Post by Bardigan on Nov 2, 2013 15:10:47 GMT -5
At the Saddle Lake, there's a new setup from Derpy's storytime. A small platform, almost like a stage, has been set up in front of the lake. A large bonfire is roaring in front of it, letting the ponies have a beacon to gather at. At the edge of the stage, drinking from a jug with three x's on it. He's singing something, blearily. "Shiver my timbers, shiver my soul, yo ho heave ho... there are mares whose hearts are as black as coal~!" The sun has just set, leaving the dusky twilight glowing in the sky behind him. Bardigan is dressed as, you may have guessed, a pirate. A large tricorn hat rests on his head, a feather flopping in it, and a well worn jacket is around his shoulders. A clumsily carved wooden cutlass hangs off a dirty old belt 'round his waist.Along with everything else, there's snacks and tables set up for those who don't want to sit on the grass. Derpy Hooves is manning (mareing?) the cider spigot!
Nitro_Nine is also dressed as a pirate! Not quite as well as Bardigan, but she's definitely got 'the look' to her! She's buckling swashing before the stage, looking as if she wants to jump up and start dancing. "My heart isn't black as coal!" she says, balancing on her hind hooves for a moment.
Rarity arrives and passes among the partygoers, probably not immediately noticed. She's actually a lot more nervous than she looks... because that's not Rarity. That's Applejack! She seems to have taken her work with Bardigan to either its logical conclusion or else way WAY too far, because the apple farmer has decided to not only dress as her socialite friend, but try to do impressions of her all night! A tall order indeed, though right now she's just sipping a mug of cider provided to her by a Derpy who is now even more confused than usual.
( A swift wind and a slight overpressure heralds the arrival of one of Luna's trusted winged servants! Actually, that's just Rainbow Dash in a rather well-prepared guise, her 'batwings' shuffling a bit as she slows down for a landing. "Yo ponies! Rainbow in the house!" she declares, if it isn't already obvious who she really is. "Heya Rarity! Good to see- whoa whoa." She balks and hovers over to 'Rarity', looking closely at her face. "You're not.../Applejack/!?" )
Bardigan glances down at Nitro with a slightly sloshy grin. "Oh, I don't mean *ye,* me lovely," he says with a chuckle. "Jus' the *bad* ones." He takes another swig from his jug and glances around at the gathering ponies. "Take a seat on yonder benches, me hearties!" he says, his tricorn hat flopping over one eye. "Have some candy! Drink some cider! Siddown so ol' Flint Lock tell ye a tale of the Seven Seas an' Eight Jet Streams!"
Sugar_Rush trots in! Or is it? If it is, he must be wearing his Nightmare Night costume. Still, if one takes a whiff of the air, a sweet scent might betray that is not spectre, but that candy making pegasus.
Nitro_Nine grins as she sits her butt down and grabs some cider. The once noble-dressed mare is dressed like the ragged old salt she is, the only thing that's the same is the half-hidden amulet. "Alright Matey!"
'Rarijack' grins and replies to Rainbow... not with Rarity's *voice*, no, but with a pretty good approximation of her accent. "Indeed not! For tonight at least, I'm 'not Applejack'!" She laughs, same old country-fried chuckle. "You look marvelous, darling! Did Rares... I mean I... have a hoof in that?" She offers a mug of cider to her batwinged friend and goes to sit down for the story.
Rainbow_Dash gawks for a few more moments before providing an answer. "Uhh...actually, I kinda went on my own and did this myself! Wanted something simple this year, you know? And you wanted, uh...that, heheh." Guilty-grin.
Bardigan glances around at the gathering ponies with a little smile, and then abruptly stands up on the stage, throwing his mug into the fire. It bellows and flares up, sending mysteriously green flames and blue sparks into the sky. "Well then, me hearties! Are ya all ready for a chillin' night of greed an' villainy? I know ol' Flint Lock can't keep it in no longer! So plop yer keisters in place, an' get ready for a tale ta' chill the bones! An' every word of it's true, too..." He pulls out an ominous looking book and waggles it about, grinning a snaggle-toothed grin. "I'd know. I was there an' wrote down every word!"
Diamond_Dancer Squawks and clambers up to sit and perk a regal, royal ear. She's a princess after all, and she DOES love Bardigan's tales of adventure!!
Sugar_Rush wanders over to Apple-ty. "Hello there. Happy Nightmare Night!" He opens up one of his saddlebags and offers the mare a black paper sack tied with a purple ribbon.
Clara has arrived.
Applejack sits with Rainbow and lifts her ears (which are white, but if you look closely have a bit of purple staining where her mane dye is rubbing off). "I did indeed! And yours... Well, it's brilliant! Simply divine!" AJ leans over and whispers under her breath, "Ta be honest, Ah ain't rightly sure how much Ah can keep this up! Her falutin' is TOO dang high, know what Ah mean?" She adjusts her horn, which is plastic, and sips some more cider.
Clara arrives at the edge of the gathering just as the bard's story starts to take off. She's dressed in just her ordinary thick brown vest, with her good old pickaxe--only a finely faceted ruby brooch adds to her appearance. She takes in the scene with becrogglement. "PoOoOniIes? HavVe you been eEncHAaAnteEd?"
( "That's not the only thing she has a lot of," bat-Rainbow quips. "I can see what you mean, though: that fancy stuff is natural like water to her, and it's kinda obvious that you're putting in a lot of effort, heh." At last, she takes note of Bardigan's shenanigans and watches intently. "Nice! This should be...hey, you got your cider around here?" )
Bardigan stands up and flips open the book to the first page. The light of day has now definitely vanished entirely, leaving only stars in the sky to frame him, and the dark waters of the lake that slosh ominously on the shore. "Ye may be thinkin: Flint Lock, ye're just an old sea dog! What do ye know about adventure? Well let me tell ye somethin', swabbies. A mere twenny-leven years ago, I was firs' mate on the ship of the dread pirate Cap'n Jack Tar. Aye, an' not a single regret have I! Drowned it all in grog an' ale, drowned the blood an' gold an' all the sorry mess with me other shipmates. 'Twas the gold we were after, chasin' the nascent Merchant Marines cross the air an' waves! Ol' Jack Tar had many secrets, an' not the least of which was how he got a ship... that could *fly.*" Bardigan blows his wings on the fire, and a great sailing ship made of smoke flies out at the crowd before dissipating over their heads.
Diamond_Dancer Squeaks, and patta-pat-pat-pat her hooves against the ground in great cheerful applause at her brother's story! Then she gasps, returns to her former pose of poise, and sits there, pretending not to be enthralled. Being a princess is kinda boring!
Sugar_Rush offers another of his black paper sacks (tied with a purple ribbon) to Rainbow Dash, "Wonderful costume, there! I hope mine is alright..."
<OOC> Rarity says, "Look there! Theres a sudden, mighty thunderous YEEEEEE-HAW in the distance, and suddenly. There she is -APPLEJACK. You know the girl likes to make an impression! That's right, Applejack! "Boy Howdy...Part-ners. I sure do love Apples! I love them so much I named my hooves! I'm sure that's normal on a farm, and not strange, and slightly unnerving anywhere else. I also have a dog. *Squee grin*"
Nitro_Nine is providing more than enough applause. She's rivited to the spot! "A ship that can fly! Get out of here. How'd he get a ship that cloud fly?"
Applejack blinks, then realizes Sugar had offered her a package. She accepts it and gives him in return a down-home facsimile of Rarity's charming smile, then stares in rapture at Bardigan and his smoke trick. "Oooh. That there was pl- uh... Marvellous, simply marvellous!"
Clara strides forward slowly, watching the storytelling carefully until a gohost ship floats forth, at which point she gasps sharply. Her eyes and nose are on that spectral vessel until the moment it's utterly gone. Then she walks forward again until she reaches the lovely Diamond Dancer, whereupon she has the audacity to sit down next to the apparent princess, crossing her legs. She looks over and says nothing.
<OOC> Applejack says, "I'm insulted! I'm SO insulted I may have to take a lie down on a whole series of fainting couches that I drag around with me for just such a reason! Oh no, I feel faint already! *swoons*"
<OOC> Skyheart says, "That's why?"
<OOC> Rainbow_Dash says, "That wasn't....dramatic enough X3"
<OOC> Nitro_Nine grabs Skyheart, uses him as a pillow.
<OOC> Applejack says, "I do beg your pardon. Ahem. WHY HOW DARE YOU, I'VE NEVER BEEN SO INSULTED IN MY LIFE, AND THAT INCLUDES THE LAST SEVEN TIMES YOU MADE FUN OF ME! THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE END, YOU TERRIBLE TERRIBLE PONY! OF ALL THE THINGS YOU COULD HAVE DONE TO ME, THIS IS WITHOUT A DOUBT THE WORST... POSSIBLE... THING!!"
"Hey, thanks Rush!" Rainbow Dash says, "and you're looking pretty good, too." Sure, his costume is a bit too conservative for her tastes, but it's clear he put at least some effort into it. Meanwhile, 'Flint Lock' is spinning his enthralling tale, and Rainbow Dash, becoming enthralled herself, watches in awe as the storyteller makes those tricks with the smoke that she, for all the life of her, doesn't have quite the time or patience to learn how to replicate.
"'Twas how ol' Jack Tar stayed out of reach of ponies, princesses, an' any semblance of decency! I joined his ship when I was still a fresh wee lad. For ten years I was witness ta' the blood left behind in the water. 'Twas a life of knives, glory, an' gold." And out of the fire comes a succession of terrifying images, one after the other: ponies with daggers in their mouths, firing cannons, and clashing swords. "Ol' Flint Lock learned the trade an' carved his way ta' the top of the crow's nest. But the glory days weren't meant ta' last. Justice was ever nippin' at our hooves, but even ol Jack Tar couldn't escape forever. As ye might expect... the beginnin' of this story starts at the end of ol' Jack's bloody career. Three days east of Maretula in the Thousand Isles... there was an island. An island of magic an' mystery. Magic that ne'er should be disturbed." The smoke wafts up to create a skull and crossbones.
Bardigan grins viciously and casts more magical powder on the fire, creating a shadowy, ominous ambience. "A map from a hag, a legend of old fears an' ancient horrors, an' the rumor of treasure without end. 'Twas that that drew us! The lust for treasure. The love of gold! For only gold could slake the lust of a stallion who'd seen all the lands an' known all the maids! Fer three weeks an' a day we hacked our way through island jungle, wastes of volcanic pits, an' monsters of every stripe an' shape. And in the middle of that cursed place we found a cave. An' in that cave was a book. This book." Bardigan holds up his weatherbeaten journal. "An' in that book was a simple spell to ne'er be read. But ol' Jack Tar weren't no pony ta' let somethin' like rules stop 'im. He stepped up, fearin' neither Princess nor pony, an' spoke the words that cursed us forever..." And with an ominous voice, Bardigan begins to read, his eyes glowing frightfully.
Or... are they *supposed* to be glowing?
Sugar_Rush makes his way through the crowd, offering his Nightmare Night treats to anypony who wants one.
Derpy's face is visible for a second and a half between two other ponies. Bardigan's tale seems to have crossed her eyes, which is probably at least something of a compliment.
Firefly_Moon whirrs into the air above like the sound of a very large angry hornet. Then again, metal wings DO make that kind of noise. With glowing eyes the large mechanical device swings in along the path by the lake, folding its wings upon landing with a loud clanking sound, standing quietly as it surveys the goings on, dark metal ears swivelling slightly.
"Travel far and huddle close, you who for power would risk the most. The magic here may not be seen, but for those with reign o'er their dreams." And as Bardigan reads, there is a strange hum resonating through the air. It's just barely in a pony's hearing, more of a background annoyance, persistent but quiet. Whatever Bardigan's doing, these special effects are good! They are just special effects, right? "Power resting now awoken, from ages past and spirits broken. Crack loose the gates and release the hounds of those who hunt without a sound!" And in the lake behind Bardigan, there's a glow from beneath the waves. Bubbles, at first quite but quickly growing to a terrible boil, burst up out of the surface. Bardigan's eyes now look like flashlights, but he's still reading, at a strangely quickened pace.
Applejack mistakes this creature for a special effect and claps hard, decorum momentarily forgotten! *clopclopclopclopclop*
Rainbow_Dash experiences complex amazement as Bardigan begins to assume weird, mystical abilities that no pegasus ought to have. Either he's really, /really/ good or something bad is about to happen. And then that big metal /thing/ shows up at the very edge of her vision. She turns to look, but it's a bit too dark, and soon she's drawn back to Bardigan and his bone-chilling tale. "She just watches him, mouth agape.
Nitro_Nine looks enthralled. It's all part of a good story. The special effects just totally sell it!
"Gloom is shed from realms of dead, seek ye treasure but find no measure of worth that a mortal can hold!" Bardigan finishes with a flourish. From the lake behind him rises up a dark, horrible shape: a long pointed object, quickly rising up and blossoming into a massive curved mass. At first, the water and noise obscure its nature, but it soon becomes clear from the sickly green glow around it: an entire ship is rising up from the depths of the lake! Algae and kelp hangs from gaping empty portholes. Tattered sails flap in an intangible wind. Water sloshes from the deck, spraying the crowd and even Bardigan... who is still reading from the book. His eyes are still glowing, though he is blinking rapidly and seemingly trying to pull away from the book. "But weren't treasure we found that dark an' evil night! Nay, 'twas all our dreams twisted inta' terror! On that day Jack Tar found immortality in the worst way possible! As did we all!"
Rainbow_Dash's gape widens as the thin barrier between story and reality quickly begins to break down before her eyes. "Uhh...Bardigan? That's all you, still, right?" she says pleadingly, feeling the hairs on her back prickle and stiffen. Her legs lean back, as if to prepare to propel herself out of there.
Clara looks sharply between the storyteller, the increasingly astonished crowd, and the ship rising from the lake. Coming to a canine decision, she breaks her hesitance and strides quickly on two legs toward the stage, aiming to yank Bardigan forcefully from the book he's reading.
Applejack leaps to her hooves, dropping the mug. And the act. "What in tarnation's THAT!? What th' hay's goin' on here, Bardigan? Hay! BARDIGAN!?"
Twilight_Sparkle has arrived.
Spike has arrived.
Sugar_Rush looks concerned at the goings on. "Um..." He isn't really the hero type, or at least never thought of himself as such, but still, something should be done. "Anything I can do to help?"
Firefly_Moon locks both ears on Bardigan, its wings snapping outwards with a snik-CLICK like scissors, slow pumping the air, gaining speed until the wings were but a blur and the mechanical device leaves the ground, hovering up a few meters. It folds its legs under itself with four louder whirr-clacks and remains hovering there, glowing green eyes locked on the story teller then to the ship in the lake, then to the rushing Clara, speaking in a level tone much like a speak and spell. "Non pony detected...."
Pinkie_Cry has arrived.
Bardigan doesn't notice anything, wehther it be ponies screaming at him or screaming at the creepy looking sailing vessel coming out of a lake that, if a pony took a moment to think about it, should not be holding a ship that big. Wherever it came from, it wasn't the bottom of the lake. Bardigan's gritting his teeth now, apparently channeling whatever in Equestria is doing all this. "I ran, I did! Ol' Flint Lock turned tail from that shipwreck an' took every gem he could! Be ye readin' this, heed my words: beware the black spot of Cap'n Jack Tar!" The ship settles onto the surface of the lake, and... quite anti-climactically, goes silent. Bardigan's eyes, glowing like lightbulbs, suddenly return to normal. He snaps the book shut and gasps. "Uhhh... well!" he says, somehow *not noticing* the ghost ship in the lake behind him. "Ha ha! Got a little into it there. Moving on..."
Twilight_Sparkle does not immediately notice the ghost ship! Bardigan, especially Bardigan doing his whole bard thing, is highly distracting for her. The princess lets out a dreamy sigh.
Clara has reached the stage and is about to mount it when the bizarre metallic artefact whirrs offensively around her head. She takes a swift step away and readies her pick-axe for a swing, but fortunately seeks understanding before letting loose. "Ii am a frIiieenNd of the PoOoniIes," she snarls at the thing. The ghost ship collapsing to the water doesn't escape her attention, though it does escape her comprehension.
Rainbow_Dash snaps out of her fearful reverie as Clara leaps into action, an event which prompts her own active impulses to come to the fore. At once she leaps forward and surges above the crowd towards the stage. "CRIPES!" she yells, as the big machine suddenly gets in her way. She banks hard, her rainbow contrail zig-zagging craziy as she spins around and skids to a halt in midair. "Whoa, WHOA!" she exclaims, peering at the thing, at the ghost ship, at everything. "Firefly, it's you! I mean-" She looks over at the ethereal vessel. "What is /that/!?"
Gilda is just cruising by. She actually had friends to visit this Nightmare Night, for a change, and some of them were in Ponyville. There are a lot of things she can dismiss with nonchalance, but a ghostly glowing pirate ship isn't among them. She keeps a distance, for the moment just trying to see what the heck this thing is and what the ponies are doing with it.
Spike rolls his eyes at Twilight. "Just kiss and get it over with, you two." He folds his arms, his petulance distracting him enough to keep him from noticing the ship.
Pinkie_Cry was totally swimming in there! Her extraordinarily hot pink inflatable water wings (Rarity said they match her mane - or did a turnip say that?) are about the only thing that is visible until a wave spawned from the emerging ghost ship deposits her on the beach near Princess Bookface is ogling Mister-Hunka-Poet-and-Wordy-Brains. "Hi Twili!" She waves a back left hoof, her head and neck stuck in the mud. So really it's more like "(ei teili)".
( 'Rarity' runs up to Twilight, very agitated! "Twi! Twilight, thank Celestia! Ah think somethin's gone terrible bad, an' it ain't natural. Bardigan read a story an' went all strnage an' now there's this SHIP thing, an' whatthehayever that OTHER thing is with th' wings, an'... Ya got some kinda mojo fer this or do Ah gotta start kickin'? )
Sugar_Rush starts rounding up any young fillies or colts still about and moving them out of the area. "Come on, folks, looks like the ghost story is getting a wee bit too scary for us..."
Firefly_Moon whirrs back from Clara, green eyes glowing. "Scanning.....species Identified. Diamond Dog. Genetic tracing....Identified. Clara. tagged as do-not-kill. Yet." then spins as Dash shoots over. "Ha. Ha. Hello Dash." hovering higher. "Is good. Party. Ship effect...Unknown. Unicorn illusion maybe. I no can do."
"But we =like= it scary!" objects Scootaloo, who nonetheless lets herself gets shepherded by Sugar Rush without much trouble.
But before Bardigan can finish his story, he is interrupted by a booming voice that bursts from the ship itself. "FLINT LOOOOOOCK!" it bellows. It is a sound of rage and bitterness, given voice after years of bottled up repression. And out from the bowels of the ship flies a ghastly sight: a pony, and yet, *not* a pony. At least, the top half is a pony. The lower bit, lacking legs, tapers into a tail with flippers on it. The half-pony thing is heavily bearded, his wild mane tied into dreadlocks sticking out from under a giant tricorn hat. Instead of a feather, there's a femur stuck in the hat band. The pony-thing leaps off the railing and lands on the stage with a disgusting squelch, dripping water that smells heavily of salt. "YOU DARE SUMMON ME WITH THE WORDS THAT CURSED ME AN' MY CREW?! HAVE YA FINALLY COME CRAWLIN' BACK TO OL' JACK TAR?"
And Bardigan, poor, poor Bardigan, only just now notices what's going on behind him. He turns around and sees the ghostly green glowing ghoul, and... blinks. Twice. "Uhhh. What?"
Twilight_Sparkle turns, and regards 'Rarity,' as she's addressed. "Rarit..." she pauses. "...jack?" she finishes. She bursts into a grin. "Great costume! And yeah, Bardy's story is really vivid, isn't it? He really knows how to capture a scene, and make you feel like there ACTUALLY IS a pirate ship bearing down on you." She looks up, and nods in confirmation of her point...then looks up again, and does a by-now-classic Twilight Sparkle Take (tm).
"Hey, leave us alone, you flippered freak!" Rainbow Dash shouts, assessing the situation with her usual level of prudence. Without further thought, she rushes forward at the pony-thing-ghost hoping to knock him senseless! Or something. She's not quite that far ahead.
Clara scowls and maintains a defensive posture. Do not kill ^yet?^ What kind of designation... no. There is too much happening. The effect that had entrapped the bard is broken, but too late--now a terrible new menace has arisen, and swift action is called for. "TurRn your attENtions to the Watter gHAsSt," she hisses at the mechanical vermin. She shouts, cupping her hands and hoping to avert trouble before Rainbow Dash can strike: "You have not TruUuUly beeen SuMmMonNed, waTer GoOEeRs! It was AcciDEeEenNtal!"
Pinkie_Cry tug tug tug tug TUG tug tug TUG tug tug TUG diggatunnel tug YANK! (pop) "Whoa!" She shakes her head of the dust and dirt and things-of-the-mole-people. She swivels around then plomps on her butt to ogle at the pirate ship. "Ooooh. Nice job, Bardy!" Totally realistic!"
Applejack says "Ah got me a real bad feelin' 'bout this, Twi. Come on, before there's a panic. Ah'm gonna ask that thing what it wants."
Derpy shrieks randomly from the crowd: "BLLAAACK SPPOOOOOOOT!!" She then huddles on the ground in her ungainly costume.
Twilight_Sparkle pivots from swooning to lecturing to panicking to poised for battle in a space of about four seconds! She spins to face the lake, stands with her legs dramatically apart, spreads her wings broadly, and flashes red light from her eyes and horn. A lot of the time that's all she has to do, and she's still sort of working out the details in her head if this should escalate, but nothing in her demeanor betrays it unless you know her as well as, say, Spike does.
Rainbow Dash's attack goes almost completely unnoticed. Instead of striking, Rainbow Dash passes right through the monster! That's what happens when you go ghostbusting without proper equipment. From a seaworn belt tied around the seapony's waist comes a wickedly sharp looking sabre, held in the seapony's ungainly fin-hoof. "There be no accidents when it comes ta' the Spot!" he spits. "Jack Tar smelled yer treachery a mile away, Flint Lock! I smell my stolen treasure, an' I'm here ta' steal it back!" He advances on Bardigan, who looks down at his hoof. Sure enough, there's a black spot. He gulps, audible even in the crowd. "Oh dear." 'Jack Tar' looks around at the assembled ponies and recoils, seemingly disgusted. "Eeeuugh! Landlubbers all around! Ye keep strange company these days, Flint Lock!"
"Oh! H-hello, everypony." Hey, look, it's Fluttershy! She left her house for Nightmare Night two nights in a row! Good for you, Fluttershy. "I was just taking the animals out for trick-or-treating, a-and I saw this show and...um, t-this isn't a show, i-i-is it?" "Quack," says Willy the Wood Duck, dropping his candy bag to flee.
It should be noted that the piratical seapony swims through the air as he moves.
Gilda beats her wings a few moments in the air after realizing this isn't some kind of lame pony laser-light show. She's a little too intrigued by it to want to jet off, so instead she lands nearby the crowd of onlooking ponies to spectate. What's the worst that could happen? She can always just fly away.
( 'Rarijack' runs up on the stage! "Bardigan! BARDIGAN! Look out, sugar!" She interposes herself between totally not Flint Lock and totally actually Jack Tar and glares at the latter! "What do y'all want with us? What ARE y'all!?" )
Rainbow_Dash is undeterred by her lack of success and turns around, rushing right at the pirate-pony-thing-ghost again! And goes right through again. Increasingly frustrated, she resors to swatting at him repeatedly with her hooves. "Take that! And /that/!" she announces, buffeting his incorporeal form.
Pinkie_Cry sneeeeeeaks over to shinySparkle and, while she's occupied with the greatgiganticghostthing, begins licking Spike cream cone.
Clara is stymied momentarily by the combined failure of Rainbow to hit her target and the unwillingness of said target to listen to reason. She steps forward again, though, following the edge of the stage toward the lake, and is about to try again when the aristocratic pony she recognizes from town decides to take the stage and make things louder and more panicky. Clara's lip curls, but she says nothing for now.
Spike peers at the pirate and rubs his head. Or...cherry, really. "Do we know he's even dangerous?" he asks no one in particular, although he's closest to Twilight. Then he blinks and looks at Pinkie. "Um, can I help you?" Not that he minds being tasted, but he was hoping it'd be Rarity...
Jack Tar rears back from Applejack's questions, raising an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash's almost pathetic attempts to harm him. With a single brush of his hoof, a great tendril of water rises up from the lake and comes down hard at Rainbow Dash. *SMACK!* And poor Rainbow Dash is sent face first into the water. That done, Jack looks back to Applejack. "Who am I?" he purrs, baring his teeth that are far, far too sharp for a normal pony. He begins to slowly circle AJ and Bardigan - in midair, his flipper flapping. "WHO AM I? I am the greatest pirate of the Third Age! Jack Tar, who left a trail of blood an' sorrow across the Eight Jet Streams an' all the Seven Seas underneath! Jack Tar, who was cursed by the magic of the ancients! Jack Tar, whose scurvy first mate ran like a coward an' DIDN'T EVEN GIVE ME THE PEACE OF HOLDIN' ME TREASURE TA' MY CURSED BOSOM!" He points his sword, frighteningly real, at Bardigan's throat. "That pony there, Flint Lock! Stan' aside an' lemme have the sea's justice on that bilge rat!"
Gilda gravitates over to Spike once she identifies him (he's one of the only costumes around that isn't quadrupedal) and shuffles up to stand beside him. "Great. What'd Ponyville do NOW?"
Rainbow_Dash expresses her dismay and distress with a stentorian "ACKLPGTBFPTGH!" as she is thrust into the lake by supernatunal elemental manipulation. She flails about in the lake, flabbergasted and utterly disoriented.
Firefly_Moon rotates towards Clara, perking its metal ears. "Clara. Is Joke....am Squire. Fire. Fly." turning to look at the thing on the stage. "It...is not. A thing. I can. Not. Do to. LIke this." then lands, aiming a metal wing at TWilight. "New. Princess. Her task. Magic bamf thing." then whirrs and tilts its head to Rainbow. "She learn Celestia trick. Send underlings. Work for you. Ha. Ha." watching Dash pass through the apparition. "Most. Curious." hovering a bit higher to see better, its emerald eyes glowing brighter as it observes the sea pony pirate ghost. "Scanning threat. Target: Ghost. Searching memory....found. Item, Ghostie. Solution: Giggle. Source, Element of Laughter. Result: effective."
Twilight_Sparkle is NOT having this. She leaps in front of Bardigan, her horn ablaze! "Arr! I be Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Equestria, protege of Celestia, and wielder of the element of magic! And you're not getting anywhere near this pony! Not if I have anything to say about it!"
Pinkie_Cry considers this. "... Not really! I was just really really really hoping you were actually a giant ice cream cone!" Beam. Tiny little lick.
Applejack pushes Bardigan aside (flour gets all over his costume) and stands between him and the ghost again. "Ah ain't never heard o' y'all, but whoever y'are, ain't ya got no eyes or nothin'? This ain't no Flint Rock or whatever, this here's BARDIGAN. He ain't *OOF*-" At this moment, Twilight barrels right into her! Applejack capsizes, knocked away by Twilight's determined entrance. She pants for a moment, winded.
Oh no, oh me, oh my! Fluttershy flails her hooves to and fro, making soothing voices, but it's too late - all her animals have scattered, losing a great deal of candy behind them. Nightmare Night is ruined forever! And up on stage - Fluttershy rubs her eyes. "Um," she whispers to Pinkie and Spike. "W-what's going on?"
Rainbow_Dash surges out of the lake, scattering water everywhere, and quickly flies right back to Jack Tar. THis time, though, she's learned her lesson: physical attacks won't take down this ghostly menace. Perhaps some aggressive posturing will work instead. "Listen, you...you wet-earred dead guy! Go back to where you came from or...or I'll do something!"
Clara climbs onto the stage to stand near Bardigan, protecting him. "You are bEeing misTaAken for AnOOOther, I belieEeeve," she confides to him, hoping he's not unresponsive. The mutterings of the mechanical being earn a scoff from the Diamond Dog... until its last pronouncement. "EllemMEnt of LAaUghTer?" She faces the crowd from the stage on all fours. "WhoO is the HolLDer of the ElemmMent of lAaAughTEr?!" she inquires of them.
Gilda spots Rainbow Dash playing the hero. Eyeroll. No news there. A shot of adrenaline rushes into her system as she realizes Dash could get seriously hurt challenging an apparition with a real sword, and she tenses up in anticipation of possibly rushing in to help.
Bardigan by this point just looks utterly confused and more than a little terrified of that sword Jack is so carelessly swinging about. Jack Tar looks down at Twilight and sniffs. "Twilight *Sparkle?* Yer rather *short* for a Princess. Never heard of ya!" And he raises a hoof, summoning a great wave from the surface of the lake to try and wash away any and all ponies between him and his quarry. "If ol' Princess Sunbutt wants ta' roast my keister herself, then let 'er come! I'm beholden ta' nopony, an' I'm not ta' be denied my TREASURE! Outta the way before I gets me dander up!"
<OOC> Pinkie_Cry says, "(All hail Princess Sumbutt)"
<OOC> Pinkie_Cry says, "(*Sunbutt oh gosh)"
<OOC> You say, "The sum of all butts."
<OOC> Pinkie_Cry says, "AND YET IT'S SO PERFECT IT'S NOT REALLY A MISTAKE"
Having been generously spreading the maple treat wealth around ponyville, thanks to a little cart towed behind him, Maple couldn't help but overhear the commotion coming from the lake. Decked out in as authentic Neighponese armor as he could find, comes trotting down the path with a bit of urgency due to the commotion.
Sugar_Rush may not be as quick as Dash, but gosh darn it, he is nothing to sneeze at. He zips in front of the newly formed wave front and starts scooping up any ponies that don't look like they are going to get out of the way in time.
Applejack staggers to her hooves, and has just enough time to assure Sugar Rush that she'll be fine before the wave hits and washes her away! She fetches up upside-down under a tree, orange again, and with her indigo-dyed mane and tail plastered everywhere. "ah'm gettin' mighty sick o' this."
Spike looks visibly disappointed at the disappearance of pseudo-Rarity.
Rainbow_Dash is a bit more directly affected by Jack Tar's threat, so the whole business of rescue and even Firefly-golem escapes her attention. Instead, she is directly focused on the pirate-ghost and his large, menacing sword. "The Diamond Dog's right! This isn't the /real/ Pint Clock! Look!" With that, she lays her hooves on Bardigan and begins divesting the other pegasus of his costume items, tugging at his hat, his coat, everything. "I'll show you that you're just some kind of...dead guy!"
Twilight_Sparkle looks over at Applejack and gives her a chagrined little "Sorry, AJ!" before turning again to face the spectral pirate. With a glash, Twilight raises a magical wall between everypony and the wave...the wave sloshes against it, roiling frighteningly but harmlessly on the other side, inches from the ponies furthest from Twilight. Then...is that music? A gentle tune, a lullabye, like chimes, seems to sound from the depths...and to soothe the water back into gently lapping at the shore.
Pinkie_Cry is attempting to deduce which of the 39+ flavors Spike is masquerading as (she's got her deerstalker cap and everything) when she's spurred by repeated prolongued and kinda spooky requests for the element of laughter. She wavewavewaves a hoof at Clara. "Oooh! Ooh! I think that's me! I THINK THAT'S ME CALL ON ME" she calls up to the diamond dog, probably bonking a pony or two in the head with her hoof in the process.
Poor little Scootaloo nearly gets washed under by that sudden huge wave. Pumping her wings as hard as she can, she barely manages to escape the surf. She laughs in triumph just as her wings give out. She finds herself sprawled on top of a giant ice cream cone on top of a dragon.
Firefly_Moon whirrs above the wave, watching silently for the moment as Rainbow strips Bardigan. "Record mode active." turning green emeralds to the goings on, whirring in and landing on the stage with a heavy CLANK. It folds it wings away with a whirr click and just watches.
Twilight_Sparkle is quite preoccupied, and does not notice Rainbow Dash undressing Bardigan. She might have something to say about it if she weren't!
<OOC> Derpy laughs!
<OOC> Firefly_Moon saves the recording for Twilight later on.
<OOC> Rainbow_Dash says, "Firefly you're a perv XP"
<OOC> Firefly_Moon says, "YOU'RE the one stripping him. Nothing new to Fire. LOL"
Clara joins Rainbow Dash in stripping Bardigan of his accouterments. Now it's an interspecies threesome! She glares at Jack Tar and his ship all the while. "He is BaAAardIgan, a stoOrRyteLLer and loOver of PriIiNcesSeSs! He is not the PiiRrate you sEeeK," she insists loudly.
<OOC> Rainbow_Dash says, "CLARA XP"
Applejack stands up and shakes out. Twilight's shield must not have QUITE been wide enough, but whatever, Apples are tough. She can take it. But she didn't ENJOY it much. "Ah am plumb TIRED o' this! YEEHAW!" And she takes to her hooves, running straight at the spectre of Jack Tar! - turning at the last possible second to lift up the REAL Kicks and Bucky and lay into the pirate captain's sword, trying to knock it where it won't be able to hurt anypony!
<OOC> You say, "I'm here now!"
<OOC> Applejack has done something terribly inadvisable!
<OOC> Squirrelly nods. She got involved. Silly ponies. :-)
<OOC> You say, "So apparently a bunch of ponies are ripping my clothes off. I'd enjoy this more under different circumstances!"
<OOC> Pinkie_Cry says, "And she -totally- just kicked a sword."
<OOC> Clara is not eXaactly a poOny.
<OOC> Applejack did.
<OOC> Rainbow_Dash says, "Bardy it's more like ripping off a burning tent off somepony's body :u"
<OOC> Squirrelly nods. Clara has paws too. Very nice.
<OOC> You say, "So what you're saying is..."
<OOC> You say, "I'm on fire."
<OOC> You say, "Boomshakalaka."
<OOC> Rainbow_Dash shoves Bardy
Jack looks a bit... uncertain as the wave passes by and Twilight Sparkle is still standing strong. "ARRR! Yer messin' with *my* sea swells, ye thrice-damned phony Princess!" Bardigan yelps and squirms as he's jerked in several different directions at once. "Whoa! Hey! I don't think it's working!" Jack is certainly not deterred, but he does give out a cry of rage as AJ's attack takes him off guard, making his sword fly off and into the depths of the lake. He floats back a pace and sniffs. "All right then. If ye won't give up the traitor willingly-like... MATES!" he barks over his shoulder. "IT'S TIME FER THE PLUNDER!" A ghastly wail arises from the bowels of the ship, and out of its hold, from all the open portholes, and even straight through the hull comes a menagerie of ghouls and monsters, all riding some invisible waves or running on unseen roads. Most of them are ponies... or, they would be, were it not for the missing flesh and contorted expressions of pure psychotic rage. And even *then*, cannons are rolled up, and without any warning start spitting ugly green fire at the gathered ponies, obliterating the very ground they stand on!
Pinkie_Cry is back to staring intensely at Spike, hoping that this will somehow turn him into a real ice cream cone.
"C'mon, get off!" Rainbow Dash exclaims, trying to pull off Bardy's pirate coat, but it's too late: the ghost ship is attacking!
<OOC> Applejack hopes folks will put on her headstone 'The Last Thing She Did Was Awesome'.
Maplewing somehow manages to slip out of his little wagon's harness and spring into the air, hovering just over the ground to flip the brake on the wagon, causing it to scrabble to a halt violently and nearly tipping over, at the very least rolling up onto one wheel before landing with a 'THUD' again as Maple glides toward the pond "w..what's going on!? he exclaims to anyone he can find that is calm enough to answer.
Sugar_Rush zips over to Maple, "Hey! We got ghost pirates attacking. Don't ask why, no time to explain. Let's try and get folks out of harm's way!"
"Um," squeaks Fluttershy, peeking out from behind somepony way, way in the back row. "M-m-Mister Ghost? P-please don't hurt my friend..."
"C'mon, get off!" Rainbow Dash exclaims, trying to pull off Bardy's pirate coat, but it's too late: the ghost ship is attacking! Something clicks at the back of her mind as she beholds the cannons bristling with ghostly fire. "Lie back! Brace for the attack!" she yells, countless hours of Weather Patrol drills suddenly gushing out from the wellsprings of memory. She leaps into the air and draws her wings back and forth, sending out waves of rainbow-coloured wing-energy that slice at the ghastly buccaneers. "Break through the center!" she commands to anypony who might happen to be in hearing distance.
Applejack stands her ground! Maybe stupidly. But there's a principle at play here! You don't abandon anypony in need! "Aw, horsefeathers! Maplewing! Rainbow needs yer help, Ah can't goldarned fly! Twilight! TWI! What th' hay's wrong with y'all! Come ON!" She stands by the fallen (and somewhat molested) playwright, and stares down the terrible apparition. Only ponies who know her very well - several are here - can tell that she's absolutely terrified. She knows she probably can't do anything to these monsters, but thinks it's her duty to try anyway.
Clara would love to break through the center, but she has no idea what that means or how it can be accomplished without wings. She attempts to pull Bardigan off of and behind the stage in order to use it as shelter!
Twilight_Sparkle takes to the air! Oh, she's a thing to behold. She must have been practicing! She's not quite Dash's equal, but she also doesn't look like she's going to kick herself in the face, which she...managed a couple times early on. She flanks her friend, sending blasts of magical energy from her horn like machine gun fire! You don't mess with Twilight Sparkle's friends.
Spike's costume does most of the job of breaking Scootaloo's fall, "Are you all right?" He asks the little pegasus. He tries to help her up, but in the top-heavy costume he's having a hard time getting upright again himself.
Pinkie_Cry gives up on the great ice cream quest and bounces over to Applejack. Ohh, she can -sense- AJ is absolutely terrified, that's for sure! And that's why she immediately leaps into Applejack's hooves and shouts desperately, "SOMEPONY HEEEEELLLLPPPPP!"
( Scootaloo seems to have been adequately protected from what was left of the superwave by Twilight's shield, which she got behind just in time. She turns and sees Spike tumbled under the costume. "Hey, what're you doing under my ice cream cone? Come on, let's get out of here." She uses her noggin and the force of her buzzy wings to push the dragon to his feet, cone, cherry and all. Then the cannons start breaking the ground in front of them! "Whoa! Okay, let's =really= go!" But Pinkie's cry for help gets her attention. Can she really abandon adults in need? )
Jack Tar screams in frustration as his ghoulish offensive is stopped cold by a pretty pony princess and her magic wonderbolts. That and Rainbow Dash's strange rainbow magic, causing the creatures they touch to burn and screech, shying away. The rest of them circle overhead, terrorizing the crowd that is scattering out of pure terror. "Are ye stallions or foals?! Shoot the purple one! THE PURPLE ONE!" Jack shouts at his crew, watching one get blasted right back through his porthole by Twilaser Sparkgun. He glances down at Applejack, standing next to Bardigan, and his eyes narrow. Bardigan shakes his head at Applejack. "Running won't help! I've got the Spot on me!" he shouts at Applejack and shows her his hoof. "Do you know what that *means?!* Pirates don't get away from the Spot! We should-" But he doesn't have time to finish as Jack comes out of the sky with a screech, aiming straight for Applejack... and disappears the moment he touches her. Applejack may feel some momentary discomfort before everything just sort of... goes blank.
Rainbow_Dash's heart pumps with excitement as she sees several ghosts burn up from her wind attacks. "Yeah, that'll show ya!" she shouts, banking upward and trying to same trick on some of the ghosts floating up above. "Take that! And /that/!" she taunts, sending wave after wave of energy at them. "Nice, we'll definitely win this in ju- WHOA!" She looks down and catches a glimpse of Jack Tar assaulting Applejack. "APPLEJACK!!" she yells, diving down to intercept.
Clara is also there when the priate captain attacks. She holds out a tiny white gem in a pewter casing, hind legs straddling Bardigan, tail curved up with a flourish. The gem shimmers with magic... but has no effect, so far as she can tell, on the ghost pirate, who simply... vanishes? Clara's tense expression settles, as do her ears. "WhaAt has hAapPpeNed?" she rasps to Rainbow and Applejack.
Applejack half-turns to yell at Bardigan over the chaos, "NO, Ah don't know what in tarnation 'THE SPOT' is, Ah ain't never heard o-HGK." An almost invisible shockwave passes over her pelt, as the spectre of Jack Tar touches her and disappears! Her expression changes completely. To something... not really right. "Har. Ha har! HA HA HA HAR!!" The normal emerald of her eyes lights up to a sickly green. "First time in a hundred years I got me hooves t' feel with! And now I'm going to feel them ROUND YER NECK! COME HERE, YE LUBBER!" And she... she?... dives for Bardigan! "Yer comin' with me, Flint Lock! There ain't no escape from the Spot! YAHARR!"
Pinkie_Cry staaaares at Applejack and swiftly abandons Appleship, landing in some other (un?)fortunate pony's hooves.
Rainbow_Dash screeches to a halt, gawping at Applejack as she's suddenly possessed! "Great, not this again!" she says, and with that she rushes forward to tackle her now-corporeal target.
Twilight_Sparkle spins around in midair...but such a rapid pivot is still awkward for the alicorn who's had her wings less than a year! She ends up in a roll, tumbling down out of the sky. "Wh-whoaaaoaaaaaaaaa!" She collides with the Dash/Clara/Bardigan/Applejack mass roughly simultaneously.
Spike's eyes widen as things suddenly get a lot more serious. He glances at Scootaloo. "Don't let any of the ghosts touch you, or they'll take you over too!" He runs...well, rapidly waddles...toward Twilight, the clumsy ice cream cone suit stopping him from just dropping on all fours for speed. He's not sure whether he's going to protect her, or hoping to be protected by her, but he wants her near. "Twi! Be careful, that pirate's taken over Applejack!"
"PinNk ooNe!" shouts Clara, taking in the situation with terror. "Are yOOou the ElelemeNt of LaAughTer?" She tumbles, her balance dislodged by the combination of Rainbow fighting AJ and Twilight the alicorn smashing down into the group. "Then LaaUUuGH!!" she shouts as she rolls over backwards.
"Ghosts that touch you take you over? Check." Scootaloo braces for action, and then... runs off.
Pinkie_Cry whimpers. "But but but nothing's funny!" the Pinkie protests. You know, nothing like Spike awkwardly waddling around in an ice cream suit while a possessed apple farmer cackles. Her lip begins to wibble.
Bardigan happens to be the one Pinkie Pie lands on, and *he* alrady has Clara straddling him from behind. This does absolutely nothing but add to the confusion when *everypony* ends up tangled together, pirates, faux-rates, and pony princesses at once. Maplewing and Scootaloo, too, have their own problems: a group of ghosts rushing them from the sky, all wearing macabre expressions of glee. That and the crowd of ponies still running about, harried by the undead spirits.
Scootaloo was mistaken! The cart only nearly tipped over. She still wants it!
Maplewing looks up to spot Rush appproaching, who blurt something out as he Runs by. "Um, what?" he stammers, just as AJ, with her much louder voice (at least when the adrenaline is up, he supposes) shouts to him. Nodding to her he grins. "Right!" he calls back when Scootaloo calls to him. His wagon is indeed about the same size, perhaps a bit bigger and definitely heavier than a scooter. "Go for it!" he grins broadly, whether it had been tipped over or not and launches himself into the air, which might be a bit impressive and showing his flying strength given his takeoff speed and the mostly authentic armor he wears costume wise. Dipping in and out between ponies and ghosts, he darts in along behind Dash, doing his best to draw off any spectral bogies from the performance flier.
Applejack-Tar gets piled under Twilight and Rainbow and Bardigan and Clara. But only for a moment. "Trim my tail, is THIS the kind of thing that passes fer fightin' now?" Her whole body bursts out with sickly green fire, knocking all the other ponies (and Clara) away! *WHAM*! ... All that is, except for Bardigan, who she grips hard from behind with her front hooves, then slowly lifts off the stage. Both of them are surrounded by the eldritch flames, and 'she' cackles triumphant laughter at the sky and the creatures on the ground as the dread pirate spectre Captain Jack Tar steals Bardigan away to the ghostly ship... and as collateral damage... Applejack, too.
Clara normally does not approve of the use of insults in a heated situation. At this moment, she can hardly disapprove. "The ElLLEment hoLlder is incapAaacitTAted," she observes, picking up one of the sleeping Pinkie's legs and letting it flop. Before she can pose her follow-up thought, the spook attacks everyone and she goes flying. She flips over and lands hard with an "ARRF!" Then she pushes herself up slowly, panting heavily.
Spike chases vainly after the ghost, but soon realizes it's a hopeless effort. He slumps. "He's using green fire for *evil*, he complains, to no one in particular.
( "All right!" chimes Scootaloo, pumping her forelegs while managing to barely get them off the ground. She hops into the front of the cart and hastily figures out how to steer the thing while it's rolling! But before she can reach the scene of the fight, there's a burst of green and suddenly the ghost is making a getaway! "HEY, GET BACK HERE!!" shouts the flightless filly, standing impotently from the cab of the cart. "ONLY SPIKE GETS TO USE GREEN FIRE FOR EVIL!" )
Rainbow_Dash is knocked away, uttering a loud 'OMPH!" as she is thrown back. "APPLEJACK! BARDIGAN!" she shouts, pushing herself off the ground and into the air, zooming right towards her floating friends. "LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!"
Maplewing is tailed by at least five different shades of creepy. Maybe even six. His plan is working... But the deed is done, and Bardigan and Applejack are on the deck of the ship. Applejack Tar grins back at them all, even as Bardigan futilely pushes and kicks at her (him?). "Ye been a fine audience one an' all, but I'm afraid 'tis time ta' turn to the wind an' set sail! I'm off ta' find me treasure!" There's a rumbling from the lake, and a wave even bigger than before swells up, towering even the topsail of the vessel. The ghosts give up their attack on the ponies and flee back to the ship, the last one disappearing just as the monster of a wave envelopes the craft from stem to stern. With a tremendous crash the crest of the wave comes roaring back down onto the lake's surface... and when it calms, everything calms. The ship, Applejack, and Bardigan are... gone.
Applejack must have been released from the ghost's control just before the ship disappeared, because the last thing to come from it was her voice calling out to her best friend - "HELP! RAINB-"... and being suddenly cut off.
And on the now burning theater platform, with a pathetic little flop, drops the source of all this mess: Bardigan's storybook.
Rainbow_Dash soars through the air like lightning, her contrail billowing outward, but it's too late: the pirates have gone! Her momentum takes her right back into the lake, her form toppling and thrashing about before the churning waters as the ghost ship disapparates. "*blugh* APPLEJACK! BARDIGAN!" she cries out, threading water for a while before plucking herself out of the lake and zipping about frantically. "Applejack! Oh no, oh Celestia..."
Twilight_Sparkle hurls herself through the air after Rainbow Dash! Two ponies she cares for most in the world...gone beneath the waves! She splashes down hard, her horn aglow, lighting up the lacke all around her; she finally surfaces, gasping and crying out in despair. "Bardigan! Applejack! No!"
Clara decides to do the practical thing. She rolls in a puddle left from the tremendous wave, goes to the stage, and shakes herself hard. The resulting spray of dogwater is enough to put the nascent fire out.
Way down below, Fluttershy hauls herself out of the bush she was knocked into some ten minutes proir, covered in scratches and leaves and twigs poking out of her mane. She looks up at the sky, eyes wobbly with tears, and mumbles, "...A-Applejack?"
A small white object has tangled in Twilight's mane when she dove into the lake: it is the plastic horn Applejack was wearing as part of her costume.
Maplewing veers low to the ground and toward the ship as the ghosts pursue him, he's aimed dead toward the duelling pair just as the ghosts pursuing him break off and retreat bak to their ship. He turns and spreads his wings wide, airbreaking hard and shifting into a hover. "what... just happened?" he says to nopony in particular, looking a little confused.
"I =think= that ghost ship just stole my best friend's sister!" answers Scootaloo, her snout flaring with anger. "And if that's what =did= happen, then that Jack Tar guy's gonna =pay!=" She slams her hoof down on the front of the maple cart.
Rainbow_Dash plaintively hovers back to shore, her hooves touching the ground but her heart (and expression) heavy. "They're...they're gone," she utters in disbelief and despair.
Twilight_Sparkle wades ashore beside Rainbow Dash, her head low.
The weatherbeaten storybook/apparently authentic journal remains on the stage, waiting in the midst of the ponies. Waiting to be read again and bring more trouble perhaps, or give some answers.
Clara got water on the journal when she put out the fire. But she does notice it eventually, and picks it up. She dismounts the stage and carries the book, holding it not in her paws but in a fold of her vest, toward Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle. "Is thIIis the SouRRce of the ProOOblLemM?"
Twilight_Sparkle turns to Clara, dripping wet and dejected. "It...must be. That's how this all started. It must be how we finish it."
Rainbow_Dash glares at the book that began it all. "Yah, we need to get our friends back and unch that pirate-guy in the nose!"
Fluttershy crawls out of the brush and walks across the field, head down, not bothering to brush the foliage from her hair. She takes up a position next to Rainbow and Twilight.
Clara heaves a wet breath. She looks between the two of them and quickly settles on the princess. "LiIibRAarY PriIncEsS. YooOU are a LoOOver of BoOoks, are you noOt?" An eyebrow is raised. "I entrUusSt this to yoOur caaArRe." She glances at Rainbow, hoping that the athlete isn't secretly a bibliophile.
Twilight_Sparkle lifts her head, telekinetically taking the book from Clara. "Thank you," she says, peering out from under her soggy bangs. "The answer must be in here."
Nitro_Nine is also dressed as a pirate! Not quite as well as Bardigan, but she's definitely got 'the look' to her! She's buckling swashing before the stage, looking as if she wants to jump up and start dancing. "My heart isn't black as coal!" she says, balancing on her hind hooves for a moment.
Rarity arrives and passes among the partygoers, probably not immediately noticed. She's actually a lot more nervous than she looks... because that's not Rarity. That's Applejack! She seems to have taken her work with Bardigan to either its logical conclusion or else way WAY too far, because the apple farmer has decided to not only dress as her socialite friend, but try to do impressions of her all night! A tall order indeed, though right now she's just sipping a mug of cider provided to her by a Derpy who is now even more confused than usual.
( A swift wind and a slight overpressure heralds the arrival of one of Luna's trusted winged servants! Actually, that's just Rainbow Dash in a rather well-prepared guise, her 'batwings' shuffling a bit as she slows down for a landing. "Yo ponies! Rainbow in the house!" she declares, if it isn't already obvious who she really is. "Heya Rarity! Good to see- whoa whoa." She balks and hovers over to 'Rarity', looking closely at her face. "You're not.../Applejack/!?" )
Bardigan glances down at Nitro with a slightly sloshy grin. "Oh, I don't mean *ye,* me lovely," he says with a chuckle. "Jus' the *bad* ones." He takes another swig from his jug and glances around at the gathering ponies. "Take a seat on yonder benches, me hearties!" he says, his tricorn hat flopping over one eye. "Have some candy! Drink some cider! Siddown so ol' Flint Lock tell ye a tale of the Seven Seas an' Eight Jet Streams!"
Sugar_Rush trots in! Or is it? If it is, he must be wearing his Nightmare Night costume. Still, if one takes a whiff of the air, a sweet scent might betray that is not spectre, but that candy making pegasus.
Nitro_Nine grins as she sits her butt down and grabs some cider. The once noble-dressed mare is dressed like the ragged old salt she is, the only thing that's the same is the half-hidden amulet. "Alright Matey!"
'Rarijack' grins and replies to Rainbow... not with Rarity's *voice*, no, but with a pretty good approximation of her accent. "Indeed not! For tonight at least, I'm 'not Applejack'!" She laughs, same old country-fried chuckle. "You look marvelous, darling! Did Rares... I mean I... have a hoof in that?" She offers a mug of cider to her batwinged friend and goes to sit down for the story.
Rainbow_Dash gawks for a few more moments before providing an answer. "Uhh...actually, I kinda went on my own and did this myself! Wanted something simple this year, you know? And you wanted, uh...that, heheh." Guilty-grin.
Bardigan glances around at the gathering ponies with a little smile, and then abruptly stands up on the stage, throwing his mug into the fire. It bellows and flares up, sending mysteriously green flames and blue sparks into the sky. "Well then, me hearties! Are ya all ready for a chillin' night of greed an' villainy? I know ol' Flint Lock can't keep it in no longer! So plop yer keisters in place, an' get ready for a tale ta' chill the bones! An' every word of it's true, too..." He pulls out an ominous looking book and waggles it about, grinning a snaggle-toothed grin. "I'd know. I was there an' wrote down every word!"
Diamond_Dancer Squawks and clambers up to sit and perk a regal, royal ear. She's a princess after all, and she DOES love Bardigan's tales of adventure!!
Sugar_Rush wanders over to Apple-ty. "Hello there. Happy Nightmare Night!" He opens up one of his saddlebags and offers the mare a black paper sack tied with a purple ribbon.
Clara has arrived.
Applejack sits with Rainbow and lifts her ears (which are white, but if you look closely have a bit of purple staining where her mane dye is rubbing off). "I did indeed! And yours... Well, it's brilliant! Simply divine!" AJ leans over and whispers under her breath, "Ta be honest, Ah ain't rightly sure how much Ah can keep this up! Her falutin' is TOO dang high, know what Ah mean?" She adjusts her horn, which is plastic, and sips some more cider.
Clara arrives at the edge of the gathering just as the bard's story starts to take off. She's dressed in just her ordinary thick brown vest, with her good old pickaxe--only a finely faceted ruby brooch adds to her appearance. She takes in the scene with becrogglement. "PoOoOniIes? HavVe you been eEncHAaAnteEd?"
( "That's not the only thing she has a lot of," bat-Rainbow quips. "I can see what you mean, though: that fancy stuff is natural like water to her, and it's kinda obvious that you're putting in a lot of effort, heh." At last, she takes note of Bardigan's shenanigans and watches intently. "Nice! This should be...hey, you got your cider around here?" )
Bardigan stands up and flips open the book to the first page. The light of day has now definitely vanished entirely, leaving only stars in the sky to frame him, and the dark waters of the lake that slosh ominously on the shore. "Ye may be thinkin: Flint Lock, ye're just an old sea dog! What do ye know about adventure? Well let me tell ye somethin', swabbies. A mere twenny-leven years ago, I was firs' mate on the ship of the dread pirate Cap'n Jack Tar. Aye, an' not a single regret have I! Drowned it all in grog an' ale, drowned the blood an' gold an' all the sorry mess with me other shipmates. 'Twas the gold we were after, chasin' the nascent Merchant Marines cross the air an' waves! Ol' Jack Tar had many secrets, an' not the least of which was how he got a ship... that could *fly.*" Bardigan blows his wings on the fire, and a great sailing ship made of smoke flies out at the crowd before dissipating over their heads.
Diamond_Dancer Squeaks, and patta-pat-pat-pat her hooves against the ground in great cheerful applause at her brother's story! Then she gasps, returns to her former pose of poise, and sits there, pretending not to be enthralled. Being a princess is kinda boring!
Sugar_Rush offers another of his black paper sacks (tied with a purple ribbon) to Rainbow Dash, "Wonderful costume, there! I hope mine is alright..."
<OOC> Rarity says, "Look there! Theres a sudden, mighty thunderous YEEEEEE-HAW in the distance, and suddenly. There she is -APPLEJACK. You know the girl likes to make an impression! That's right, Applejack! "Boy Howdy...Part-ners. I sure do love Apples! I love them so much I named my hooves! I'm sure that's normal on a farm, and not strange, and slightly unnerving anywhere else. I also have a dog. *Squee grin*"
Nitro_Nine is providing more than enough applause. She's rivited to the spot! "A ship that can fly! Get out of here. How'd he get a ship that cloud fly?"
Applejack blinks, then realizes Sugar had offered her a package. She accepts it and gives him in return a down-home facsimile of Rarity's charming smile, then stares in rapture at Bardigan and his smoke trick. "Oooh. That there was pl- uh... Marvellous, simply marvellous!"
Clara strides forward slowly, watching the storytelling carefully until a gohost ship floats forth, at which point she gasps sharply. Her eyes and nose are on that spectral vessel until the moment it's utterly gone. Then she walks forward again until she reaches the lovely Diamond Dancer, whereupon she has the audacity to sit down next to the apparent princess, crossing her legs. She looks over and says nothing.
<OOC> Applejack says, "I'm insulted! I'm SO insulted I may have to take a lie down on a whole series of fainting couches that I drag around with me for just such a reason! Oh no, I feel faint already! *swoons*"
<OOC> Skyheart says, "That's why?"
<OOC> Rainbow_Dash says, "That wasn't....dramatic enough X3"
<OOC> Nitro_Nine grabs Skyheart, uses him as a pillow.
<OOC> Applejack says, "I do beg your pardon. Ahem. WHY HOW DARE YOU, I'VE NEVER BEEN SO INSULTED IN MY LIFE, AND THAT INCLUDES THE LAST SEVEN TIMES YOU MADE FUN OF ME! THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE END, YOU TERRIBLE TERRIBLE PONY! OF ALL THE THINGS YOU COULD HAVE DONE TO ME, THIS IS WITHOUT A DOUBT THE WORST... POSSIBLE... THING!!"
"Hey, thanks Rush!" Rainbow Dash says, "and you're looking pretty good, too." Sure, his costume is a bit too conservative for her tastes, but it's clear he put at least some effort into it. Meanwhile, 'Flint Lock' is spinning his enthralling tale, and Rainbow Dash, becoming enthralled herself, watches in awe as the storyteller makes those tricks with the smoke that she, for all the life of her, doesn't have quite the time or patience to learn how to replicate.
"'Twas how ol' Jack Tar stayed out of reach of ponies, princesses, an' any semblance of decency! I joined his ship when I was still a fresh wee lad. For ten years I was witness ta' the blood left behind in the water. 'Twas a life of knives, glory, an' gold." And out of the fire comes a succession of terrifying images, one after the other: ponies with daggers in their mouths, firing cannons, and clashing swords. "Ol' Flint Lock learned the trade an' carved his way ta' the top of the crow's nest. But the glory days weren't meant ta' last. Justice was ever nippin' at our hooves, but even ol Jack Tar couldn't escape forever. As ye might expect... the beginnin' of this story starts at the end of ol' Jack's bloody career. Three days east of Maretula in the Thousand Isles... there was an island. An island of magic an' mystery. Magic that ne'er should be disturbed." The smoke wafts up to create a skull and crossbones.
Bardigan grins viciously and casts more magical powder on the fire, creating a shadowy, ominous ambience. "A map from a hag, a legend of old fears an' ancient horrors, an' the rumor of treasure without end. 'Twas that that drew us! The lust for treasure. The love of gold! For only gold could slake the lust of a stallion who'd seen all the lands an' known all the maids! Fer three weeks an' a day we hacked our way through island jungle, wastes of volcanic pits, an' monsters of every stripe an' shape. And in the middle of that cursed place we found a cave. An' in that cave was a book. This book." Bardigan holds up his weatherbeaten journal. "An' in that book was a simple spell to ne'er be read. But ol' Jack Tar weren't no pony ta' let somethin' like rules stop 'im. He stepped up, fearin' neither Princess nor pony, an' spoke the words that cursed us forever..." And with an ominous voice, Bardigan begins to read, his eyes glowing frightfully.
Or... are they *supposed* to be glowing?
Sugar_Rush makes his way through the crowd, offering his Nightmare Night treats to anypony who wants one.
Derpy's face is visible for a second and a half between two other ponies. Bardigan's tale seems to have crossed her eyes, which is probably at least something of a compliment.
Firefly_Moon whirrs into the air above like the sound of a very large angry hornet. Then again, metal wings DO make that kind of noise. With glowing eyes the large mechanical device swings in along the path by the lake, folding its wings upon landing with a loud clanking sound, standing quietly as it surveys the goings on, dark metal ears swivelling slightly.
"Travel far and huddle close, you who for power would risk the most. The magic here may not be seen, but for those with reign o'er their dreams." And as Bardigan reads, there is a strange hum resonating through the air. It's just barely in a pony's hearing, more of a background annoyance, persistent but quiet. Whatever Bardigan's doing, these special effects are good! They are just special effects, right? "Power resting now awoken, from ages past and spirits broken. Crack loose the gates and release the hounds of those who hunt without a sound!" And in the lake behind Bardigan, there's a glow from beneath the waves. Bubbles, at first quite but quickly growing to a terrible boil, burst up out of the surface. Bardigan's eyes now look like flashlights, but he's still reading, at a strangely quickened pace.
Applejack mistakes this creature for a special effect and claps hard, decorum momentarily forgotten! *clopclopclopclopclop*
Rainbow_Dash experiences complex amazement as Bardigan begins to assume weird, mystical abilities that no pegasus ought to have. Either he's really, /really/ good or something bad is about to happen. And then that big metal /thing/ shows up at the very edge of her vision. She turns to look, but it's a bit too dark, and soon she's drawn back to Bardigan and his bone-chilling tale. "She just watches him, mouth agape.
Nitro_Nine looks enthralled. It's all part of a good story. The special effects just totally sell it!
"Gloom is shed from realms of dead, seek ye treasure but find no measure of worth that a mortal can hold!" Bardigan finishes with a flourish. From the lake behind him rises up a dark, horrible shape: a long pointed object, quickly rising up and blossoming into a massive curved mass. At first, the water and noise obscure its nature, but it soon becomes clear from the sickly green glow around it: an entire ship is rising up from the depths of the lake! Algae and kelp hangs from gaping empty portholes. Tattered sails flap in an intangible wind. Water sloshes from the deck, spraying the crowd and even Bardigan... who is still reading from the book. His eyes are still glowing, though he is blinking rapidly and seemingly trying to pull away from the book. "But weren't treasure we found that dark an' evil night! Nay, 'twas all our dreams twisted inta' terror! On that day Jack Tar found immortality in the worst way possible! As did we all!"
Rainbow_Dash's gape widens as the thin barrier between story and reality quickly begins to break down before her eyes. "Uhh...Bardigan? That's all you, still, right?" she says pleadingly, feeling the hairs on her back prickle and stiffen. Her legs lean back, as if to prepare to propel herself out of there.
Clara looks sharply between the storyteller, the increasingly astonished crowd, and the ship rising from the lake. Coming to a canine decision, she breaks her hesitance and strides quickly on two legs toward the stage, aiming to yank Bardigan forcefully from the book he's reading.
Applejack leaps to her hooves, dropping the mug. And the act. "What in tarnation's THAT!? What th' hay's goin' on here, Bardigan? Hay! BARDIGAN!?"
Twilight_Sparkle has arrived.
Spike has arrived.
Sugar_Rush looks concerned at the goings on. "Um..." He isn't really the hero type, or at least never thought of himself as such, but still, something should be done. "Anything I can do to help?"
Firefly_Moon locks both ears on Bardigan, its wings snapping outwards with a snik-CLICK like scissors, slow pumping the air, gaining speed until the wings were but a blur and the mechanical device leaves the ground, hovering up a few meters. It folds its legs under itself with four louder whirr-clacks and remains hovering there, glowing green eyes locked on the story teller then to the ship in the lake, then to the rushing Clara, speaking in a level tone much like a speak and spell. "Non pony detected...."
Pinkie_Cry has arrived.
Bardigan doesn't notice anything, wehther it be ponies screaming at him or screaming at the creepy looking sailing vessel coming out of a lake that, if a pony took a moment to think about it, should not be holding a ship that big. Wherever it came from, it wasn't the bottom of the lake. Bardigan's gritting his teeth now, apparently channeling whatever in Equestria is doing all this. "I ran, I did! Ol' Flint Lock turned tail from that shipwreck an' took every gem he could! Be ye readin' this, heed my words: beware the black spot of Cap'n Jack Tar!" The ship settles onto the surface of the lake, and... quite anti-climactically, goes silent. Bardigan's eyes, glowing like lightbulbs, suddenly return to normal. He snaps the book shut and gasps. "Uhhh... well!" he says, somehow *not noticing* the ghost ship in the lake behind him. "Ha ha! Got a little into it there. Moving on..."
Twilight_Sparkle does not immediately notice the ghost ship! Bardigan, especially Bardigan doing his whole bard thing, is highly distracting for her. The princess lets out a dreamy sigh.
Clara has reached the stage and is about to mount it when the bizarre metallic artefact whirrs offensively around her head. She takes a swift step away and readies her pick-axe for a swing, but fortunately seeks understanding before letting loose. "Ii am a frIiieenNd of the PoOoniIes," she snarls at the thing. The ghost ship collapsing to the water doesn't escape her attention, though it does escape her comprehension.
Rainbow_Dash snaps out of her fearful reverie as Clara leaps into action, an event which prompts her own active impulses to come to the fore. At once she leaps forward and surges above the crowd towards the stage. "CRIPES!" she yells, as the big machine suddenly gets in her way. She banks hard, her rainbow contrail zig-zagging craziy as she spins around and skids to a halt in midair. "Whoa, WHOA!" she exclaims, peering at the thing, at the ghost ship, at everything. "Firefly, it's you! I mean-" She looks over at the ethereal vessel. "What is /that/!?"
Gilda is just cruising by. She actually had friends to visit this Nightmare Night, for a change, and some of them were in Ponyville. There are a lot of things she can dismiss with nonchalance, but a ghostly glowing pirate ship isn't among them. She keeps a distance, for the moment just trying to see what the heck this thing is and what the ponies are doing with it.
Spike rolls his eyes at Twilight. "Just kiss and get it over with, you two." He folds his arms, his petulance distracting him enough to keep him from noticing the ship.
Pinkie_Cry was totally swimming in there! Her extraordinarily hot pink inflatable water wings (Rarity said they match her mane - or did a turnip say that?) are about the only thing that is visible until a wave spawned from the emerging ghost ship deposits her on the beach near Princess Bookface is ogling Mister-Hunka-Poet-and-Wordy-Brains. "Hi Twili!" She waves a back left hoof, her head and neck stuck in the mud. So really it's more like "(ei teili)".
( 'Rarity' runs up to Twilight, very agitated! "Twi! Twilight, thank Celestia! Ah think somethin's gone terrible bad, an' it ain't natural. Bardigan read a story an' went all strnage an' now there's this SHIP thing, an' whatthehayever that OTHER thing is with th' wings, an'... Ya got some kinda mojo fer this or do Ah gotta start kickin'? )
Sugar_Rush starts rounding up any young fillies or colts still about and moving them out of the area. "Come on, folks, looks like the ghost story is getting a wee bit too scary for us..."
Firefly_Moon whirrs back from Clara, green eyes glowing. "Scanning.....species Identified. Diamond Dog. Genetic tracing....Identified. Clara. tagged as do-not-kill. Yet." then spins as Dash shoots over. "Ha. Ha. Hello Dash." hovering higher. "Is good. Party. Ship effect...Unknown. Unicorn illusion maybe. I no can do."
"But we =like= it scary!" objects Scootaloo, who nonetheless lets herself gets shepherded by Sugar Rush without much trouble.
But before Bardigan can finish his story, he is interrupted by a booming voice that bursts from the ship itself. "FLINT LOOOOOOCK!" it bellows. It is a sound of rage and bitterness, given voice after years of bottled up repression. And out from the bowels of the ship flies a ghastly sight: a pony, and yet, *not* a pony. At least, the top half is a pony. The lower bit, lacking legs, tapers into a tail with flippers on it. The half-pony thing is heavily bearded, his wild mane tied into dreadlocks sticking out from under a giant tricorn hat. Instead of a feather, there's a femur stuck in the hat band. The pony-thing leaps off the railing and lands on the stage with a disgusting squelch, dripping water that smells heavily of salt. "YOU DARE SUMMON ME WITH THE WORDS THAT CURSED ME AN' MY CREW?! HAVE YA FINALLY COME CRAWLIN' BACK TO OL' JACK TAR?"
And Bardigan, poor, poor Bardigan, only just now notices what's going on behind him. He turns around and sees the ghostly green glowing ghoul, and... blinks. Twice. "Uhhh. What?"
Twilight_Sparkle turns, and regards 'Rarity,' as she's addressed. "Rarit..." she pauses. "...jack?" she finishes. She bursts into a grin. "Great costume! And yeah, Bardy's story is really vivid, isn't it? He really knows how to capture a scene, and make you feel like there ACTUALLY IS a pirate ship bearing down on you." She looks up, and nods in confirmation of her point...then looks up again, and does a by-now-classic Twilight Sparkle Take (tm).
"Hey, leave us alone, you flippered freak!" Rainbow Dash shouts, assessing the situation with her usual level of prudence. Without further thought, she rushes forward at the pony-thing-ghost hoping to knock him senseless! Or something. She's not quite that far ahead.
Clara scowls and maintains a defensive posture. Do not kill ^yet?^ What kind of designation... no. There is too much happening. The effect that had entrapped the bard is broken, but too late--now a terrible new menace has arisen, and swift action is called for. "TurRn your attENtions to the Watter gHAsSt," she hisses at the mechanical vermin. She shouts, cupping her hands and hoping to avert trouble before Rainbow Dash can strike: "You have not TruUuUly beeen SuMmMonNed, waTer GoOEeRs! It was AcciDEeEenNtal!"
Pinkie_Cry tug tug tug tug TUG tug tug TUG tug tug TUG diggatunnel tug YANK! (pop) "Whoa!" She shakes her head of the dust and dirt and things-of-the-mole-people. She swivels around then plomps on her butt to ogle at the pirate ship. "Ooooh. Nice job, Bardy!" Totally realistic!"
Applejack says "Ah got me a real bad feelin' 'bout this, Twi. Come on, before there's a panic. Ah'm gonna ask that thing what it wants."
Derpy shrieks randomly from the crowd: "BLLAAACK SPPOOOOOOOT!!" She then huddles on the ground in her ungainly costume.
Twilight_Sparkle pivots from swooning to lecturing to panicking to poised for battle in a space of about four seconds! She spins to face the lake, stands with her legs dramatically apart, spreads her wings broadly, and flashes red light from her eyes and horn. A lot of the time that's all she has to do, and she's still sort of working out the details in her head if this should escalate, but nothing in her demeanor betrays it unless you know her as well as, say, Spike does.
Rainbow Dash's attack goes almost completely unnoticed. Instead of striking, Rainbow Dash passes right through the monster! That's what happens when you go ghostbusting without proper equipment. From a seaworn belt tied around the seapony's waist comes a wickedly sharp looking sabre, held in the seapony's ungainly fin-hoof. "There be no accidents when it comes ta' the Spot!" he spits. "Jack Tar smelled yer treachery a mile away, Flint Lock! I smell my stolen treasure, an' I'm here ta' steal it back!" He advances on Bardigan, who looks down at his hoof. Sure enough, there's a black spot. He gulps, audible even in the crowd. "Oh dear." 'Jack Tar' looks around at the assembled ponies and recoils, seemingly disgusted. "Eeeuugh! Landlubbers all around! Ye keep strange company these days, Flint Lock!"
"Oh! H-hello, everypony." Hey, look, it's Fluttershy! She left her house for Nightmare Night two nights in a row! Good for you, Fluttershy. "I was just taking the animals out for trick-or-treating, a-and I saw this show and...um, t-this isn't a show, i-i-is it?" "Quack," says Willy the Wood Duck, dropping his candy bag to flee.
It should be noted that the piratical seapony swims through the air as he moves.
Gilda beats her wings a few moments in the air after realizing this isn't some kind of lame pony laser-light show. She's a little too intrigued by it to want to jet off, so instead she lands nearby the crowd of onlooking ponies to spectate. What's the worst that could happen? She can always just fly away.
( 'Rarijack' runs up on the stage! "Bardigan! BARDIGAN! Look out, sugar!" She interposes herself between totally not Flint Lock and totally actually Jack Tar and glares at the latter! "What do y'all want with us? What ARE y'all!?" )
Rainbow_Dash is undeterred by her lack of success and turns around, rushing right at the pirate-pony-thing-ghost again! And goes right through again. Increasingly frustrated, she resors to swatting at him repeatedly with her hooves. "Take that! And /that/!" she announces, buffeting his incorporeal form.
Pinkie_Cry sneeeeeeaks over to shinySparkle and, while she's occupied with the greatgiganticghostthing, begins licking Spike cream cone.
Clara is stymied momentarily by the combined failure of Rainbow to hit her target and the unwillingness of said target to listen to reason. She steps forward again, though, following the edge of the stage toward the lake, and is about to try again when the aristocratic pony she recognizes from town decides to take the stage and make things louder and more panicky. Clara's lip curls, but she says nothing for now.
Spike peers at the pirate and rubs his head. Or...cherry, really. "Do we know he's even dangerous?" he asks no one in particular, although he's closest to Twilight. Then he blinks and looks at Pinkie. "Um, can I help you?" Not that he minds being tasted, but he was hoping it'd be Rarity...
Jack Tar rears back from Applejack's questions, raising an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash's almost pathetic attempts to harm him. With a single brush of his hoof, a great tendril of water rises up from the lake and comes down hard at Rainbow Dash. *SMACK!* And poor Rainbow Dash is sent face first into the water. That done, Jack looks back to Applejack. "Who am I?" he purrs, baring his teeth that are far, far too sharp for a normal pony. He begins to slowly circle AJ and Bardigan - in midair, his flipper flapping. "WHO AM I? I am the greatest pirate of the Third Age! Jack Tar, who left a trail of blood an' sorrow across the Eight Jet Streams an' all the Seven Seas underneath! Jack Tar, who was cursed by the magic of the ancients! Jack Tar, whose scurvy first mate ran like a coward an' DIDN'T EVEN GIVE ME THE PEACE OF HOLDIN' ME TREASURE TA' MY CURSED BOSOM!" He points his sword, frighteningly real, at Bardigan's throat. "That pony there, Flint Lock! Stan' aside an' lemme have the sea's justice on that bilge rat!"
Gilda gravitates over to Spike once she identifies him (he's one of the only costumes around that isn't quadrupedal) and shuffles up to stand beside him. "Great. What'd Ponyville do NOW?"
Rainbow_Dash expresses her dismay and distress with a stentorian "ACKLPGTBFPTGH!" as she is thrust into the lake by supernatunal elemental manipulation. She flails about in the lake, flabbergasted and utterly disoriented.
Firefly_Moon rotates towards Clara, perking its metal ears. "Clara. Is Joke....am Squire. Fire. Fly." turning to look at the thing on the stage. "It...is not. A thing. I can. Not. Do to. LIke this." then lands, aiming a metal wing at TWilight. "New. Princess. Her task. Magic bamf thing." then whirrs and tilts its head to Rainbow. "She learn Celestia trick. Send underlings. Work for you. Ha. Ha." watching Dash pass through the apparition. "Most. Curious." hovering a bit higher to see better, its emerald eyes glowing brighter as it observes the sea pony pirate ghost. "Scanning threat. Target: Ghost. Searching memory....found. Item, Ghostie. Solution: Giggle. Source, Element of Laughter. Result: effective."
Twilight_Sparkle is NOT having this. She leaps in front of Bardigan, her horn ablaze! "Arr! I be Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Equestria, protege of Celestia, and wielder of the element of magic! And you're not getting anywhere near this pony! Not if I have anything to say about it!"
Pinkie_Cry considers this. "... Not really! I was just really really really hoping you were actually a giant ice cream cone!" Beam. Tiny little lick.
Applejack pushes Bardigan aside (flour gets all over his costume) and stands between him and the ghost again. "Ah ain't never heard o' y'all, but whoever y'are, ain't ya got no eyes or nothin'? This ain't no Flint Rock or whatever, this here's BARDIGAN. He ain't *OOF*-" At this moment, Twilight barrels right into her! Applejack capsizes, knocked away by Twilight's determined entrance. She pants for a moment, winded.
Oh no, oh me, oh my! Fluttershy flails her hooves to and fro, making soothing voices, but it's too late - all her animals have scattered, losing a great deal of candy behind them. Nightmare Night is ruined forever! And up on stage - Fluttershy rubs her eyes. "Um," she whispers to Pinkie and Spike. "W-what's going on?"
Rainbow_Dash surges out of the lake, scattering water everywhere, and quickly flies right back to Jack Tar. THis time, though, she's learned her lesson: physical attacks won't take down this ghostly menace. Perhaps some aggressive posturing will work instead. "Listen, you...you wet-earred dead guy! Go back to where you came from or...or I'll do something!"
Clara climbs onto the stage to stand near Bardigan, protecting him. "You are bEeing misTaAken for AnOOOther, I belieEeeve," she confides to him, hoping he's not unresponsive. The mutterings of the mechanical being earn a scoff from the Diamond Dog... until its last pronouncement. "EllemMEnt of LAaUghTer?" She faces the crowd from the stage on all fours. "WhoO is the HolLDer of the ElemmMent of lAaAughTEr?!" she inquires of them.
Gilda spots Rainbow Dash playing the hero. Eyeroll. No news there. A shot of adrenaline rushes into her system as she realizes Dash could get seriously hurt challenging an apparition with a real sword, and she tenses up in anticipation of possibly rushing in to help.
Bardigan by this point just looks utterly confused and more than a little terrified of that sword Jack is so carelessly swinging about. Jack Tar looks down at Twilight and sniffs. "Twilight *Sparkle?* Yer rather *short* for a Princess. Never heard of ya!" And he raises a hoof, summoning a great wave from the surface of the lake to try and wash away any and all ponies between him and his quarry. "If ol' Princess Sunbutt wants ta' roast my keister herself, then let 'er come! I'm beholden ta' nopony, an' I'm not ta' be denied my TREASURE! Outta the way before I gets me dander up!"
<OOC> Pinkie_Cry says, "(All hail Princess Sumbutt)"
<OOC> Pinkie_Cry says, "(*Sunbutt oh gosh)"
<OOC> You say, "The sum of all butts."
<OOC> Pinkie_Cry says, "AND YET IT'S SO PERFECT IT'S NOT REALLY A MISTAKE"
Having been generously spreading the maple treat wealth around ponyville, thanks to a little cart towed behind him, Maple couldn't help but overhear the commotion coming from the lake. Decked out in as authentic Neighponese armor as he could find, comes trotting down the path with a bit of urgency due to the commotion.
Sugar_Rush may not be as quick as Dash, but gosh darn it, he is nothing to sneeze at. He zips in front of the newly formed wave front and starts scooping up any ponies that don't look like they are going to get out of the way in time.
Applejack staggers to her hooves, and has just enough time to assure Sugar Rush that she'll be fine before the wave hits and washes her away! She fetches up upside-down under a tree, orange again, and with her indigo-dyed mane and tail plastered everywhere. "ah'm gettin' mighty sick o' this."
Spike looks visibly disappointed at the disappearance of pseudo-Rarity.
Rainbow_Dash is a bit more directly affected by Jack Tar's threat, so the whole business of rescue and even Firefly-golem escapes her attention. Instead, she is directly focused on the pirate-ghost and his large, menacing sword. "The Diamond Dog's right! This isn't the /real/ Pint Clock! Look!" With that, she lays her hooves on Bardigan and begins divesting the other pegasus of his costume items, tugging at his hat, his coat, everything. "I'll show you that you're just some kind of...dead guy!"
Twilight_Sparkle looks over at Applejack and gives her a chagrined little "Sorry, AJ!" before turning again to face the spectral pirate. With a glash, Twilight raises a magical wall between everypony and the wave...the wave sloshes against it, roiling frighteningly but harmlessly on the other side, inches from the ponies furthest from Twilight. Then...is that music? A gentle tune, a lullabye, like chimes, seems to sound from the depths...and to soothe the water back into gently lapping at the shore.
Pinkie_Cry is attempting to deduce which of the 39+ flavors Spike is masquerading as (she's got her deerstalker cap and everything) when she's spurred by repeated prolongued and kinda spooky requests for the element of laughter. She wavewavewaves a hoof at Clara. "Oooh! Ooh! I think that's me! I THINK THAT'S ME CALL ON ME" she calls up to the diamond dog, probably bonking a pony or two in the head with her hoof in the process.
Poor little Scootaloo nearly gets washed under by that sudden huge wave. Pumping her wings as hard as she can, she barely manages to escape the surf. She laughs in triumph just as her wings give out. She finds herself sprawled on top of a giant ice cream cone on top of a dragon.
Firefly_Moon whirrs above the wave, watching silently for the moment as Rainbow strips Bardigan. "Record mode active." turning green emeralds to the goings on, whirring in and landing on the stage with a heavy CLANK. It folds it wings away with a whirr click and just watches.
Twilight_Sparkle is quite preoccupied, and does not notice Rainbow Dash undressing Bardigan. She might have something to say about it if she weren't!
<OOC> Derpy laughs!
<OOC> Firefly_Moon saves the recording for Twilight later on.
<OOC> Rainbow_Dash says, "Firefly you're a perv XP"
<OOC> Firefly_Moon says, "YOU'RE the one stripping him. Nothing new to Fire. LOL"
Clara joins Rainbow Dash in stripping Bardigan of his accouterments. Now it's an interspecies threesome! She glares at Jack Tar and his ship all the while. "He is BaAAardIgan, a stoOrRyteLLer and loOver of PriIiNcesSeSs! He is not the PiiRrate you sEeeK," she insists loudly.
<OOC> Rainbow_Dash says, "CLARA XP"
Applejack stands up and shakes out. Twilight's shield must not have QUITE been wide enough, but whatever, Apples are tough. She can take it. But she didn't ENJOY it much. "Ah am plumb TIRED o' this! YEEHAW!" And she takes to her hooves, running straight at the spectre of Jack Tar! - turning at the last possible second to lift up the REAL Kicks and Bucky and lay into the pirate captain's sword, trying to knock it where it won't be able to hurt anypony!
<OOC> You say, "I'm here now!"
<OOC> Applejack has done something terribly inadvisable!
<OOC> Squirrelly nods. She got involved. Silly ponies. :-)
<OOC> You say, "So apparently a bunch of ponies are ripping my clothes off. I'd enjoy this more under different circumstances!"
<OOC> Pinkie_Cry says, "And she -totally- just kicked a sword."
<OOC> Clara is not eXaactly a poOny.
<OOC> Applejack did.
<OOC> Rainbow_Dash says, "Bardy it's more like ripping off a burning tent off somepony's body :u"
<OOC> Squirrelly nods. Clara has paws too. Very nice.
<OOC> You say, "So what you're saying is..."
<OOC> You say, "I'm on fire."
<OOC> You say, "Boomshakalaka."
<OOC> Rainbow_Dash shoves Bardy
Jack looks a bit... uncertain as the wave passes by and Twilight Sparkle is still standing strong. "ARRR! Yer messin' with *my* sea swells, ye thrice-damned phony Princess!" Bardigan yelps and squirms as he's jerked in several different directions at once. "Whoa! Hey! I don't think it's working!" Jack is certainly not deterred, but he does give out a cry of rage as AJ's attack takes him off guard, making his sword fly off and into the depths of the lake. He floats back a pace and sniffs. "All right then. If ye won't give up the traitor willingly-like... MATES!" he barks over his shoulder. "IT'S TIME FER THE PLUNDER!" A ghastly wail arises from the bowels of the ship, and out of its hold, from all the open portholes, and even straight through the hull comes a menagerie of ghouls and monsters, all riding some invisible waves or running on unseen roads. Most of them are ponies... or, they would be, were it not for the missing flesh and contorted expressions of pure psychotic rage. And even *then*, cannons are rolled up, and without any warning start spitting ugly green fire at the gathered ponies, obliterating the very ground they stand on!
Pinkie_Cry is back to staring intensely at Spike, hoping that this will somehow turn him into a real ice cream cone.
"C'mon, get off!" Rainbow Dash exclaims, trying to pull off Bardy's pirate coat, but it's too late: the ghost ship is attacking!
<OOC> Applejack hopes folks will put on her headstone 'The Last Thing She Did Was Awesome'.
Maplewing somehow manages to slip out of his little wagon's harness and spring into the air, hovering just over the ground to flip the brake on the wagon, causing it to scrabble to a halt violently and nearly tipping over, at the very least rolling up onto one wheel before landing with a 'THUD' again as Maple glides toward the pond "w..what's going on!? he exclaims to anyone he can find that is calm enough to answer.
Sugar_Rush zips over to Maple, "Hey! We got ghost pirates attacking. Don't ask why, no time to explain. Let's try and get folks out of harm's way!"
"Um," squeaks Fluttershy, peeking out from behind somepony way, way in the back row. "M-m-Mister Ghost? P-please don't hurt my friend..."
"C'mon, get off!" Rainbow Dash exclaims, trying to pull off Bardy's pirate coat, but it's too late: the ghost ship is attacking! Something clicks at the back of her mind as she beholds the cannons bristling with ghostly fire. "Lie back! Brace for the attack!" she yells, countless hours of Weather Patrol drills suddenly gushing out from the wellsprings of memory. She leaps into the air and draws her wings back and forth, sending out waves of rainbow-coloured wing-energy that slice at the ghastly buccaneers. "Break through the center!" she commands to anypony who might happen to be in hearing distance.
Applejack stands her ground! Maybe stupidly. But there's a principle at play here! You don't abandon anypony in need! "Aw, horsefeathers! Maplewing! Rainbow needs yer help, Ah can't goldarned fly! Twilight! TWI! What th' hay's wrong with y'all! Come ON!" She stands by the fallen (and somewhat molested) playwright, and stares down the terrible apparition. Only ponies who know her very well - several are here - can tell that she's absolutely terrified. She knows she probably can't do anything to these monsters, but thinks it's her duty to try anyway.
Clara would love to break through the center, but she has no idea what that means or how it can be accomplished without wings. She attempts to pull Bardigan off of and behind the stage in order to use it as shelter!
Twilight_Sparkle takes to the air! Oh, she's a thing to behold. She must have been practicing! She's not quite Dash's equal, but she also doesn't look like she's going to kick herself in the face, which she...managed a couple times early on. She flanks her friend, sending blasts of magical energy from her horn like machine gun fire! You don't mess with Twilight Sparkle's friends.
Spike's costume does most of the job of breaking Scootaloo's fall, "Are you all right?" He asks the little pegasus. He tries to help her up, but in the top-heavy costume he's having a hard time getting upright again himself.
Pinkie_Cry gives up on the great ice cream quest and bounces over to Applejack. Ohh, she can -sense- AJ is absolutely terrified, that's for sure! And that's why she immediately leaps into Applejack's hooves and shouts desperately, "SOMEPONY HEEEEELLLLPPPPP!"
( Scootaloo seems to have been adequately protected from what was left of the superwave by Twilight's shield, which she got behind just in time. She turns and sees Spike tumbled under the costume. "Hey, what're you doing under my ice cream cone? Come on, let's get out of here." She uses her noggin and the force of her buzzy wings to push the dragon to his feet, cone, cherry and all. Then the cannons start breaking the ground in front of them! "Whoa! Okay, let's =really= go!" But Pinkie's cry for help gets her attention. Can she really abandon adults in need? )
Jack Tar screams in frustration as his ghoulish offensive is stopped cold by a pretty pony princess and her magic wonderbolts. That and Rainbow Dash's strange rainbow magic, causing the creatures they touch to burn and screech, shying away. The rest of them circle overhead, terrorizing the crowd that is scattering out of pure terror. "Are ye stallions or foals?! Shoot the purple one! THE PURPLE ONE!" Jack shouts at his crew, watching one get blasted right back through his porthole by Twilaser Sparkgun. He glances down at Applejack, standing next to Bardigan, and his eyes narrow. Bardigan shakes his head at Applejack. "Running won't help! I've got the Spot on me!" he shouts at Applejack and shows her his hoof. "Do you know what that *means?!* Pirates don't get away from the Spot! We should-" But he doesn't have time to finish as Jack comes out of the sky with a screech, aiming straight for Applejack... and disappears the moment he touches her. Applejack may feel some momentary discomfort before everything just sort of... goes blank.
Rainbow_Dash's heart pumps with excitement as she sees several ghosts burn up from her wind attacks. "Yeah, that'll show ya!" she shouts, banking upward and trying to same trick on some of the ghosts floating up above. "Take that! And /that/!" she taunts, sending wave after wave of energy at them. "Nice, we'll definitely win this in ju- WHOA!" She looks down and catches a glimpse of Jack Tar assaulting Applejack. "APPLEJACK!!" she yells, diving down to intercept.
Clara is also there when the priate captain attacks. She holds out a tiny white gem in a pewter casing, hind legs straddling Bardigan, tail curved up with a flourish. The gem shimmers with magic... but has no effect, so far as she can tell, on the ghost pirate, who simply... vanishes? Clara's tense expression settles, as do her ears. "WhaAt has hAapPpeNed?" she rasps to Rainbow and Applejack.
Applejack half-turns to yell at Bardigan over the chaos, "NO, Ah don't know what in tarnation 'THE SPOT' is, Ah ain't never heard o-HGK." An almost invisible shockwave passes over her pelt, as the spectre of Jack Tar touches her and disappears! Her expression changes completely. To something... not really right. "Har. Ha har! HA HA HA HAR!!" The normal emerald of her eyes lights up to a sickly green. "First time in a hundred years I got me hooves t' feel with! And now I'm going to feel them ROUND YER NECK! COME HERE, YE LUBBER!" And she... she?... dives for Bardigan! "Yer comin' with me, Flint Lock! There ain't no escape from the Spot! YAHARR!"
Pinkie_Cry staaaares at Applejack and swiftly abandons Appleship, landing in some other (un?)fortunate pony's hooves.
Rainbow_Dash screeches to a halt, gawping at Applejack as she's suddenly possessed! "Great, not this again!" she says, and with that she rushes forward to tackle her now-corporeal target.
Twilight_Sparkle spins around in midair...but such a rapid pivot is still awkward for the alicorn who's had her wings less than a year! She ends up in a roll, tumbling down out of the sky. "Wh-whoaaaoaaaaaaaaa!" She collides with the Dash/Clara/Bardigan/Applejack mass roughly simultaneously.
Spike's eyes widen as things suddenly get a lot more serious. He glances at Scootaloo. "Don't let any of the ghosts touch you, or they'll take you over too!" He runs...well, rapidly waddles...toward Twilight, the clumsy ice cream cone suit stopping him from just dropping on all fours for speed. He's not sure whether he's going to protect her, or hoping to be protected by her, but he wants her near. "Twi! Be careful, that pirate's taken over Applejack!"
"PinNk ooNe!" shouts Clara, taking in the situation with terror. "Are yOOou the ElelemeNt of LaAughTer?" She tumbles, her balance dislodged by the combination of Rainbow fighting AJ and Twilight the alicorn smashing down into the group. "Then LaaUUuGH!!" she shouts as she rolls over backwards.
"Ghosts that touch you take you over? Check." Scootaloo braces for action, and then... runs off.
Pinkie_Cry whimpers. "But but but nothing's funny!" the Pinkie protests. You know, nothing like Spike awkwardly waddling around in an ice cream suit while a possessed apple farmer cackles. Her lip begins to wibble.
Bardigan happens to be the one Pinkie Pie lands on, and *he* alrady has Clara straddling him from behind. This does absolutely nothing but add to the confusion when *everypony* ends up tangled together, pirates, faux-rates, and pony princesses at once. Maplewing and Scootaloo, too, have their own problems: a group of ghosts rushing them from the sky, all wearing macabre expressions of glee. That and the crowd of ponies still running about, harried by the undead spirits.
Scootaloo was mistaken! The cart only nearly tipped over. She still wants it!
Maplewing looks up to spot Rush appproaching, who blurt something out as he Runs by. "Um, what?" he stammers, just as AJ, with her much louder voice (at least when the adrenaline is up, he supposes) shouts to him. Nodding to her he grins. "Right!" he calls back when Scootaloo calls to him. His wagon is indeed about the same size, perhaps a bit bigger and definitely heavier than a scooter. "Go for it!" he grins broadly, whether it had been tipped over or not and launches himself into the air, which might be a bit impressive and showing his flying strength given his takeoff speed and the mostly authentic armor he wears costume wise. Dipping in and out between ponies and ghosts, he darts in along behind Dash, doing his best to draw off any spectral bogies from the performance flier.
Applejack-Tar gets piled under Twilight and Rainbow and Bardigan and Clara. But only for a moment. "Trim my tail, is THIS the kind of thing that passes fer fightin' now?" Her whole body bursts out with sickly green fire, knocking all the other ponies (and Clara) away! *WHAM*! ... All that is, except for Bardigan, who she grips hard from behind with her front hooves, then slowly lifts off the stage. Both of them are surrounded by the eldritch flames, and 'she' cackles triumphant laughter at the sky and the creatures on the ground as the dread pirate spectre Captain Jack Tar steals Bardigan away to the ghostly ship... and as collateral damage... Applejack, too.
Clara normally does not approve of the use of insults in a heated situation. At this moment, she can hardly disapprove. "The ElLLEment hoLlder is incapAaacitTAted," she observes, picking up one of the sleeping Pinkie's legs and letting it flop. Before she can pose her follow-up thought, the spook attacks everyone and she goes flying. She flips over and lands hard with an "ARRF!" Then she pushes herself up slowly, panting heavily.
Spike chases vainly after the ghost, but soon realizes it's a hopeless effort. He slumps. "He's using green fire for *evil*, he complains, to no one in particular.
( "All right!" chimes Scootaloo, pumping her forelegs while managing to barely get them off the ground. She hops into the front of the cart and hastily figures out how to steer the thing while it's rolling! But before she can reach the scene of the fight, there's a burst of green and suddenly the ghost is making a getaway! "HEY, GET BACK HERE!!" shouts the flightless filly, standing impotently from the cab of the cart. "ONLY SPIKE GETS TO USE GREEN FIRE FOR EVIL!" )
Rainbow_Dash is knocked away, uttering a loud 'OMPH!" as she is thrown back. "APPLEJACK! BARDIGAN!" she shouts, pushing herself off the ground and into the air, zooming right towards her floating friends. "LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!"
Maplewing is tailed by at least five different shades of creepy. Maybe even six. His plan is working... But the deed is done, and Bardigan and Applejack are on the deck of the ship. Applejack Tar grins back at them all, even as Bardigan futilely pushes and kicks at her (him?). "Ye been a fine audience one an' all, but I'm afraid 'tis time ta' turn to the wind an' set sail! I'm off ta' find me treasure!" There's a rumbling from the lake, and a wave even bigger than before swells up, towering even the topsail of the vessel. The ghosts give up their attack on the ponies and flee back to the ship, the last one disappearing just as the monster of a wave envelopes the craft from stem to stern. With a tremendous crash the crest of the wave comes roaring back down onto the lake's surface... and when it calms, everything calms. The ship, Applejack, and Bardigan are... gone.
Applejack must have been released from the ghost's control just before the ship disappeared, because the last thing to come from it was her voice calling out to her best friend - "HELP! RAINB-"... and being suddenly cut off.
And on the now burning theater platform, with a pathetic little flop, drops the source of all this mess: Bardigan's storybook.
Rainbow_Dash soars through the air like lightning, her contrail billowing outward, but it's too late: the pirates have gone! Her momentum takes her right back into the lake, her form toppling and thrashing about before the churning waters as the ghost ship disapparates. "*blugh* APPLEJACK! BARDIGAN!" she cries out, threading water for a while before plucking herself out of the lake and zipping about frantically. "Applejack! Oh no, oh Celestia..."
Twilight_Sparkle hurls herself through the air after Rainbow Dash! Two ponies she cares for most in the world...gone beneath the waves! She splashes down hard, her horn aglow, lighting up the lacke all around her; she finally surfaces, gasping and crying out in despair. "Bardigan! Applejack! No!"
Clara decides to do the practical thing. She rolls in a puddle left from the tremendous wave, goes to the stage, and shakes herself hard. The resulting spray of dogwater is enough to put the nascent fire out.
Way down below, Fluttershy hauls herself out of the bush she was knocked into some ten minutes proir, covered in scratches and leaves and twigs poking out of her mane. She looks up at the sky, eyes wobbly with tears, and mumbles, "...A-Applejack?"
A small white object has tangled in Twilight's mane when she dove into the lake: it is the plastic horn Applejack was wearing as part of her costume.
Maplewing veers low to the ground and toward the ship as the ghosts pursue him, he's aimed dead toward the duelling pair just as the ghosts pursuing him break off and retreat bak to their ship. He turns and spreads his wings wide, airbreaking hard and shifting into a hover. "what... just happened?" he says to nopony in particular, looking a little confused.
"I =think= that ghost ship just stole my best friend's sister!" answers Scootaloo, her snout flaring with anger. "And if that's what =did= happen, then that Jack Tar guy's gonna =pay!=" She slams her hoof down on the front of the maple cart.
Rainbow_Dash plaintively hovers back to shore, her hooves touching the ground but her heart (and expression) heavy. "They're...they're gone," she utters in disbelief and despair.
Twilight_Sparkle wades ashore beside Rainbow Dash, her head low.
The weatherbeaten storybook/apparently authentic journal remains on the stage, waiting in the midst of the ponies. Waiting to be read again and bring more trouble perhaps, or give some answers.
Clara got water on the journal when she put out the fire. But she does notice it eventually, and picks it up. She dismounts the stage and carries the book, holding it not in her paws but in a fold of her vest, toward Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle. "Is thIIis the SouRRce of the ProOOblLemM?"
Twilight_Sparkle turns to Clara, dripping wet and dejected. "It...must be. That's how this all started. It must be how we finish it."
Rainbow_Dash glares at the book that began it all. "Yah, we need to get our friends back and unch that pirate-guy in the nose!"
Fluttershy crawls out of the brush and walks across the field, head down, not bothering to brush the foliage from her hair. She takes up a position next to Rainbow and Twilight.
Clara heaves a wet breath. She looks between the two of them and quickly settles on the princess. "LiIibRAarY PriIncEsS. YooOU are a LoOOver of BoOoks, are you noOt?" An eyebrow is raised. "I entrUusSt this to yoOur caaArRe." She glances at Rainbow, hoping that the athlete isn't secretly a bibliophile.
Twilight_Sparkle lifts her head, telekinetically taking the book from Clara. "Thank you," she says, peering out from under her soggy bangs. "The answer must be in here."