______*The Grayroot Forest (Surprise two automatically chosen at random)*______
Firefly and the others followed Vulture through the Grayroot, he had said that his surprise was a good distance away from his house.
Fang was looking around for any signs of danger, he noticed a few Timberwolves but they looked to be scared of something, Fang was curious about this but paid it no mind.
As the group walked they noticed something rather odd, as they continued they felt the ground get softer and softer, Twilight took notice of this and her horn lit up, she scanned the ground and sighed.
"Just softer soil." She mumbled.
The group continued to follow Vulture through the forest as he walked along a path of leaves, which Skitter had thought odd because the path was the only spot around with leaves. 'Curious.' She thought.
Eventually the group came across a large clearing that had a strange air about it, Fang sniffed the air and he shivered as a sick feeling entered his lungs. 'Feels like decay.'
Gwen looked around the area and noticed something peculiar, the trees seemed to have been bent outwards....away from the clearing. 'This looks like the twins work, or maybe Vulture did something?'
Vulture walked through the clearing and eventually he sat down and looked at the sky. "Here we are." He stated.
Derpy felt a searing pain go through her right eye and covered it with her hoof, she grunted and Gwen looked at Derpy, she walked over and gave her a concerned look as she said something that Derpy couldn't hear.
'Golden......what's happening?' She asked.
A growl came from Golden. 'I have no idea.....its pulling me though, it's annoying!' He snapped.
Skitter and the twins walked up to Vulture. "Vulture, where is it?" Skitter asked.
Vulture chuckled. "Above, around and below, everywhere it lies, but which does it reside?" He said.
Skitter groaned. "Speak sense for once Vulture!" She demanded.
Vulture sighed and looked at Skitter. "It's down below." He said simply.
Skitter growled and got up in Vulture's face. "And just HOW are we supposed to get down there?" She questioned angrily.
Vulture sighed and stood up. "Skitter......you always were too hot headed for your own good." He stated before receiving a punch from changeling female.
"Shut up Vulture, you run your mouth too much." She countered.
Vulture rubbed his fade with his face and chuckled, he motioned his hoof towards Skitter and the twins knocked Skitter to the ground and pinned her down.
Firefly gasped and went to help Skitter but found herself blocked by an invisible force.
Vulture knelt down and looked at Skitter who simply growled. "What are you doing Vulture?" Skitter demanded.
"I am doing what must be done, unlike you I have sacred duties to uphold, and the twins here, were kind enough to lend me a hoof." He begun.
Vulture stood up and looked at the group. "And i must thank all of you for coming, I was afraid that I would be short on the tribute." He said.
The twins looked at Vulture who jerked his head at the group, the two brothers picked Skitter up and threw her at the group.
Firefly watched as Skitter flew the air towards the group, she positioned herself to grab her and braced as the changeling slammed into her.
Vulture looked at the group with a disappointed glare. "I personally thought that YOU of all people would have noticed that something was wrong with us......Dust." He sighed.
Dust did nothing but look away. "Shut up....just shut up." She said grimly.
Skitter growled and glared at Vulture. "I'm going to take your head you traitorous bastard!" She swore.
Vulture shook his head and his horn glowed with a dark green aura, the ground around the group dissipated and revealed a large web of the same color that wrapped itself around the group like a cocoon, Vulture's hoof began to glow and he raised it in the air. "Forgive me, but I highly doubt that......goodbye Skitter." He said before slamming his hoof into the ground causing the group to start falling as they struggled to free themselves.
______*the descent*______
Anger, that was all Skitter could feel right now.....it surged through her like an ocean, it completely drowned out the other emotions that she felt coming from the others, there was confusion, sorrow....pain.....if Skitter was a regular drone she would have been overwhelmed by all of this emotion.
Derpy growled as she plummeted down the pit and as the pain continued through her right eye.
'When we get back to the surface.....is it alright if I kill them?' Golden asked through the pain.
'Sure, but make it hurt.' She responded coldly.
Golden chuckled through the pain. 'Oho yes....it'll hurt.'
Derpy let out a dark laugh that muffled by the cocoon. 'Good, but leave Vulture for Skitter to have fun with.' She ordered.
A dark laugh echoed through Derpy's mind as they fell down the pit.
______*ten minutes later, location unknown.*______
Firefly groaned as she opened her eyes to see nothing but darkness, she sighed and tried to move her head but remembered the cocoon that held her captive.
She heard a set of footsteps come towards her and the cocoon was soon ripped open to reveal a grinning Roxanne. "Good to see you Firefly." She said out of relief.
Firefly rubbed her head and stood up slowly with Roxanne's help. "Where are we?" She asked.
Roxanne shrugged. "I don't know, but I can't find any of the others on my own, I saw another cocoon but I can't reach it." She explained.
Firefly looked around and noticed that she was in a temple like building, she was currently In a large circular room with only one exit, she looked at Roxanne and the two nodded, let's go then. (Grouped up [1])
Roxanne moved towards the door with a jog and Firefly followed. "Let's find the others ok?" She suggested.
Firefly nodded and followed Roxanne out of the chamber. "Yea, can't get out of here without them." She replied.
Roxanne nodded and the two made their way through the temple-like building.
After a short time the pair approached a statue of a large creature with five reptilian heads, a scorpions stinger and four lion-like legs, an inscription was on a large slab of stone at the base of the statue. "Firefly, can you read this?" She asked.
Firefly walked up to the tablet and chuckled. "Yea I can read this, it's written in Changish, so it's no surprise you can't read it." She said.
Roxanne rolled her eyes. "What does it say?" She asked.
"It reads, This statue was created to honor the mighty Jandoka as he leads us through these dark times, our God will never be defeated by mortals, may he guide us into a new age of prosperity', a God huh? we'll see about that." Firefly huffed.
Roxanne pondered this for a moment. "Why would changelings worship this.....thing?" She wondered.
Firefly shrugged and walked around until Roxanne continued moving.
When Roxanne and Firefly continued moving they entered a large chamber with seven doors, each with its own magical seal, there were several chandeliers, but one of these caught Firefly's attention, one of the chandeliers had a cocoon on it.
"That's what I need help with." Roxanne said.
Firefly nodded and flew up to the cocoon to pull it down, she quickly pulled it off the chandelier and flew back down with it.
Roxanne walked up to where Firefly landed and quickly tore open the cocoon to reveal Derpy who looked at them with a tired expression. "Hey." She said simply.
Firefly took notice of Derpy's eye but decided that now was not the best time, so she opted to help the mare out of the cocoon. "You alright Derpy?" She asked out of concern.
Derpy nodded and stretched. "Yea, where are the others?" She asked.
Roxanne shrugged and motioned to the doors around the room. "I don't know, but they must be behind one of these doors, shall we?" She suggested.
Derpy looked around one felt something pulling her to one of the doors, she stood up and walked towards it. "Let's start with this one." She said.
Roxanne and Firefly nodded and followed Derpy across the room.
Derpy approached the door and released a small amount of psychic energy into the seal causing it to break.
"Let's see what's behind door number one." Derpy joked as she entered the next room.
Roxanne and Firefly followed behind, Firefly was confused about what just happened, she sighed and continued on, content to let it be for now.
Derpy walked through the room calmly as she examined her surroundings, this room seemed to be an old storage room, there was old crates and barrels, pallets of wood that was rotten and a pallet of broken stone here and there, but none of this interested Derpy right now, she was focused on what was currently pulling at her.
'Be careful Derpy, we don't know what this could be.' Golden warned.
Roxanne and Firefly begun searching the crates and barrels as Derpy searched for what was pulling her.
Derpy found an old wooden door and walked up to it, she opened the door and walked inside the next room.
She felt Golden enhance her vision and soon the dark room became clear, she looked around and found found an odd tarp covering something large, she carefully approached it and heard a grunt from Golden.
'This is SO going to be a trap'. Golden said sarcastically.
Derpy rolled her eyes and pulled the tarp off the object and she gasped at what she saw.
'MY BODY!' Golden shouted happily.
Sure enough, standing in front of Derpy was a large animatronic bear that was golden in color, it stood there without life, the bear had wires coming out of its sockets and had areas along the suit that revealed the endoskeleton underneath.
Derpy felt Golden being tugged towards the animatronic and he allowed himself to be pulled.
Right when Golden entered the animatronic, Derpy felt a searing pain in her right eye, she held her hoof over it and looked up at Golden's body and saw that his eyes opened to reveal them as black with a white dot in the center.
Golden appeared completely oblivious to Derpy's pain as he moved his hands and fingers out of curiosity, he started to laugh softly, until his laugh became a mad one.
"YES! I can finally move again!" He cheered.
A mad scream came from somewhere in the building and both Derpy and Golden looked towards the only other door to the room which was banging furiously.
Derpy slowly made her way towards a nearby wall while Golden simply stared at the door.
Golden watched as the door opened to reveal a swarm of shadows flying towards him, he smirked and released a psychic blast that obliterated the shadows. "It's going to take more than that." He said in a disappointed tone.
After Golden finished talking the mad scream came again, and soon a figure charged through the door while screaming.
Golden's eyes widened as the figure charged towards him, he couldn't move his body for some reason and one single thought ran through his mind. 'I just got this body damnit!'
The figure rammed into Golden destroying him completely, the figure then ran right into a wall and fell backwards.
Derpy felt a familiar presence enter her right eye and heard a cry of frustration. 'FUCK!' Golden swore.
When Derpy stood up the pain in her right eye subsided and her vision enhanced again. 'What was that about Golden?' She questioned.
Golden groaned and looked out the eye. 'You get stuck in someone's head for a month or so THEN you ask that question.' He replied.
Derpy looked at the figure and saw a familiar face. "Fang?" She asked herself.
Golden looked over and let out another cry of frustration. 'YOU HAVE TO BE FUCKING KIDING ME! I GOT DESTROYED BY THAT MORON!' Golden's further words were uninteligible as he spoke in gibberish. (You pissed? [2])
Derpy walked over to the unconscious wolf and noticed a strange web around his neck, she tried to pull it off too no avail,
A pair of footsteps came from behind Derpy and she turned around to see Firefly and Roxanne standing in the doorway. "Derpy you ok?" She asked.
Derpy started to drag Fang across the floor. "I'm fine, can you help me get this knucklehead out of here?" She asked.
Roxanne nodded and entered the dark room, she walked over to Derpy and helped move Fang out of the room.
Derpy gave Roxanne a confused look. "How can you see in here?" She asked.
Roxanne chuckled. "I guess I got night vision somehow." She replied.
Soon enough the two pulled Fang out of the room and Roxanne ripped the webs off once they set him down. [3]
____*two minutes later*____
Fang groaned and opened his eyes to see a familiar Pegasus sitting on a barrel In a bipedal position. "What happened?" He asked groggily.
Firefly shrugged. "You went crazy and destroyed Golden before running face first into a wall." She explained casually.
Fang sighed and rested his head on the ground. "It must be Thursday." He said before realizing something Firefly said.
".......Wait what!?"