to...we are the ones who decide what kind of person we should be. We don't have to listen to our own darkness! We have...to believe that we meant to be good."

( Dinky is standing at Quicksilver's table, her resentment metling, her context fading. She looks up with widening eyes and... her mouth goes flat and she works her tongue. She doesn't quite smile... but she seems approachable. Hopping on a chair, she plants her front hooves on the table with a little slam. "That's it. We remember you now. You're free, Quicksilver. You can go. And hey, if you're confused, join the club! Doesn't stop us." She listens to Solar Solstice for a few seconds, shrugging as if it's part of the background, what he says. "I just know you and your friend were exploring minds. You had a plan to fix things by being forgotten, but it went wrong. Your friend forgot you too soon. She just wanted, more than, like, anything... to say she loved you. Or he. Either way." She stares into Quicksilver's eyes and just... tries to provide what he needs. )

( Fluttershy tucks the rabbit beneath a wing, leaning down to whisper, "What is it? What are you trying to say?" She glances back the way she came - the darkness is still prickling the back of her neck, so she edges a little farther into the light. )

As the voice spoke to him, Eclipse just puffs out his cheeks and exhales. "Bah," he says, realizing he's nothing for this so goes with the fallback, "That's dumb. You're dumb" to the darkness. Then there's rmbling, apparently and he blinks, "Uh..."

( ( Dusk is immensely curious about it all. Living manifestations of memories and dreams. As real as anything else, at least here. He watches the ripples and the patterns they make. The effect on the world of memories. And if any on the ponies themselves. Then comes the voice.. distant yet not, not unlike when he was calling to Chance. Indeed it sounds like Chance. But more importantly.. the name. "Urbados?" he says to no pony particular. You may not even have noticed him say it. But the speaks a little more loudly, "He should be long gone, if he existed at all. More legend than anything. But... if he is here, and hunting. Hunting in dreams. That.. would be very bad." Dusk can be pretty detached about things and has a tendency to rather understate things. Such as Ponyville being overrun by destructive and potentially dangerous mists are no more than unintended side effects of an incident. So very bad would be.. very bad. ) )

Since the mind-wraith could be dangerous to the others, Chance takes a wager from Dusk that he couldn't control the creature. This ends with the creature being encased in a large black crystal, and Chance fades from sight in the shadows once again.

( Eclipse wanders to the table to. He doesn't take a seat with the others, merely hangs out beside Dinky. He's watching, as if on guard, though he probably couldn't do a whole lot to help at the moment. He's down with telling shadows what to do but these seem to not be listening, thus not real shadows. He's got a great many worries tonight, he's hoping one gets resolved so he can track back onto helping with his Grandmother's apparent evilness. He does look to Dinky, as if he might could help the confused spirit, listening to their conversation. )

Quicksilver shrugs blithely as he regards Dinky with a blank look. "You should know it's not that easy. Look outside." He points a hoof. "There's nothing out there. I'm not even sure if I exist in here anymore." He puts his head in his hooves. "You want to talk about love? Let's talk about why I'm here. Because of her. Because of that one, simple mistake... it was all her fault. It had to be. I didn't do anything. I was the one stuck here, and now *I'm* free!" He slams his hooves down and storms away from the table, and then seems to tear himself back to it with visible effort, trying to sit. "My head. Hurts. It hurts a lot. Don't you see? There's nothing out there now. Nothing but anger. Because that's all I was left with. *She* locked me up with it! And then I made it *mine.*" "No," Bardigan interrupts quietly. "It became you. And you became it. You're enslaved to each other now, aren't you? Stuck in this... self-perpetuating cycle. You are angry and you get angrier because you're angry. She never me

( meant to abandon you. She-" "Don't talk down to me!" Quicksilver says, and something inside him changes. His coloration rapidly grows darker and he stomps away from the table. "I saw inside you, playwright! You're just as confused as any pony else here, so shut up!" But the moment passes and he goes eerily calm once again, as if the change never even happened. "Just a mistake?" he asks Dinky. "It was all mistakes. All of it. It would be a mistake to go back to her now." )

"It's never a mistake to fix what's broken," Solar Solstice asserts, finding his inner voice of counsel. He is afraid, he feels the cold, the agony, the rage, emanating from Quicksilver, but he knows that he has to persevere in convincing him. "You don't have to keep the cycle going; you don't /want/ it to. So why should you? Rage...rage is just one part of us, the ugliest part of us, but we don't have to choose rage. We are who we /choose/ to be."

"No, it wouldn't," says Fluttershy, from the other side of Quicksilver. "We saw the book. She regrets everything she did, Quicksilver. All she wants is to have you back. Averroes knows." She has to squeeze one eye shut to weather the cold.

Chance stays hidden in the shadows. (ooc this'll let the rp go a bit faster without changing anything overall)

Dinky obeys, quietly looking outside. She blinks into the not-quite-nothing and breathes without much weight. "Sure you exist. I'm talking to you, aren't I? Why would I waste my time?" It's like the mauve filly's channeling a part of herself that doesn't see daylight much... fitting that it happens in the darkness. She shrugs, with character. Dinky is a pretty experienced shrugger. "So she left you with nothing. So what? Stuff happens. If you're free, why not leave? There's a big, scared, night-filled world out there. But it's a little broader than this." She swallows, smiles wryly to Eclipse beside her, and brings herself up. "There's a moon out there. And stars."

( "Occasionally a sun too," The Prince says. "And a whole world. No need to confine. No need to dwell. Dwelling only makes things worse, builds up all the stuff, doesn't it?" He looks to Dinky, then to the adults in the room. "Trust me, I've been stuck in a room for a long time, this can't be what you want." )
"You all don't understand," Quicksilver hisses quietly. "You don't *know.*" He looks at the children especially, now. "I know what the world outside looks like! I was there, when *they*..." He points Solar and Flutters and Bard. "When they were at that... that building. The first to remember me, thanks to her." Bardigan shifts uncomfortably. He'd been whacked in the head with a radio during that attack. "I... will leave! I have left! I'm already outside doing what *I* want now." "It's what your rage wants," Bardigan whispers. "Not you. You're just a shade out there. No more real than the building we're in." "I... no! He told me! He told me I could do this!" Silver stands again. "I... *did* leave! I *am* free!" But they can all see the way he drags his hooves, the way his shadow stretches to all corners of the room, like a binding tether. "This is what he wants! No, what I want!" Averroes tries to step forward, and Silver turns to stare at him, the eerie calm descending again. "I'm not dwelling. I'm not confined anymore. And I'll stay that way as long as ponies out there remember me. If they're scared like I am, like they deserve for forgetting me." Something else is behind his voice as he says those words. Something... deeper and darker. "But she... she wouldn't be here without you, would she?" he asks the rabbit. "She must be..." He twitches violently. "No! I... how do I know she didn't just send you here to trap us, er, me, again?"

Solar_Solstice feels his spirit start to break. All this rage, all this insanity...how can anyone stand it. Quicksilver could not, and look what he's become! "You were never untrapped Quicksilver...you're still a prisoner. It's...it's all an illusion!" His thoughts are starting to unravel, the unreality of it all oppressing his reason. Yet still, his sight is with him, and he thinks he sees - he /knows/ he sees - the dark force behind Quicksilver, the puppermaster. "You're not yourself...because there's something else with you, isn't there?"

Fluttershy hugs the rabbit tightly and traces her eyes over the twisting patterns in the shadows. "Quicksilver, stop. Y-you're not *yourself* right now. Averroes, tell him!" She pauses a moment to listen to the rabbit. "It's *tricking* you. The...w-whatever it is is lying so it can control you..."

Dinky spews hot air and swipes the napkins off the table. "Fine. I don't understand. Whatever. I'm beginning to get the sense you're a big pile of deluded, though," she tells Quicksilver, her transient Susan Glennliness fading fast. "What makes you think you aren't trapped already? This place is fading." She shivers at a shimmer in the light from Bardigan's... thing. And listens to the sounds of something strange on its way. What is... what is Urbados?" she asks Dusk, apprehensive.

"Deluded is a good work. Its anger. Anger, not in check, controls us right? Instead of the right way around. It's all in your head. Gotta let it go or else you'll never find yourself, your happiness." Eclipse looks around a moment and then to the others, not really sure what else there is to say here.

"I..." Quicksilver stops suddenly, looking at Dinky and Eclipse. "Deluded?" He looks outside again, at the darkness once again. He begins to breathe, in and out, very slowly. "... You're right. You're right. I know you're right. But it..." And his shadow suddenly gains a life of its own, shooting outward and surrounding the ponies, darkening the entire building. "It won't let *me* go. I can remember one thing. She wanted to forget because... because that was the only *way* to keep it here." "But *you* can still let go," Bardigan presses him. "You can still run back to her. To the love she had for you." "That's right... you." Silver points at Dinky. "You said she still loves me. And that..." He reaches out a hoof into the circle of light. It sizzles. "*Hurts.* But I still *remember.* I remember-" And the Darkness *screams* again, and Silver looks frightened once more, pulling away from the light. "Averroes is proof!" he says, as if to convince himself. "She wouldn't leave him too! They went everywhere together! She must be out there!" His eyes dart back and forth. "I don't know where to go from here," he admits in a small, quiet voice.

Suddenly, Solar Solstice feels his heart surge with life as Quicksilver begins to break down the illusion. A bit more...just a bit more! And then he sees another opportunity. "Then...then you should come with us!" he declares boldly. This is it.

( Dusk is standing nearby, of course, staying within the light. Within the cafe. He turns to Dinky, "Urbados? Well we just saw him.. it. He is a creature of the past. A wraith of the mind. Reaper of nightmares and dreams. It could devour ones mind and destroy them. Being here.." He looks around. "It is all the more dangerous to us. To everything. I'm glad the wager was able to work. But I hadn't heard of it being around.. in ages. Thought to be gone, or perhaps just something of myth." )

Fluttershy reaches out a hoof, tentaticely, supporting Averroes with just one leg. "Come on," she whispers. "I-it's okay. You don't have to be afraid." She stares straight ahead and tries her very best *not* to look into the darkest corners.

"All the voices I've been hearing, she -must- be out there," remarks Dinky. "Not sure what this whole forgetting agenda's about, though. What exactly should we be worried about? These tendrils thingies messing up the world outside? Lemme tell you, the way this Nightmare Night's been going, that'll hardly make a dent." Flip little Dinky. She blinks at Dusk, raising an eyebrow. "I would ask where it came from, but at this point? Don't much care." She sticks one of her own hooves into the darkness, just a little experiment.

"It'll make things worse though- NO!" Silver rushes forward to stop Dinky from reaching out, and Bardigan quickly pulls her back. "Don't reach out. Stay there. It won't hurt me. I *am* it, you see? But you're all expendable. Stay there! I can't come in either." He grins. "I don't like that. Or it doesn't. I think." He looks around. "I... I need something to remember. Something that reminds me of her... make it real. That book is real. You can read from it. Please... tell me more." "Who has the book?" Bardigan wonders. "It made that mailbox... this place real. It led us here. It might lead us out." "Stay in the light," Silver mutters quietly.

[Bardigan]

Solar_Solstice quivers as he realizes /he/ has the book! "I...I have it!" he declares, fumbling around with his saddlebag to retrieve it. For a moment he really vists for a unicorn's magic, to simply wil lthe book out of his bag, but simple perseverance will have to do, as it has throughout his life. He takes a deep breath, feeling the weight of fate and life upon him, as he lays the book down and opens it, and begins to read...

( Dusk contemplates and nods, "And that would be a good question. There are many creatures of olde. Grand and small. Urbados is one of those. Some still around, some not. Or were perhaps made up to start. Where he came from today? It seems Mr. Chance had something to do with it, or at least knew of it." He is curious in talking with Mr. Quicksilver. Questions about this world. The creature of Darkness. His past. But that's for another time, if ever. He listens in to the current conversation, and watches as Solstice starts to go through the book. Dusk had had an interest in the stories in there too. That it might have been something to help with the darkness. )

Flutters scoots a little farther into the light, glancing back nervously. There's nothing to see, though - everything outside the bubble is a roiling, twisting darkness that occasionally drips inward toward her tail.

Dinky Reads...
Dinky seems sympathetic again. She leans against Quicksilver before he shifts about and seems more lucid. Now Dinky cuddles Eclipse and stands over by Solstice. The two Solars. Holding up well. "Yeah, let's have a storytime. That sounds like a plan. Plenty to remember." She seems only half ironic as she settles onto her haunches in the little circle and seetles in for a tale.

Memories begin to flow, and the Darkness seems impotent in the face of it. Bringing back the memory of Quicksilver's erstwhile love has proven what was already true: that this Darkness is Quicksilver's own, and it can't destroy him if he doesn't want it to. It roars aloud, trying to drown out the sound of the reading. Silver raises his hoof and thrusts it into the light again, and it sizzles visibly. He struggles, and it seems unclear if he wants to read the book or destroy it. "We made progress today," the story goes. "We managed to create some of the first dreamseeing sigils in pony history, if our research is correct." And the sigils appear, floating in the air, complex and incomprehensible. "I read an interesting book today... I think Silver will like it." A book, very old and yellowed, titled 'Made in Manehattan.' "I went to his house for the first time today. The door was already open. Never locks his door. He's very trusting. I like that about him." A door appears in the dark. "There," Silver whispers. "That's it."

Solar_Solstice reads the words, reads them aloud, feeling his confidence grow as the Darkness quivers and scowls. When the door appears he stops to look at, realization dawning. "Yes...yes! We should go there!" He starts to do just that, but he drags the book with him, keeping the pages open, reading more. The book was leading them to a way out, and he's not about to let it go.

Dusk can feel the world 'world' react to the words.. the feelings. Like the whole place is alive and reacting. Dusk settles back and keeps quiet, looking around, then looking to Quicksilver and the appearing sigils and the door. "Yes, remember. Remember it all," he says quietly.

Fluttershy reads over Solstice's shoulder, still holding Averroes - he's not Angel, but he's the one consistent source of comfort here, and he's important, she can feel it even without Quicksilver telling her. "Maybe if we all focus on it," she suggest, and shuts her eyes...

Dinky glances at Averroes and then fixates on the door. She looks at her companions. And at the door. And, this more cautiously, awaiting approval, she heads for the door, and raises a hoof.

Quicksilver watches with bated breath as Dinky reaches out. Averroes nods with un-rabbit like solemnity. As Dinky reaches the doorway, she seems to bring a little light out with her, carving a path to the door. She may feel a strange tugging at the edge of her senses, as if somepony is on the other side trying to get her all the way through. It's not a hostile presence. But Silver shudders and takes a step back. "This doesn't mean anything!" he growls. "You can't be rid of me! You all remember me now! I'm *out.* And you can't stop me!" "No," Bardigan murmurs without looking back. "But we *choose* not to let you have power over us. To not be afraid of ourselves. You see Silver? We chose to come here and believe you could get out again." He waits for Dinky to lead them out of here.

Solar_Solstice sees Dinky ahead of him, but suddenly his fears return. What if this doesn't work? What if- *No..* he counters in his mind. *We have to /trust/*. And so he follows after.

Squirrelly leans his head in to Fluttershy and nods, "That seems good, Lady Fluttershy, yes." He draws in a breath as Dinky reaches out. It seems to react. Keep reaching. "That is true. If you let your fears rule you, then you have already lost. The power of the Darkness here comes from Quicksiver and those that accept that power." Dusk goes and stands over near Dinky. "Everyone, Miss Dinky.. Mr. Solstice.. Perhaps more of the entry, if there is." Dusk is ready to move forward as well.

( Dusk leans his head in to Fluttershy and nods, "That seems good, Lady Fluttershy, yes." He draws in a breath as Dinky reaches out. It seems to react. Keep reaching. "That is true. If you let your fears rule you, then you have already lost. The power of the Darkness here comes from Quicksilver and those that accept that power." Dusk goes and stands over near Dinky. "Everyone, Miss Dinky.. Mr. Solstice.. Perhaps more of the entry, if there is." Dusk is ready to move forward as well. )

Walking backwards, with one eye open, Fluttershy keeps reading the book and thinking as hard as she can about what's on its pages. She even starts reading aloud, raising her voice as necessary...which is still pretty quiet. And she makes sure to keep Averroes close, like he's a lucky charm to keep away the dark.

Dinky freezes at the threshold, testing the validity of the portal and its pull. She pulls back reflexively, but then grits her teeth and lets herself go. "Anywhere's better than here, right?" She swings the thing open, only to be flooded by silver light. Regardless, she stubbornly ignores Silver's protests and marches on through.

One by one, they pass through the door, until it's just Silver left on the other side. Tendrils of shadow swarm over his body, scratching and tugging. "This... changes... nothing!" he growls. "I am inside all of you! We can't be... stopped that easily! One day," the dark side of him vows. "One day! True night will fall on all of you! It took your Princess... it took him! And it will take you too!" And out of the morass of darkness, Silver raises a hoof -a clean hoof - and reaches out to the doorway. Waiting for somepony to help him the rest of the way through.

( Averroes struggles in Fluttershy's grip, the first to reach out. )

Solar_Solstice looks at Quicksilver, never having been more sure of anything in his life. He reaches out and guides the trapped stallion out, back to light, back to the real world where light and love thrive.
Squirrelly listens to Fluttershy tell us more of that bright memory.. And walks through too into that same bright light of the doorway. He helps guide the reaching Quicksilver forward too, with Solstice on his other side as we step through into the brightness, which transitions into something else.

( Dusk listens to Fluttershy tell us more of that bright memory.. And walks through too into that same bright light of the doorway. He helps guide the reaching Quicksilver forward too, with Solstice on his other side as we step through into the brightness, which transitions into something else. )

Fluttershy lets Averroes go and steps through...

Dinky looks back for a moment, frowning and looking at Silver in his conflict. She watches Solstice take him in... and turns away without changing her expression. On she goes... and doesn't question what she finds. The basement?

The white light suffusing everything reaches almost unbearable levels. Bardigan can't see a thing, but he can feel... he can feel the ponies all around him, and what they're carrying away from the darkness, the good and the bad. And he can feel others too: ponies with thoughts far older and more terrible than he could bear. But there's an undercurrent of hope as well, running alongside them, and then the happiness begins to grow as they walk on. It rises inexorably into a giddy wellspring of exuberance and newfound hope that makes him want to run and jump, and he does, laughing as he encourages the others to join him. Or he thinks he does, since he can't see or feel anything except the bright light, but that's all right. It feels safe. But all too soon the happy feeling fades, and the light departs along with it, rushing on ahead faster than any of them can go, hurrying away to parts unknown. Some of the happiness, however, lingers on. They are left in darkness... but it's not a violent, hostile dark.
Just a regular sort of dark. Behind them is an open door that leads to a blank dirt wall. Bardigan lets his eyes adjust as he reaches out for the others with his wings. "Sound off, ponies," he says. "I think... I think we're out."

Solar_Solstice can feel it, he can feel the laughter, the life, the energy rushing forth, wafting away from the rot of despair and regret. He feels himself floating, like a raft amidst gentle waves, rocking back and forth to peaceful sleep, and thence, to the glory of awakening. And then he opens his eyes back in the basement of Nettie's manor, a little dazed, confused even, but satisfied, fulfilled. He had helped to do something great today. "Yeah...I'm here," he says.

( Dusk feels that exuberance too. And his friends around him as well. It runs through his body. He steps lively and eagerly, looking around him even if the light washes it all out. Then slips into reality.. A feeling of solidity returns. The air, the world around us, even before vision returns soon after. "We're back." He looks around, particular seeing if Chance is here or still left behind. )

Fluttershy gasps, drinking in the air like it's her first time. The basement air is cold, and dank, and clammy, but it's *real* air, and compared to the nightmare, it's the sweetest thing she's ever tasted. "I...I think we saved them." She glances around quickly. "Averroes?"

Dinky leads the group, standing in front of the others and facing the passage leading to the upward stairway. She's standing solidly with her legs evenly spaced, and simply staring forward. She shows no exuberance and says nothing.

It seems that it's time to leave. Averroes is nowhere to be found, but the little gem is still tucked away under Bardigan's wing. They head up and up and up, through the old house where nothing particularly alarming assaults them. The Grimdark Manor is back to its old, creepy self, with no need of shadows or Darkness to add to its atmosphere. But best of all the place feels just a little... emptier. There is no weight to the walls, the groans of the floorboards are quieted down, and the entire house sags less in a haunted, heavy way, and more in that familiar old, slumped way of any ancient home. But all through the dust on the floor is a set of hoofprints, leading all the way to the front door, open and peaceful. And there, just at the end of the pathway leading to the front gate, two pony tails disappear around a corner, and then all trace vanishes.

Solar_Solstice catches a glimpse of those tails, and for a moment his heart skips a beat. "Wait...what?" he utters, but then its gone, vanished, like... a dream. "Goodbye, Quicksilver," he whispers, feeling the fresh breeze against his face. He looks up, seeing the sky grow brighter as the sun rises after so long. Today is going to be a good day.

Before anypony could say they'd seen anything. Least of all Dinky. She's got nothing to say. She's just glad to be out of there. And she turns her head toward Solar Eclipse as he comes to nuzzle her while she stands on the dusty path.

Dusk settles back to reality, the extra exuberance fading. But still feeling good to be back and truly solid once more. Even the long climb back out feels good. And seeing the signs on the other two does give him a little smile. Things feel like they're the way they should be. Even the sun is just starting to rise. Even the bits of mist seem to be more secluded. "Welcome back home, everypony."

Oh, dear. Nettleglum will be so disappointed. She's always been so, so proud of all her hauntings and spooky stuff. As Fluttershy trots up and out, she catches just the barest glumps of the tails before they move on. Fluttershy smiles. "I hope you have good dreams this time."

On a whim, Bardigan takes out the book one more time. Perhaps it's a writer's intuition, now that he's found the way to the final chapter of the story. Perhaps it's otherworldly guidance. Or maybe just a simple choice. He flips his way to the last page, and then smiles as he shows everypony what is there. "Do not be afraid of life, and least of all yourselves. We are what we feel inside. Feel loved." He sighs and gently turns the cover one last time, closing it for good. "The end," he says quietly.

[Bardigan]

END

[Nettleglum]

Nov 8, 2012 1:14:29 GMT -5 Bardigan said:

They head up and up and up, through the old house where nothing particularly alarming assaults them. The Grimdark Manor is back to its old, creepy self, with no need of shadows or Darkness to add to its atmosphere. But best of all the place feels just a little... emptier. There is no weight to the walls, the groans of the floorboards are quieted down, and the entire house sags less in a haunted, heavy way, and more in that familiar old, slumped way of any ancient home. But all through the dust on the floor is a set of hoofprints, leading all the way to the front door, open and peaceful.

I must point out, dears, the house was being polite because you are Nettie's friends, and it was somewhat tired after a long Nightmare Night. ._.

From goblins and ghoulies and long-leggedy beasties, things there still go bump in the night. Your ghostly friends were only a couple of Nettie's many houseguests, and Fallfallow Place is still the same as when she left town to visit Trotsylvania. There has been no change in the wonderfully sepulchral atmosphere of the place-- still the same delightfully unlivable air, with wall-to-wall creeps and hot-and-cold running chills.

Do drop by again.

[Bardigan]

Yes indeed. We're very lucky the house decided to let us off easy after all that. x.x