The Iron Hoof (open)

[Monochrome]

Color glanced back at Wind, hearing him ask if his injury was bad. Color couldn't quite tell while she was running, however, and soon turned her gaze back to what was ahead of her.

"I don't know." she said. "But I'll have a look at it once we get somewhere safer."

Pyro giggled as his flames managed to singe a couple of guards' manes and tails, but stopped as somepony put a shield up. Pyro must have been frowning under his mask as he examined the barrier. However, he soon lost interest and began bouncing onward to catch up with the others in his group. He was fairly fast, even while carrying the heavy flamethrower, so he was soon trotting alongside Color and Wind.

"Hey there, buddy." Color said between breaths. "Did you play with them?"

Pyro nodded, but then went into a muffled explanation of why he hadn't been able to finish a game with them.

"Oh, they set up a fort, did they?" Color said with a slight nod. "You'll get 'em next time."

Color wondered how much farther they had to run, as her strength would surely begin failing her soon and she was already gasping for air.

[PrinceoftheNight]

A bunch of guards went towards the weak alicorn to capture him. He struggled a little to brake free, but he was unable to do something, then they dragged him down to the special jail she had for powerful beings.

 

Celestia smirked after seeing that and turned to the bat pony. "Yes..." She said calmly. "After seeing what he did, I'm afraid that my sister would betray us also. I need you to keep an eye on her really close and inform me of any suspicious things she does." Celestia said. "Do that and expect a promotion after all this is over." She added.

Celestia then turned to the Aranak. "Yes, there are guards at the other side of the cave, and if they managed to escape, we have all their bases in a map, so there have no place to run." She said smirking. "So don't worry about that."

 

Princess Luna opened the door for Moonlight. "Come in..." She said. You could clearly hear in her voice how sad she felt in that moment. She was in the bed, cuddling a pillow really tightly.

 

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After a while they arrived to a sign and two roads. The first one lead to a far and faint light and was to the left, the other one had a 'dead end' sign and was clearly pitch black. "Take the right one, the one with the sign." Twilight said to Tehengu as she made a light spell so everypony could see. "Don't let the sign fool you, this road is where we need to go." She said to everypony else. 

 

She then turned to Wind. "Is not that bad, but is bleeding." She used a spell to stop the bleeding. "There we go..." She said. She was felling a bit better. She got off Tehengu's back and lead them trough the ccabe.

[AlextheAngel]

Wind nodded as they arrived at the two roads. He kept quiet for the most part, considering he could not see the signs in order to tell where they should go. There was a gentle warming sensation on the wound as Twilight stopped the bleeding, but it did not seem like it was healed all the way. Reguardless, he was glad that most of the pain was gone. "Thanks." He said, climbing off of Color's back. "I can walk now, I just won't be able to fight. Not for at least another forty-five minutes." He said. Let's just hope that nothing catches up with us in that time...

[PyroBlaze]

Aranak hummed a bit at Celestia's answer, gazing down the tunnel after she had finished speaking. He wasn't so convinced that a few guards could take down that group, even with their injuries. Still, he said nothing, as she had said they had a map of rebel bases. They would be found eventually, it was just a matter of time, which was something he had plenty of.

-------

Tehengu looked between the two choices as Twilight got off his back. He glanced at the blind pony as Twilight healed him. The griffon sighed slightly, holding his injured leg to his chest as he flew. He supposed it didn't matter much, he could still use his leg if he needed to.

[InSaNiTyCaT]

Crescent steppe backwards and with a sigh she did not reply so enthusiastically. "Yes My Princess," she looked up at Aranak with a nod of thanks before speaking privately with the other worried guards.

--

Moonlight waked over and pulled the pillow away with her teeth.

"My Princess, there is no need to cry, shhh, breath and relax," Moonlight paused before thinking of a song.

"Hey there dear Sister what's it like in your fair city? I'm a thousand miles away and tonight you look so pretty yes you do, the moon doesn't shine as bright as you, I sweat it's true..." she hummed the rest as her hoof tapped a steady rhythm.

[PrinceoftheNight]

Celestia looked at the bat pony, she looked a bit disappointed. She perhaps could use her for other missions if she proved worthy for it, but for now...

"Everypony, get ready and lock the entrance to this cave." She said to all of them. "I don't want them to use this cave again." She said as she walked away back to the castle itself.

 

Luna looked at the bat pony. The singing made her feel a bit better. "Thank... *snif* you..." She said snuggling the bed a bit. "I just hope my sister doesn't hurt him.."

 

The guards threw Darky into the jail, then sealed.

 

----------

 

As they walked, they reached to what looked a dead end. "There is a switch in here somewhere..." Twilight said. After s while of looking she found it. "Aha!" She pulled it and a quite well hidden door opened. "Over here." She said walking into it.

[PyroBlaze]

Aranak remained at the cave mouth until the others had sealed it, then walked off, looking for something to do. He could go raid one of those bases, but he didn't know where they were, so he would have to ask about that.

 

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Tehengu paused with the others, hovering in place before Twilight opened up a door and ushered the others in. He remained behind, waiting for the others to go through before entering last.

 

"Now where do we go?" He asked, gazing around the area the door had opened out to.

[Monochrome]

Color followed quietly with Pyro by her side. She was impressed by how well-hidden the door Twilight had just revealed was, and gave a slight whistle as she walked through it with the others. 

 

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((Here's a reference pic for this character I'm tossing in: http://lobsterpolice.deviantart.com/art/Toxic-Pony-Infected-CLOSED-420681707))

Somewhere within the castle, something was stirring. A cloaked, pony-like creature slowly stepped into the hallway from the room she was usually kept in, her glowing red eyes sweeping over her surroundings for signs of anyone else; she hadn't been fed yet today, and they were usually quite punctual about that, so she thought something might be wrong. She left a trail of purple sludge behind her as she wandered. Soon enough, she heard noises; it sounded like pony voices, one of which sniffled as if its owner had recently been crying. The creature followed the sound, and soon found herself near Luna's room. The door was slightly ajar, so she cautiously peered inside; within the room she saw Luna and what looked like one of the guards. The creature remained still for a moment, debating what to do, then finally decided to venture inside. She slowly, carefully pulled the door open, then stood in the doorway and patiently waited to be noticed.

((Please note that anyone who lives in or works at the castle will be familiar with this character. (Wondering why? Go to the ooc thread and read her bio.) ))

[InSaNiTyCaT]

Moonlight turned around her acute hearing leading her to a ghastly sludge like sound.

"Hmm...you haven't been fed have you? I am terribly sorry miss, it's been a bit busy we've had escapees, dragons and a lot of ponies," she paused before continuing. "Please refrain from filling the room with your mane, my eyes sting and I for one have a sharper km nose than most," Moonlight was one of the ponies to being her in and actually give her a name and to not talk her like a monster.

Toxica Green was what she wanted to call her but never had tested the name out.

[PrinceoftheNight]

"For now go and rest, we will start the missions tomorrow once we had taken care of the breach and make sure it wont happen again." Lightning replied to the dragon as he walked to his side. "You can stay in one of the guest rooms since I highly doubt you will fit in the barracks."

He then walked to where Crescent was. "You did a good job when you went after the rebels." He said to her, but with a calm face. "I might put you as leader of a strike team once we have located more bases, but for now, just do what Tia told you to." He said before leaving.

 

Luna looked to the other pony that just walked inside. She got rid of her tears and looked at her. "Oh, it's you..." She said, then she let Moonlight talk. "Yes, we have had some... trouble in here, we are sorry if we hadn't feed you." She added. " Allow us to apologize for that."

 

Celestia went to her study to check the next part of their plan before starting it tomorrow.

 

----------

 

Twilight lead them across another cave that lead that door. As soon as they got all inside, she closed it, and it looked that there was no way back. She just kept walking for quite a while, how much they walked? minutes? hours?... but after a while, there was a light at the end... an exit.

 

Outside, they were near the castle of the two sisters in everfree. They got all the way from Canterlot to Everfree! She smiled after seeing it. "This is our mos secret base of operations." Twilight said to the others. "once inside you can rest in any of the rooms that are in there, and don't worry, they won't find us, we made sure the base is well hidden in there." She added as she lead them them.

 

Finally, a safe place, a refugee for them. Somewhere where they will be able to rest and get ready, since the real battle is about to star.

 

 

~ End of Chapter one ~

 

(Having fun so far? I really want to know. I'm kind of trying to think a lot in what is next, that  is why that I only post like once or twice a day, to keep it as interesting as I can.)

[Monochrome]

The pony-creature nodded understandingly as the ponies spoke to her, explaining that there had been trouble. Her mane appeared to shrink as Moonlight asked her not to fill the room with it. She gave the closest expression she had to a smile with her skull-like face as both apologized for not having her fed, trying to communicate that she understood and was not angry (or any other such negative emotion).

 

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"Wow..." Color breathed as they finally exited the tunnel and found themselves at the Everfree's ancient castle.

In all of her travels she had never visited this place yet, and it was quite a sight. The group entered and began choosing where to stay for the night; Color carefully avoided the areas with books and scrolls, not wanting Pyro to destroy any of them, and soon settled on a bedroom that may have been a guest room or a guard's quarters in the past. Pyro, of course, stayed with her.

 

((I'm having lots of fun! You're doing a good job, keep it up~))

[PyroBlaze]

(Yeah, I'm having fun with this. You're doing a good job, I think.)

 

"Fine." Aranak said after the pony's response. Well, it appeared they had nothing for him at the moment, so he took to wandering the castle, taking in the sights as he looked for anything he could use later. He wasn't feeling tired yet, so he didn't want to go find a room yet. Besides, there were no doubt more things he could discover about this castle that he could use to his advantage.

 

---------------

 

Tehengu had started wondering how long it was going to take them to get out of the new cave, though he didn't wonder for long as they exited the cave and found themselves in front of an old castle. If he was right, they were in the Everfree forest now. He nodded to Twilight's words, heading inside to pick a room, going into the first one that had a bed in it. He sat himself down on the bed before getting a closer look at his wound. It had stopped bleeding, but it still hurt, and it was hard to use that leg because of it.

 

His medical knowledge consisted of pretty much just disinfecting and wrapping wounds, but he didn't seem to have anything that would work well for that. He had nothing to disinfect with, and he didn't want to use the cloth in the castle as wrappings, as there might be some disease he could catch from putting it against an open wound. Looks like he would just have to tough it out then.

[InSaNiTyCaT]

(How could I not! It's brilliant! I can actually keep up too!UK fun times!)

Crescent growled at Lightning. "Don't talk to me like I'm a filly," she retorted before turning about on her hooves and seeing the sun begin to set.

"Oh the joys, everyone asleep, Arieons on Guard let's go!" Crescent spoke seriously, she was not one to warm up to anyone and for one not to fall in love.

"I'll take first watch,"

---

Moonlight stepped backwards at the awkward smile of Toxica before nodding. She understood but the attempts of smiling creeped her out.

"Considering we are late, what would you like, I'll grab whatever it is you want from the kitchen and I'll meet you back up here with your food, just tell me what Toxica...."she paused before stepping back quickly at the use of her name.

Oops.

[Monochrome]

The pony-creature looked at Moonlight for a moment when she used that name. She had grown used to either being referred to as "Pestilence" or "that thing" by the majority of castle staff, but she thought this name sounded much better. She would have attempted a smile again, but the last one hadn't gone so well and appeared to creep Moonlight out, so she gave a slight approving nod before stopping to think. She wasn't really sure what the castle kitchen had to offer, having never been allowed in there for fear of poisoning the food. So, she gave a slight shrug, and, dipping one of her front hooves into the sludge of her tail, wrote "Surprise me" on the floor. It took her a moment to realize the mess she had probably made while walking through the halls and then just now with her writing, but she suddenly thought of that and gave an apologetic look.

 

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Having chosen her and Pyro's room and setting her things in it, Color decided to explore the old castle a bit. She grabbed Pyro, knowing that he would manage to get himself into trouble if she left him alone, and they set off down the hall.

[InSaNiTyCaT]

Moonlight nodded before stepping out and over the sludge, seeing the trail she whistled and a few unicorns appeared and she nodded in gratitude.

"Chef, I'll take apple pie, sandwiches, something sweet and that'll do," Moonlight waited patiently as the Unicorn zapped up the food from a magic recipe book.

Taking the food on the plate between her teeth, she carefully flew back upstairs and landed din Luna's room.

"Apologies Princess, we can go somewhere else if you wish?" Moonlight placed the plate on a side cabinet before walking over to the piano in the corner of Luna's room.

She began to play the piano, a soothing melody.

[AlextheAngel]

Wind listened quietly to the others speak, carefully following the sound of their voices. After a bit of exploring, he managed to find his own isolated room, feeling carefully along the walls. He sighed as his hoof brushed over a shelf holding some old books, wishing he had the sight required to read. He climbed into the soft bed in the middle of the room, but was unable to make himself comfortable. "What about Darky? We can't just leave him behind."

 

(I'm having fun! Also, I apologize for the late reply.)

[PrinceoftheNight]

Luna looked at the bat pony, as well the other one, as the chef brought them food. She looked at the apple... she felt a bit sad since Darky loved them almost as he loved her. She then calmed down after hearing Moonlight play the piano. "Is alright, you can stay." She sad to both sighing.

 

After a while, Luna brought up the Moon and Celestia went to rest, Lightning being her night companion since she trusted him more than anypony.

 

"Allow me to show you your room sir." A guard said to Aranak after seeing him. "Since you are too big for a normal room, we have assigned you to one of the guest rooms." He explained.

 

----------

 

A pony went to see Tehengu. "Twilight told me you were injured." She pony said. "I came to heal you." She had a first aid bag with her.

 

Another one went with Wind. "I came to take care of your wound." The pony said. He also had a first aid kit.

 

Twilight went to the room that was assigned for her so she could plan her next move. She looked around and noticed that only Rainbow Dash was with them of all her friends. They had o be in the others hideouts. She had to save them! Perhaps all these new allies will help her, as well as sabotage Celestia's bases, but it was a risky move and they didn't had so much time. 

[Monochrome]

Toxica cautiously stepped into the room, raising her tail a bit and folding her "wings" in an attempt to make less of a mess in Luna's room. While it did help to keep some of her sludge to herself, she still left a trail of it behind her as she walked. She approached the tray of food, the thick fog of gas that made up her mane noticeably smaller as she restrained it. She glanced over all the different food, debating which to eat first; she finally settled on starting with a piece of the apple pie. She swayed to the tune of Moonlight's music as she ate, completely content. She happened to glance over at Luna; the princess of the night seemed sad. Toxica looked at her, wanting to help but not sure how to do so since she could not touch her or even get too close for fear of her body's poisons making the princess sick. Toxica soon looked down at her hooves, though, realizing that she was staring and was probably making Luna uncomfortable, and it didn't help that Toxica's raspy breathing was always audible. 

 

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Color and Pyro continued exploring the halls, soon coming across the vast library; Color had made Pyro leave his flamethrower and any other fire-making objects back in their room, so the two could explore any area in the castle without the danger of setting it on fire. Color looked around her, impressed by just how huge the place was. Pyro, on the other hand, found himself staring at every wall-mounted torch they passed - everything began to look depressingly dull and grey to Pyro after not seeing fire for too long.

[PyroBlaze]

Aranak said nothing to the pony that had found him, simply walking along after the pony as he was led towards his room. He supposed there would be other chances to investigate the castle more closely.

 

"Yes, I know. Just take me to my room." He said after the pony had spoken.

 

--------- 

 

Tehengu looked over at the pony that had entered his room, spotting the first-aid kit she was carrying. He sighed a bit, sitting up fully and nodding to her, holding up his injured leg for her to look at.

 

"Thank you. In case it helps, a bat pony caused it by biting me." He said, siting still as he waited for her to do her work.

[InSaNiTyCaT]

Moonlight shook her ears free of the creepy noise before turning to Luna.

"So what is it we do now?" She smiled after finishing the piano piece and stepping off the chair and in front of the door ready to take her post.

--

Crescent Shiel rolled her eyes as she heard Moonlights piano, yes she was talented but oh honestly that mare needed to be here in times o need, wherever she was anyway.

"Blast!" Crescent called out as her eyes looked upon the night and ruined world of Equestria in sadness.

[PrinceoftheNight]

~ Chapter two: Search for allies ~

 

Celestia was sleeping with her second in command as the night started. 

 

Luna looked to Moonlight. "Now, we get ready for anything." She said as she cleared her face from any tears and stood up. "You should go to your posts for the night guards." She said. "And take our friend here with you." She added looking at Toxica. "Hmm... that might help her if she will stay out of her jail from now on, but it would be better if she slept in there."

 

The guard took Aranak to his room. "Here is it." He said as he opened the door for him so he could see inside. It was one of the guest rooms, so it looked a bit cozy and fancy.

 

----------

 

The nurse that went to see Tehengu nodded and started healing his wound the best she could. It was a bite injury form a bat pony, so it would be a bit hard for her to do it quick, bus she did her best for him.

 

The other nurse stepped in into Wind's room and poked his side. "I'm gong to heal your wound." She said as she looked at it.

 

Twilight happened to be in the library, mostly to calm down after all what happened. "Oh, hi you tow." Twilight said with a soft smile to them after seeing them enter the place.

[PyroBlaze]

Aranak said nothing in response to the pony, simply walking past him and into the room, closing the door behind him before moving to the bed. He supposed he may as well get some rest, as nothing was going to happen as of yet. He laid in the bed and prepared to sleep.

 

------------

 

Tehengu remained still as he let the mare work on his wound, watching her as she did so. He wasn't sure what to say, so he remained silent, simply watching.

[InSaNiTyCaT]

"Of course I'll take her with me on duty," she watched Toxica finish her meal before she turned around and headed out the door.

"Keep the cloak on, it'll be less suspicious that you're out of your room," she used room and not prison because no pony should really be treated like she has because of her abilties.

"Crescent, I'm here, I've got a recruit," We'll take it from here," she stepped forward and looked over across the happy land she once knew.

---

Crescent grunted before realising the second in command was not around for the preperations for tomorrow.

"With Tia no doubt," she mentally gagged at her Princess but headed across the halls keeping eye outs.

[Monochrome]

"Hello!" Color replied warmly to the greeting. "Taking a little time to read before going to sleep?"

Pyro waved and gave a muffled greeting as well, then sat on the floor and stared into the flames of the nearest wall torch, occasionally mumbling something.

 Color gave a slight hum as she gazed around at the countless ancient books and scrolls around her.

"I would probably be outside starting up a garden about now to relax... But, it's getting dark, and it's not likely we're staying long, huh?" she remarked.

 

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This time Toxica couldn't help giving a big grin (which, in her case, looked like she was staring with her mouth slightly agape), even despite her knowing it tended to bother ponies. She gave a quick but respectful little bow to Luna before pulling up the hood of her cloak and following Moonlight out. As they stepped outside, Toxica took a deep breath of the fresh night air; she didn't get much time outside, so it was almost strange to feel the breeze on her face and to see the sky again.

[PrinceoftheNight]

The normal guards went to rest for the night and the night guards went to do their job.

A few ponies stayed up, cheeking some stuff of the upcoming operations.

 

The guard that took the dragon to his room left and went to do his assigned job, that was guard the hall to make sure nopony tries to do anything to the ones staying in there.

 

Luna closed the door after toxica and the bat pony left, locking it and going back to the pillow, hoping her husband was fine.

 

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After a short while, the mare finished with tehengu. "There we go, it wasn't that bad wasn't it." She said with a soft smile, giggling a bit.

 

"Yes, actually." Twilight said. "There are lot of books in here I want to read, but..." It appeared that Twi was looking for something in particular. "I want to see if I find anything that might have had made Tia how she is now." She explained as she read her book. "I also need to make preparations for tomorrow since we will start working as soon as the sun is out."

 

Darky went to sleep in his jail. He wanted to see Luna, but he was sure the guards wouldn't let him. He sighed and hoped that Twilight could come up with a rescue plan.