Ashton Posted January 7, 2020 Report Share Posted January 7, 2020 Cloudy Skies Jasper Dragon Azure "Iggy" Ignine It was a beautiful day in ponyville. The sky was clear of any clouds, the sun was signing, it was just slightly warmer than it usually was this time of the year... And panicked screams were heard from the everfree. A completely typical day. Two figures burst from the perimeter of the forest, a familiar Kirin and a Dragon. Both turned and hurled a fireball back into the forest behind them as they ran another couple dozen feet to be sure they were out of the range of its magic Iggy panted as she nearly collapsed "Everyone alright?" "I think I have at least most of my limbs" snarked Jasper, almost laying on the ground from exhaustion Iggy managed a faint smile "What about you, cloudy?" there was no response Iggy's smile turned into a look of horror "Cloudy? CLOUDY?!" Jasper turned to look back the way they had come and muttered a harsh explicative "They much have gotten him!" "We have to go back! We have to save him!" exclaimed iggy Jasper nodded but didn't move, barely able to keep from passing out from exhaustion... they both agreed that they needed to go back... but they were going to need help... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrongCopper Posted January 8, 2020 Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 Strong Copper's ear twitched as he paced himself at a fast trot towards the sound of screaming... or at least, he started to do so after the second wave of screams. One generally had to confirm that the yelling and screaming was not just coming from the inside of his own head after all. A new resident of Ponyville, Copper had been in the process of sorting through one of his moving boxes when the screams finally reached him. At first he had been inclined to ignore them since he had discovered fairly quickly that there was a trio of mares who lived nearby who ran flower stores that just seemed to be set off by just about anything and everything. However, as the screaming got closer and easier to discern it became clear that one of the screaming voices was male. That had been what convinced him to abandon his unpacking efforts. Reaching the edge of the Everfree Forest, a strange sight befell Copper. Dragons were an uncommon sight to be sure, but it was the mare next to the dragon that honestly caught his attention more. He... had never seen anything like her before and the surprise in his face at the discovery was clear to see. Still, there was something that needed to be done first "Everyone alright here?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashton Posted January 8, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 Iggy wasn't entirely coherent but she was the first to speak "Who're you? We went into the everfree. Three. Snakes, flying plants, vines, timberwolves. Cloudy! We need to save him!" Jasper slowly pushed himself up, making his way over "Jasper" he said, pointing to himself "Iggy" he nodded at the kirin "we went into the forest with our friend cloudy, we got attacked, chased, nearly killed a few times, and somewhere in there we got separated from him, now we're both tired and low on magic but we need to go back and save him before he gets eaten, dismembered, disemboweled, crushed, scorched, frozen, un-eaten, or whatever other horrible things the forest can think of" explained the dragon, much more coherently, though there was still a sound of concern in his voice, though not nearly as much.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrongCopper Posted January 8, 2020 Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 As incoherent as the now named Iggy had been, between her and Jasper something was made quite clear: There was a third being somewhere in the Forest who was in serious trouble and needed help now. Narrowing his gaze as he stopped thinking and entered professional mode, he asked two questions and barked one command as he walked past them and focused on the forest itself, clearly noticing the signs of the pairs tracks they have left behind in their mad dash to escape the Everfree. "Alright, I want you both to stay here. You're in no condition to head back in and you'll just be more a liability than a help right now. What is your friend and how far in did you end up going?" While he fully intended to follow the tracks of the pair in order to try and locate their third party member, knowing what he was looking for would be kind of important. A panicking flier wasn't going to be leaving many tracks in the dirt and considering the exotic nature of the group so far, he didn't want to mistake who he was looking for as a threat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashton Posted January 8, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 "He's Cloudy!" exclaimed iggy Jasper sighed and produced a paper bag from somewhere and gave it to iggy to breathe into to try and calm down "He's a hyppogriff, or if he's hiding in the water he might have changed into a hyppocampus - a sea pony" explained the dragon, he reached into iggy's bag and pulled out a map which he handed to copper "we got a ways in, but not all the way to the center. After that I have no clue where we went, dont be surprised if you find tracks of ours that run in circles" Iggy lowered the bag, a little calmer now "Please save cloudy, he's like a brother to me" she said "We'll join you as soon as we're recovered" Jasper rolled his eyes and his hand went to his face at iggy's insanity, knowing how dangerous what she would no doubt try would be... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrongCopper Posted January 8, 2020 Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 Strong Copper shook his head at the offer for help. "I understand that you're concerned about your friend, but you going back into a wilderness that you don't have much experience with would just risk making this situation worse. I'm already going to be worrying about your friend Cloudy, I don't need to be distracted by the possibility that you've gotten yourselves lost as well." Having identified his quarry and the tracks that would hopefully guide him to where the hippogriff had broken away from the pack, Strong Copper started to gallop head first into the Everfree. He had a panicking sea bird to find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashton Posted January 8, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 "...but..." iggy started, but jasper put his hand on her sholdier. she sighed "Please bring him back in no more than seven pieces" Jasper gulped "One piece would be best!" he said, glaring at iggy "No necromancy! bad kirin! bad!" he said somehow both harshly and with a hint of a joke... though from the look on his and iggy's face ht was clear the kirin might have dabbled in the dark arts at least once... likely with disastrous results... ----- Copper would find the groups tracks easily enough, through they did seem to be completely random and, as he suspected there were no third set of tracks, of course this close to the edge it would have been easy for cloudy to escape or the others to free him. More than once though, if copper tried to turn back he'd lose the trail and have to hunt carefully to find it, despite it seeming to be an obvious trail of trampled plants... it was almost as if the trail were vanishing... if Copper were very savey he'd quickly figure out this was a trap --- not one layed by the kirin and dragon though... one laid by the forest itself to lure them back in... or lure any heroes to their doom... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrongCopper Posted January 8, 2020 Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 Copper was experienced with dangerous animals and plant life and he had taken the time to do some research on the Everfree before he had ever seen or set hoof in it himself. Sure, it wasn't the same as getting first hoof experience with the location itself, but unlike many who had gone into the Forest, at least he wasn't going in inexperienced or blind to the nature of the risks it had to offer. Those who had written about the Everfree had made a point to mention how easy it was to get lost within it. Paths disappearing mere moments after walking along them. Some had argued that the Forest itself was a living entity, possessed of a savage intelligence of some sort... but Copper doubted that the Everfree was a hive mind. It was alive in the sense that a forest was a living breathing entity, but to believe it could plot and scheme was paranoia. That said, he didn't trust the plants themselves... Some of Iggy's ramblings from earlier had made him wary as he slowed his pace from a gallop to something more cautious but unafraid. The Everfree was a dangerous place after all. Rushing to the aid of someone in danger blindly would just as likely to endanger himself then anything else. Still, the trail left behind by Iggy and Jasper in the ground itself was a good indication of where he needed to go... all he had to find was were a third trail made up of hooves and claws broke away from theirs and he would have a baring to work with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashton Posted January 9, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 the problem was that he wasn't finding the tracks, despite passing many dangers and many places that it was likely that the 'griff had split off... there were even strange patches where the hoofprints stopped and then started again some distance away... at least with the dragon's prints it was easy to track since when he took flight he left a lot of scorch marks in his wake... he was almost back to one of the other entrances before he found the clawmarks of the 'griff... and they were sporadic... which likely meant... the 'griff preferred to fly rather than walk, which just made his hunt for cloudy a lot harder... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrongCopper Posted January 9, 2020 Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 Copper paused for a moment in his search. He had suspected that Cloudy was going to prefer flying in an attempt to make his escape, but he had been betting that the nature of the Everfree Forest (IE, that it was a tightly packed forest) would have forced the Hippogriff to travel on the ground in order to try and avoid flying into tree branches or getting stuck in the foliage. It was a gamble that had not paid off and time had been wasted because of it... but all he could do was accept the mistake and move forward with a new plan. Using the few clawmarks he had been able to uncover in order to get an idea of what direction that Cloudy was fleeing in, he turned his gaze upwards in order to look for signs of passage. He wasn't looking for disturbed greenery or the like (a stiff breeze or a passing bird would easily remove or give a false lead, not to mention his concerns about the plant life being a bit more hostile then he wanted), but actual signs of damage that couldn't be replicated easily by just moving a few twigs around. Broken twigs, claw marks on bark, branches that had a number of leaves violently removed by something going past. Plus even if they were sporadic, there were still the odd claw makes on the ground to help get a loose idea of what direction Cloudy was heading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PyroBlaze Posted January 9, 2020 Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 Vera wasn’t entirely sure where he was anymore. His curiosity had gotten the better of him and had been trying to find the screaming to no avail so far. The hippogriff turned around on the spot, trying to get his bearings a bit before walking off in a random direction. Hopefully he’d find something soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrongCopper Posted January 9, 2020 Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 Strong Copper suddenly came to a sudden stop as he came across what appeared to be his target. Bird like front, pony like back parts... male. This seemed to be ticking off every box on the check list... apart from the last one. Tilting his head, Strong Copper called out "Cloudy?" in order to ensure that this was the right hippogriff and there wasn't a whole colony of the shape shifting buggers hiding out in the Everfree this whole time and nopony knew about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PyroBlaze Posted January 9, 2020 Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 “What?” Vera asked as he heard a voice call out. Turning towards the voice, he tilted his head, glancing up towards the sky. “Could be, can’t really tell from here.” Clearly, he didn’t realize the question was a name, though he soon enough cleared it up anyways. “Name’s Vera Menita. You one of the ones screaming earlier?” He asked, approaching the other male. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrongCopper Posted January 9, 2020 Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 The expression on Copper's face darkened a little as the unlikely became reality: This wasn't Cloudy the Hippogriff. He didn't know how many hippogriffs were in the Everfree, but logic dictated that it should have been a relatively small amount. There was a very real possibility that he had in fact been following the wrong trail completely. While the urge to stamp on the ground and say a couple of curse words that would have offended Princess Celestia herself if she had heard them was strong, he pushed it down as he took a deep breath to stop himself from making the situation worse. "A group went into the Everfree and got chased out by one or more things... and a hippogriff named Cloudy got split up from the group. I decided to come and see if I could find him... but I seem to have found your trail instead. What are you even doing in here?" Pausing for a moment, he quickly added "And are there more of you wondering about?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PyroBlaze Posted January 9, 2020 Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 "Ah, that sounds like a familiar name... Kinda. And I dunno if it is, I haven't really been flying at all, plus I came from over there. I'm in here to see what all the commotion was about." He said, rubbing the back of his head. "As far as I know, there's only two hippogriffs in this forest, me and Cloudy." He added, shrugging a bit. "And I didn't come in with a group or anything, so no worries there." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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