[Everfree Forest] Daring-Do & Friends in The Quest at Harmony Castle [Boss_Hoss1, Mojo, Neoniie, Thyrlos, Greed, tyler008bon]

[Neoniie]

Daring grinned modestly as Silver introduced her to the two other ponies. She'd never particularly liked the meet & greet portion of getting to know other ponies. It was mostly a by-product of the fame she'd gained through her novels, to the point where she had become something of a household name. However, Daring-Do had never really enjoyed the celebrity part of her status. Of course, she wrote in order to tell the stories and make a couple bits, which is why she'd engineered most of the stories to be more than merely boring archaelogical reports, but she supposed that her greed didn't particularly add to her comfort factor with being so adored. Regardless, the other adventurers seemed to take well to her, which she was certainly thankful for. Luckily, when Brambleberry and Sye Klops mentioned her adventures, she managed to ease quite naturally back into a more confident persona.

"The pleasure is all mine," she said, the smile on her muzzle fairly less modest now. Now that she got a better look at Silver's companions, she noticed that they seemed like a rather odd bunch. Texas Tilly had stripes, which weren't something she'd seen on any creature in Equestria thus far, much less a pony. Sye Klops also had a fairly unique appearance, which initially suprised the golden pegasus. However, she saw strange sights on many ocassions of her travels, even if a couple of them were fairly exaggerated. Instead, she focused on the treasure that lay in the depths of the ruined castle. "Silver tells me you're also after this gemstone. And, it looks like we've already had some misadventures on our quest. As I have suggested to him already, I propose we search together." As she spoke, Daring extended a hoof in a friendly guesture, hoping that they would take to her idea as their mechanical friend had.

[Mojo]

"AFFIRMATIVE!" Silver spoke, extending his metal leg and hoof up to shake Daring Do's.

"Reckon we're all in this here thing together," added Texas Tilly as she also shook the hoof of the famous explorer.

"It would be a pleasure and an honor to work with you, ma'am," Sye Klops said, so starstruck by the stunned mare that he stood still with a goofy grin on his face.

"Er.. Sye? HAY SYE!" Tilly shouted, waving her hoof in front of the smiling one eyed stallion.

"SYE KLOPS NON RESPONSIVE! OUTSIDE STIMULUS REQUIRED!" Silver spoke as the cybernetic stallion lifted his right front leg and then extended it outward until it tapped the blue stallion on the shoulder.

"What? Huh?" Sye Klops asked as he 'snapped back' to reality.

Meanwhile, back at the SSCS6k... Flam began to sing in response to Elarra:

"My lovely filly, is that fruit edible? Because it would be regretable, if we all ate some and got sick.

I know I certain am famished, but my appetitte will vanish, if we can't safely eat these fruits!"

Edited April 26, 2012 by Mojo

[Boss_Hoss1]

The magical mare giggled behind a hoof at Sy's reaction. "It seems we have a greater fan than I in our midst."

She ahemd and looked to the famous archeologist/writer "Yes, since you are the pro at dungeon delving, I agree we should be working together. As Silver may have explained, my interest in the gem is both professional curiosity and a matter of mercy."

She pointed a hoof at Texas Tilly and Silver "My counterpart in another world replicated the abilities of the gem somehow and sent them here, and altered them to pony form in the process. The Smitten Sy Clops is from our world but has been hit by a magical distortion and the gem may restore him. You are free to claim the gem afterward though."

Brambleberry rubbed her chin in thought "By the way, do you have a method for deactivating the traps? Those painted monsters springing to life off the walls are rather annoying.

-Outside-

Flam grinned in excitement and joy "Hungry? Oh Elarra! Food is he best thing you may guide us to at this time. It takes a lot of energy to sing in rhyme!"

The unicorn stood up and searched the tree with his horn power, tugging leaves aside to look for them. He brought one over to himself. "What are these fruit? if I may be so bold to ask."

[Neoniie]

((OOC: Alright folks, as we have a couple of new joiners to our thread, I shall repost the post order for general clarity on everyone's part. I tried to group it as best as I could based on the groups that our characters are currently in, just to make the flow of RP a bit better. Anyways, here's Mojo's original order, with a few changes.

1) Thrylos

2) Greed

3) Tyler008bon

4) Neoniie

5) Mojo

6) Boss Hoss

And, I'll be marking this topic as 'Closed' now, since any more than 6 of us is likely to get out of hand, so to speak. But, enough of my rambling, let the RPing recommence!))

[tyler008bon]

(Wait, I'm curious, are we in charge of every character or our own OC's?)

[Neoniie]

((OOC: Just our own OCs, my good sir! (excuse that last part if you are not, in fact, a sir) ))

[tyler008bon]

(OOC: Thank you, it looked like a lot of people were being multiple characters at once, so I was just curious(And I am a sir))

[Greed]

(I am ready and willing )

[Thrylos]

Elarra blinked. "Ah, yes! These fruits are very lovely. They can survive through winter, and so the winter animals tell me all about them. They're a wild type of apple that was here before the ponies were here." She took another bite and grinned. "And, Kind sir, they are very edible. I've eaten them many times."

[Greed]

Harmony Castle, where all ponies are judged, and their sins laid bare. The Seven Sins inhabited this forgotten ruin longer than even Princess Celestia's rule, their job was to guard the treasures within, something that they still do to this day, and to prescribe judgement upon those who wish to claim the Castle's prize.

The central castle chamber was divided into seven sections, each with it's own doorway. In the centre of the room were seven stone statues of the Sins, each one facing a separate door, waiting for their moment.

The breeze from the hole in the chamber's ceiling moaned through the castle's ancient corridors, carrying with it a name..."Daring-Doo...."...

[tyler008bon]

Wilden the wolf stared silently at the the ponies eating, his own stomach empty. He kept telling himself that he would attack them eventually, but instinct told him not to. His body was fighting itself on whether or not to eat.

His stomach growled shockingly loudly.

[Neoniie]

The golden pegasus couldn't help but share Brambleberry's amusement at Sye Klops' reaction. She'd always found it slightly fascinating the way ponies acted around their heroes. From an objective viewpoint, of course, as the famous adventurer often didn't have much time for interest when she was being gawked at during her public appearances. Even so, it was odd and she personally had never quite grasped it. She idolized her foalhood heroes, of course, but it had never really stuck past that point. Perhaps, she mused, when you become a hero, you lose the ability to see others as heroes. The mare couldn't say, but she was still grinning slightly at the cobalt blue earth pony's brief bout of spacing out. "It would seem so," she said, addressing the magical pony. "Regarding the gem, I had thought something similar. After all, help is something I've already needed once." Daring-Do kept her smile, pleased that they had agreed to work together. Having friends was much more preferable to having enemies.

"As for the traps, I might have something that could give you a hoof with that." She glanced over to the walls, not having noticed the painted creatures until they were mentioned. The pegasus wasn't exactly sure how they worked, since it was likely magical technology that had been disused for centuries, but she noticed the tiles beneath the hooves of the group were covered in symbols. Always with the tiled floors, the mare thought. "In most other situations, I'd try to set them of pre-maturely, but in this case that's not the best idea. I'm guessing pressure-activated by those tiles, right?" The adventurer didn't want to make a guess without all the details, since that almost always led to trouble. As she paced and wondered, possibilities juggled around in her mind, Daring thought she heard a sound. Something like a whisper, but it was so very faint that nopony around her could have said it. Her brow furrowed at the sound, wondering if she was just imagining things. However, the traps were her main priority and so she pushed any ponderings of the call to the back of her mind.

[Mojo]

"AFFIRMATIVE!" Silver spoke as the cybernetic stallion nodded his metallic head.

"Sounds good to me, Darin' Do!" added Texas Tilly

"Whatever you say, my sweet," Sye Klops said dreamily before snapping back to his senses, "Er... I mean, Miss Do."

"Looks like Sye's got'm a crush!"

"NEGATIVE MISS TILLY! NO PONY IS BEING CRUSHED OR DAMAGED AT THIS MOMENT!"

"I'll explain it to ya later, saddlepal."

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

(ooc): New character coming in!

Meanwhile, at Canterlot Castle, a dapper looking unicorn dressed in a black tuxedo top walked into the throne room. There he was met by several larger stallions all wearing dark sunglasses.

"So, gentlestallions, why have you summoned me?" Con Mane asked, "and if you're fixin' me a drink, I'll have a milkshake, shaken, not stirred."

"Agent double O Neigh, we'll get right to the point," one of the sunglass wearing stallions began to explain, "the Princess sisters have received word of some unusual and unauthorized activity taking place around the ruins of their ancient castle in the Everfree Forest. We are sending you there to investigate immediately."

"Immediately?" the dapped unicorn superspy asked. "But I was having such a splendid time at Fancy Pants' dinner party and.."

"There is no time to waste, Con Mane," the dark stallion said as he clapped his hooves together. Suddenly, six unicorns with glowing horns surrounded him.

"I say, is this reception really necessary, old bean?"

"We're sending you directly to the scene, Double O Neigh, good luck, all of Equestria is counting on you."

"Yes yes, but I..." Con Mane spoke as the six unicorns unleashed their teleportation spell, instantly sending the dashing tuxedo clad unicorn to the castle area... more specifically, outside of the castle where we appeared in front of Wilden. As he wondered where he was, he heard the odd noises of a grumbling stomach behind him. Turning around, OO-Neigh could clearly see that he was in instant peril. Using his trademark calm demeanor, he tried to calm the beast with his classic charm.

"Greetings dear fellow. My name is Mane, Con Mane. I can see you're busy being.. hungry and all, so I will trouble you no further."

As Con Mane slowly backed away from Wilden, the noise he made quickly caught the attention of Flam who stopped eating long enough to glance in that direction.

"Dear brother, lovely filly, I do believe we may have some uninvited guests nearby....."

[Boss_Hoss1]

(OOC: sorry for the delay this weekend, in case anyone has not seen the notice about my spotty availability through tomorrow...)

The bubblegum pink unicorn with the lavender mane, The Awesome and Amazing Brambleberry nodded "The traps we just came through from that way are pressure activated, the painted monsters activate when you get too close. i guess they sense heat or life force. Maybe Silver can help us figure that out."

She watched as Daring Do examined the next set of tiles "Any ideas on what kind of trap is ahead? It would seem this area was dangerous even a thousand years ago if they needed this level of protection..."

Suddenly, Brambleberry shivered with a feeling like ice was stroked down her spine, like powerful, dangerous magic was nearby.

It did not help her nerves that Daring Do seemed to react to something too. She really hoped something strongly magical had not activated ahead of them...

-Outside-

The smooth shaven half of the Famous Flim Flam Brothers, Flim grinned as he pulled more of the fruit over to him with horn power.

*groooowl*

The unicorn peered over at his mustached twin "Have a care there, Flam my Brother. Your tummy growl just now is loud enough to be heard even by Mother..." as he passed him some of the strange apples.

Just then, Flam brought his attention to the true source of the growl.

Flim nodded and muted the glow of his horn, letting the fruit drop

"Yes Brother Dear, Company is truely near.

What more competition will we meet, I fear?"

[Thrylos]

Elarra looked and saw the new pony ducking down quickly, she leaped up like a frog and fluttered onto a branch silently, looking at him. "Who IS that dashing pony? He looks like he could be a fighter as well...which I can handle." Elarra whispered.

Looking at him closely, he had a suit on...a spy, maybe?

[Greed]

The castle almost pulsed with excitement, there was new prey inside its borders, new ponies to ensnare. It began to let its magic seep into the old stone and wood of it foundations, it began to let its evil seep into the decorum and artwork, and into the very air itself. The wind moaned the voice once more, louder than before, but this time there were other voices, other names, along with it. The wind pulled at the tips of the pony's minds, nibbled at their concentration, and distracted their thoughts...

[tyler008bon]

After seeing a pony teleport in front of him and blow his cover, Wilden growled at him and ran.

So much for the element of surprise, he thought to himself. How does a pony teleport anyway? It was an abnormality of course, but Wilden would have welcomed the ability to teleport anywhere he wanted.

After making sure he wasn't followed and was far enough away from danger, Wilden hunted. He managed to catch more than enough to satisfy his hunger, and thought of his sister, whom he always shared with.

He laid down on the grass and tried to sleep, but his mind kept going back to those ponies. I have to find them, they may need help, considering how deep they are my home.

Wilden's doubtful and cautious thoughts lost the battle raging inside his mind, and he went to find the ponies once again.

[Neoniie]

The pegasus adventurer nodded at Brambleberry's answer, having guessed as much from the layout of the room. The tiles were placed carefully in strategic positions, ones that made it almost inevitable for somepony to trip one. Luckily for Daring-Do, she was a pegasus, but her fellow explorers did not have that luxury. Even Silver and Brambleberry, who might be able to teleport over the tiled floor, would likely have a limit to the amount of times they could do so consecutively. Magic was a useful tool, but it was certainly not an end-all, be-all device. So, it seemed that she would have to rely on good old adventuring staples. The main reason that pressure-activation was a trap of choice was that actually disabling them in any way was quite difficult. However, this was no mere pegasus with which they had to contend, she was Daring-Do, explorer extraordinaire. If she was careful, these traps would be disabled in no time.

She extended her wings, lifting off the groundso that she was hovering just above the ground below. Before flying off, she explained herself. "We can't do anything about the tiles themselves, but there must be a triggering mechanism of some sort that activates the painted creatures remotely. Could you-" The mare stopped herself, that odd, bone-chiling sound echoing through the castle again. This time, she was absolutely certain that she had heard something very real and likely not very friendly. Even the very stones around them seemed to be leering toward them, honing in upon the intruders. Blinking a couple times as though shaking off a sudden onset of that sleeping feeling that muddles one's thoughts, Daring continued, "Brambleberry, is there any chance you could locate it with a...uh...spell or something?" She stumbled slightly halfway through the thought, feeling distracted by a sudden wish to proceed onward and deeper into the castle. Unconsciously, the hovering pegasus drifted toward the passageway that led onward, not even really registering any movement on her part.

[Mojo]

"Hay Sye, can you detect any triggerin' mechanisms around here?" Texas Tilly asked the one eyed blue stallion.

"None that I can see," Sye Klops said nervously as he and Tilly looked up at Silver.

"How about you, ol' saddlepal. Can ya sense anythin'?"

"SCANNING..." the cybernetic stallion spoke as his internal sensors went to work. "NO ABNORMAL READING DETECTED!"

The three then notice the hovering Daring Do drifting away from them.

"HAY DARING DO! GIT BACK HERE!"

"Come back my sweet! Don't leave us!" Sye Klops shouted, causing a stunned Texas Tilly to roll her eyes and shake her head.

"PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR PREVIOUS POSITION!" Silver called out before spreading out his metallic wings and taking flight himself to pursue her. "MISS DARING DO, PLEASE EXPLAIN YOUR PRESENT COURSE OF ACTION!"

Meanwhile, outside the castle, the newly arrived Con Mane was rather stunned that he could scare off the wolf so easily. When he turned his head, he spotted Flim, Flam and Elarra.

"That was quite an entrance, my good sir," Flam said, trying to act polite and non-challant. "Just who are you and what in the name of Celestia are you doing out here?"

"I was in the neighorhood and thought I'd drop in," the tuxedo wearing stallion said calmly, "The name is Mane, Con Mane and who might this lovely filly be?"

As Con Mane stared at Elarra with his trademark grin, Flam immediately stepped into his line of sight.

"Mister, you didn't answer my question. What are you doing way out here?"

Flam suddenly noticed that Con Mane had seemingly vanished. Looking all around, the white unicorn found him, standing next to Elarra reaching to kiss her left front hoof.

"You are a rare and stunning beauty, miss," the well dressed unicorn spoke, turning on all his classic 00-Neigh charm. Flam began to growl at the newcomer.

[Boss_Hoss1]

(OOC: bunged up my ankle last night but I will still be answering more often)

Brambleberry still felt that chill down her spine, but paid attention to Daring Do. "Y-yes, that makes sense. The Princesses cant have had magical hall passes for sudden but welcome visitors. There had to have been something for the unicorn guards to turn on and off."

She closed her eyes and felt around with her horn power "There! at the end of the hall... Something strong!"

She looked toward Daring Do "I'll teleport on over and turn it off... Miss Do?!"

Brambleberry ulped as she suddenly felt the growing menace and...her name too, like a whisper from the grave.

She noticed Daring Doo was drifting toward the end of the hall and teleported ahead of her, touching her horn to the crystal controlling the traps to turn it off with a flash.

The Pink and purple unicorn then stood on her hind legs and waved her hooves, blocking the way. "Daring Do! Where are you going! It's not safe alone. something is calling you and me! -BY NAME!"

(OOC: I would guess Pride would be interested in Brambleberry...)

---Outside---

Flim snorted posessively with his brother and moved to block Con Mane's view of Elarra.

Suddenly, the strange stallion was behind them both.

Flim growled as well at the same time as Flam.

"The Famous Flim Flam Brothers Do no mean to be crude,

but we think someone is being very rude.

Elarra is our guide and the apple of our eye.

If we get lost here with out a guide,

-we may surely die."

The smooth shaven stallion stepped forward to cross horns with Con Mane.

"We ask again you cad! Are you a treasure hunter?

A claim jumper and lady stealing Casanova I might add?"

[Thrylos]

The look the unicorn gave the snowy white pegasus left her jittery, and Elarra was surprised, but blushed wildly as the dashing stallion teleported over and kissed her hoof. "Ooooh..." Elarra grinned, and the teenage filly felt a happiness like none other...then, like many times in town, all of a sudden everypony was fighting over her, and she flew a bit higher up and hid herself behind some leaves.

"It-t-ts o-o-o-kay..." Suddenly, a wind blew by, and it seemed as if time slowed, her light blue mane flowing as if it was Celestia's, cheeks rosy red, wings outstretched majestically...

[Greed]

The breeze that pulled at the ponies' manes, and minds, increased slightly in its pull, the names called by the ancient castle mixed into one constant, fearful noise. The walls loomed over the ponies, oppressive in their dark majesty, and all corridors not leading to the central chamber seemed to twist and become impassible in the darkness, leaving only one route open to the intrepid adventurer and her party.

A small trickle of dust fell from the gathered Sinful statues, and a thin almost unnoticeable line of dark red fluid became to leak from the foundations of each one, pooling in the middle of the room.

The temperature began to drop...it was almost feeding time...

[tyler008bon]

Wilden jumped into the clearing, shocking three of the four ponies with his entrance. The forth simply stared at him; it was the same one that forced him away last time.

Understanding their fear, Wilden straightened himself up and began to speak. "I am Wilden, and I would like to know why you are in my home."