The Town in the Fog (A Spellbound Adventure!)

[Bellosh]

 

All it took was one piercing scream for Moony to jolt with a yelp back into reality… or what passed for reality today, wherever she was. At least this time, her buddies were all with her again, suggesting that she was indeed not dreaming. Worryingly, the scene around her remained as warped as all the previous situations ever since they penetrated that stupid barrier. Once glance to Moony’s side revealed an even more disturbed Java, who probably was the source of the shriek seconds ago. Oh, and there was a cryptic silhouette talking in riddles too; just exactly the sort of thing Spellbound needed right now.

 

At least the wild magical roller-coaster seemed to give the four ponies a bit of a reprieve for the time being. While Presteza led the group into a house, Moony let her frustration show over her feelings of powerlessness as she asked the painter pony; “Okay, so where in Tartarus are we at now? Just to be clear, we didn’t all like, accidentally step into a portal into Tartarus or anything, right?”

[tacobob]

 

Pocket Change let out an loud and very unheroic ‘WAAGH!’ as his fellow stallion’s scream woke him from the rather heavily involved dream he just had. If only the unicorn’s more pleasant dreams were this vivid. Although, that was not the first time and probably not the last time he would have a nightmare that involved the royal wedding. As the unicorn opened his eyes, he noticed the fuzz on his legs was standing on their ends, which he quickly shook back into place, just in time to feel and see Java as he pushed his ear against the stallion’s much beloved ADVENTURE shirt. “Erm.  Mister J, I’m still alive. I hope.”, he glanced around the strange area they were in..

 

“Moony?”, he shifted a worried glance over at the mare, making sure nothing was wrong with her. “I don’t believe they have little houses in the underworld.” Seeing that the she and others were unharmed made Pocket Change feel a little better. Entering the building returned his sense of uneasiness, “I can only assume they fired the maid. Hmmmm.”

 

The stallion glanced down at the papers and tried his very best to read one.

 

OOC: Pocket Change will try to read one of the random papers on the ground. Is he able to make out anything in the gloom they're in? If so, what does it say?

 

The stallion quickly moved forward, slamming his ear into Pressy's chest. Heart beat? Check! Then Taco! Heart beat? CHECK! Lastly, Moondancer! CHECK!

 

TACO?

[moonshineTheleocat]

((DEAR LORD! I’m sorry guys, exactly a month later))

The stallion watched the strange glowing moth flutter away. The final words echoing away in his head. Did… did he hear that right? Exposition dump? He’s heard of all sorts of slang before… but never a writer slang outside of… well writing. Especially when used so fondly. But… then again… this entire adventure had already taken a weird turn. To one where he thought they would all die… and he’d just be a useless little earth pony in a group of magic users. Why… why did he join this adventure again if he’d be more of a witness than a pony that actually did anything? He was probably just a redundant addition.

Oh yes, he hadn’t gone on an adventure with his special pony since they were foals. He partially wondered if the other’s thought about his dilemma. But… probably not. He’s just feeling a bit out of place, or insecure. Maybe both. Probably both. Maybe this… droll atmosphere was doing this to him? Colors did effect a ponies mood they say. And with everything so gray, he was particularly feeling gray. But also like a sleuth. Looking a bit deeper… yes he was feeling a bit… hard boiled. Also a possibility. Gray was often a color used in comics with tough characters solving strange crimes, or going through a harsh city. Why should this be any different?

The stallion let out a low sigh, as he decided to turn his attention to more pressing matters. The other’s were already inside the house looking over some spread out documents. He wasn’t entirely sure if anything they found would be entirely useful. And he would most certainly agree that there would be assured safety if he stuck around.


But the point became moot when he also applied the fact that three ponies with superior magic abilities in a tight space would be rather threatening to not only themselves… but himself included… given he has to be close in order to defend anything. And… in his experience… when ponies panic… aim is usually shaky.

Java looked back up, a small flicker catching his eye. His gaze turned down to the end of the street where he saw light. Or… what he thought was presumably light. Instead of the typical warm glow of any hue, all he could see was cold white repeatedly fighting off advancing shades of black in this “artistic” atmosphere. It was a strange sight really… a tug of war between two hues… and none of them was anything he wanted.

“Hey, I’m going to go see whats down this street. Looks like there’s some light down there. I think.” The stallion called out to his friends. He reached into his waist coat to pull out a pair of glasses and slipped them on. His vision cleared up quite dramatically, letting him see further much more clearly. Yeah… definitely something was down there. Smoke? Yes… smoke… even if color was sapped out, he could still see the ash float up into the air.

 

The pony pulled something else out of his pocket and clipped it to the frame of his glasses. He turned his head to a nearby wall. And soon a light flickered on from the device without him actively turning it on. The beam was wide and dim… but it slowly focused, and flickered a number of times while the pony tested it out. Once he was assured… that this flashlight he never bothered to test because he never had a reason for it… worked, he continued on down the street.

 

And as he walked… he could of sworn he saw something weaving out of the edges of his eyes. To make it more terrifying… a pony’s eyes had an exceptionally large view range… nearly going behind them in fact. Which implies that really the only actual blind spot is directly behind him. But... it's a cone.. and for him to see it from both eyes means... oh boy…

The stallion quickly whirled around, his flashlight quickly flicking on as he tried to search out what ever could be possibly following him. His eyes continued sifting about. Then his light flicked back off.

“Maybe not the best idea I’ve ever had…” the stallion mused to himself with a grimace, he slowly turned around. He walked further. Thinking… no knowing full well that something is following him.

‘Sir, you should see whats lurking in those streets.’ A quote that echoed in his head.

 

He had no intentions in outright finding them.  But… he had a feeling was going to see it anyways. Seems like that something had found him first. Well, there was no point in delaying the inevitable it seems.

And then finally Java came to a stop. He found the source of the fire. A large bonfire precariously placed in the streets. Nary has a thought in the world been given to safety it seemed as the flames also happily licked away at the grass… and turned them from a light hue of gray… to a charcoal black. A mass scale fire waiting to happen. But… how long has this been here?

 

The stallion glanced around, spotting massive amounts of coffins lying about in the streets, grass, well everywhere.

“Oh… lovely!” The stallion gasped, as he quickly took a step back. His haunches bumped into one. Which… caused whatever was inside to start shaking and thrashing about. If it wasn’t for the chains holding the coffin together, it’s wish just might have been granted. In fact… all of these coffins had chains on them.

The stallion frowned turning his attention down to the coffin that was thrashing in front of him. No muffled cries. No groans. Nothing but something angry. Definitely not worth opening it seems. His torch turned back on once more, and quickly focused the beam down onto the plate.

Adam’s Apple, a gentle giant.

“Looks like the apple family goes out this far too it seems,” Java mused with a smile as he decided to test something. He gave the coffin a few rhythmic taps with his hoof. And the coffin went eerily still.

 

Tap tap tap tap…

There was a brief pause… and the creature responded by banging once more.

CRASH CRASH… then a pause.

Tap tap tap tap…

CRASH CRASh… pause.

Tap tap tap tap… tap tap tap tap… tap tap tap tap…

there was a longer pause… then finally, CRASH CRASH.

[Pretzelparty]

 

"Wot Pocket said... Also I imagine Equestrian-trottingham style isn't the type to elude the terror that a pony would think of when walkin' through tartarus..." The painter began looking around the house, trying to soak in every detail, even as she felt something weighing at her mind. Pocket's observation wasn't an exageration, the decor of the house had a thorough coating of dust on most of the substances. There was one thing that caught the painter's eye. A small hoofheld lamp... The cream colored mare approached it and blew a cloud of dust off of it before unscrewing a small cap on the side and sniffing once. "Still has some oil in it..." She flipped a switch on it and soon it produced a soft but potent orange light over the scene.

The papers scattered on the floor were seemingly random pages from books and possibly recent newspaper articles. The most recent one mentioned something about a group of diamond dogs digging underneath the town and locating... somesort of pre-equestrian artifact. There was mention of the item scheduled to go on display at a town house before being shipped off to a museum in Canterlot. If they looked over the rest of the room they'd see no other papers with a date past the one detailing the artifact's discovery...

 

 

Meanwhile, back with Java.

 

Curiously it seemed that the coffins were bound in chains that were made of silver. The replying crashing that responded to the gentle taps produced the eccentric engineer's hoof. Each responding ruckus shook the coffin intensely until it tiled and fell on it's side. Soon Java heard and intense and sharp hiss, loud and piercing enough you could feel it in the back of your skull. No words accompanied it but just a potent feeling of wariness accompanied by fear. 

The fallen coffin's lid was parted ever so slightly. If the stallion wished he could dare to take a look at whatever may lay within. Whether or not he did so however, after a few moments he would hear the sound of four hooves landing on the pavement behind him. It seemed as if the large bonfire dimmed the second the sound was made, and it was only getting darker...

[Bellosh]

 

Assured that at the very least they weren’t all in the Underworld, Moony shot back in a sarcastically cheerful manner; “Well, I suppose that is a little bit of good news. Although we still have no idea what’s happening. I suppose judging by the houses, we’re finally in Hollow Shades except that it’s stuck in some of, I don’t know, a weirdness bubble, or uhhh something.” It’s too bad that no experts in weirdness had yet to join Spellbound; they could have had come in handy right about now.

 

Moony felt a little bit more at ease as the group headed back indoors; generally, it wasn’t wise to hang out in the outdoors during these sorts of anomalies. The young mare’s thoughts about the messy condition of the interior echoed those of Pocket Change; “Yeah, we ponies tend to leave messes behind whenever we have to immediately flee from somewhere, but seriously, where did all these papers come fro- oh, whatcha’ readin’ Pocket?”

 

Curious to read whatever days-old newspaper article attracted her boyfriend’s interest, Moony moved in next to him so she could read over his shoulder; “Ahem... ‘KITTICORNS PUT TOWN UNDER SPELL. Yesterday, local entrepreneur Buckford GoLucky unveiled his newest attraction over at the Tourist Trap: the most-elusive kitticorns. With the body of a cat and the horn of a unicorn, there kitticorns are set to enchant visitors throughout the upcoming summer season.’ Oh look, doesn’t that kitticorn look cute, Pocket?” Despite everything around them, Moony couldn’t help but fawn over a black-and-white picture of a cat with a fake horn strapped on its head. Yes, the moon-flanked unicorn was a sucker for this sort of stuff.

 

All the while, Moony’s hoof unwittingly covered up the paper on the floor covering the recent artifact discovery, indistinguishable from the dozens of other sheets strewn all over the room. Meanwhile, another thought of concern gnawed at the girl’s mind; “Hey guys, did Java come back yet from that street he was checking out?”

[tacobob]

 

 

The stallion nodded his head as Moondancer spoke about an 'weirdness bubble'. "I've read that in theory, areas where great magic had been formed, it could be just magic for the sake of it, or even epic magical battles, can leave areas permanently turned into either 'dead' or 'wild' magic areas. Either magic does not simply work, or when used, magic goes crazy. Sort of like. er.", he still could not get over the fact that Discord had been given a full reprieve and was now permitted to freely roam Equestria.  "Like a certain chaos spirit would like to do...erm.", he caught sight of the article his beloved magical mare was gushing over and could not help but chuckle.

 

This all reminded him of the popular and rather random tourist traps that could be seen allover Equestria. from the wax museums, 'spook hills' and 'mystery spots' where one could find all kinds of oddities from suspicious taxidermy pieces to dusty old earth ponies painted up to look like 'zebra mystics'. Hollow Shades probably had similar places. What the other places lacked, was whatever crazy magic that had been going on here...But there was also something else that bothered the stallion..."Java?" Oh right! For some odd reason, they allowed him to wander off on his own! That was probably not the best idea.

 

"Before we move on...We better find him...And we need not to separate again.", he glanced towards the direction where the stallion was seen last..And will follow (or lead) with the others to find Java before it was too late!

[moonshineTheleocat]

Java satisfied with his own small agenda to amuse himself in such a dreary world, slowly found his hardboiled feeling fade away, and once more put him at ease. Yep… everything was going to be just fine and dandy. The stallion turned away, and looked among the houses. He did notice one peculiar detail, the coffins were laid out in front of the lawns homes. Large ones, usually in pairs of two were accompanied by one or more smaller ones. There were of course the few pairs that were alone, and often just one large coffin.
 

“Huh… I wonder if those are the owners,” The stallion mused as he slowly approached a house. He drew closer to one of the coffins, and noticed that it to was held together with silver chains. And as he neared, whatever was inside began to throw a fit. The same usual racket as the last one. Thrashing softly with soft non-pony noises coming from the inside. The stallion had only just decisively took a step back when he heard something crash to the ground behind him.

 

Alerted, and with a hint of fear growing inside of him, the stallion jumped into the air. His hooves kicked in a panicked frenzy, as his body twisted to reangle himself to whatever just arrived. It took a bit before old habits reactivated inside him, and when he landed he hit the ground in a crouch. The fur along his spine stood on end, his tail hung low with his tail and his teeth baring. But… what he saw… sunk a dreadful feeling in his gut.

 

The creature before him looked like some deranged mock up of what was once a pony, horrifically distorted through some imaging effects. It’s face was swirled and twisted, leaving an eye in the center to look at him, while the other eye rested where the chin once was. It’s muzzle had been angled sideways, and had been streatched by the swirling effect till it was now on the crown, with the jaws pointing to the creature’s left.

It’s legs were noodly and horrifically streatched giving the creature an incredible height on limbs that should not even be able to support it. It’s torso was probably the worst feature. It was streatched so badly, that it the skin had began to tighten around it’s spine just after the ribcage. Truly a creature of a horrific appearance.

The two stared at each other. And nothing happened.
Java slowly began to rise up from his crouch, and close his jaws. Nothing happened.

The stallion awkwardly began to look in both directions, then back at the creature. Nothing happened.

 

“Er…. Hi there?” Java nervously asked with a grimace. The creature regarded him for a moment longer… before stalking off to an old looking coffin with it’s chains just beginning to bite into the mantle. It appeared to be finicing with the chains, attempting to adjust them.

 

“Riiiight… so… er…” the stallion glanced down to the creature’s legs, then back up. He was starting to wish that the moth wasn't so cryptic, but it seems he found one of the creatures she mentioned. “Daddy long-legs… I see… you’re a guardian of some sort. But… could you tell me what happened here? You have a mouth... so I assume that works...”