As the Crusaders gathered around Applejack, she waved Apple Bloom closer. "Bloom, come here. Ah have to tell ya something."
Apple Bloom approached, putting down the gauze. "What is it, sis?"
Applejack smiled. "Ah just wanted ta say that ah'm mighty proud of you. If... ah don't make it, ya should go on and make yerself happy. That's... That's how ya can do me most proud."
Apple Bloom stiffened. "Don't talk like that! We're gonna save ya." She grabbed up the gauze and resumed her work with a frown.
"Just don't... linger on me. You'll make your sister right sad if she finds out you moped over her. Step over me... Find that light in ya, Apple Bloom, promise me."
Apple Bloom shook her head violently. "Shut up!" She squeezed her eyes shut, tears leaking out of the corners. "Shut up! Yer not d... yer..."
"Ah'm serious. Apple Bloom, listen ta me! Yer a fine filly. Don't live a life of regret." Applejack stared at Apple Bloom intensely a moment before her head collapsed to the ground and consciousness fled her.
Apple Bloom perked up her ears as Applejack went silent. "Sis? AJ?" Those ears went back sharply. "Wake up! Don't... Don't go. Not like... Ya don't deserve ta die so far away from the farm. This ain't right..."
Scootaloo softly nudged Apple Bloom. "Hey, come on. We have to try our best, awake or not."
Sweetie cleared her throat before a new song began to issue from her small throat, a soft song of hope. While it had originally served as a lullaby, Apple Bloom could suddenly hear the subtle references to passing on. She shuddered powerfully before she began to bandage up Applejack as quickly as she could. Blood soaked through the cloth as quickly as she put it down, but she didn't give up, she couldn't. "Scootaloo, press down here!"
Shale watched on passively from the doorway. She offered no help to the dying or dead Applejack, save the protection she may have been serving, blocking the doorway as she was.
Apple Bloom's meager supply of gauze was worked through quickly, going down to ripping apart any cloth they could find. The bleeding eventually came under control, and Apple Bloom sank in place, crying muffledly into her own hooves. "Ah can't even check. Is she?"
Scootaloo moved in carefully and perked an ear over Applejack's snout. The room went silent. The faint breath that Scootaloo heard brought a quick smile to her face. "She'll be OK, Apple Bloom, we did it."
Sweetie Belle let out an explosive sigh. "That was too close!"
Apple Bloom threw herself over the upper barrel of her fallen sister. "Ah'm so sorry we dragged you here! Ah'll be good, promise!"
Scootaloo tilted her head. "We weren't trying to. She'll be OK, we just have to get her out of here."
Apple Bloom gestured at Applejack's limp form. "How? She's as big as all o' us combined!"
Shale approached on almost silent paws. "I will carry her; just get her on my back."
The Crusaders mobilized, soon getting Applejack comfortably sprawled on the wide back of their new feline friend. "Say, where's Sunflower?"
Sunflower peeked from around the corner outside. "Is everything OK?"
Scootaloo nodded. "As OK as it can be." She took a slow breath. "Why were you hiding? Scared of that big thing?"
Sunflower bobbed his head. "And I still feel sore and tired from that dead thing before."
Sweetie tilted her head in the opposing direction. "You were hit by one? Why didn't you ask for healing?"
Sunflower's ears wilted a little. "I didn't want to waste your magic. She needed it more." He pointed at Applejack.
Apple Bloom smiled gently. "Wow... Yer... really not just a purrsian."
Sunflower bristled at the words. "What do you mean by that?"
Apple Bloom walked up to Sunflower and hugged him tight. "Thank you, for thinkin' of others. For savin' some magic for mah sister. For being a good friend..." She had started to weep on Sunflower's shoulder, a fact that made Sunflower look mortified and awkward.
"I... You're welcome... Let's get out of here." Sunflower pointed up the hallway.
They set out, eyes barely leaving the hallway as they passed other rooms, interest in exploring or looting thoroughly dashed against the rocks of reality. They were silent as they pushed on, until they heard a soft hiss and saw familiar red eyes. That dead thing had returned.
Apple Bloom pulled out the dagger she never returned to Sweetie Belle while Scootaloo and Sunflower drew their own weapons. Sunflower pointed at the dead humanoid. "Last chance, back off!"
Those that are already dead are difficult to intimidate, and this proved true. The half-rotted, half-skeleton of a figure lurched forward at them. Scootaloo drove her flaming rapier forward, and it exploded in fire violently, knocking the creature back a step with a soft moan.
Sunflower dashed forward. "Nice hit." He wove under an awkward swing to bash it from behind. Apple Bloom charged in with a frustrated cry, driving her mutagen-enhanced neck forward with her dagger and cutting the beast down. She began stabbing its still form repeatedly.
Scootaloo sheathed her blade and gently pulled Apple Bloom away. "It's OK. It's dead, real dead. We should keep moving."
Apple Bloom shivered as she drew away. She tucked the dagger in a belt and nodded. "Yeah..."
Shale spoke as they resumed their journey. "The life of an adventurer is no easy task."
Scootaloo chuckled softly. "No kidding. But cool things aren't easy, or they wouldn't be cool. We'll get through this, girls, and we'll laugh at this afterwards."
Sweetie offered a forced smile. "If you say so. I just want to see the sun again, and hide under the covers for a week."
Apple Bloom looked back at the still form of her sister. "If she doesn't make it, Ah'm never making another potion ever again."
Sweetie frowned at that and moved beside Apple Bloom. "That isn't what she wanted. She said so!"
Sunflower smiled a little. "Besides, she'll make it, so don't make stupid promises."
"Death approaches." All eyes turned to face Shale, wide with fear. Shale carefully shook Applejack to the floor. "Take her and go. I will delay it. You deserve a chance." She turned to face an offshoot hallway. "I must have been trapped here too long..."
They rushed in unison, hefting Applejack up between all four young forms. Sunflower looked at Shale. "Will you be OK?"
Shale shook her head. "In all likelihood, no. Go, before I change my mind and come to my senses."
They went. Hooves and paws worked to carry them away from their new ally as they struggled somewhat under the bulk of Applejack. They suddenly emerged into a familiar library. Apple Bloom's face brightened like the coming of the new dawn. "We're near tha entrance! Tha stairs should be... there." She pointed and they fled towards it. As they crossed the room, the ground shuddered, as from the shockwave of a distant explosion. It felt like it came from behind them, where they had left Shale.
Sunflower frowned. "I hope she gets out alright."
Sweetie bit her bottom lip. "I want to help her, but we can't do anything. If it's bad enough to scare her, we'd... just be in the way. We have to get out."
Apple Bloom nodded at Sweetie. "We can come back after we get AJ to safety." They ascended the winding stairs with some difficulty, having to start and stop constantly as they worked Applejack around and around. They emerged into the tomb and saw the floating visage of a pony there.
It turned and looked at them with sad eyes. "So close." It rushed at them with outstretched hooves. Sunflower drew his mace and swung at their bodiless foe. True to its ghost-hunting nature, the mace solidly struck the floating pony, making it recoil in surprise. Scootaloo set Applejack down more gently than Sunflower had and pulled free her rapier, willing it to ignite brightly.
Apple Bloom leaped forward at it, but both she and her dagger passed through it as if it wasn't there. The pony lashed out a hoof, leaving a patch of ice where it brushed Apple Bloom's shoulder. She howled in pain and recoiled away from it. Scootaloo jabbed into its side, the fire-enchanted steel cutting into it like wispy jello, causing some harm to it.
The pony sighed a whisper of death. "He is coming for you all. I'm sorry." She lashed out a hoof that barely tapped Scootaloo's snout, ice blooming on contact. Scootaloo scowled and held firm to her rapier despite the piercing chills.
Sunflower bashed into the ghost's exposed flank, battering quite effectively despite its incorporeal body. "We won't be here for 'him'. Go away!"
Sweetie swallowed heavily, not singing. It wasn't for lack of trying, but her voice was spent, and the magic of her song refused to come to her any further. She instead focused on slowly dragging Applejack towards the exit.
Scootaloo tried to stab the thing, but the chills made her blow slow and clumsy, allowing it to dodge around the blade easily. This put it in the right spot for Sunflower's mace. With a solid thump, it discorporated, vanishing with a soft sigh of a death rattle. "We have to go, now!"
All four quickly took hold of Applejack and ferried her into the main room. They could see a shaft of blessed sunlight streaming in from above and realized their next issue. Sweetie tilted her head. "How are we going to get her up there?"
Scootaloo grabbed the rope from Applejack's pack. "Follow me, Sunflower." They both took off, launching up through the hole. Aboveground, they found a stone fence and tied off the rope there quickly with Sunflower's agile fingers. Down below, Apple Bloom and Sweetie tied up Applejack securely. With a combined effort, they slowly hauled her up to the surface, flopping limply to the sand.
A deafening roar issued from the hole as countless shadowy figures poured out from the tomb into the entryway. They didn't seem to want to enter the light of the sun. Apple Bloom pointed into the city. "Let's get outta here!" And that is exactly what they did, ferrying Applejack through the city, away from that cursed hole and the darkness that had almost consumed them.
They arrived at Longtail Manse without difficulty, save the sweat that poured freely from their effort to carry Applejack so far. They moved to the Crusader's room and tucked Applejack in carefully into their bed. Apple Bloom collapsed against the side of the bed, panting with effort and relief. "Ah'm... gonna start brewing up more potions. Applejack's gonna need lots of medicine."
Sunflower nodded at her. "You did good. We all did good." He smiled at them. "I couldn't ask for a better pride."
Scootaloo tilted her head. "That's a funny way of saying that. Don't you mean 'I couldn't be prouder'?"
Sunflower blinked. "No? I..." It seemed to click. "Do you know what a pride is?" All three shook their heads at him. "Oh! Well... Successful alpha cats, like me, make prides." He grinned. "They're like a bunch of wives. It's our job to make sure they're happy, and they make him happy. You all make me very happy."
Sweetie tilted her head, joining Scootaloo. "I don't remember getting married. You're, uh, nice, but you're a cat, and I'm a pony."
Scootaloo shrugged a little. "Spike chases after Rarity all the time, or used to? Now he's with that Soft Mane girl, and she's not a dragon either."
Apple Bloom was setting up her supplies, apparently quite set on getting to potion-making. "Ah don't have time fer romance! Ya can't just say we're yer pride or whateva."
Sunflower looked a little crestfallen. "Well... I'll prove I'm worth it!" He nodded firmly. "Just you wait."
Scootaloo giggled at him. "Oh boy. Are you going to sweep me off my hooves?"
Sweetie Belle joined the giggle. "You sound way too excited about that, Scoots."
Hail and fare thee well Shale. May you walk in Elysium.
If the death are held back by the sun. Either that hole has to be sealed before dark, or that city is going to need a lot more adventurers very quickly.
5920019 I'll have to check my books. I'm sure there were some magic books that vanished once read, but there have been so many editions, settings, and books....
The devil-summoning trap probably did a lot to keep the book in place, though. Still, my personal headcannon has something like this:
As Applejack and the youngsters approached the room, a book suddenly shimmered slightly and fell open, its pages riffling in an unfelt wind. A bespectacled mare poked her head out of the book, despite the physical impossibility of the act, and reached a hoof toward a locked drawer in a nearby desk. Her hoof passed through the desk and touched a book in the drawer. The book disappeared with a pop of displaced air, and then another book, more ornate and in better condition, appeared. The mare smiled shyly to herself, then startled as she heard hoofsteps approaching. She quickly vanished.
ok sunflower cam clean about his feelings. well kind of.
AJ is in really bade shape.
on the good side the cmc are in good spirits and AJ is in her bed recovering.
good chapter good work.
Harts Fire
Hoo boy. With that whatever-it-is so close to the surface, the party's probably going to need to deal with it. At the very least, something does, or Murrage won't last very much longer. Slate died as well as anyone can. I just hope that whatever took her down can't create spawn.
(Assuming she did die. It seems like a safe assumption, but you can never be sure until you see the body, and even then, there are illusions to consider.)
Also, good to see that Sunflower made his intentions clear. That kind of miscommunication could've lead to all kinds of unpleasant misunderstandings. Hopefully he won't do anything too stupid when trying to woo the Crusaders...
5920238 You get a cookie if you can identify what happened with the original cat that hired them.
Crusaders
Ah'm
ah
on and
Either
Ah'd
or
of
extra space between "before" and "her"
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to lay your sleepy head
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to go to bed
Belle
her; just
thinkin'
savin'
You used this same verb a few paragraphs back ("The Crusaders mobilized..."). Perhaps "set out" would be better than using the same word?
and saw familiar
But what about radical and awesome things? :)
Awkward phrasing. Perhaps
As they crossed the room, the ground shuddered, as from the shockwave of a distant explosion. It felt like it came from behind them, where they had left Shale.
Between it (the mace) and it (the ghost), this paragraph gets confusing. Perhaps:
Sunflower drew his mace and swung at their bodiless foe. True to its ghost-hunting nature, the mace solidly struck the floating pony, making it recoil in surprise.
More gently than what? Perhaps:
down gently
but she and
extra space between countless and shadowy
Awkward phrasing. Perhaps:
save the sweat that poured freely from their effort to carry Applejack so far.
Now
girl, and
Sunflower is cute as he "plays pride."
5920262 Typos hedged out with a protection from evil circle. Let's pray it holds.
5920257
Well, at first, it looked like a terminal case of ghoul fever, given the other ghouls, but that should've taken longer than one day, and he didn't seem sick earlier. The other possibility is a create undead spell, and given the roaring and explosions...
Oh dear. Why do I get the feeling that there's a dragon involved?
5920297 Or worse, a dracolich.
5920297
Could've been a Dread Ghoul or Dread Ghast. They basically turn anyone they kill and don't eat near instantly.
You certainly cranked up the feels for this chapter.
AJ gets to have a "death scene" without actually dying.
Poor Shale. It seems that every time a neutral or evil creature does something heroic it gets them killed. We didn't see her die, but things look pretty bad for her. Plus, it would be a convenient way to wrap up her side plot. It's too bad, because I was really starting to like her.
I think this should be "those that are already dead..."
Don't capitalize "approaches."
This should be "Sunflower bashed the ghost's exposed flank, battering it quite effectively despite its incorporeal body."
Apparently quite set on "potion-making."
5920291
Are you kidding, Typos aren't evil, they're neutral!
... Oh wait... -overrun-
5920795 Tweaks made in Shale's honor.
5920854 Wow, this chapter had quite the dramatic conclusion to the party's dungeon adventure, not to mention some shipping thrown in at the end for good measure! Great stuff all around!
Applejack's "dying" speech to her sister was a very poignant moment, particularly in light of last week's episode also dealing with themes of loss (albeit much less heavily). One has to wonder how much this brings up for Apple Bloom, as she's the only member of the CMC who's lost a parent previously (possibly Scootaloo notwithstanding?), even if she had to have been terribly young when it happened. Applejack isn't just her sister, but also her surrogate mother, and between how she's lost on a dangerous foreign world, one can only wonder just how badly Apple Bloom was panicking right at that moment.
I suspect that it was watching the tender moment between the two sisters that convinced Shale to do more than just passively walk alongside them when things were at their worst. Sphinxes may have very different mindsets, but they're still living creatures that have some (I think) appreciation for family. Unfortunately, not only is she almost certainly dead, but I suspect that she is not resting in peace. Whatever (almost assuredly undead) evil thing is down there is doubtlessly able to animate dead bodies; even now, I suspect that the poor gynosphinx has only begun to pay for her selflessness. After so long being trapped in that room, now she's likely trapped in a far, far worse state.
That said, while it is alarming that so many creatures (wraiths, it sounded like) were right at the entrance to the tomb, held back only by sunlight, I'm not at all convinced that an undead invasion of Murrage is going to break out as soon as the sun goes down. Whatever's down there, presuming that it's intelligent and able to control the undead, is probably going to realize that openly attacking the populace like that is going to bring a massive backlash from the living population. It's not likely that it was in any way bound to that tomb and that the CMC disrupted such a binding, which means that it hasn't launched any sort of attack on the city because it doesn't want to. Notwithstanding a few ghouls that munched on the homeowner that found the place - notice how, once they had, they retreated back into their tomb - the denizens of that dungeon have elected to stay in the dungeon. So I doubt that Murrage is going to wake up to a full-on horde of the unliving.
On a minor note, it was nice to see Sunflower's ghost touch mace finally get to do its thing! In fact, Sunflower was pretty heroic here; while it was rather awkward that he was hiding from that devil, he was nevertheless both selfless and effective during this last portion of the dungeon. Way to bring it when it was truly needed, kitten.
Of course, he then went and showed his childishness in the timing and manner of how he announced his intentions towards the fillies. Not very delicately handled there, Sunflower; you're showing why you have a Wisdom of 4 with that sort of talk. For one thing, you can't just announce that you're a pride with the girls. While I'm not sure how ritualized purrsian culture requires such a grouping to be, there clearly needs to be some sort of acknowledgment and agreement on the part of the females that they want to be with the alpha male that heads the pride, be it formal or casual. You can't simply declare that they're your pride fait accompli. Moreover, the timing wasn't exactly the best...Applejack is still seriously injured, and it was pretty clear that Apple Bloom was going to be dismissive about anything that wasn't that.
That said, it was interesting how each of the girls reacted to Sunflower's announcement. Apple Bloom had a rather touching scene with Sunflower before that, breaking down when he declared that he didn't want to siphon healing away from Applejack. I'm still convinced that she likes him, and that her hugging him during such a trying moment was a very big indicator in that regard. I don't think she's realized her own feelings though, and between that, her inexperience with romance, and her sister's condition, it was no surprise that she reacted the way she did. I suspect that things might be different when Applejack is out of the proverbial woods and Apple Bloom can concentrate on other things, but for the moment any talk about prides or anything of that ilk is firmly off the table for her.
Sweetie Belle's reaction surprised me at first, but after some consideration it seems very appropriate. Her dynamic with Sunflower seems to be the opposite of Apple Bloom's, in that he's the one chasing Sweetie Belle, rather than her chasing him. As such, the blatant announcement of him wanting to, basically, marry them would naturally be one that she'd shy away from. Her noting that they're different races was surprising of her, but I suspect (and hope) that it was more to do with her closely hewing to traditional thinking regarding romance than any sort of real xenophobia - that is, I think that she thinks she's going to meet a handsome stallion that she'll settle down with, simply because she conforms so closely to established racial and gender roles. Going outside of those is likely to be a new, frightening idea for her...but she might find it worthwhile if she can put aside her dreams of things proceeding like a storybook.
It was Scootaloo that surprised me the most, however. While she and Sunflower have naturally gotten along with notable compatibility, I expected that she - being such a spitfire - would kick up a fuss about his simply assuming that she'd be his "wife," along with her two best friends, no less! As such, I was completely thrown for a loop when she seemed cool with the idea, to the point of shooting down Sweetie Belle's reflexive objection to the idea. Why she seemed that way, I have no idea - has she simply bypassed the relationship drama altogether, and already decided that she wants to be with Sunflower romantically? Does she see this "pride" idea as simply being a natural extension of their existing friendship, and doesn't really appreciate what it means to be married? Or is she treating the idea of him "proving himself" to them some sort of competitive game, where he's sort of "challenging" them to show how much of an "alpha" cat he is? More information on Scootaloo's state of mind is needed here.
Given how Sunflower's intentions have been put on display, I'm anticipating that one - or more - of the little ones will want to have a heart-to-heart with Lady Longtail, as she's the sort of grandmotherly type who's distant enough to feel like they can talk to openly, while still being close enough to trust with this sort of predicament and offer advice. It'd be amusing if each of them came to see her in turn, not realizing that the others were doing that also (or perhaps some of them are eavesdropping when they do?), and she was amused and delighted to see something as beautiful as young love blossoming.
Of course, Lady Longtail wouldn't be objective about the situation. I'm quite convinced that, unlike their amoral mercantilism, having a pride is still a point of, well, pride for any purrsian, and that she'd encourage Sunflower to go after the fillies, and for them to keep an open mind...even if the idea of such young children mulling something so serious over would be so adorable that it'd be hard to hold back the laughter.
5920775 I'm not sure what you mean by "magic book of cooking," since (as strange as it may seem) an undead creature can gain an inherent bonus to its Strength score just as well as a living creature. It's one of those odd places where the game rules would allow it, even if it's narratively unintuitive.
That said, selling it isn't that difficult; any such creature would simply need to either A) disguise its true nature, or B) traffic with creatures that don't care that it's undead. If we assume that it's some sort of spellcaster, then option A is not that far-fetched at all (especially when the nearest city is ruled by greed). Since we know it has at least some ability to deal with lower-planar creature (a la the summoning trap that called forth that bearded devil), then option B is similarly plausible.
Hence, I maintain that an intelligent, powerful, spellcasting creature wouldn't have "useless" magic items sitting around - it'd either find a use for them, or find a way to liquidate them and turn the value towards other pursuits.
5921066 It's +1 con, not str, so useless to an undead, but whatever undead horror lurks didn't find the book, seeing as it was in a locked drawer. Oh! Level ups, they happened! I was actually tracking xp earned as they went through things.
5921087 Hm, Sunflower described the book as being about a diet and exercise regimen, which is the description of a manual of gainful exercise, which raises Strength. A manual of bodily health is what raises Constitution, but it's simply described as "containing tips on health and fitness"; since it didn't mention diet, I assumed it was the former, rather than the latter.
Also, live-tracking the XP as they go through each encounter? Very awesome!
5921117 I didn't do this in A Dangerous Sparkle, since most involved were adults who were, to some degree or another, set in their ways. The CMC and Sunflower are exactly the sort that could grow explosively when put under pressure, so tracking what they earn as they earn it felt... right?
Well, I failed my Will Save vs. Feels here. Poor Apple Bloom! I believe Applejack has been level drained, as well as subjected to bleed. Are you going to put afflictions on the character sheet, or would that make things too complicated?
Good to see Sunflower can step up and sneak attack properly when needed, especially from flank. ("Flanking" seems like a much funnier term in Everglow ).
Seems like that Master of Death had mummies, ghouls, devils and vampires under his command. My guess is lich, and I really hope the city doesn't get wiped out tonight.
So AJ caught mummy rot, it sounds like? Since she can't be magically healed.
Fortunately a manual of gainful health or whatever should sell for enough to pay for a resurrection *and* a remove curse or three.
And a restoration for Sunflower, if that's level drain. Ugh.
5921435 Sunflower has a negative level, and some ability damage was slapped around. The damage will heal on its own. The bleed Applejack had was gotten rid of with a heal check performed by Apple Bloom and aided by Scootaloo.
5921488 AJ got stabbed by a bearded devil, which makes a bleeding wound that isn't easily healed.
Kinda figured AJ got hit with a cursed wound by that devil. Those things are the bane of many an adventurer.
Alongside all that ability damage, drain, and level drain that the undead love to sling about. It's a rough way to cut your chops as an adventurer. I was hoping all that nonsense would ramp up the CMC's XP gain.
Now I'm curious if they'll follow through with the guard duty at the warehouse, or call it off as they tend to AJ's wounds, Sunflower's negative level (he'd better hope he can make that saving throw...), and seeing if they've already made enough to raise Willow.
A wild typo raised its ugly head, or perhaps I should say heads.
8751295
Fixed!
Ah. A harem, or some approximation.