An assistant is needed (No slots left)

[TheHybrid]

Grins as they exit Unicornia, now trotting on a dirt path "Well you're in for... somethin', Ah guess! The Everfree... *shivers* very freaky forest." he looks over to the forest in the distance, frowning "Can't tame em', wont listen to us. Clouds do what they want, plants grow without us growin' them, animals care for themselves... it just ain't natural... nope, not one bit." he shakes his head, "Then o' course you got them huge and dangerous critters in them! Timber wolves, manticores, hydra's..."

[Pretzelparty]

The mare grinned a bit as she saw the forest edge appearing in the distance,"Sounds dangerous... but exciting!" She smiled and looked round,"do you think this require's some stealth then?"

[TheHybrid]

Nods, "Eyep, we're gonna have to be real stealthy like if we're gonna be goin' in there... though, Ah think it'd only delay the inevitable... if you're gonna go into that forest, 'specially in these times where it's even more crazy then it is in modern times, then you're gonna run into something. So it's not a matter of if we run inta somethin', it's when we do, and how many things we run into." he grins, "Though, these old bones hasn't seen action like this in years! So maybe it'll be good for me..." then Rusty paused for a moment as he felt the chill of the weather seemingly drop a few more degrees, once again reminded they were working with limited time. He looked at Pressy "C'mon, we gotta hurry! Thing's ain't gettin' any warmer..." and with that, he went off into a full gallop, which was surprisingly fast for a stallion his age and with his physique.

[Pretzelparty]

Pressy gave a chuckle and a smirk as she saw the stallion take off in a gallop, soon following after and catching up quickly. She wrapped her scarf a bit tighter around herself as she matched speed with the stallion,"Just say the word when ya see somethin'" she said as she looked to rusty. Coughing a bit at the cold she lifted the scarf up a bit to cover her mouth and nose. The forest was fairly quiet, except for the occasional croak of frogs and rustling of leaves on the ground by unseen creatures in the shadows.

[TheHybrid]

Rusty slowed down to a quiet trot as they entered the thick, and quite foreboding forest. Surprisingly enough, he found the forest to be very similar to the one he remembered back in modern times, except it seemed thicker and darker, and maybe more noisey. He stopped for a moment when he saw a blue, plump leaf connected to a thick steam, however there was only one of them, and no others could be seen anywhere near it. He squinted, "That's a mite... suspicious.... ain't it?" he picked up the pace and trotted closer to it, wanting to see if it was the real-deal. He got closer to it, inspecting it. He noticed that it looked exactly like the leave they were after, however something felt off about it. He shook his head, "oh... I'm just bein' paranoid! This has got to be the real deal... right?" he went to pick it with his mouth, chomping on the stem and lifting it up. Suddenly, he dropped the leave as his whole body seemingly drained of color, turning into a grey with only a ghost of it's original tones. He turned and looked at the mare, a look of hatred and anger seemed to occupy his eyes. He snorted, "Ah don't need you! I c'n work fine, by myself! Why're you followin' me, huh? You think Ah'm weak in the head or somthin'?" something was defintly wrong, this was not the Rusty the mare knew, it seemed to be a... darker side of him

[Pretzelparty]

Presteza blinked a few times and took a step forward,"R-rusty it's me, remember? Pressy?" she asked taking another step toward her discolored friends. What was wrong with him? the stallion was definately acting odd,"N-no, I still think yer a genuis, mate! don'cha remember, you sent out fliers asking for an assistant." she asked taking another few steps towards her friend.

The sound of movement and what almost seemed like whispering were coming from the bushes,"C'mon, Rusty I think we should get outta 'ere..." she attempted to grab the herb in her teeth as well.

[TheHybrid]

The herb looked different now, it wasn't the blue plump leafed plant Rusty picked up, or at least it didn't look like it anymore. It was now a twisted, shrivled up flower. Rusty snickered as she went to pick up the the plant, "Look at'chu, can't even do your job right... that aint the plant I was talkin' bout, stupid." he frowned, "If you were actually any use to me, you'd KNOW thats the dark rose. And you would also know it makes ponies dark side come out, but you obviously dont since yur here pickin' it up with yur teeth! It aint even in its camoflauge... but yur a lucky idiot today, cause it looks like its drained." he kept on throwing insults at her, and his anger seemed to just keep going, though something was off about it. It got to a point where it might make anypony snap, with all the horribl nasty things he was saying, "Yur so incompetant, ya cant even use yur horn! What kinda stupid unicorn cant use their horn?" he flicked her horn, grinning manically, tears streaming down his face. It seemed like the insults were being forced, like he didn't want to say them.((I'll rp the bush rustling thing after this bit.)) ((Also, hint hint, slap him))

[Pretzelparty]

The insults were indeed getting to her, her brow furrowing a bit but she heard his explanation and was willing to wait until it wore off. backing up a bit from the plant she turned to talk to him,"Look, rusty y-youu just picked up this jus--" then came the horn insult. She simply stood there, her eyes wide with shock. She took a step back shaking slightly as she felt she could start crying, already she felt herself well up a bit. She swallowed that feeling and glared at rusty,"Oh yea?! w-well yer the loser who got 'is best friend erased from history. I never had to help you you know!" she yelled at the top of her lungs prressing her hoof with a bit of force into the stallion's muzzle.

Even as she was trying desperately to be angry it was still obvious the yellowish-tan unicorn was geartly hurt by Rusty's insult, as evidenced by the visible tearing up she was going through looking like this feeling of anger could easily just melt away to reveal a mare reminded of those days when she thought she truly was useless.

[TheHybrid]

Rusty faltered backwards a few steps, his coat color flickering back and forth from normal, to 'corrupt'. His eye twitched as he looked at PRessy, "L-look out! I- I'mma fix this... just... gah.... NAH!" his eyes turned green and were outlined with black which trailed off to behind his ears, almost looking like dark electrical tears. His horn glowed black and made a kind of negative-energy-wurbling sound, "Out! Get... out!" he yelled at the top of his lungs as a dark energy blasted from his horn, which clouded up above the two ponies. He collapsed onto the ground panting in exhaustion, his coat back to it's normal light-orangish brown. The dark-energy cloud about the two laughed menacingly, which sounded a lot like Rusty's laugh except corrupted in some way, and then simply flew away into the darkness of the forest. Rusty painfully got up, making grunting sounds the whole time, but when he got up, he was turned away from PRessy, refusing to look at her "Ah'm... sorry." he said slowly, his voice cracking with deep shame and sadness.

[Pretzelparty]

Presteza stared as that cloud loomed over them. The young mare felt almost like her body was weighed down by the cloud of malevolence's presence near her, the feeling dissipating as it darted into the woods.

The Unicorn trotted looked over him so see if he was alright,"a-are ya back ta normal?" she asked, her voice somewhat shaky as she spoke. While Rusty had gone back to normal and expelled the presence from him, the painful words of his darker self were still fresh in Presteza's mind. "Incompetent" ,"stupid" these were words she'd heard quite a few times before in her magic school. Her eyes were still a bit sad looking, partially glued to the ground before she turned away,"ready to go?"

[TheHybrid]

Rusty solemnly nodded, his eyes staring at the ground as tears flowed freely down his cheeks. As she turned around, he sniffled, still not looking directly at her "Ya know... I don't really think those things about you... righ'? That.. plant... it amplifies your dark side... lets it take control over you, while you just sit in your head, watchin'... watchin' it do horrible... awful things to yur friends. However, it doesn't make you lie, it just takes your feelin's about things and twists them into... disgustin'.... things. Pressy, I'll be honest with you, at first I didn't like the idea of having an assistant, but... but now, Ah think it's the best thing thats happened to me in a long long time... and your horn, it's true Ah did find it slightly weird that ya couldn't do magic very well, but I thought what you could do with magic was amazing' and beautiful. You are a very beautiful pony, Pressy, and not just looks, nah, I'm talkin' about as a Person ((Or pony... not sure which to use here)) too. You're too strong to let that... thing get to you.... and Ah have a feelin'... we're not don't with it yet." he grins slightly, "We'll give em' what he is askin' for... a good ol' plot-woopin! How's that sound?" he looked at her, grinning mischievously, his eyes still moist and tear stains were still present on his cheeks.

[Pretzelparty]

The mare continued to trot along, still facing away from rusty. Midway through his speech Rusty would've heard a bit of a sniffle come from the mare, should he have close the distance he would've seen she was still choking back tears. Once Rusty's speech was finished the young mare stopped in her tracks before turning around and looking to the inventor with a bit of a forced laugh,"I-I bet ya thought I was cryin' weren't ya... well I totally got ya!" she said with the usual chipper sound returning to her voice. It was pretty obvious she was lying about pretending to cry but her pride was showing itself again and she thought those were the best words.

She smiles a bit brighter upon the last bit from Rusty,"Y-yea! That cloud thingy better watch out cause we'll kick it's plot six way from sunday!"

[TheHybrid]

Rusty smiled, "Great! Let's keep goin' then, we have a bit of aways to go before we find those plants... give me a sec though..." Rusty stopped trotting or a moment, and began stretching himself out. He chuckled a tiny bit, "Castin' out a dark entity sure does kill yur energy!" he shook himself out, then took a few deep breaths, equalizing any remaining upset emotions within him. However, he was interupted as a small creature popped out of a bush. Rusty took one look at it, and frowned "Just mah luck, huh?" the creature locked his eyes on Rusty. The creature was a small, snake-hybrid creature, it seemed to have the head of a chicken, and the body of a snake. Rusty, turned away from it, and began running "Don't look at the Cockatrice, Pressy! It'll turn ya into stone!"

[Pretzelparty]

"Cockawha?" she asked as the stallion speeded by her, bringing up a gust of wind despite her better judgement she took a glimpse at the creature, meeting it's gaze a moment but tearing herself away. Strangely enough she began to notice her hooves felt heavy... and her hoofsteps were a bit louder than usual, looking down a sec she noticed the ends of her hooves had been turned to stone!

"uh Rusty we kinda got... er nevermind it can wait for now until we get away from that thing..."

[TheHybrid]

The two of them ran through the forest, the trees seemingly zipping by them. He looked at Pressy, "Ah have a plan!" his eyes shifted to her saddle bag, "Gimmie yur mirror, were gonna turn that thing inta-" he was cut off as he suddenly fell to the ground, tripping on a root. The cocktrice caught up with him, and jumped on his stomach, staring him in the eyes. Rusty's gaze locked on the eyes, they were.... mesmerizing "Pr-PResssy! Use yur mirr-" but before the last words could escape his mouth, he was totally encased in stone. The cockatrice looked up at Pressy, his cold eyes locking onto the mare. He began running after her, a determination set in his eyes.

[Pretzelparty]

"R-rusty!" she shouted, and glared at the cockatrice a moment careful not to meet it's gaze before galloping forward and getting the mirror from her bag. The creature set on her with enough speed to easily catch up with her. Pressy took a deep breath and closed her eyes before turning towards the creature, the mirror clenched in her teeth, leaving the monster staring into it's own visage.

The creature mesmerized by it's own gaze the mare held the mirror still until the creature was entirely covered. giving a moment she picked the mirror back up and galloped back to where rusty last was.

[TheHybrid]

((I think if I remember correctly, in the episode, when the Cockatrice got beat, all of it's victims were free'd)) The stone encasing Rusty exploded in a white light, "-or!" he yelled out, still frozen in the moment right before he was encased. He blinked, looking around, obviously confused, then he looked at Pressy, looking for an explanation "Pressy... what the hay just happened?"

[Pretzelparty]

Pressy hugged the stallion quickly before he could finish speaking. After a few seconds she let go with a slightly embarrassed cough,"I'm so glad yer okay, rusty... and uh follow me and I'll show ya." she trotted off and brought her friend to show him the cockatrice...but there was nothing there.

"but... the cockatrice... it was right there...." she said disjointedly as she stared at the spot she'd left the monstrous statue.

[TheHybrid]

Rusty was caught off gaurd by the tight hug, half of the air in his body being expelled through his mouth. After the hug, he coughed a tiny bit, gasping for breath "Sweet Celestia girl! You're hug nearly killed me..." he weakly grinned, still recovering from the mares death-grip-like hug. When he saw the mare trotting away, about to explain to him what had happened, he got up to follow her... and was quite confused when she brought him to a blank spot.

After her explnation about the Cocatrice apparantly being right there, he scratched his head "So... if I remember rightly... Ah told you to use yur mirror to turn it into stone... and Ah'm guessin' since I'm free you did... but... now it's gone?" he asked, raising a brow. ((I was going to come up with an explanation for why it was gone, but I backed-off because I figure you got something planned.))

[Pretzelparty]

"I-it was righ' there..." the mare said in disbelief. Soon her bewildered expression was replaced by one of surprise as the sound of laughter came from the wood, the laughter belonging to that cloud from before. "Rusty... I think we should try and hurry... I think the windigos aren't the only thing we have to worry about..."

[TheHybrid]

The old inventor nodded slowly, "Yeah... were gonna kick his plot later, don't you fret." he said with a certain absoluteness, as if it weren't even a possibility that they wouldn't. Rusty looked back at the mare, "C'mon now, all the runnin' got us much closer to the plants! 10 more minutes of trotten' and we should be there..." he began trotting again, the dark cloud looming closely to the two, however it was out of sight.

[Pretzelparty]

"Right!"she said eagerly trotting behind the stallion, looking out anywhere for those plants.

[TheHybrid]

They continue trotting along, things seemingly calming down some-what. However, on the path the two were taking, there was a rather spectacular looking flower on the side of the road. It was bright red, and was glowing a light orange, it's stem a almost unreal shade of green. It literally looked like the most happy flower you could ever find, however Rusty simply passed it, looking at it with disgust. Now, how can any pony ignore such a beautiful looking plant? It was tempting, so hypnotic, no pony in their right mind woldn't try to take it with them.

[Pretzelparty]

The sound of presteza galloping behind rusty halted as the mare stared a bit at the flower. These colors were positively beautiful, the thoughts of what kind of shades of paints she could make with this plant raced through her head,"H-hold on Rusty! Lemme get this first!"

Before rusty could reply the mare lowered her head to the flower and tried to pull it out with her teeth. The second she touched it, rusty would see her pupils shrinking down a moment as her body began to shake and she fell on her side shivered,"R-rust.. he-help..." she managed to get out before all the color was drained from her. Her white, messy mane was all that remained unchanged, as for the rest of her, her coat was now a dull grey and her originally lively bright blue eyes held a cold, contemptuous gaze. Strangely enough a smile creased her lips, although this wasn't her normal cheery smile but a derisive smirk as she puled herself up.

"Huh... no wonder ya lost your friend, your so bloody slow I could probably just get those herbs before ya and get home myself." The mare's eyes were tembling slightly and she began to tear up. "It's your fault anyway we're stuck here ya amateur! Its only fair you get stuck here! ya worthless excuse for an inventor! by celestia you barely should call yerself an inventor... maybe a tinker or at best a low rent mechanic with dull creative streak."

[TheHybrid]

Silence fell on the two, he simply stared at the 'pony' infront of him who once was controlled by his best friend, sighing in slight anger at himself for not telling the mare the rose camoflauges into what you most desire. However, he acted like nothing was wrong "You know whats weird, Pressy? That them flowers, the dark roses, that they camoflauge into what you want the most." he trotted over to the drained rose, picking it up with his magic "Why d'ya think that? Ah mean, Ah know why, but why'dya think they'd do that? Doesn't make much sense to camoflauge as somethin' another creature most desires, right? That's how'd you'd get killed..." he simply spun the rose around with his magic, casually inspecting it.