For Freedom of Mind (Scrapper, Scintillance)

by Silvern Gleam Sun Jun 16, 2013 10:32 pm

Year 4, November 23rd, Morning

In The Magic Eye, battle preparations were going on. Not for a physical battle where blood would flow and bones would shatter, but for a mental, magical one, where the price of failing would be pain nonetheless, but while physical injuries often were mere annoyances, the madness awaiting when the mind was harmed was much more frightening. But no battle would be fought willingly without purpose, and in this case it was freedom. It was the morning the spell keeping Scrapper T. Ferrous in its painful, incapacitating claws would fall. It was a war fought for many years already, caught in a stale-mate that now finally seemed to have been broken. A new ally was on the earth pony's side. One who, in the situation at hoof, was not a blind pony, but the only seeing one.

Silvern Gleam had the knowledge and she had the skills, but she knew that Scrapper would have to pay for his freedom, even with her help. The pain would come, the spell was practically bleeding it, and Silvern didn't have the power to spend to reduce it if she wanted to achieve victory. However, it would be maddening if nothing was done, and so another unicorn would be on the battlefield as well: Only an apprentice, but gifted with talent and more than enough power to spare. He would keep the spell's death screams at bay. Or at least, that's how it was supposed to be, and it wasn't long now before they would charge their horns to find out if they could beat the magical construct weaved into Scrapper's memories.

Scrapper's memories, some of which Silvern now knew unnaturally well, since they had been copied into her own mind against her will. She hadn't understood most of it at first. And who would be surprised by that, those memories were mostly visual. How could a brain that never had received input from the eyes possibly interpret this information? The brain was a very quick learner though. It had taken her a night of restless sleep and a stressed morning to find what the spell had left behind when it had intruded her mind, but finding it had been rewarded with the possibility to play the memories again. And again and again, time after another. For her assistant Scintillance it must have been a rather slow morning, with his boss too concentrated on herself to give him anything to do except reading what little there was in her library to read for those not gifted with magic sight, or to practice. Outside the enchanting room though, for it had been occupied.

---

It happened slowly, but it happened. It helped that there was sound, and strong emotions that had been memorized. Especially the sound was helpful at first, spoken words originally not meant for her, but reordered to be a message to her. A message from the spell. "Help me, and I will stop the pain. Trust me, I intend no harm." Too bad that such a spell wasn't exactly trustworthy.

Taking the memory snippets all for themselves, she tried to figure out what kind of situation each was supposed to show, and it didn't seem like a single one of them was nice. It shouldn't have surprised her, but the realization that Scrapper had killed other ponies still hit her unprepared. She kept going, and eventually she developed a basic understanding of the visual memories. From there on, it was improving greatly with each replay, and Silvern was completely taken aback.

Even though it was only memory, even though it didn't come anywhere close to a live picture from working eyes - for a blind pony it was... indescribable. When she had first felt some understanding for what previously had been a nonsensical mess she hadn't been able to make out anything, but as her mind made the right connections, patterns became clear. Ponies were the first thing she was able to make out, for they were clearest in the memories in which they appeared. The rest followed soon after. And along the way, she wasn't sure what to think of Scrapper.

---

She had decided not to judge him, she didn't know how exactly he had come to kill the father of those foals. Judging by the memorized emotions, he had been acting in self defense. The third memory had helped to this decision, his intentions had been right, but he had accidently hit the wrong pony. And so she had used whatever time she had to spare to prepare herself and Scintillance for the battle, in between the magic training and the usual work for the shop.

Now was the calm before the storm, Scrapper and Shade having not yet arrived. Scintillance was already there, waiting with Silvern in the selling room. Sil had brewed up some tea again to calm her nerves, and was relatively drawn into herself, the prospect of causing a great deal of pain to Scrapper not being a nice one, even if it was with good intentions.

by Scrapper Mon Jun 17, 2013 4:27 am

((Jeez, you make it sound more epic than it actually is!))

Well, just as he wants to go to sleep for the day, he has to get up and do one more thing tonight. Hopefully, as soon as this visit was over he could just go to sleep. He felt lazy!
Both him and Shade were up and ready, so they both just headed for Sil's place. And they were both there quickly, in comparison to when they left, because they knew where they were going this time around. Minor amounts of chatter and a few comments indicating that once again, Scrappy was more scared about things than a Pegasus who is afraid of heights.

Once they actually got to Sil's door, Scrapper didn't bother going to knock. Because Sil liked knowing he was there with her 'ILikeToSeeThroughWalls' vision. And it gave him a few more moments to continue having a tiny little panic. Waiting for Sil to open the damn door! Since he couldn't do it anyway.

((Woo, for insignificantly sized post comparison! Eff you if you want me to come up with all that when I just woke up!))

by Lance Mon Jun 17, 2013 8:38 am

Scintillance had spent most of the day in the library, of course, looking for whatever book there was about mind magic. to his misfortune, not enough, and those that did mention the subject were using all sorts of large words Lance was pretty sure he hadn't seen before. not the fun poetic kind, but of the magicky/sciency kind. He wound up doing nothing more than staring blankly at the page, and lost in his thoughts.

This wasn't just learning about magic... no, it was a dive into the depths of his friends' mind... his mentality... his sanity... reasons were in the right place, but if he slipped up, there's few things worse than a broken mind... save, for knowing you're the idiot that caused it. He knew what to do, but it was a skill he was incredibly new to, nonetheless. a magical talent most ponies may never even know about. and suddenly such a challenge has been pressed on him, and frankly... "UGH! WHY ARE THESE BOOKS WRITTEN IN SO MUCH MOONSPEAK!" not even the diagrams helped.

Scintillance went from a sitting position on the floor to lying on his back from the outburst, and he (oh so "gently") place the book to his side, and then stared at the ceiling for a bit, before the familiar scent of tea caught his attention. Staying here certainly didn't help, so he placed the book on its shelf, and head on following the smell of... Tea Time.

Stepping into the Selling room, Lance had no interest in the tea. rather, the pony that he believed had too much faifth in him. "You're sure I'm the right pony for this?"

by Silvern Gleam Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:31 pm

If I know a right pony for the job, it's you, Silvern answered almost sighingly. She didn't want to put this pressure on him, but she didn't have much of a choice. The pain from simply holding the spell back had seemed bad, but when the spell was actually dying it would be much worse, maybe fatal even. Somepony needed to shield Scrapper, somepony with power, and that Scintillance was doing quite well with his magic perception was only another argument for him. You only have to direct the released energy outwards. You don't have to deal with the spell, that will be done by me. And you'll have my guidance. Just listen to what your horn tells you and you'll be alright, Sil tried to reassure him, just when the proximity sensors gave alarm. Two ponies approached the shop, Sil recognized them as Scrapper and Shade before they had reached the door. It opened for them without delay. Good morning. I hope you slept well, she said when they came around the corner.

by Scrapper Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:46 pm

"You can say that." He said, immediately seeing Lance and really needed to make a insult joke, "Oh, tell me this piece of universal corn isn't going to be raking in my head too."

by Silvern Gleam Mon Jun 17, 2013 4:08 pm

Without him you'd probably not survive what we're about to do so be a little grateful, Silvern responded harshly. Lance was about to help him and he talked like that? Good friend... The more the spell is damaged, the greater the pain will be, and I can't split my attention and power between too many tasks. If you don't want to die from agony, you'll need Scintillance.

by Lance Mon Jun 17, 2013 5:03 pm

Lance half-cringed at hearing his name. but, he tried to cover. "Translation;Silvern fixes your head, I make sure you don't cry while she does." one chuckle after, "if something goes awry and you kill me, at least know that I said "sorry" in advance." it came out as a joke, but really, Lance was thinking that very thing in his mind.

by Scrapper Mon Jun 17, 2013 6:20 pm

"Well, okay then. Tidy up afterwards at least, I don't need you messing up my nice clea- Hm. Never mind." He said as response. "Anyway, let's hopefully not get me killed today, OK?" he said to Sil, ready to follow her whenever she planned on going through with it.

by Silvern Gleam Thu Jun 20, 2013 6:41 am

Seriously, you won't even be able to do much harm, Silvern said sighingly to her assistant. She fully understood him, in the end this was difficult and somewhat dangerous operation. But mostly for Sil, Lance only had one job to do, and that was redirecting energy. And it wasn't like he'd be completely on his own, Sil would watch his doings. If you can't keep up with your job I'll simply stop. Besides, have a little trust in yourself, you're the most talented unicorn I've met in years. You have the skills to do this, the only thing you're lacking is confidence, she said reassuringly.

by **Syron** Thu Jun 20, 2013 6:41 am

Finally Shade broke the silence she had kept so far. Again, she felt useless around here, she could only sit by and watch, a situation Shade didn't like. Well, technically she couldn't even watch, she would only see Scrapper cringing from pain, and she probably would have to keep herself together to not interrupt. But right now, she might help, especially since she wasn't normally the one to give praise to Scintillance. I can only agree with Silvern here. You might be a general catastrophy, but you always were good with magic , she said matter-of-factly, no emotion tainting her voice. Those were locked out for the moment, Scrapper would know what she was feeling anyway. What was there much more to feel than worry for her love in such a situation? But if she listened to that, she might have put an end to this whole idea before it even really started.

by Lance Thu Jun 20, 2013 9:42 am

Scintillance had his eyes pointed to the ground and hanging in a frown, till Silvern's comment pulled his gaze to hers. But it was the compliment from Shadowstrike that startled his attention. even so, this was a verbal assault on his self esteem. "Oh, please stop, I'm going to wind up in a blush..." He gave a slight giggle and caught himself, immediately shaking his head left and right, vigorously and gave a gruff 'ahem' into a hoof.

he finally turned his attention towards Scrapper, "um... are you ready? Even if I do a good job on my part, it's going to be a lot more than a sting..."

by Scrapper Fri Jun 21, 2013 6:39 am

"Well, there's no rest for the weary. Let's get this over with." He said promptly, "And If I do become a devilish hell-monster do me a favor and kill me with heart will ya?" He said jokingly to lighten the tension. At least on his side, inside he was a wreck of emotion being locked away. Didn't need that getting out did he?

by Silvern Gleam Sun Jun 23, 2013 2:36 pm

Silvern nodded slowly, guessing that Lance had gained enough confidence. Too much insecurity was probably the biggest problem for him to face. But she didn't stand up to lead them to the enchantment room. One more thing. By now I'm certain that the spell gave me some of your memories, and it left a surprisingly clear message: Help me, and everything will be fine. Fight me, and there will be pain. What worries me is not the content, but the ability that this spell is able to interpret memories and connect them to get a message across. It's almost as if there was a real intelligence behind it. To make it short, I certainly won't let you turn into a devilish hell-monster, but I'm not sure if I'll succeed in erasing it. In the end I might run out of magic before you're freed from the spell, then the effort might have been for nothing.

Silvern quickly emptied her mug of tea and then led them to the enchanting room. Instead of a table, it now contained a mattress, old and worn, but still comfortable enough. Several small crystals lay next to it, all of them holding some kind of spell, as well as two white, big ones: Storage crystals, fully charged with magical energy. Silvern didn't intend to charge into battle without weapons and ammunition. None of the artifacts was noteworthy in complexity, and except for this special use they were made for, they were useless stones. They would take some side tasks off Silvern's shoulders so that she could concentrate on important matters.

Please lie down and try to relax, she said as she stepped over the mattress and sat down on the other side, next to her equipment. The moment had come, the troops were lining up and getting ready for battle. As soon as her instructions were followed, Silvern used one of the artifacts to set up some key channels into and out of Scrapper's mind, two of them not to her own horn, but to Scintillance'. This way he wouldn't have to deal with Scrapper's natural defense against intrusion so much. Along with how specific his task was and Silvern's help, not to mention the training of the last two days, he shouldn't have much trouble redirecting the freed energy outside. Lance, are you ready?

by Lance Mon Jun 24, 2013 3:32 pm

Scintillance took hes seat opposite of Silvern, and with scrapper between them. when prompted if he was ready, 'oh for the love of Luna's non-existant beard I am totally gonna fail this one I mean really you couldn't wait a little longer at least for me to spend time practicing this crazy idea of yours we're gonna wind up with scrapper in a broken psyche "Ready!"

he closed his eyes for a few moments, brushing his inner hellish screams of concern and regret, and tried to shift into that magic sight Silvern attempt to teach him to use. things were still pretty blurry without her direct assistance... but it as enough to see... nothing, really. at least, nothing currently happening. if he were to see the natural magic given off living things even, well, that was Silvern's special talent for a reason. it wouldn't be until he sensed Silvern's spell that he would calm down to the 'magic blindness.' even though he could just open his eyes.

by Scrapper Tue Jun 25, 2013 1:07 pm

Scrapper followed into the room with Sil, whistling. Not a calm, happy whistling. But the kind of whistling you'd hear from someone who is worried. It sounded Slow, with parts of stutter from when he lost concentration on it.

He continued to do so as he lay down and whilst he was laying down. Eventually stopping once he thought it was better to do so. "Oh well, devilish hell-monster doesn't sound to bad I guess. Or does it? I don't know. Just don't lose, okay? Unlike a few years ago. I actually have something to live for." He said calmly, faking the calmness very well.

by **Syron** Wed Jul 03, 2013 8:23 am

So once again Shade would have to sit by with no option to help. Though she didn't show it, it bothered her more than just a bit. That she had a feeling something bad would happen made it even worse, something worse than pain. Craploads of pain, and Shade would have to sit next to him and let it happen. Just like...

Shade banished the thought as quickly as possible, but the memory of the dying Apollo took hold long enough. She closed her eyes to hide possible tears and lay down on the matress as well, body to body with Scrapper.

by Silvern Gleam Wed Jul 03, 2013 8:48 am

At Scintillance' confirmation, Sil started her efforts. It was practically a surprise attack, the spell would have to wake up before it could act, enabling Silvern to take large parts away at once. Scrapper would have to pay the price: The more of his old memories she would free from the spell, the greater the pain would be. The first hit would be agonizing, but Lance knew to be prepared for it. Also, Sil directed some of her concentration to help redirecting the freed energy, giving mental nudges for Lance to follow.

This time, she was prepared for the unusual attacking capabilities of the spell. Lance' activity was outside its reach, and Sil carefully made sure that her defenses were not so easy to penetrate as last time. It wouldn't be able to simply slip by as it did the last time.

by Scrapper Wed Jul 03, 2013 9:40 am

It felt danger. It felt threatened. Something was wrong.
It detected an Intruder, the Intruder had already attacked it before it could react. It awoke quickly, It awoke with the intent of survival, It awoke with knowledge. There was a second Intruder. Too far for it to effect, It seemed, but it played a minor role.

The Spell began setting up it's defenses. It Protected everything it hadn't lost to the Intruder. More effort would be needed from the Intruder to breach it's defenses. But as a Counter-Attack, It created fake links to itself. Not easy to detect as Fake but if the Intruder should fall for this trap, It would catch a few parts of the Intruders energy and use it as its own. It would gain some leverage over both Intruders and possibly get closer to the second Intruder that seemed less prominent in ability than the first.

by Lance Wed Jul 03, 2013 9:48 am

Lance noticed Silvern started right away, and he closed his eyes to get a better look into the "Magical Apprehension of Magic Itself." the MAMI, as Lance started to call it. through it, he saw Silvern's already started the blitzkrieg against the main spell, but he could see the part she left out was up to him; the freak waves of pain directing itself at Scrapper's mind. his other mind. oh heck, it's a special sense that only unicorns seem to have, don't expect me to be able to explain it to you.

He felt that mental nudge silvern sent his way, and didn't know how to reply through the MAMI, though he still had his mental though, "I know, I know..." He quickly singled out the three connection, tried what he could at blocking them, but he knew that he couldn't just sever the three of them; such an action would leave drastic results, either of wild unfocused energy, or who knows what else.

even so, there were waves of energy that slipped by his blockade, and Lance would constantly try to stretch his defences; but the more he stretched his own efforts... the more fragile they became. he noticed that these "slips" were from multiple "links," as they appeared. He knew he couldn't hol the barrier well from so far out, and had to press further, closer to the source of the spell, where all the links would have split so that he could hold a single, solid "wall"

by Silvern Gleam Tue Jul 16, 2013 8:51 am

You really think I'm fooled that easily?

Silvern visibly smirked when she saw new links popping up, ones she certainly hadn't caused herself. It certainly looked useful, but the trap was too obvious, and she decided to simply ignore it. Instead she brought some other artifacts to use. If the spell wanted to play tricky, it would have another thing coming. How about three more unicorns joining the effort?

Of course, there weren't more unicorns to help, but the spell didn't have to know that. The three artifacts Sil was using now only simulated the magic of a unicorn. Badly, but hopefully just good enough for an artificial construct like the spell to be fooled. Hardly any damage would be caused if one of the artifacts came through, but if the spell spent resources on defending against those dummies, Silvern would have a much easier time.

Meanwhile Scintillance was blocking the energy he was supposed to redirect outside. Not good. Lance, you know what happens when a dam with a big lake behind it breaks?, she warned him and reduced her offensive efforts for a moment to magically guide her assistant. Blocking the magic from rushing through Scrapper's body was correct, but it had to go somewhere, and that's where Scintillance was lacking. Silvern constructed a channel to get the energy out and gave control over it to Lance before returning to attacking the spell.

by Scrapper Tue Jul 16, 2013 1:35 pm

The spell felt its attacker almost stop for a second, it took that time to charge an overwhelming amount of energy.
Upon the attackers return it moved the energy straight towards it, mostly pushing it back. But sending multiple lines of energy around the attacker and further on.

The fake links were also replaced with what could be called 'Energy Spikes'. Any outside or foreign signals that hit them will be caught by surprise.

Outside this inner battle however, Scrapper was showing obvious signs of pain. Twitching, making noises, visibly tensing up and at one point, almost a full body spasm.
Not healthy, and not good in other words. If he had the will to speak right now, he'd surely be swearing or calling at least on of them a light bulb with no idea.

by **Syron** Sat Jul 20, 2013 7:34 am

And so it began. Shade had a hoof draped over Scrapper's shoulder, pulling herself against against the suffering earth pony. She wanted to tell the other two unicorns to stop, to pull Scrapper out. And they probably haven't come to the worst part yet. She had to wait and do nothing, except making sure that Scrapper knew she was by his side. The only thing she had been able to do for Apollo as well. She couldn't help but realize that this seemed to be a recurring pattern. She was a skilled assassin, her targets were usually sure to die, but when it came to actually helping her friends she found herself powerless. There had been nothing to possibly save Apollo, and Scrapper's fate depended not on her, but on Silvern and Lance. Her other friends... She hadn't even been there when it happened. Yes, having her as friend seemed like a good thing indeed...

by Lance Sat Jul 20, 2013 7:50 am

Scintillance flinched slightly to Silvern's warning, realizing he was doing something far too risky. "a tidal wave of pure pain... I'm sorry, Scraps..." He noticed another channel forming, and recognised it as Silvern's magic in effect. He didn't need to be told what it was for, and shifted his magic barrier to redirect the spell's harmful energy into that channel. then feeling the channel in his control, he wasn't entirely sure of what he was doing, but aimed the channel "out." and what felt to be "out" was where there wasn't the bulk of of magic, all the streams and channels and everything... where it felt like a "dark void" for Scintillance. he then felt a lesser strain from the incoming energy before it "spiked" suddenly, and pushed at his barrier hard as he slowly shifted it into the "exit channel."

Physically, Lance gave a quick "gah!" as he clenched his teeth and pried one eye open, slipping his gaze into the physical world, temporarily, but long enough to see Scrapper suffering from through their efforts before he shifted back into the MAMI. "Ugh, not even the Aegis went through anything like this..." and then the idea hit him, but it'll have to wait since he's already finished his two actions per post.

by Silvern Gleam Tue Jul 23, 2013 8:11 am

What to do if you realize that there's a flood-wave coming upon you? Well, it might be a good idea to stand on the other side of a large hole in the ground, large enough to swallow the wave. The hole in this case was one of the storage crystals Sil had kept ready, an empty one. It had enough capacity to cause a breach in the spell's attack Silvern could slip through, simply by quite literally sucking in the energy that would otherwise have rushed through a channel connected to Sil's horn. A scorched horn was the last thing she could allow now, the distorted magic sight alone would handicap her enough to probably lose the battle.

Good thing: The little energy actually hitting Silvern was barely enough to make her notice.

Good thing number two: Some of the energy rushing past her she managed to redirect and use for her own, launching an attack herself.

Good thing number three: With the huge amount of power the spell had just used, it had left itself without much protection and actually quite unstable. Silvern used the stolen energy to construct what she liked to call a Crawler with the help of another artifact: A spell sustaining itself from the energy it devoured as it slowly spread through its environment in search of more "food", until it finally became too large and collapse with hardly any trace. It wasn't entirely safe since Silvern couldn't define what the actual target was and what were Scrapper's memories, and she expected some of the memories to be completely gone afterwards, but that was probably of minor importance. Much more important...

Horribly bad thing: Sil had saved herself and Scintillance who was practically standing behind her, if one actually described the magical connections as the ponies themselves, but there was still a massive amount of energy rushing through Scrapper. After the Crawler was deployed, she did the only thing that might let the earth pony survive: Take as much as she could herself. It wasn't enough to create channels into nothing, it would never redirect enough. But if she placed herself at the other and of the channels it was a different story, then she could pull away much more of it.

She didn't bother to think what that could do to her as she set up the connections and lured a good part of the power into her horn, which in turn seemed to be exploding. The bright burst of light made it impossible to see what exactly happened (though nopony looked anyway), but the pained scream and the sound of a collision with the wall was probably enough information. The light went out quickly, revealing Sil slumped against the wall and pressing her hooves against her forehead, where her horn was still present, but visibly scorched and obviously hurting.

by Scrapper Tue Jul 23, 2013 8:30 am

On the outside, he literally had a full body spasm. The amount of energy that had just went though him was too intense, and in the end he lost consciousness.

On the inside, nothing. Thing's went quiet. The spell made no move, and it made not a single hint that it was even around to say goodbye anymore. That crawly wotsit was a real pain in it's theoretical backside.

by **Syron** Tue Jul 23, 2013 11:12 am

Shade was a little too distracted by the suffering earth pony next to her to pay much attention to Silvern, even completely ignoring the burst of light. Scrappy? she called out just before he went limp. Shade's expression went quickly from strong unease to obvious distress when there was no response. He was breathing, but that did little to reassure the black unicorn. Wake up! Please wake up! You can't leave me as well, she sputtered with tears forming in her eyes as she tried to shake him awake.

by Lance Wed Jul 24, 2013 7:13 am

All Lance could remember before getting a full knock out of the MAMI was seeing all the energy suddenly redirect itself, and talking a lot of pressure off him. he thought they were winning until his entire vision went black, along with a and his head felt a mass pain, coming from his horn, and took a few blind steps backward before losing his balance and falling to his flank, cringing with both hooves over his face. he heard Shade losing her cool, and pried his eyes open to a wildly spinning and blurring view, and managed to make out the black figure ahead of him as shade, and slowly stoop to his hooves, but as his vision cleared, the yellow figure of Silvern Gleam caught his attention, clearly in pain, and trot was aimed to her, with a look that betrayed weakness in worry and weary steps.

"S-Silve... are you ok?" he knew it was a stupid question, but it felt like the appropriate one, as he was slightly unsure of what to do. he settled down near her if she'd need anything, but his head turned to look behind him, with increasing worry. "...Where did I go so wrong..."

by Silvern Gleam Thu Jul 25, 2013 7:12 am

You did nothing wrong. If anything, this was my mistake, Silvern muttered through the pain her horn was causing her. As for your other question...

Sil slowly pushed herself into sitting position, still pressing a hoof against her forehead. Feels like my horn burnt through. If that's the case, it should probably heal within two or three weeks. Until then... Well, no magic sight without working horn.

In fact, she still had input from her horn, since not all of it had suffered the same strong magical currents. Unfortunately there was enough damage to make the "picture" nonsensical at best, nauseating at worst. Sil was glad that she was in the enchanting room; all the background magic outside probably would have convinced her stomach to empty itself before she had gotten a chance to get used to her distorted sight. It was bad enough in here.

However, her own health wasn't all that interesting to her right now. From Shade's muttering she knew that Scrapper was at least not awake, but that was hardly enough information. What's his condition?

by **Syron** Thu Jul 25, 2013 7:29 pm

Shade was paying little heed to Silvern and Lance, but the question about Scrapper's condition was picked up quickly. The assassin looked over at the enchantress, and instantly felt as if that pony was the one to blame. Good thing she's blind, she couldn't have seen the accusing look on Shade's face before it was replaced by... a wild mix of emotions, all of them fighting their way to the surface but none of them welcome. Unconscious and not responding, she finally said. And despite already guessing the answer, she asked anyway. Did you succeed?

by Lance Fri Jul 26, 2013 9:52 am

three weeks of proper blindness... that certianly wasn't anything easy to bear, and Lance made a note sticking around more to help Silvern through it. as for Shadow, "I can't say that I know for sure. things went real quiet for a moment, but I was there to keep any fatal side effects from going off..." He eyed Silvern's scorched horn. "I guess... that's all I could do..." and I could've done better... He muttered the last bit, and gave an obvious frown as he did. "youwere on the offensive, what happened?" he addressed the yellow mare, clearly.

by Silvern Gleam Fri Jul 26, 2013 10:43 am

Silvern lowered the hoof she'd been pressing against her forehead and recalled what had happened. I've managed to place a spell that might have done the job before I was hit. But with this injury... She pointed at her horn again before lowering her head in apology. I'm sorry, I can't tell for sure. Though if you say it went quiet, Scintillance, that might be a good sign.
Does he seem stable or should we get him to the hospital?, she added after a moment.

by **Syron** Fri Jul 26, 2013 11:07 am

She didn't know. Shade still had to sit by in uncertainty, unable to do anything. She nearly began shouting the pony who had caused Scrapper enough pain for him to fall unconscious and doesn't even know what would come out of it. Fortunately she was able to force herself away from her pessimistic thoughts and concentrate on what they had going for them. Silvern had done something that might have worked and Scintillance' report seemed to support her. Besides, He seems stable. Nothing like when the spell attacks in his sleep, she said in a calmer voice than before, but still sounding depressed. She lowered her head against Scrapper's neck, and whispered. Please wake up.

by Scrapper Fri Jul 26, 2013 2:07 pm

What seemed like a simple loss of consciousness, was actually the effect of locked away memories being allowed free. What happens when years worth of memories start coming back? I don't know, but right now, he's reliving every last one of them. Not all together. In bits and pieces as they are recognized, but it's enough to know what happened to him all those years ago.

Among those, a familiar voice. Not one among his forgotten memories, one he knew of before.
"Time to wake up, Death is not ready, nor is fate."
The same ghostly figure as well, but this time, he had bigger things to think about than chatting with death.

A few moments after Shade asked for it, again, she got it. Scrapper's first breath was heavy, like he was just being resuscitated. He wasn't dead. Was he? No, death never has a reason to wait. Regardless of how Shade was at the minute, he raised himself to a sitting position. His thoughts overrun and confusing, the first words out of his mouth however, were not of happy thoughts.

In a rushed, angered voice, he said. "If he is still alive, I swear to Celestia I'll kill him!" After that, he was visibly breathing heavily.

by Lance Fri Jul 26, 2013 5:50 pm

Scintillance was somehow right behind Shadow, cowering behind her and quite likely using her as a shield of sorts, and peeked from over her shoulder at Scrapper with eyes that betrayed his fear.Sure he's pretty glad to see his Pal's A-OK but he was quite absolutely positive his Pal's not A-OK. A-OK ponies don't suddenly kick out of unconscious sleep and make death threats. "Well I pretty glad you're well and all but I could've sworn you were asleep back there and I'm not entirely fond of zombies or sleepwalkers. wait..." his logic then started to work, suddenly; Scrapper's making death threats about a "him," and he's the only other "him" in the room. Lance then retreated further behind Shade and armed himself with a fly swatter. What he said next came in a frail, yet monotone manner "Shade-I-think-he-wants-to-kill-me-please-do-something-I'm-scared."

by Silvern Gleam Sat Jul 27, 2013 8:17 am

Silvern was glad that Scrapper's condition didn't seem bad enough to make a hospital visit necessary, but she actually wanted one herself, since she didn't want to bet her magical abilities on a rough self diagnosis. With her magic sight gone and Scrapper lying unconscious in her shop, the situation was a little inconvenient. Silvern would need Lance to find her way to the hospital, but she didn't want to leave Shade and Scrapper in her shop without somepony keeping an eye on them. On the other hoof, demanding that Scrapper would be brought somewhere else seemed just wrong. Fortunately, at least in this regard, the earth pony decided on this moment to wake up. Sil heard his breath growing heavy, enough warning to not be startled by his following outburst, though confusion and worry still were present on her mind.

by **Syron** Sat Jul 27, 2013 8:53 am

Shade got up in time with Scrapper, but different to him she wore an expression of joy and relief, followed by confusion about the unexpected anger. Scintillance' reaction urged her to think about who the death threat was directed at, but she didn't find an answer. I don't think he means you, she said with a smile, the fact that Scrapper was alive and well was definitely more important to her right now than the fact that he was also angry at somebody. Still, this anger was something that had to be dealt with, and so Shade concentrated on her coltfriend, with a slightly worried expression. Scrappy, what's the matter?

by Scrapper Sat Jul 27, 2013 9:09 am

Scrapper's angry breathing did not slow, and his words refused to calm. "I know what he did to me... The pain, the suffering... I wasn't the only one..." Scrapper then got up, and started pacing from one side of the room to the other.

"He put Me, and so many others through all that crap just to make... something." He drove his hoof against the nearest wall in anger. Seemingly getting more and more restless, for some reason.

by Lance Sun Jul 28, 2013 3:18 am

Scintillance finally stepped aside from behind Shade, no longer feeling the need of a pony-tribute to Scrapper. But he wore a furrowed brow and a questioning frown targeted from Scrapper to Shadow, and back. "You're speaking in riddles, and that's normally my job. and it's only ever my job when I'm writing a poem. what's this about suffering ponies to make... something... what..." insert massive GASP here "You're not from the glue factory, are you!?" He raised his voice, as that last sentence neared its end.

by Silvern Gleam Sun Jul 28, 2013 5:47 am

I suppose he's talking about the pony who created that spell, Silvern presented a more believable explanation than a glue factory. Though she was a little worried about Scrapper's anger, but he seemed rational enough to not harm anypony, and Shade would hopefully try to calm him down. That his memories come back was to be expected. If they all are like what I've seen of them, that's bound to be quite a shock.

by **Syron** Sun Jul 28, 2013 6:07 am

Shade nodde at Silvern's explanation, that was also her own theory. She didn't mind Scrapper's ire and simply apprached him, showing him a warm smile. We'll certainly go after him if he's still alive, she agreed with him. But he's not here. Please save your anger for another time. With the assumption that once again she had to distract him and let him concentrate on the good things, she proceeded as she was used to when Scrapper made trouble: She kissed him.

by Scrapper Sun Jul 28, 2013 6:27 am

Most other times, thinking about Shade would have worked. But not this time,his memories were coming into clarity to fast to be pushed aside.

Memories of suffering, misery, despair and death.

He could remember what happened, he could see how that Unicorn did things. He chose candidates, then he tested dangerous mind spells on others before any of his reliable subjects, like he was. He was too resistant, and in that he had ended up making that maniac of a Unicorn take far too many lives, not to mention more lives for his other reliable subjects.

He broke the kiss a moment after Shade had began it and turned away, "You know I love you Las, but you don't understand what he did... He took, whole, unsuspecting families in as test dummies! Just to make sure his useful subjects didn't die!" His head began twitching, and in his rising anger he kicked one of the crystals Sil used and sent it across the room.

by **Syron** Sun Jul 28, 2013 11:22 am

Shade watched the white crystal fly and break on the wall in thought. This was familiar...

----------------------

SHADE! WAIT!

She didn't wait. She didn't notice. She charged into the room and threw a frantic look around. WHERE IS HE? she shouted with unmasked fury when she didn't see who she was looking for.

If you had just waited a moment I'd have told you that he's not here anymore, Apollo said as he landed before her. Calm down Shade, he's out of reach. There's nothing you can do.

But at that the young unicorn lost it even more. Oh, great, that makes me feel SO much better! she snapped at him and turned away to a wooden pallet leaning against the wall, the first target that came into sight, and drove a hoof right through it. Rolls and Apollo both followed her, but the pegasus was faster than the earth pony.

He approached her from behind and placed a hoof on her shoulder as he spoke. We know it's hard for yoAAAGH!

It had been a reflexive reaction caused by the mad anger controlling Shade at the moment. The moment she felt the touch she spun around as she grabbed the offending hoof, forcing Apollo to turn slightly, bringing his right wing in front of her. One blow later the pegasus was stumbling backwards with a broken wing, staring unbelievingly at Shade, who stared back in shock about what she had just done.

----------------------

Shade knew what was happening, she had been on the path Scrapper was taking often enough, she knew what would come out of it. She wouldn't let it happen. True, I can't fully understand without your memories, she said, staying close to him, trying to stay in his sight. But trust me when I say that I know some things about anger. You've seen me losing to it. Don't let the same happen to you. Don't dwell on those thoughts, in the end it won't be just some crystal that breaks.

by Lance Sun Jul 28, 2013 2:42 pm

Lance leaped to save the crystal, but he certainly wasn't fast enough and not even barely missed it, and just flopped onto the ground with wasted effort, and eyed the shattered thing with a bothered stare. as Shade finished her sentence, he instinctively added "Yeah, like, your sanity. or my face. though I would've been pretty happy if that Crystal didn't break." Seeing that he wasn't really able to contribute to the conversation much, Lance got up, and made for the door, giving an exasperated sigh "I'll get the pooper scooper... "

by Scrapper Mon Jul 29, 2013 5:03 am

Scrapper felt himself stabilizing, in terms of emotion. The reason being, that Shade was right. The roles have been switched, she was the one trying to calm him down.
But he felt so angry, full of a dark, hidden anger that never got out before. He just couldn't force himself to calm down, but at least now he didn't get any worse from thinking about what happened before.
Somehow he just knew he'd be a bit grumpy after remembering all that.

He turned and gave Shade a hug, "You're right, there's nothing I can do about what happened before." He said, trying his best to conceal his still angered state. He couldn't simply forget what happened now, and that mean't he couldn't simply calm down in a flash. But he could at least try to hide it.

by **Syron** Mon Jul 29, 2013 6:02 am

Thanks, Shade said smilingly as she returned the embrace. I know the emotions don't go away just like that, but we'll find some way to deal with them later.
After a few seconds Shade broke the embrace and turned to their host. Silvern. Thank you for everything you've done, even more so that you didn't even demand any payment, she said gratefully. Whatever expenses you had because of this - or damage for that matter - tell us and we'll repay you. And don't even think about declining this, we owe you enough as it is.

by Silvern Gleam Mon Jul 29, 2013 6:35 am

Silvern had retreated into a corner when she had noticed Scrapper's anger getting out of control, especially the sound of a breaking crystal told her that she shouldn't get in the way. When Shade had managed to calm him down and talked to her, she stood up and searched the ground for noteworthy fragments.
I did this out of my own interest as much as I wanted to help, she answered, and found a piece of crystal. A big one, it must have been the large storage crystal. Well, it has become a little expensive I suppose. Such big crystals are rare... Let's just say 200 bits for the crystal.

by Lance Mon Jul 29, 2013 8:19 am

Scintillance came back in with a mini-broom and pale, whistling at hearing the bits involved. "y'all might as well assume that is the price for all this and you're still being let off cheap." He then noticed Silvern near the shattered pieces, and quickly rushing over, dragging her away from them "Silve, you're blind, and you're standing on shattered crystal. I highly recommend staying away from pointy objects, with or without magic sight." He started sweeping some of the fragments onto the pale, before giving himself a facehoof and just magicked the fragments into the air, and kept them bunched together. He was about to leave the room again, but Looked to Silve again, "you didn't step on any, did you? Do I need to get anything? bandage-wise? tea-wise? I-should-stop-talking-wise?"

by Silvern Gleam Mon Jul 29, 2013 8:55 am

Silvern didn't react as Scintillance might have imagined. She didn't mind her assistant helping, that was his job, but the way he did it pissed her off, massively. Lance..., she said slowly, with not at all hidden anger. I can appreciate that you want to help me, but if that comes along with being treated like a foal who can't take care of herself you can stop right away. Her eyes were pointed warningly... a little to Scintillance' right actually. Without magic sight, she easily misjudged the position of ponies and objects. Keep the larger fragments, I can still use them, she added and turned away again, this little topic was done for her.

by Lance Mon Jul 29, 2013 10:31 am

Lance stopped what he was doing, and looked At Silve with a confused mixture of fear and verge of laughing, it was hard for him to take Silvern seriously in her current state, but not even a snicker came as he kept his Silence. though visibly h would have looked rather ridiculous to Shade and Scrapper, but then, he always did. " "r-right... sorry..." it was hard, but he resisted the urge to physically turn her head to face him appropriately. he then started to sort through the shards, picking out the larger from the rest, and lowering the small, seemingly unusable shards into the pale, to lessen the concentration of multiple objects, small as they may be.

by Scrapper Mon Jul 29, 2013 11:44 am

Scrapper was angry, still angry, and probably would be for a while. He did a great job of keeping it hidden, he guessed he'd have to do a bit more emotional hiding in the near future, but his job was made easier when Lance was told off.

He started chuckling at the theoretical defeat he received from Silvern, something about having an idiot being and idiot then being knocked down to size satisfied him. In this situation, Silvern did it just right.
That would make his hidden emotion seem even more hidden, showing happiness and all, but he couldn't shake that angry feeling. If anything, it'll be hard to keep his cool if somethings trying it's best to annoy him.

After he was done laughing at Lance, he eventually turned to Sil. "She's right Las, yeah, I'm talking to you Silvern." He said, regarding Sil being a bat at this moment in time. "Regardless of what comes of this thing Las, you just did me a great favor. I can't forget it. If you ever need my help, regardless if it's lifting boxes, picking up packages or throwing a pony like Lance out the door. Just ask, I ain't gonna refuse." ... Or, on that rare case he has to dig somepony's eye's out with a spoon, he'll do that too.

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