My Little Pony - Dark magic

Geo leaped backwards slightly when the colt transformed, energy flowed back into his body, "Who are you?" He inquired.

[The mare gave a slight smirk]

"For future reference, you may refer to me as Doppel. And as for my deal..."

[She inhales deeply, in preparation of her oncoming statement]

"A good friend of mine, a unicorn, has been chased out of house and home recently. As of late, she's all but disappeared from the Royal Guard, judging from how every single one I've communicated with hasn't seen her before. However, this mare also holds a...volatile power within her, that one could VERY well use in an escapade of your choosing. Course, if that isn't enough, I'm sure she has food and shelter available, if she's lasted this long, and if it turns out she's dead, well...I'll erase all record of the lot of you, ensuring that no particular guards will follow you wherever you may lead. You may 'haggle' if you will, but those are my terms: Find the unicorn, avoid the guards, then return to this forest."

[One immediate concern starts to arise. The mare in front of you transformed not too long ago, yet she has no horn and does not appear to be of any other magical race. In fact, she has the appearance of an earth pony.]

Tuxedo thought hard. This pony obviously wasn't natural, and every word seemed threatening, but what else could they do? "Give us one moment, if you will" Tuxedo finally said as he huddled with the others and close to Falsetto, who had awakened sometime while they were talking.

While they talked Falsetto got up and approached the new pony. He bowed his head and said "my apologies"

Huddling with the others, Geo glanced over to the mare, "I think I know who... she... it is talking about. The plants kept 'saying' something about a 'blazing one,' I didn't pay too much attention to it though. And now, the plants won't say a thing." He sighed, "And I doubt I could track this 'blazing one' as I can only track what I've seen in the past, or have been. Otherwise, I'm next to useless."

Doppel looked over to the colt who had approached her, "What do you have to apologize for? If anything, I should be thanking you~," she replied with a chuckle, looking to Falsetto out of the corner of her eye.

Falsetto looked up and tilted his head questioningly.

Doppel rolled her eyes, her smirk turning to a look of annoyance. "Was it not you who lead these folk here? Was it not you who kept these ones alive in order for them to make it here? Simply because they arrived here by your efforts, I have you to thank for it. After all, were they not here in the first place, this meeting may never have happened."

Falsetto stood as still as a statue for a moment before walking, or limping in his case, towards the group. He then smacked Tuxedo in the back of the head and said the longest sentence in his life "Stop being a stupid paranoid pony and help"

Tuxedo stared at Falsetto in shock "but--" Falsetto glared and said "No 'buts'"

((Falsetto is tired of Tuxedo's over caution))

Geo watched the quick exchange between Falsetto and Tuxedo with a raised eyebrow, "If you two are done, will we take her deal, or not?"

"You'd be a fool to go against Falsetto. A dead fool" Tuxedo replied coldly. Roan turned to the... um... pony(Dopple) and said "it's a deal then"

Doppel smiled to the group, rising to her hooves. "Excellent. You can get started on your own time, bearing in mind, of course, that the longer you wait the less likely she'll be alive if you find her. If I could offer you any advice, I'd inquire in and around Dodge Junction out west, s'where I last heard the locals yammering on about her." And with that last sentence, her entire form faded from view, though hoofsteps could be heard as she exited the camp. The sun had finally set now, and the forest was making it out to be nearly pitch black.

Falsetto, severely pissed off, limped in the direction of Dodge Junction. Tuxedo shook his head and followed. Roan looked at Geo and asked with a sigh "you ok to move? I don't think they're gonna wait"

"I'll be fine..." Geo also began to walk off in the direction of Dodge Junction.

[Ever so slowly, the forest environment the group had just left starts to become a lot warmer. The plant life starts to recede, and the soil turns to sand at what would be described as a border. Thankfully, the sun is still down, and what would've been scalding sand and a blistering desert has turned to a fairly cold walk through the dunes.

After several hours, the moon being as it's highest point of the night, a railway could be spotted just over another dune. Tracking it, one would find the rather small town of Dodge Junction]

Tuxedo walked beside Falsetto and said "Slow down, you are still injured" Falsetto ignored him. Roan sighed and whispered to Geo "those two are like a married couple in the middle of fightin'"

Whispering to Roan, "I wouldn't know really. The only married couple I knew were my parents, and even then I didn't know them very long before I was carted off to the School."

[Just outside the town, a muted cacophony of noises emits from one of the few buildings with it's lights still on at this hour.

Judging from the state of the building, and the title of "The Headless Horse Bar & Grill" hanging from a sign attached to it, one would assume it was some sort of business related to it's name.]

Tuxedo looked at the sign and said "this is the only place we can go at the moment" Falsetto, having calmed down a bit, walked inside. Tuxedo waited for the other two before moving in.

Geo shook his head, "Something is definitely up with Falsetto." He quickly made a cloak from a passing tumbleweed and followed inside.

Third cloak I've had to make...

((The cloak thing is purely passive, he's gotten so used to making them it's almost second nature to him now.))

[Inside the building lies what one would've expected of a place like this. A few earth ponies are surrounding two others mid-hoof-wrestle, several others are busy drinking, and a few are collapsed on the floor in heaps.

A few look to the group curiously for but a moment before returning to their activities.

Through the noise, you hear one pony over by the corner practically yelling a story of some sort.]

"...was as big as a house, had gnashing teeth, and her mane was made of fire itself!" the pony spouted, a few ponies nearby chuckling at the absurdity of the story, "I'm not kidding you! She grabbed my friend in her magical grip and turned the mare into a burning corpse! She even burned my tail before I got away." The colt telling the story turned around a bit, showing a practically non-existent tail. Once more, the nearby ponies just laughed and continued drinking.

Geo's eyebrow went up immediately when he heard the story, "I think we found the 'burning one.'" He commented to Falsetto.

Falsetto approached the loud pony and asked "where?"

Geo rolled his eyes, making sure to keep his hood low enough to hide his horn and muttered, "So not the most subtle pony."

Walking up to Falsetto and the colt, "What my friend is asking, is where did you see this flaming pony?"

[The colt turns to the two of you with a raised eyebrow]

"Ehm...what's left of Appleloosa, of course. You haven't heard about that little tale before?" he asks, "B-but don't you go there! Or you'll end up like my friend, just like everyone else who's gone there."

Geo nodded slowly, "Appleloosa... I think I've been there once before..." Geo slowly drifted off into thought as he tried to locate the town, or at least remember the general location.

Falsetto turned and left. Roan looked at the colt and said "guess where he's headed"

[The colt puts his forehead against his hoof with a groan]

"If you REALLY want to die, just follow the train tracks off to the west, you'll eventually reach what used to be Appleloosa's station...wear noseplugs, though, the smell of death and smoke reaches at least 100 metres away from the town's border."

Tuxedo thanked the colt and said "you needn't worry about us" as they left Roan said "we don't plan on dying"

Breaking from his train of thought, he looked at Roan, "Why the heck is he so impatient?"

Not waiting for an answer, he followed after Falsetto.

((If need be, Geo can tell the sparse plants in the desert to bring up water, but he will have to rest afterwards, less plant -> More energy he has to use to communicate))

[The trek is long and difficult, and barely so much as a few stray, dead bushes decorate the landscape.

Soon, the sand turns into harder stone, and the tracks turn towards Appleloosa. The town is clearly in disrepair, a few buildings still emit smoke and one even falls to the side with a loud *thud* as the group looks to it. The sun is finally up in full, it's heat beating down on the group.]