//------------------------------// // Night 44, fragment five: For perception to warp // Story: A mare and her dog // by cammera //------------------------------// Twilight's awareness returned to her own self, her head aching. "Are you alright?" Asked Nanda. She opened her eyes, interrupting the scrying from the surprise. Nanda peeked in from the doorway into the balcony. "How long have you been there?" she asked more brusquely that she had intended. "Long enough" Nanda shrugged "What was that? I thought you hated possession" "It wasn't-" she stopped, thinking, and decided that she could trust in Nanda "Remember that I told you I am connected to my friends? its more than a metaphor" "And this is because...?" asked Nanda tentatively. "I don't think you know enough of Equestria's lore to understand" she resumed her scrying "And I am not sure of who may be hearing" "That?" Nanda couldn't help but smile faintly "A few people may be temporarily deaf and blind tonight" Twilight nearly interrupted the spell again, but managed to keep it to a sigh, "You don't know how much I've wanted to do that" "Having a local who won't start wars by mistake certainly helps" there was a moment's pause "Haven't you tried to be covert about what you do? Shapeshifting?" she asked. "A few times, but it didn't work. Not my st- oh, nice. AJ found a map of the inner sanctum... weirder than I expected" "That's probably recent" "Related to the dreamer's situation, you mean?" "Exactly" Nanda yawned "I still want to learn how to do that. Sad that locations don't have souls I can manipulate" "As far as you know" added Twilight. "Space can't be alive, what fills it is. But I am still not in the mood for this, kid. I am surprised that you are" she added. "Just nervous, this place is like a powder keg" Twilight sighed "Oh, Applejack..." -º- ...stood in front of a closed gate, glowing sigils of power inscribed in the ancient stone. It made a high-frequency sound that her ears didn't quite catch, but Quibra seemed to find annoying. She knocked it, receiving a "Thonk" sound in response. She kept knocking until the sound was more along the lines of a "Thud", then pointed the place to Quibra. He gave her a last dubious look, prepared a gauntleted arm, and punched the point as strongly as he could, the crimson gem shining blindingly in the last instant. The sigils blinked a few times and turned off, along with the sound. "Told you these things are always the same" she shouldered it open, and they kept advancing in the empty halls "Are you sure, Twi?" "NO. BUT I AM MORE UNSURE ABOUT THE OTHER OPTIONS" "Alright..." she ignored Quibra's look. "I CAN TELEPORT YOU BOTH IF IT GROWS OUT OF CONTROL" there was a pause, and the text was replaced "BUT IT'LL TAKE ME A MINUTE OR TWO TO CHARGE EACH TELEPORT" the text was replaced again "RUN UNTIL ITS DONE, IF THAT'S THE CASE" Applejack nodded, and they kept walking, following the map that Quibra held. It was, rather than paper or cloth, a model made in some clayish, transparent material that seemed to have slight changes every time their sight left it, so they had an unspoken agreement of always keeping an eye on it. "This is bad" said Quibra after a few minutes of walking, obviously reticent to breaking the silence "Even if everything was fine some monk should be walking around here" Applejack nodded, at a lack of words herself. "THE CONNEC-" the fluttering sensation of Twilight's scrying, not unlike a warm breeze in the back of her head, disappeared for a moment, and the text stretched before being replaced "SOMETHING IS PRODUCING INTERFERENCE" Quibra jumped as if electrocuted, and his free hand snapped upward to catch something Applejack couldn't quite see "RÜ" it disappeared completely. There was a cold wind, and a sense of undefined presence behind them, and Applejack bucked out of reflex. She was barely aware of something resisting her legs for a moment, but it dissolved into the air almost instantly. Quibra had to drop the map and block something with his other hand, grabbing and twisting it until a the sound of snapping wood was heard, "What are these things!?" "I can't-" Applejack blinked several times, trying to gain focus on them, but her eyes seemed to slip over them "Psions!" she shouted, charging against the closest mass of not-there-ness. It gave in immediately, disappearing the instant she made contact, but the fact was still being processed when she launched herself against another. Psions. As Quibra grabbed something and threw it against a wall, as her teeth bit deep into a thick shell, she wished dearly that the attackers were ponies in armor.