My Little Pony - Dark magic

"Your mommy is in a deep sleep, only Anima's magic is able to awaken her." Geo looked at her straight in the eyes, his conveying his sincerity.

Maelstrom blinked, "Friend? But...Mommy doesn't have friends. Just me, and 'other mommy'...until you two showed up." She slowly stood up, shambling closer to the newcomers and trying not to look at Obsidian, or Geo for that matter. "...she's dead, isn't she?" she asked in a neutral tone.

Geo's voice caught in his throat, there was no other way to explain, "She is. But we can bring her back with the aid of Anima."

Maelstrom sighed, hanging her head slightly, "Thought so...don't know why I ever thought any different..."

She then looked up to the ponies, her head still hung but her eyes turned upward, "We'll leave whenever you're ready. I'm afraid there hasn't been much food here for a time, so you're on your own there." Her voice has turned rather neutral, considering the circumstances, yet one could still see a few tears falling down the side of her face.

"If it comes to it, and if it's possible, you can feed of off me for a while. I don't mind" Roan offered "Oh, and I'm well aware of what I'm offering. I really don't mind"

Geo nodded to Roan, but said, "You guys try to find something, I'll stay here with May. If you need help, just come find me. Unless we leave now."

"We should not put off finding Anima," Tuxedo replied "we have no idea if there is a time restraint for resurrections"

Geo nodded, "You do have a point, Tuxedo. We don't really have all the time in the world for this."

Maelstrom held up a small hoof, riddled with holes, "No need. While I can sense that somepony in here would be...good for that, it's not you. If you're extremely lucky, a bit of grass may have regrown over by the trees, or maybe one of you has a spell or two to help, I dunno. As for time restraints, you need not worry of those. If it's anything like the time she helped a squirrel, you can wait as long as you want." She sat right back down, watching to see what the ponies would do now.

Roan looked away and replied "I wasn't sure, but had to make the offer. You're not the only one with death on your back"

"If anything, I do have a few spells that bolster plant growth at the expense of my own energy." Geo offered.

Thinking on what May had said, "A squirrel differs from a pony by a lot, perhaps the less complex the subject, the more leeway you have to revive them.

Maelstrom looked to Geo with a bit of a frown, "How would I know? I barely pay attention to your kind of magic, unicorn...now, if you all want to be able to make the journey, it would be wise to try and scavenge some food. I'll be fine for now, most changelings need not bother with eating if certain conditions are met." She seemed to be eyeing Geo strangely as she ended her last sentence.

"In that case, let's go, we need to find some food. Tuxedo and I will look for anything we can eat, Roan and Falsetto look in the building for bags or anything we can use to carry food in. I'm sure we can find something." Geo said to everyone.

Maelstrom nodded once, "Good, you all have fun. I think..." she looked over to Obsidian, "I think I'm going to stay here a moment or two...just come back when you're done, then we'll get going." She sat down on the damaged floor next to Obsidian's limp arm, picking up the book in the dead mare's hoof in her magical, green grip. Almost immediately, she opened the journal and started to read over it in silence.

((I'm skipping the actual search for my ponies))

Falsetto and Tuxedo returned with a few apples. Roan didn't find anything of use.

Geo sighed as he extricated himself from one of the ruins, three bags in his magical grip; they were still in fairly decent shape, "Well, that was...fun." He said sarcastically.

The changeling looked up to the ponies from the book she had been reading. "Well, you ponies didn't take as long as I figured you would...and you all found food, too," she said neutrally as she closed the book in a light magical grip, slipping it into a small set of saddlebags. Quickly slipping the saddlebags over her back, she turned to the group, "Are you ready to move on? Bit of a journey ahead..."

"I'm ready, the magic in this area is still giving me the willies." He shivered.

"Let's get outta here" Roan replied

((idk))

May nodded once, walking out of the City Hall, turning down towards the tracks. "We'll have to head back to Dodge Junction first, from there we can get to the Everfree through a shortcut..."

"Well, I suppose introductions are in order. I presume you all know who *I* am, what about you ponies? What are your names? Where'd you come from? Why are you bothering to look for Anima?"

"My name is Geo. Geo Terra. I was a student up at the School in Canterlot before Celestia began acting strange. We believe that Anima can revive Obsidian, who we think holds information that can help us restore Celestia back to her normal self." Geo said quickly, words spilling out of his mouth.

Roan chuckled and said "I'm Roan, the quiet couple over there are Tuxedo and Falsetto" Tuxedo scowled and said "actually Octavian is an old friend"

Maelstrom took in the information in silence, waiting until both ponies had finished speaking before continuing, "I assume that you know Mo-...Obsidian's name, thanks to that little spell Hellfire casted, then?" she asked quietly, trying to make conversation.

Geo nodded, "Yes, it was by Hellfire's spell that we learned Obsidian's name."

Maelstrom nodded once, "Figured as much...suppose this little event with that namby-pamby princess has probably made life just as bad for you as it was for me...well, that's besides the point, sorry...uhm..." she muttered, trying to find a subject of conversation to try and distract the group, and herself, from the long walk ahead.

"While I am worried for what had happened to Celestia, a greater worry rears it's ugly head when I think of what happened to her sister, Luna. Especially considering that Celestia is cracking down on magic users, wouldn't she put Luna out of commission if Luna isn't already turned?" Geo looked up in the general direction of Canterlot with a sigh, "May? Where would Anima be located roughly?"

Maelstrom looked back to Geo, still moving forward, "She has a sort of 'grove', so to speak, deep into the Everfree forest. Before you think about running ahead of me, though, you're going to get *very* lost if you go in there on your own."

Geo nodded, "Makes sense, I know the Everfree fairly well as I had taken up residence there, but I never really ventured into the darker parts."

Maelstrom chuckled, turning her gaze back to the seemingly endless train track ahead, "The Everfree is, surprisingly, bigger than not only Ponyville, but Manehatten as well. Much if it is unexplored, as most ponies aren't exactly keen on dealing with cockatrices, manticores, hydras, and so on," she snickered under her breath, "Can't blame them, though."

Again, Geo nodded, "Those creatures are the main reason I didn't stray too deep into the Everfree. Much of the time I was starving and didn't have the energy to deal with them."