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(Completed)(Ponyville) A Voice in the woods...


Ashton

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The Clouds in the sky dimmed the light around the town as a cool, wet, breeze blew through. A storm was being brewed in the sky, the pegasai weather team barely visible among the clouds... well mostly... occasionally one certain member of the weather team was highly visible at the very top working on the inner stormclouds - though herself still barely a spec in the distance from the ground.

 

The dim light that managed to find a path through the clouds cast long, dark, creepy shadows across the town, and even more on the woods that nearly surrounded it, reminding everypony all the more that venturing too deep would lead them into the perilous everfree... all across town ponies were trying to hurry about their errands or preparing their shops for the storm, knowing that though they still had time before it was scheduled to start, it was going to be a big one.

 

From deep within those woods though came the sound of quiet laughter, the voice carried on the wind sounding eerie and almost unnatural... then from a dark section of the woods an old and battered hoofball rolled out towards you and the voice echoed from the trees behind it "Will you play with me...?"

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited by Ashton
Changed tag to "completed"
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Flux hopped along as she made her way down the road, humming happily to herself. The changeling was wearing her typical purple unicorn disguise, watching the clouds go by and not really paying attention to the road. Unfortunately, that meant the sudden appearance of the ball and voice caught her completely off-guard and caused her to face plant as she stopped suddenly. 

 

She stayed like that for a few seconds before standing back up and bouncing over to the ball. She giggled as she picked it up and bounced towards the voice. 

 

“Play with you? Sure! Let’s go play!” She giggled some more, looking for the source the voice. She loved playing with others!

 

(Flux’s bio)

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a foalish giggle played among the trees as the winds flew through the branches, as Flux entered she might be suprised to see another hoofball exactly like the one she had picked up, but then there was a familiar flash of green energy and now that second hoofball was replaced with a small changeling foal, no doubt only a few years old, but more unusual in this day, this was not the beautiful iridescent changelings that were now seen across the land, this foal was black and had the familiar withered appearance with holes. Immediately Flux would no doubt feel a weak tug on her emotions as the baby changeling tried to feed, but it was so week it was clear that the foal didn't even know it was doing it.

 

The tiny black insectoid buzzed it wings as it gripped the hoofball with all four of its limbs and raised it into the air, likely still having trouble controlling it's magic enough to pick it up telekenetically, raising it to almost double flux's height and letting it drop. This of course made it bounce back upwards, but the foal quickly flew down low and kicked it on the next bounce towards the 'unicorn' and grinned, completely innocent and carefree "Its coming!" she grinned, stating the obvious "I'm Hope, who are you?" she asked as she hovered a bit above the ground, waiting for the ball to get passed back to her.

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Flux blinked a bit at the extra ball, but shrugged and was about to pick it up too when the small changeling revealed herself. A young, apparently untrained changeling by herself in the woods? Whatever was going on here, it probably wasn’t good for the foal. 

 

She decided to change back into her natural form too, letting Hope see they were the same kind of creature as she bounced the ball with her hoof and sent it back towards Hope. Flux had never changed into the newer kind of changeling, and she was fine with that, she thought she looked just fine the way she was. 

 

“I’m Flux!” She chirped, smiling at Hope. “Why’re you out here all alone? Where’d your parents go?” She asked as they played, not sure what to do besides that at this point. 

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Hope let out a happy, excited chittering sound as she buzzed around her new friend after flux revealed her true form "Your like me!" she grinned, though the grin faded as flux questioned her. Hope slowly lowered to the ground and was silent a moment "I dont know..." she admitted "I haven't seen them for a long time" she was quiet a moment more but then seemed to metaphorically pick herself up "We were camping out here a while back" she motioned off deeper into the woods "mommy and daddy told me to stay here, they and the other changelings had some important job to do... but..." once again her mood fell, her wings and head lowering towards the ground "...they never came back..." at this point a quiet growling was heard, at first one might think it was some creature from the everfree wandering in close, but as Hope put her hoof to her stomach it was clear she was hungry, she flushed red at the sound "I used to be able to get lots of food" she explained "all I had to do..." there was a wave of green energy over hope as she transformed into a familiar purple alicorn "was use this pony's form and everypony would just give me food... and love... so much food and love... but then..." the energy washed over her again as she resumed her natural form "lately they were all sus... susp..." she paused, again blushing a tiny bit, knowing she didn't entirely know the word she was trying to use "they didn't trust me-her anymore" she sighed "I could occasionally swipe something, or use another form..." in rapid-fire succession the energy washed over her as she transformed into random residents of ponyville - everyone from foals to the CMCs to Prominent members of the community such as Rainbow Dash, Pinky Pie, Starlight glimmer, even the Mayor, before finally returning to her own form "But I think they all know something's wrong since I never have anything to pay..." she pawed at the ground with her hoof "...and they started asking me things I couldn't answer..." it was clear she had pushed her luck about as far as it could go "I got lucky one time when I inf...infl..." another moment of embarrassment "when I snick into a fillyscout meeting and learned..." there was another flash as she assumed the form of a familiar pink-maned pegasus and fluttered around "These berries are yummy and safe to eat. but oh my these will give you a tummy ache and never-ever eat these!" indicating different plants before changing back to herself "...but with winter coming there are fewer and fewer berries and fruits to eat... and no love..." she rummaged through one of the nearby bushes and managed to only find 5 berries and there were no fruit left on any of the trees, no doubt thanks in part to her own foraging. "I don't want to go too far though in case mommy and daddy come back..." the way she spoke, it was clear she was questioning if they'd ever come back for her though...

 

As she spoke the light had began dimming even more and cool breezes were blowing through the area more frequently, warning of the impending storm....

 

((sorry about the Hope-as-Twilight text, It's almost impossible to make green+Purple readable... >.<))

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Flux frowned as she listened to Hope speak. That sounded horrible, why didn’t the parents ever come back? Maybe they couldn’t... Either way, she shouldn’t be here by herself...

 

”Y’know, you’re pretty good at that. I’ve found the best way is to usually be yourself. Or, at least a pony version of you. The way I looked earlier wasn’t any pony’s form, I made it up. If you can do the same, you can make your own friends without worrying about whoever you look like walking by. I can help you. And once we get that figured out, you can go into town more easily and make those friends!” Flux smiled, continuing to play with Hope. “Maybe we should find some shelter though, sounds like a heavy storm.”

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Hope looked a little confused on the first part and was about to speak up when there was a loud rumble of thunder and the whole forest was lit up brighter than day for just a split second....

 

The young changeling leap into the sky, flashing between several forms in terror before she landed back on the ground in her natural one "yeah, this is a scary storm!" she said "My camp is close by, we can go there" she started running as fast as she could towards the camp, which was deeper in the forest... of course given Hope's small size 'as fast as she could' was barely quicker than an adult's walk, so it wouldn't be hard for Flux to catch up.

 

The light continued to dim, being only extrapolated by the sun dropping down further on the horizon behind the clouds, making the forest even harder to navigate and spookier, and with the proximity to the Everfree and the darkness emboldening it's denizens, if the two changelings weren't careful, they could quickly end up lost and in danger...

 

Hope stumbled as she ran, doing what would have been an impressive flip, were it intentional, landing in a small clearing with paths off in all directions... She looked down one, then another, then another, another loud roll of thunder and flash of lightning and huddled next to a tree and started crying, completely lost now, not to mention scared.

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Flux followed Hope as they moved off to find her camp, though it kinda seemed like they lost their way fairly quickly. The older changeling rushed over to the crying Hope, scooping her up into a hug and carrying her along as she searched for some good shelter in the forest. She eventually found a cave that looked pretty good, approaching carefully and checking it out before bringing Hope inside.

 

"There we go, this should work out fairly well. What should we do while we wait out this storm?" She asked, smiling encouragingly towards Hope to try and show her she was safe here with her. Flux wasn't sure what she should do in the end with Hope, but she hoped to at least leave her in a better state than she found her. "We can go get some food later once the weather clears up."

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Hope held tight to Flux, still crying a little, she whimpered something that was mostly unintelligible but it sounded like she probably said 'sorry' since she had failed to lead the older changeling to the camp, no doubt feeling bad over getting them lost.

 

Outside there was one more massive crash of thunder and flash of lightning before the rain began, at first very gentle, though every now and then it would suddenly increase and then return to the gentle downpour. Clearly thanks tot he Everfree's wild magic, the weather team was having trouble keeping the storm tamed, even now if she looked out into the rain at just the right time she might make out the silhouette of a pegasus up high in the clouds working on controlling the storm.

 

As the noise from the thunder calmed down, hope seemed to as well, finally she looked up, her face still streaked with tears and spoke "Sorry I got us lost..." she said, hugging flux back a bit now "thank you, if I'd been alone I'd still be out there all wet" it seemed that for better or worse, the little foal was unaware of just how bad things out there could be - there were far worse dangers in the everfree than just 'getting wet' of course given the situation, that foalish naive outlook might be more dangerous to the changeling than knowing the truth...

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"Yeah, and nobody wants to get wet like that." She nodded as she talked, humming to herself as she looked around the cave. "And it's fine, navigating a forest can be tough." She added, smiling over at Hope encouragingly. What to do now though? There was only so many things to do in a cave you couldn't really leave, and she didn't seem to understand what had been said about creating her own disguise.

 

"Wanna play some more? Maybe later we can practice disguises or something if you want." Flux asked, picking up the ball and watching Hope.

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((so I'm guessing the reason you almost dropped the thread is you ran out of ideas? i was trying very hard to keep it as open as possible and not be overbearing or railroad-y with a plot, but I guess instead of making it open I just put the whole load of 'running' the thread on you >.< I'm sorry))

 

Having calmed down now, hope listened closely to what her new adult-friend had said, then a grin crossed her face "we can play both!" she said as inspiration hit her "How about we take turns, and we become somepony else and the other guesses... like...."

 

Green flames washed over her as she once again assumed the form of a familiar purple alicorn "I'm a nerd who loves books and running around in a panic. and I always keep my big pet salamander nearby" she flashed back to her self "and then you'd say "Twilight Sporkle!" and then maybe you'd go and..."

 

The flames washed over hope again, this time revealing the still-somewhat villainous Draconnequis "i love doing crazy things like making it rain cupcakes and making myself into real appearances of bad jokes!"  she flashed back, "and then I'd say "um, uh... Goat Pony!" and then you'd tell me who he really is 'cuz I dont know!" she laughed awkwardly. Clearly even if she was good at mimicking shapes, she had no idea the history of most of the residents of the town, or even their names...

 

Little did hope know there was a sliver of what seemed to be gently glowing gemstone behind her, and as she spoke, it actually seemed to extend towards her slowly...

 

((was not actually planning this, but... first thing that popped into my head, so... running with it XD))

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(I mean, lack of ideas and I've just been busy, so I've been kinda putting it off.)

 

"Yes, yes we can." Flux smiled as Hope changed into the two shapes, giggling a bit as she finished. "And that second one's Discord, by the way. He's not a pony, but he's still fun to be around! Anyways, I meant more creating your own pony look, so you don't have to worry about impersonating others. You look like you've got that part covered pretty well, but we can still do this if you wanna. You go first."

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((If your gonna be busy for a few days, please let me know. I was scared that you'd given up on me and my RPs like everyone else))

 

As they played that strange glowing 'gem' continued to grow, it wasn't long before its shape gave it away... it wasn't a gemstone at all, but it looked more like the long crooked root of a tree...

 

Hope still looked confused when flux talked about making her own 'pony look' clearly this was not something that her parents had taught her about, or something she had ever though about herself, and it seemed like an alien, possibly even impossible idea to her..... if she even understood exactly what Flux was saying --- given her ages, it was very likely hope really was just clueless on the idea...

 

After that moment of confusion though, she snapped back to reality "Dis-Cord" she repeated quietly to herself, trying to memorize it "...if you say so, all I ever see him do is act weird, make scary monsters appear, or make other ponies or salamanderses vanish" it was becoming clear now too that hope had not been making a rude joke earlier about Spike being a salamander --- she genuinely didn't seem to know what a dragon was!

 

"Ok, me first then!" she said, clearly more than a little happy. The green fire flashed over her as she transformed into a huge stallion that everyone in town would see daily, but given his nature if was likely that hope wasn't the only one who didn't know him "eee-yup. eee-nope. Thats all I saw, unless I'm mad at my daughter, then I talk up a storm. I also like apples" yeah... clearly once again a lot of misunderstanding on the part of the young changeling...

 

As the played, the storm raged on, for a while getting even stronger than before. So strong, in fact, there was a quiet, but noticeable *thud* against one of the cave's walls - no doubt the overzealous weathermare being throw (or crashing) against the hill that made up the back of the cave. Clearly it was going to be a while until the storm abated...

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Flux chuckled at Hope’s newest transformation, playfully humming to draw it out a bit. She wasn’t really paying attention to anything else, not noticing the growing plant. She jumped a bit at the thud, blinking a bit before finally answering. 
 

“That’s Big Mac! The big guy at the apple farm.” She smiled, giggling a bit. A few seconds later, she turned into a blue pegasus mare, tossing her rainbow mane back. “Hey, squirt, how’s it hangin? Need any clouds busted up?”

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((sorry I cant resist... I was mainly including her as an emergency brake in case things got out of control but this is too perfect!))

 

vector__554___rainbow_dash__67_by_dashiesparkle_dah26oz-250t.jpg

RAINBOW DASH

 

The pegasus dusted herself off and was flying back towards the clouds when she heard her own familiar voice, she looked around several times and gently knocked herself on the head "Cut it out brain, I know I took a hard fall, but now is not the time! I have to get this storm back into Ponyville and under control again!" she shook her head again and flew back up and into the cloud

 

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

((and now back to the scheduled plot))

 

Hope giggled and clapped her hooves when Flux guessed correctly, flashing back to her normal form.

 

She looked at the now-pegasus a moment and shifted her wait back and forth eagerly, clearly she new the pony and the name was on the tip of her tongue but... "its... its... I know this one! um... um..." then one could almost see the light-bulb go off in her head as her form flashed to that of an orange pegasus filly "Rainbow dash! Its Rainbow Dash the most awesome pony in all of equestria!" Flux giggled as she returned to her normal form... apparently even a changeling foal knew how ridiculous scootaloo's obsession with rainbow was......

 

Meanwhile the root was much larger now and the glow was getting stronger as a faint shimmer was forming in the darkness, the tree beginning to project its preferred form...

 

((welp found another color combination that doesn't work... should not have been surprised blue+green dont work together well... so from now on since you KNOW who it is, I'm just going to leave highlighted text as black or white (whichever shows up better) for both of our (in)sanity x_x))

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(lol, that's funny)

 

Flux giggled as well at Hope's correct guess, nodding to her and changing back to her natural form. She smiled as she awaited Hope's next form, frowning a bit as she finally noticed the glowing root. She made a curious chirping noise before approaching the glowing thing and getting a real close look, eventually even giving it an experimental lick.

 

"Do ya know what's up with this thing, Hope? Ever seen one of these?" She asked, not really expecting Hope to know, but figuring she should ask anyways.

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Hope just noticed the root for the first time, and the glow and looked curious, oddly enough not frightened. Outside there was a massive flash of lightning, followed by another thud on the outside of the cave... clearly the storm was giving a huge fight

 

"Its pretty!" said hope, but then the shimmering mist had gathered strength and manifested its familiar form of the Alicorn of magic, or at least a shimmering translucent version of her

 

Now hope let out a quiet and scared "Eep! Its Twilight Sporkle!" and turned to run, but the root blocked her path

 

"Do not be frightened, I mean you no harm" said the image, which sounded only somewhat like Twilight and clearly was not the unicorn, its expression almost plastic and fake, as if someone had described to it what a smile was, but it had never seen one, though it did not seem malicious just... not quite right... "I'm here to help you, and you said you wanted to play a game, so lets play a game"

 

The cave around them began to shimmer as more roots poked into it and the two began to feel disorientated as the Tree worked its magic on them, preparing to send them deep into some unknown cave where it would no doubt test them...

 

((If you have something in mind for the Tree's test, go ahead and post it, if not, you'll get the generic "face your fear that everyone knows your true form and thinks your a monster" type test))

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Flux blinked as the image of Twilight appeared. Well, it looked like the alicorn at least. The changeling tilted her head and chirped in confusion before waving to the image. 
 

“Hiya! Wanna be friends?” She asked, smiling cheerfully. At least until the other roots poked through and she started feeling dizzy. “Hey, whatcha doing?” 
 

Soon enough though, she kinda swayed and fell over, not really able to resist it for long. 
 

(I dunno what to do. Pretty sure she’s got friends that know about her being a changeling already, but not sure.)

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((oh that just gives more fuel to the fire, I know exactly what to do for that!))

 

The cave slowly began to fade from Flux's view, the last thing she heard was another, quieter, thud, no doubt Hope succumbing to the magic as well. Soon the sound of the storm and the cold stone also faded as Flux was surrounded by perfect darkness, though there was one strange part... the darkness had an almost warm feeling, not warm like heat, but warm like it didn't want to harm her...

 

When flux awoke though, things were very different...

 

She was in a cave deep underground, pathways stretching out in all directions, the only light provided by glowing lichens on the walls and ceiling, but what would catch her eye more, was the floor... it was littered with the bodies of ponies... her friends... and even just random townsfolk... they were all alive but looked pale. one by one they slowly looked to her and every one of them slowly said "We trusted you... and you betrayed us..."

 

Two more Changelings that Flux didn't know walked up to her "We completed the mission as you ordered! Ponyvill has been looted and burned to the ground!"

 

the second then spoke "we're draining what love remains and cocooning the remaining ponies as you wanted"

 

the ponies ont he ground moaned, now all slowly talking, calling flux  untrustworthy, a betrayer.. a monster...

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(Funny, the general idea I have for her was she was part of the Canterlot invasion, but lost her memory due to the hard landing after being blasted out, and basically just became what she is now.)

 

Flux gave a groan as she awoke, looking around her curiously for a few moments before noticing the strange floor. She blinked at the sight, frozen in confusion, and the other changelings coming in only added to it. Confusion, sadness, and panic. Did she do this? She didn’t remember doing it, but it was possible. Sometimes she felt like someone else, deep inside, maybe that part came out and she couldn’t remember. She had no idea how long that plant put her under for... 

 

“No... No! I’m not a monster! I’d never betray my friends!” She shouted, trying to convince herself as much as the others. It didn’t work too well though, as she began curling into a ball and closing her eyes tightly. “Nononononono... I didn’t do it... it’s not my fault...”

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((If you want to evolve her, here's your chance! If not, just let her continue to quiver in fear and Hope will save her. Kinda ironic - I was actually expecting hope to be the one that needed saving...))

 

As the torment continued, suddenly Flux would hear a burst of energy and see a Flash of light, a wave of energy washed over her harmlessly, though all the creatures nearby seemed to take notice of it. she heard a buzzing, not unlike the sound of changeling wings, when from the darkness flew a creature Flux had never seen before, but somehow felt extremely familiar...

 

 

EDIT_small%20changeling_3_by_frownfactory_dbdve5m-fullview.png

Fleeting Hope (Evolved)

 

The now-evolved changeling paused only a moment when she saw the situation that Flux was in, then a determined grin came over its face as it leapt atop one of the black changelings "Flux! You dont have to be like this anymore!" she said happily "Help them! Share your love with them!" she grinned as a pink aura surrounded Hope and flowed into the pinned changeling, as it did, the black changeling... did it smile? before fading away

 

((ignore the fact it's an "adult changeling" image, I have no clue how to make it look more foal-like, already spent over an hour editing it to make it look as good as it does... >.<))

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Flux whimpered a bit, trying to cover her ears and block out the sound until suddenly someone showed up to help. She sniffled a bit, taking a peek at the new changeling. She wasn’t sure what to do in this situation. For all she knew, this was just a trick... Wait, was that Hope?

 

”H-Hope? Is that you?” She whimpered, tearing up a bit. “Sh-share love? I... Alright...” Flux sniffled, closing her eyes again before trying to do as Hope said. She wasn’t sure how this all worked though...

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Hope smiled and buzzed her wings, "You've spent your life stealing love that was never meant for you, taking things that belong to another, and it always left you feeling hungry, empty" something about this explanation sounded far too mature for Hope, there was no doubt the Tree had already given an explanation like this to the younger changeling "Instead of taking love, give it, let it flow out from you, share it with others, the more you share your love, the more it grows, and you'll never feel empty again!" She walked over and put her hoof on Flux, and the glowing pink aura surrounded them, Flux would feel her hunger for love start to fade a little, as if she had been feeding on a very strong bond from another pony, but it didn't last long

 

Hope smiled "Help the ponies, share your love, I'll take care of the other changelings" she leapt atop another of the black changelings, though this one took a little bit more work, she soon also had it pinned down and once more shared her love, making the changeling smile then fade away, but as soon as one was down, more seemed to be coming from the shadows, it didn't matter what Hope did, she'd never be able to save them all by herself, she needed flux - she needed her friend!

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She kinda felt the love had been meant for her... most of the time... That had been the whole point of making her own pony, to not disrupt others relationships by impersonating them for food, and earn her own food by building her own relationships... 

 

Hope’s suggestion did sound better though, and Flux watched the other changeling do her thing, smiling a bit at the love shared with her. She eventually looked back at the ponies beneath her, tearing up again. 
 

“I’m sorry... I’ll fix this, I promise... I love you all...” She whispered, hugging the nearest one that looked like one of her friends. Soon enough, she started glowing, and that glow transitioned into the ponies around her, steadily spreading over them until they were all restored. With that done, the light doubled back into Flux, causing her to gasp as she felt the love filling her up to the brim. She smiled widely, crying tears of joy as the light overtook her and her old form was no more. She was like Hope now, evolved. It seemed her new form kept her love of purple, as her body was mostly purple in color, transitioning to other shades of purple or to pink in spots. 
 

She didn’t take long to examine herself before moving to help Hope. 

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When Flux's cocoon opened the waves of energy completely eradicated the ponies and 'evil' changlings, clearing the room

 

Hope Buzzed her wings as she hugged Flux "I knew you could do it!" she said

 

"So did I" The translucent image of the element of magic once again stood there with that not-quite-right smile "You faced your fears and have grown strong, I am proud of you both" the image started to fade

 

"Wait!" exclaimed Hope "Who are you?"

 

The image merely glanced upwards, the crystalline roots glowing brightly, then the image faded away

 

Hope rubbed her hoof against her head "I'm confused" she admitted

 

Now that the test had been passed, the darkness around the receded, revealing that most of the paths were actually simply dead ends, but the crystalline roots were now faintly glowing along the path towards one of the only remaining openings, from which light could be seen, revealing the exit

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