Elements of Nature

"Noooooooooooooooooooo thank you." Stardust says, initially attempting to back away but realizing she can't move farther unless she dives out the window.

After a moment and a "Hmmmmmm." Stardust says, "I may have an idea." And then she tries to conjure up a ball of solid smoke that will act like a battery or container.

---

Arcana: 20 + nat 20 = 40 CMC

Zanzibar smiles as he slides a hoof behind his back and starts to work his magic to conjure a ruby...

(Earthbending Check: 10)

"Would you care to swap seats? It seems we all would be happier that way." Bloomberg asked the one that sounds like a stripper Ruby.

Katherak:
The stallion sighs in relief and takes your old seat, just in time for the snoring pony right next to him to use him as a pillow. He appears no less relieved. When Kat gets to the seat in First Class the stallion gave up, he discovers who he had such a strong personal quarrel with: Discord. The other ponies in the car seem only mildly uncomfortable about his presence, but the only thing Discord seems to be doing right now is reading a book, though a little hologram in the middle of the car shows a scene that is probably from his book, characters in action. The hologram has the rapt attention of all the foals in the car, and it is much quieter in here than would be expected with that many foals.

Cascading Falls:
"Uh... yes?" "You're right, we were idiots. We are idiots. I really don't blame you for not wanting to say anything about the pony or ponies who did this, considering our role in what happened. I'm sorry." "Me too..." After a moment of awkwardly standing there, the two join Cass in checking the unconsious(?) bodies. All of them seem to be dead, except for one, the head kidnapper, who seems very close to it. He probably won't survive the next few minutes unless he gets expert medical attention.

Stardust, Garland:
Stardust successfully conjures in fact multiple of the exact smoky object she wants, in various sizes and shapes. Being made of smoke, though, she can probably destroy the extras with nothing but the smell of smoke as residue.

Zanzibar, Bloomberg:
Zanzibar successfully summons a ruby of reasonable size, neither significantly large or small.

Ruby looks at Bloomberg with a hint of surprise and confusion, before a dawn of realization crosses her face and she smiles. The zebra stands up so she can switch places with Bloomberg, leaving room for him to get to her seat.

Kat can't help but be taken back himself a bit, looking at Discord with a surprised expression. He started to calm down a bit once he realized he wasn't (currently) causing anything, but he had to admit it still made him uneasy, considering the stories he heard. ...Though the fact that he was currently entertaining foals, well... That certainly helped make Kat calm down a bit, though he definitely saw why the stallion left. He shrugged, taking the seat anyways. As long as he wasn't causing anything it couldn't be all that bad, he supposed. Besides, a hologram show from a book definitely helped with the boredom.

Copper Rose wrote:Cascading Falls:
"Uh... yes?" "You're right, we were idiots. We are idiots. I really don't blame you for not wanting to say anything about the pony or ponies who did this, considering our role in what happened. I'm sorry." "Me too..." After a moment of awkwardly standing there, the two join Cass in checking the unconscious(?) bodies. All of them seem to be dead, except for one, the head kidnapper, who seems very close to it. He probably won't survive the next few minutes unless he gets expert medical attention.

Cascading Falls frowns a bit, and wants to snark back that she doesn't actually know anything about the pony who did...something...to the thugs, but decides that it'd be out of place at the moment, given the dead bodies.
On finding that the leader is still alive, she gives a chuckle in shock and says, "He's...he's alive! I mean, he's barely got a pulse, but he's still alive! Where are we? Do either of you know if the hospital's nearby?"

Meta:

Stardust holds up the orbs in front of Garland and says, "Here. Discharge your excess energy into these. They should be able to hold a not insignificant amount. In fact, I may have made too many. Though I'm sure there will be opportunity to use the leftovers at a later date."

Bloomberg swapped seats with Ruby, simple as that.

Garland begins laughing a childish and yet quite disturbing laugh as she discharges lightning into the smoke balls.

lightning roll
discharge 18

Katherak
Discord doesn't seem to acknowledge your presence, or maybe he's just too wrapped up in his book to notice you sit down, but he does seem to be having a little fun entertaining the foals. Judging by what's going on in the hologram, he seems to be reading an adventure book with a group of ponies (and a few other species) exploring a cave. Suddenly they hit a trap that shoots arrows, and though none of them seem to get hurt badly, one of the tiny little arrows has embedded itself in the nose of one of the foals. The foal is staring at it, cross-eyes because it's on his nose, but he doesn't seem to be in pain. He sniffs a couple times, then starts licking it, to the amusement of the other foals. "It tastes like a candy cane!"

Cassie
The hospital is about 10 minutes from your current location at a run, so it's safe to say taking the thug there by hoof would be ineffective.

Bloomberg, Zanzibar
Ruby and Rose scoot a little closer to their respective seat partners, close enough to touch. At their touch, Bloomberg feels a pang of hunger, and Zanzibar momentarily feels sore and exhausted, like he just went for a thousand-mile swim.

Stardust, Garland
The discharge into the smoke batteries seems to be a success, though both ponies present can feel the overwhelming power that these smoke batteries are. Both know without a doubt that these are possibly more powerful and dangerous than anything either of the two could do or make alone.

The greatest amount of energy seems to be held within a certain shape of battery that looks like this, with the electricity as a cloudy and colorful liquid inside. The least effective shape seems to be the spheres.

Cascading Falls frowns at the revelation, before frowning slightly further after deciding that if she has just the smallest chance to help this pony survive, she should take it. Even if said pony attempted to mislead her and probably had less than honorable intentions.
A puddle of water starts spreading rapidly from her hooves, circling her and the unconscious pony. Her eyes flash a bright cerulean as she turns to her friends, the glow lingering as the water starts wrapping around the unconscious pony, leaving his face uncovered for the moment.
With an amount of conviction surprising even herself, she says to them, "There's no way we can run and get help for him in time...so I'm going to teleport him over near the hospital. Do you want to come along?"

Meta:

Katherak jumps up a little in shock when he sees this, only to relax back into his chair and manage a chuckle at the foals reaction, unable to help but crack a smile. Well, it's certainly more entertaining than just staring out the window. He thought to himself, deciding to watch the story along with the foals.

Garland suddenly cuts off her laughter looking at the smoke batteries then at Stardust then back at the batteries. "Whoa there, what the hell did we just make? I mean its like... kind of a... like a um... I don't even got good words for this!!!" She sniffles, "I'm awestruck. It is GLORIOUS! The the boundariless inorientable one is pure genius. Now how can I use these?"

Stardust shrugs and replies, "I imagine you would access their energy the same way you do your own. Simply try and draw it from them rather than yourself. But please don't do so now. I think you might wind up destroying the train. Also I suppose we could just throw them if all we want is some kind of electrical storm combined with an explosion. Perhaps we could also use them to power other things, though that could require some additional work."

Copper Rose wrote:Bloomberg, Zanzibar
Ruby and Rose scoot a little closer to their respective seat partners, close enough to touch. At their touch, Bloomberg feels a pang of hunger, and Zanzibar momentarily feels sore and exhausted, like he just went for a thousand-mile swim.

If there was ever a time to nope straight out of something, it's when a pony's touch does something that a pony's touch shouldn't do...

Zanzibar gets up and turns to the group. "I need to get me some tea, could you hold my seat for me?" He keeps his ruby secret, just in case he really needs to get out...

"Ah, I think I have to go grab a snack... See you in a second." Bloomberg said, thinking Yeah they're out to get us, and tailor made against my element, which probably means my companion has powers too, as they're going after him as well.

Katherak
In the hologram, it seems the heroes are actually stumped as to how to continue, until one silly young foal decides to stick his hoof in the hologram - probably to get some of the candy-cane flavored arrows. The hoof blocking the arrows actually allows the heroes to pass on, and all the foals ooh and aah as they realize that it's an interactive adventure.

Cassie
Your friends step into the puddle and you all easily make it to the hospital, and the stallion is quickly taken to urgent care. You could wait for him in the magazine-riddled waiting room, go to the restaurant Masq and Fiddle wanted to take you to for your birthday, or just call it a day and hop on a train to Cloudsdale.

Bloomberg, Zanzibar
Bloomberg and Zanzibar easily get away from the pair, and upon leaving the car both feel full, and full of energy. And, strange thing, the equivalent seat to where the females had been sitting in the other car in this car is now empty for the taking.

Stardust, Garland
((I really don't have anything for you two, either continue the convo or I can cut from here to when you arrive at Cloudsdale. Your choice.))

Cascading Falls glances at her friends somewhat morosely, before quietly saying, "Girls...I'm not feeling up for going out to stuff now. I think I'm just gonna...just go home and lay down for a while. I'll..." She heaves a sigh, "I dunno, I'll see you tomorrow I guess."
Unless otherwise stopped or something said to her, she walks out of the hospital and walks home.

Meta:

Katherak smiled a bit more, leaning back in his chair. This was rather pleasant, actually. Helped him forget about the fact that he just ran away from his family and that they'd most likely look for him.
Oh.
Oh...
He wasn't quite as relaxed anymore.

((I'm bored, and none of the campaigns are going, and I don't feel like working on the paper mario campaign, but I do want to try and provide a wrap up for some of my characters which started to develop but just didn't get there. So here's a thing.))
- Cascading Falls
- Second Fiddle
- Masquerade

---

The sky darkened quickly as the birthday girl made her way home through the streets, her feelings reflected to the sky in the gathering rain clouds. "Hey, hold on a second!" "Yeah, come on, please honey?" "We know where you live!~"

Cass slows her pace at this comment, before coming to a stop at a corner. She doesn't turn to her friends as they catch up, and just kinda stares sadly at them when they arrive.

"Hey thanks -- I swear we're really...whoa," Masquerade starts, but stops short as she notices Cass's distraught face, wincing. Second Fiddle gently lays a hoof on Cass's shoulder, picking up the slack with "Hey. We're sorry. We really messed up, and you voiced your complaints, but we had this plan for today and it was gonna be really cool and then...yeah. We shouldn't have made you put on the blindfold, and we definitely should not have been distracted by the...incredibly hunky guards."

She lets out half of a dreamy sigh, before shaking her head slightly and readjusting to the emotional situation going on. "...mmph. Sorry, sorry, we just really..." "We really want to make it up to you, and letting you go off and sulk by yourself isn't something friends should do. And...we did a really shit job showing it today, but we are your friends...at least I hope we still are."

A light shower begins, and passersby can be heard grumbling about the seeming lack of notice which weather pegasi have adopted. Cass glances between the ground and the two pones, before letting out a sigh and saying, "You're still my friends. I just...today's been really weird, with the voice when I woke up, and the guy following us, and then melting, and then showing back up in the alley and..." Her voice trails off as the rain starts to pick up. She takes a moment to compose herself before continuing, "And I just really don't want to deal with anything right now. I want to go home, and lay down, and maybe cry myself to sleep. And...and if you two want to come hang out for a bit and maybe chill and not go looking for 'hunky guards' while I'm resting..." Cass's face breaks into a small smile briefly, before shifting back to the slight grimace.

Second Fiddle and Masquerade give each other a look, before nodding at Cass with a smile. They chat somewhat awkwardly as they walk through the rain, now up to a steady pour, their spirits actually seeming to rise as the rain grows stronger.

They enter Cass's apartment fully drenched but chuckling. Cass retrieves a few towels from her bathroom for them, but comes back to the two laying unconscious on the floor, her cloaked stalker standing over them. "We need to talk."

---

((...so, that might be more of a cliffhanger than it initially was, but it at least feels like a place to be left, rather than partway through a scene. If you read that, hope you enjoyed it. Tha's all, folks.))