Staff of Fate: From Stormy Skies to Roaring Waters! (Team 1, Hoofington, Closed)

[SteelEagle]

Pathfinder felt the collapse rather than heard it, the rumble and shaking of the venerable old castle like that of an angry god. Any sound that dully crackled throughout the masonry was unheard by the pegasus, who wasn't known for hearing and even had to have a specialist take a look at a build up of what they thought to be wax over a year ago. When it was slime, everypony was confused except for her- the Talking Brain Worm (Pathfinder tried to Trademark that name, but the patent office just stared at her) left slime in huge amounts, duh! But even if her hearing had been perfect, she wouldn't have heard it. The room was boobytrapped just as well as the rest of the castle. At the first bare inkling of trouble, the receptacle that held the Orb in ancient times above cracked and fell like a giant sword towards the middle of the room. It landed with a screech and boom that pushed Pathfinder aside due to sheer force, destroying the Orb's ancient resting place once and for all and sitting in place for a moment, the massive crash resounding across the entire castle.

Pathfinder looked up, a mighty impressive sight with it all balanced like that. Almost enough for her to ignore the rumbling and sounds from other parts of the castle, but nopony could by now. She had been in enough collapsing buildings in her life to know the strange rush of dead air as long sealed passages opened up to the hollow world underneath and the ancient construction gave way to equally ancient destruction. The distinct smell of rotting everfree barkwood briefly overwhelmed her, the ancient wired mechanisms seeking to seal their fates in with the ruins built before Hoofington was a thought in history's twinkly eyes. It made sense; a trap that when triggered was to destroy the whole castle, and most of all the ancient resting place of the Orb- specially designed receptacle that was to be destroyed at the first sign of trouble. It fit into the MO of the paranoid princess and was a fun activity for all involved.

Just as she was starting to smile at the excitement of this all, the long receptacle started to fall towards Pathfinder, it's long shadow indicating that there was no escape if she stayed in this room and it surely blocked the stairwell- and Celestia knew if this place was falling apart, being on a small staircase was the worst idea ever. Pathfinder scrambled to the hole and pushed herself through as fast as possible, her wings providing to be a challenge as their extra bulk held her up. She pushed and pushed, felt the rush of air on her rear as the many ton receptacle prepared to crush her bottom half. Well hey, at least she could see Spin Tale and Twilight- silver linings! She continued to squeeze as the air ceased immediately before impact-

-And she squeezed through not a moment before the receptacle collapsed, nearly destroying the ceiling of the main hall, whole slabs of it falling below as Pathfinder spinned and twirled almost out of control for a few moments. She regained control, wings flapping swiftly more than roughly to meet the demand of her desire to take over control of her movement. Within a few moments she was golden as the goose who laid golden eggs, which had turned out to be a silly nursery rhyme and not the goose of legend she had hoped for when she had stolen it from that irate farmer. She flew over Twilight and Spin Tale, a smile shattering her features.

[colour=#006400]"Place is collapsing- isn't it awesome?!"[/colour]

[brianblackberry]

Things have gone from mysterious and creepy to downright catastrophic! Trixie found herself and her erstwhile pegasus companion surrounded by collapsing mossy stone and rotten wood - they had to get out and they had to get out now! [colour=#6699cc]"This way! Quickly!" [/colour] Trixie galloped back towards the spiral stairs as the floor started to collapse behind her and Rain Leaf. Going down in a collapsing castle wasn't the best idea - but she was no pegasus, and there was no way she was going to leap out from this far up, even if there was a convenient window to self-defenestrate herself with.

As Trixie reached the stairs, she glanced back, but the brown pegasus was already gone! Did he fly out? Or was he taken by the ever growing dark hole in the floor behind her? The azure unicorn could only hope he had somehow escaped, there was nothing she could do in either case but leap down the spiral staircase as beams of musty wood came crashing down around her.

Trixie tumbled down the spiral stairwell head over heels until she crashed flat on the cold marble of the dessicated library below, and she was briefly distracted by a solid conviction that this was somehow Whooves' fault. She was going to give that earth pony an earful, and then she was going to - CRASH! A large piece of stone fell inches from her saucer eyed face; blame later! Go now!

Trixie galloped as fast she could, using her horn to light her way and deflect the stones falling ahead of her, all that rock farming paid off, for once! Unfortunately, the larger stones were still too much, and all she could do was zig-zag to avoid them. There! The entrance! But it was collapsing! [colour=#6699cc]"Whaaahaaa!"[/colour]

[Bellosh]

[colour=#006400]"Place is collapsing- isn't it awesome?!"[/colour]

[colour=#ff6666]No featherbrains... no it is not.[/colour]

Dr. Spin Tale desperately wanted to vocally express his dissatisfaction with Pathfinder’s mindset, but right now he had more important things to worry about... like running for his life! Without even bothering to check in on the other members of his so-called “team”, the red earth pony galloped madly towards the exit, narrowly avoiding being hit by debris as he went. In five seconds flat, Dr. Tale made it to the safety of the outdoors... and back into the chilling embrace of pouring rain.

And yet Spin Tale did not stop running; stomping through puddles of mud, he pressed forward until he reached the cover of a nearby tree. Taking a moment to catch his breath, the curator reached behind the tree to fetch a conveniently-stashed bottle of grape juice. Spin wasn’t sure if he left a bottle there of if he actually brought grape juice with him in the first place, but it mattered not just as long as he somehow had his preferred drink of choice for harrowing moments like these. Taking a swig from his bottle, the stallion watched in abject horror as the centuries-old castle came tumbling down.....

[SteelEagle]

(Let me apologize, but we do need to move this ahead quite a bit.)

Pathfinder's heart was beating ten thousand times every microsecond or some number very similar. This was what life was all about! That powerful srge that shot through your whole body as every nerve strained to take in the barest hint of sensory input in an effort to simply survive. Survive and thrive, that was the name of the game! You spelled fun S-U-R-V-I-V-E! Conquer one obstacle only to face down a thousand more before lunch. How could anypony else even fathom living anywhere else other than on the edge of constant adventure? The blood pumps purer for those who give it darn good reason to pump, not for couch crusaders who's greatest thrill was tellinhg pathfinder she needed to get a real job to pay off her mounting medical bills. What did Good Doctor even know? Well, everything about her body that was held together by good intentions and the thrill of adventure, but nothing about living the high life deep underground in a dank cave so he could just be a good pony and read his fancy books!

Time to survive and thrive, huzzah!

Pathfinder darted towards the exit, leaving the structure just after Spin Tale and doing a quick 180 to see the ponies behind her. Not good- Trixie was slow, probably having just eaten a whole forest of pinecones(they were pretty tasty adventure treats and if she had, Pathfinder would give her plus five respect and hugs!). Rain Leaf forgot that he was a pegasus and wasn't moving very fast either, and Twilight was doing Twilight things, and looked pretty woozy as well. It was up to the greatest adventurer not named Daring Do to save the day and maybe earn a few brownie points with Equestria's elite along the way, huzzah! Mostly save them, of course. Mostly. Pathfinder had just the thing for just this scenario, which was pretty common of her since she WAS the only pro-level among these nerds and geeks. What would they have ever done without her?

Pathfinder snatched her rope and flicked it accurately through the collapsing exit, cracking through the musky air and finding it's home around Trixie's neck. Sorry old girl, sacrifices must be made! With a mighty tug, Pathfinder pulled Trixie across the length of the exit- cartoonishly pounding through Rain Leaf and Twilight and finally through Pathfinder in one huge ball. This ball of adorable ponies rolled mightily across the way, adding Spin Tale before it somehow gained speed and ran off of a rock-jump. It soared through the air and came down in a pond several hundred yards away from the castle. It floated for a second before breaking apart, the ponies floating in many directions.

Pathfinder took a few deep breaths then shot a jet of water out of her mouth before splashing the water and getting back in the air, hovering above the pond in the middle of a storm.

[colour=#006400]"Haha, now THAT was fun! Woo-woooooo!"[/colour] She then proceeded to wiggle-dance slightly in place.