With no Gliding Wind to keep up her Pegasus magic, and with the sudden interference by the strange, eldritch birds, the tornado quickly dies down. You and the other two crystal golems are completely unaffected by the croak of the mythological machines. Everyone else, on other hoof, is. They shrivel up in pain and cover their ears as if the noise is a cacophony of misery and divine punishment. The other Pegasus ponies are so weak they lifelessly fall onto the cloud with no care for their safety or your presence. They do not react to you; they are barely able to groan in pain.

You follow the movement of one of the birds who decided to charge beneath the cloud. You spot Gliding Wind curling up in pain. Her helmet is off as she attempts to keep her hooves pushed as hard as possible against her small ears. A few meters away, buried heads down into the ground, are unconscious Meridian and Golden Shield. They show no reaction towards the loud yell of the demonic creatures, seemingly ignorant. They crashed and they crashed hard. The bird pierces the sharp talons and drags the Pegasus officer against the ground; it lands few feet away from Meridian.

You cannot judge the damage from here but, there are no visible sights of blood. Hopefully, the landing was not serious. You raise your head towards Spitfire and, with a mental sigh; you close your eyes to gather the dark magic. Once the green symbols are inscribed within your mentality, the magic of Sombra bursts through your eye sockets. You quickly envelope the telekinetic force of your essence around Spitfire and then you drag her towards yourself.

“Hey, what’s going on?” you ask her with concern in your hollow voice; she doesn’t not answer.

The one who answers is one of the brass birds that immediately locks it’s blazing, red eyes with the crystalline of yours. It either wants you, or Spitfire. You have less than a few seconds to react before the bird charges.

>You also have to stop the bird from attacking Golden Shield and Meridian, somehow… What now?

>Body Changes:
03% [-1] Alicorn ‘Dark’ Magic [Magic]
03% [+1] Volatile Arcane [Magic]

>>27787479
Hate to waste a TK spell but get the fuck away from Spitfire. Since we're stuck on this cloud I see no way of helping our friends. Also, if Gliding Wind is close enough we should take her Element.

>>27787542
This, with only five elements they were worse for wear, but with only 4 and one in the possession of the enemy they'll be hopeless

After that, let's see if we can spot a good place to land with telekinesis if we can't find our own way down

>>27787542
>>27787559
Sorry for not making it clear. The pegasus officer in this is Gliding Wind:
>The bird pierces the sharp talons and drags the Pegasus officer against the ground; it lands few feet away from Meridian.

>>27787472
Why did we waste magic on such a pointless action! We could've shouted at her rather than wasting one of our few spells! Use the TK spell against the bird so it won't be a waste. We need those wings if we want to reach land without shattering our legs.

>>27787559
Physics doesn't work like that. Jump in the air and grab your ankles to see what would happen.

>>27787586
>Jump in the air and grab your ankles to see what would happen.
Wait-what?

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>>27787568
Ok, then let's find a way down first, THEN take her element as long as she's down, then attend to golden shield and meridian.

>>27787586
>>27787609
We could always try a different kind of spell, as trying to use tk on the bird creature may have a similar unwanted effect (we would have to move with it, which may compromise our ability to keep it stable mid-air), such as creating temporary dark magic wings strong enough to get us down safely with our weight just once.

If anyone else would like to weigh in on alternate ways to get down safely, this is the time.

>>27787636
But we don't know any such spells.

>>27787609
If we were to grab ourself with TK to slow down our fall it'd be the same as jumping in the air and grabbing your ankles. Where does the force of our motion go? What's supporting our weight?
>>27787636
creating wings is a completely different spell from TK. I was suggesting to grab the bird so we can force it to give us a ride down. It'd be a gentler landing than using our own legs.

>>27787669
Trying to control the bird's movement with tk to ride it down may yield the same result.

With that said, we may be arguing in circles. Vincent, since magic can be a bit weird when trying to figure out the physics of it, what exactly will happen if we use TK on ourselves to get down vs using tk on an object/creature to ride down?

>>27787817
We wouldn't be controlling it's flight, it's a better flier than us after all, we'd be forcing it to crash while we're riding it. It would be fighting against us and thus soften the landing.

>>27787817
The TK only allows the levitation of medium-sized objects, you will have to use double the magic to lift yourself but if the case above is applied, it will be possible to lift yourself down.

You won't be able to levitate a stone if you are on top of it, or a massive piece shard as it adds weight and size. Unknown towards the bird creature and how it is able to fly or reacts to magic.

>>27787858
>>27787868
Let's go for self tk then, I'd rather not take a risk with the bird

>>27787889
Your magic or the amulents?

>>27787889
>use double the magic to lift yourself
Due to the reckless use of magic thus far we'd be leaving ourself with very little and it's possible that we made ourself a target by using TK.

>>27787916
Also it'd possibly be 2 against 1 with some rather dangerous creatures since I doubt we'd be able to take the golems with us.

>>27787916
I'd rather not use magic either if we had an alternate way down; that's why I wanted to look down for a place to land BEFORE we do anything, maybe we'll get lucky and have something to climb down with, and get the others down that route too. Trying to tk the demon bird would be even worse.

If you have any other ideas, please do share

>>27787945
Didn't the tower collapse? We're on a cloud after all, not many things that go up this high.

>>27787945
It's coming up here no matter what. Either we face it on the cloud with two golems backing us up or we face it all alone suspended and defenseless in midair.

In a slight arrogance, which you cannot be blamed for, you fling Spitfire, who is still in your telekinetic hold, away from yourself. The mythological contraption turns in the middle of its charge with a single, powerful smack of its wing. The cracking beak breaks though your magical hold like through butter and closes on empty body of Spitfire. In a strange dark weave the creature begins to consume the very essence of the Cloudsdale Overlord. Soon, she no longer has the energy to struggle. Her face is bleak and empty. With Spitfire in its hold, the bird attempts to leave you alone.

Your body reacts immediately. You jump on back of the creature and, with all your might; you hold your hooves around its massive neck trying your hardest not to fall down. You feel drained as soon as your crystal skin scraps across its brass feathers, as if the creature is somehow able to oppose the dark magic inside of you. Despite the sheer power and predatory imagine of the creature, you are still able to force it to fall down with your weight.

The bird creature attempts to grab and toss you aside with its claws but, in the end, fails. The claw leaves a massive, open crack across your entire back. If you were a living creature, that would be it. Thankfully, you aren’t. In the strangest, and deadly of all hugs the three of you roll and somersault on your plummeting way towards the ground. In the end, the creature is able to make you slip and, with another shattering echo, crash upon the heavy ground.

>Body Changes:
42% [-10] Crystallized Flesh [Crystal]
03% [-02] Guanine Fluorite [Crystal]
16% [+12] Crystalline Debris [Crystal]

Despite your best wishes, the reality of the realization betrays you. The entire part of your right leg is destroyed and shattered. While not the most serious of all possible damages, it is still something you will have to live with. The bird creature does not pursue you, with another, horrible yell it flies back into the air and follows the light of the sunrise.

You are currently lying near the pony who calls herself Gliding Wind, and several of her soldiers. All of them are clinging to stay awake despite the horrible stretch of the demonic birds. She doesn’t react towards you in any way, shape or form. The second demonic bird is still here, standing above both Meridian; it has Golden Shield trapped beneath the hold of its beak. The massive, brass wings are openly raised above the ground; it’s ready to fly away.

>What now?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CZhmJWXsr0

>>27788183
Oh, that's where the bird is from. Which direction did the other bird fly?

>>27788183
Damn. We were right-hooved too.

>>27788183
Well, shit, we can't let him fly away with shield, given we don't have any idea what it'll do to him or what force it may deliver him to.

Maybe rip of the beak with more tk, I dunno, let's try to think of what we can do

>>27788183
Yet another in the procession of "fuck my life" moments that is Aurora's existence. Try to run after them before they take off.

>>27788183
Try and grab the bird talon it's not leaving with Shield on your watch

Despite the unsupportive nature of one of your legs, you immediately stand up and strife towards the bird who is trying to steal Golden Shield, your friend. Who cares about Spitfire? Who cares about your damaged body? It doesn’t matter now; none of it matters. As long as you are able to save him, nothing else matters. You draw the symbols of the powerful, dark magic upon the black, void-less canvas. The neon-green text flashes inside your mind as the “alicorn” magic erupts from within your body. Like a phantom in an aura of sunless, burning fire you attempt to snap its beak.

Sadly, despite the pressure and power you put behind your telekinetic hold, the brass beak is not destroyed. Somehow, the surface and the very essence of the creature are able to reflect your dark magic. Those demonic creatures are immune to the magic of warlocks and tyrants! Still, this leaves it dazzled and confused. Aggravated. It gives you enough time to smash your body against its own. The strange bird stumbles several feet from your impact.

The bird reacts with a swing of its head but, this time, despite the slowly creeping lag of your body, you are in control. You dodge the swing of the bird and toss a punch of your own. With a mild success, the brass bird is forced back again. In the discord of the battle you grab the talon within your hooves. You attempt to rip it off, completely.

It is not as easy as you have hoped for; in fact, it’s impossible. While Golden Shield is still inside the beak, the bird raises it and you with it, above the ground and prepares to smash you against the ground once again. But, it doesn’t. All of a sudden, there’s a massive, boiling explosion of a purple-flame right on top of its head. It’s so strong, that the bird is forced to drop not only you, but Golden Shield on top of you too. The bird slowly turns towards the culprit.

Ginger Spice is barely standing before you and the deadly beast. His empty, crystallized eyes are set on the brass, mythological creature. Somehow, he’s still able to keep his straight composure. In his hoof, he has a set of crystals.

>Body Changes:
02% [-1] Alicorn ‘Dark’ Magic[Magic]
04% [+1] Volatile Arcane [Magic]

>What now?

>>27788530
If it's like the bird from Bioshock, we should aim for the eyes.

>>27788530
Ginger!

Let's get Shield and try to escape.

>>27788530
Ginger what the hell are those birds, my magic can't do anything to it.

>>27788595
this, there's not much more we can do in our state

>>27788637
Should we grab Ginger and others?

>>27788658
Should we also grab the element holder and use her as a trade bait?

>>27788658
>>27788691
Grab element crystal, grab shield, see if we can wake meridian, and see if we can have ginger follow us without the bird thing following, because with our leg in this condition, carrying more than one pony on our back is going to be hard

The moment the bird turns towards Ginger Spice you decide to run. You attempt to wake Meridian up the short time given but, this time, she’s completely out in her dream world. You place Golden Shield upon your shoulders and back and, despite the weight of a full-grown stallion, you swiftly take a few, confident steps to escape.

As you feared, and expected, in the end, the brass bird is after Golden Shield alone. It simply sends Ginger Spice flying with a single swing of its metallic wing and then, it comes chasing you. You grunt at the display of brutality but, you cannot stop and turn now; not now. Once Golden Shield is away from troubles you will return; that, you promise.

“Ginger Spice,” you voice echoes across the catastrophic battlefield, “Run, escape, hide or follow me! Do something!”

You can only pray that he manages to hear you. Sadly, you know that a blind and old pony will be unable to drag away either Meridian or Mudbrick, or anyone else for that matter. You will have to leave them behind. You stop before Gliding Wind; she’s fighting her own mind but just barely, she’s about to lose her senses. She’s on the “Initiates of Harmony” and, as well, you remember now, she’s a pony who shared the prison cell with Standing Ground years ago.

Your attempt to nick the element of harmony off her neck is successful. The golden necklace is glowing as bright as the sun once it touches your hoof. With a shatter of the ground beneath it, the brass bird lands before you. Without a second though you force the element of harmony towards its open beacon; to your surprise, the element reacts. The creature spits out both you, and the element, out of its maw. The brass bird stumbles and falls with a strange pain.

Within a blink of a moment the brass creature looks at Golden Shield, at the strange, red crystal and… flies away. You quickly escape further into the forest that lies in the shadow of Cloudsdale; you escape as far as you are able to see. You will walk until you, and Golden Shield, are safe. Not a single pony follows you; every single pony on that battlefield is in some way injured. Soon, the Pegasus ponies who couldn’t make it in time will be investigating the area.

Soon, almost everyone will be captured. This is a battle lost, no matter how you look at it. But, despite all of that, Golden Shield is safe. Despite the depressing reality, you can almost feel the warm happiness returning back to you.

> This concludes the [Cloudsdale Arc] and will be the final post for today. Thank you for playing!

>Inventory:
[Element of Loyalty] x1
[Crystal Necklace (Alicorn ‘Dark’ Magic %3/7)]

>Body Composition:
[Crystal] 42% Crystallized Flesh
[Crystal] 35% Dragon’s Blood
[Crystal] 03% Guanine Fluorite [4 Hours Remaining]
[Magic] 02% Alicorn ‘Dark’ Magic
[Magic] 04% Volatile Arcane
[Damage] 16% Crystalline Debris

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyUQGXyjwoc

>>27789140
That could have gone better, but at least we have what we came for and an element, see you tomorrow Vincent

>>27789140
We really need to figure out a way to repair ourself without having to find somebody that can put crystals in us.

I think we did fine all things considering.

>>27789140
The Imperial army is in tatters and many have died. Yet Aurora limps away with the single pony she came after and feels happy.

She pretty fucking selfish like that, isn't she? I love it because it's still a flaw for her.

>>27790574

>>27791846

>>27792652

I'm not as mad as I supposed I will be. We need to try and reach the camp to see if something useful for us remained there. I also assume all the crystal survivors would think of retreating there, so we could see if Ginger and Meridian are safe. I have no idea if the enemy is in good enough shape to pursue them. I'm treating the last part of most recent Vincent's post as Aurora's assumptions, that's why I suggest checking the camp. Correct me if I'm wrong.

The further you leave the sight of the battlefield behind you, the more your sense of time starts to betray you. You keep a ready, open mind to the possibility of an ambush from either the pegasi reinforcements or the return of the twin, metallic creatures. One of them is after Golden Shield, after all, and it’s a possibility it will attempt to finish the job started. So far, you have no other plan but to return to the “Ebon Point” and wait for those of the Mudbrick’s forces who will manage to return back, Meridian and Ginger Spice especially.

Currently, you are in a barren location with only a few trees present, an empty meadow. Only now you notice that your sharpened leg left an obvious, easy to follow trail behind you. A groan makes you come to a complete stop. Golden Shield is slowly coming to his senses, you wager. You lower the chained stallion against one of lonely, pine trees around you. The golden stallion follows with a muttered grunt. Once you are sure he’s comfortably in place, you make an attempt to break the chain off his body. The strange, magical metal resists the pure strength of a golem.

Golden Shield slowly opens his bright, gray eyes. The first thing he sees is you; immediately, he tries to free himself.

“Hello.” you greet him with a tired, mental smile.

Golden Shield blinks at you but remains silent. He doesn’t recognize you…

>What now?

>>27793929
Try to look for other way of freeing him. Perhaps the metal reacts to our dark magic, we could use other means to break the chains and see if it will work. It may be important, carrying him on our damaged back prolly exposes him to our poisonous innards.

>>27793929
Shield, it's me, Aurora. Are you ok?

>>27793929
tell him to stay still and try to break his chain with his spear.

>>27794063
I don't think we have any weapons. Also, Vince, are we leaking something and how exactly is our arm broken like where and how much is left?

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You make an attempt to grapple the strange chain with your hooves and then break it into pieces. Sadly, the chain is incredibly resilient. It clatters and rattles in response to your efforts but, not a single crack breaks through it. The “Royal Legate” smashes his back, and the chain around it, against the massive, rotten tree-trunk. It does not work.

“Golden Shield,” you try to calm him down, “Deep breaths. You are safe.”

The stallion raises his head at you with pithy expression.

“Golden Shield,” you raise your barely functioning leg towards your chest, “I am Aurora. Aurora Flare.”

Thankfully, this makes him stop. With a tremble in his voice, the stallion speaks, “Aurora? I thought you were…”

“Dead,” you finish the sentence for him, “I might as well be.”

“But they told me... How,” he pauses, “Where are we? What did I miss?”

>What now?

>>27794100
Nothing is leaking. Fast doodle to explain.

>>27794230
Holy shit that's a lot of damage. Finding Ginger should be our second objective now, I don't know anyone else out there who could fix us. I don't really know what to say to Shield now, we got our consciousness not too long ago, when we were about to fuck up a nice colt. We could calm him down a bit thou. And try some more options. Maybe find a central point of the chain net and try to smash it with a stone?

>>27794230
Ginger made the crystle spire to allow the army to go on the cloud which we used to try and stop your execution, everything was going poorly because the Initiates of harmony was there and made you fall to your death sooner then later then two brass birds appear messing with the pegasi and capture spitefire, then try to capture you after meridian caught you with the Initiates of harmony hot on her tail.

>>27794345
He may be a bit overwhelmed by all this info at once.

>>27794230
The Vizier killed me but somehow I woke up again. I-I'm so glad to see you again Shield. I really worried about you when Sombra sent you off you know.

Aurora feels intense joy and relief.

>>27794378
>Aurora feels intense joy and relief
I fucking hope to see this.

“First things first, Shield,” your cold voice follows as you slowly let go of his chain. With a grind, you raise your head to look into his gray, trembling eyes; you can see a reflection of a scarlet, ruined statue inside of them: your reflection.

Inside your mind, you can feel the little, sweet-corn mare crying. You nudge your head against his; a ridiculous gesture. Despite the weakness present inside your voice, you still attempt to make it sound real, pony-like. You say, “I’m so glad to see you again, Shield! It’s been so long… Amore’s grace, too long. I was really, really worried when Sombra send you away to Manehattan to fight his wars. I… I mean…”

“You look horrible and messy,” he says seriously in a return and nudges his head closer. You almost jump as he puts his head on your shoulder. You cannot blame him; his legs are tied in order to do a proper, -friendly- hug. “They said you followed a rebel into catacombs. When I returned, His Majesty showed me what was left of you…”

You shake your head vividly, “It’s true that I followed a rebel into the catacombs but she’s somepony you know. She got a hold of my “Crystal Note” and ended up becoming the “Vizier” you know and follow the commands of.”

“I did not want to follow her,” he gives an excuse as you rub your head further into his shoulder, “I had to lead the Crystal Ponies despite His Majesty’s disappearance, Aurora. If I knew she was the one responsible…”

“I don’t blame you,” you whisper and allow the surprisingly warm moment to settle, “It doesn’t matter now-“

“-But,” he gently pushes his head back to the tree to settle his eyes on you; “I need to know what happened, Aurora.”

Does he not care at all for this moment? You mentally sigh and shake your head, “What do you remember?”

“I remember a bat pony approaching me during the preparations. I knew of her existence, of course. She’s the “Royal Agent” of King Sombra’s forces. We worked closely together and she supported a lot of information about Manehattan, Cloudsdale and overall movement of the troops. She almost managed to free me but all of a sudden, she ended up with a painful, asthma-like cough. This blew her invisible cover and got her captured… That’s all.”

“Mudbrick refused to lay his troops and he decided to push a rescue operation for you.”

Golden Shield turns his head, “I… I did not expect such. I warned them, they had at least two ‘Harmony Initiates’!”

“They didn’t wait for your execution; it was going very poorly for us. I managed to finally reach you in time because of Ginger Spice’s “Crown Pillar”. But then… weird, bird-like constructions appeared messing with everypony there. One of them managed to capture and steal Spitfire while the other one tried to take you. I couldn’t allow it.”

“Bird-like constructions?” he repeats after you.

“Yes, do you know anything about them?”

“No, I do not,” he pauses, “What about others?”

“I couldn’t do anything, the cry of the birds made everyone cover their ears and struggle in pain.”

“They are still there?” he asks, there’s a spark of life inside his eyes.

“Y-yes,” you answer with uncertainty, “But-“

“We have to return there,” boldly, he answers, “We can’t let our soldier be captured.”

>What now?

>>27794661
He is still chained, weakened and perhaps traumatized. We're basically a walking ruin now. No way we're going back there. Shield and us need some rest. And he still has to get out of his chains.

This cough of Meridian sounds a bit unnerving.

>>27794661
Well let me try and get these chain off then.

>>27794661
But what can we do? Escpecially if there are pegasi?

Aww, she accepted his affection and returned it.

“You are still chained,” you attempt to stop him.

“Yes,” he grunts as he, once again, attempts to struggle the chain off, “Not for long.”

With a defeated, mental sigh you grab the chain into your hooves once again. If even Lunar Meridian managed to take it off without being noticed until her unnerving coughing, then so can you: a deadly golem. You strike your left hoof against every single chain until you are able to find one that responds with a shattering crack: the weakest link. You pick the chain link into your hoof, slightly raising Golden Shield above the ground in the process. Then, you smash it against your knee with all your inanimate might. The crack follows across the entire chain and crushes it into pieces.

Golden Shield takes a deep, powerful breath and smiles. It seems the chain was causing him pain after all.

“You are weakened,” you continue, throwing the pieces of the chain aside.

“I’ve rested enough in my captivity.”

“You are traumatized,” you blurt out in hollow anger.

“Aurora,” he says with a cold stare, “You and those ponies put their lives on the line to save me and me alone. They do not deserve to be punished for what I did or the fact that I managed to escape. I can’t leave them alone; I am in charge of them. They are in my care.”

“Do… do you even have a plan? They are going to be reinforcements. They already outnumber us now.”

Golden Shield strides his hoof against his dirt-full mane in an attempt to clean and return it to its lion-like glory.

“You said they were dazzled. If we hurry up, I might just have enough time to save as many as I can.”

>What now?

>>27794931
I feel like risking it for a change. Get back there carefully and see if there is anyone to save. Keep Shield from madly charging the enemy in case of brutal executions or such things.

>>27794931
Then I'll be coming along and help you out then.

>>27794931
If you are certain then I will follow you Shield.

I'll be stopping here for now. Thanks for playing.

Suuuure, let's go back.

>>27794931
Let's inform him we're in possession of the element of loyalty, hey may not want that to be brought back to enemy territory

I'm a bit worried about going back in our current condition, let's make plans to hide in the plantlife around the battlefield to scout before we rush in head on

That face when we poisoned Meridian.

>>27796238
It wouldn't have happened that quickly to affect her, we've only been around her for a day or so, as opposed to the children we've been around longer whom didn't have any symptoms, this may have been a health issue from pushing herself too much for too long

>>27796437
Doesn't the dragon blood stuff affect non-crystal ponies differently?

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>>27796463
I... completely forgot about that, fuck

Other than finding ginger or another pony capable of repairing us, finding a normal doctor should also be a priority, for both her and shield

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It could have been worse

>>27797388

>>27797388
I'm not even surprised it's in Australia.

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bump

>>27801689

>>27803464
What cozy poners. I hope they have nice dreams.

>>27801689

>>27804074
One of them gets kidnapped.

>>27806407

>>27806042

“Before we do, I have something to show you,” your voice silently grinds against your throat. You take the gilded necklace of ancient power into your crystal hooves and then you gently nudge it in Golden Shield’s direction.

“That is,” he begins with his eyebrow raised, “The Element of Loyalty. How did you-?”

“It’s an Element of Harmony,” you nod at him proudly, “Now I know which, at least. I took it off Gliding Wind’s neck.”

“When did you even get the time to?” with a painful shudder he picks himself up, “She’s quite strong…”

“Have you fought her before?” you ask with a dubious note.

“Aurora,” he shakes his head in a brief chuckle, “Almost everypony on the Equestria side wants me out of the picture. I’ve met all of them at least once on the battlefield, even the “War Rainbow” and Celestia.”

“That is even more reasons for you not to return back,” You insist, “They will want to get their ‘Element’ back!”

“That’s true. Without the ‘Element of Harmony’ they will be far less powerful. We might even be able to haggle with them over it about some things. I think it would be the best to hide it somewhere here, private non-disclosure of ours?”

If your hearth was not crystallized it would skip a beat or two at such a though. Little secret.

>What do you say?

>>27809065
Alright, worst case scenario we can trade it for anybody they take prisoner.

You and Golden Shield eventually agree to hide the jewel that is the “Elemental Crystal” under a tree; it is your secret.

It takes you two a lot longer to return to location of the passionate battlefield than it did to escape it. You are tired and weak, barely able to control your own body with the remains of the dark magic inside of you. Golden Shield appears to keep a straight and calm expression but… nopony was yet able to conquer Mountain Everhoof on the very next day of being releases from gruesome, hungering years of imprisonment; what he wishes to do now is not far from it. Despite having a mindful about Shield’s decision, it was not hard for you to see his reasons. He is always like that, an insane beast for the ponies of Equestria and a hopeful, sacrificing warrior for the ponies of the Crystal Empire. It was thanks to him and him alone that many of the citizens of the Empire were spared the suicidal membership in his army.

You are a walking, living embodiment of evil, an enormous crystal golem. Your skin is a massive reflective mirror of the bright, morning sun. It’s annoying but you are forced to keep as low to the ground and as close to the shadows as possible but you cannot help but try as you see Golden Shield do so masterfully. His previous “Centurion” and now “Legate” positions are not for show; you know that. It’s very hard to appease the Shadow King with your skills alone. Once you spot the survived ruins of the “crown pillar” you duck behind the nearest, thick boulder. Shield follows you.

In less than half-an-hour the Cloudsdale reinforcements have returned to join the fray. The unscratched pegasi field- doctors are helping their fallen and ill brothers and sisters with a ludicrous attention. The “Wonderbolts” and the military personal that were too late to arrive to the battle are now surrounding and apprehending the surviving soldiers of Mudbrick’s army. To your surprise, you can no longer spot any of the golems around the territory. You can only assume that after the battle was lost, the voice inside their head commanded them to leave. Amongst the ruins you can see two ponies having a heated, loud debate. One of them is a pegasi officer. The other is a “Harmony Initiate”.

“Birds of bronze or not, you must immediately send a flock of your best scouts to search for Spitfire, Soarin!” the unicorn raises her voice towards at the Pegasus. She has a mad, almost burning gaze inside her scarlet-red eyes.

“I’m worried for Spitfire as much as you but we can’t act reckless, first we must take-“

“Listen here,” she smashes her face against his, “It will be too late. Do it now! We have already lost a lot today!”

“Verity,” the Pegasus she called Soarin stumbles, “I cannot, I am sorry. As an acting officer … Wait-watch out!”

A black, badly damaged silhouette of a “Crystal Golem” appears, as if recently materialized, behind them. The powerful creature raises his massive hoof and, with a wind-breaking howl, swings it towards the unicorn mare. You mentally close your eyes preparing for the bloodiest of displays imaginable. Yet, that are no screams of pain or discomfort.

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Within a blink the horn of the unicorn mare flashes and raises the golem in a powerful, stronger version of yours, telekinesis. Verity does not even turn her head in order to acknowledge the powerful golem. The horn of the unicorn mare flashes once again; this causes the ground around the captured golem to rise in a form of a crumbling, pillar at both of his sides. With a magical aurora of transmutation, the pillars take the quality into a strange, steel-like material.

Then, within a loud, echoing second, they collide. What is left of the “Crystal Golem” is but a pile of crystal ash.

Golden Shield curses under his tongue. He says, “Verity…”

“Let me guess, you know this mare too?”

“Yes,” Shield pauses, “I was hoping she was amongst those who lost their conscious.”

>What now?

>>27809853
Let's announce our presence. We can't trade for prisoners by sneaking around after all. Also surprising Varity (stupid name) seems like a very bad idea.

>>27809853
>>27810139
Oh hell no. We're staying hidden, at least for the time being. Besides, if I understood correctly, we left the Element under a tree. If she's so powerful to fucking crush a crystal machine of death, she may as well be able to fuck us over, get the Element location from our very mind and whatnot.

Vince, I think your drawing may be getting slightly better.

>>27810486
And than sprout wings and fly over to the crystal empire to successfully kill Sombra. Hiding would only mean that we give them time to finish rounding up/executing prisoners.

>>27810514
We have a Legate standing nearby, not to mention that we are in no position to negotiate even with the EoH. At least wait for the magician to go somewhere else.

>>27810537
We have the other element to negotiate with.

>>27809853
Fuck that, we are staying hidden.

>>27810665
Yes, under a tree, if I'm not wrong. I know too little about Varity to say she couldn't for example, torture Shield into revealing it's position and then sending us straight to Amora.

>>27810674
Then why even come back? It isn't like she's going to leave before everybody is dealt with.

>>27810683
The mind reading crap was a more likely option. Also, since when was Shield so easy to deal with? It would appear that he's fought against every powerful pony thus far and lived to tell about it.

>>27810715
Fighting is one thing and being tortured is another. But I guess you're right that mindrape would be more likely. Which doesn't make it any less dangerous. I'm not happy about returning here just to see the remnants of our army being captured, but I see nothing we could do. If you do, if you have a nice plan that doesn't get us killed, go on. I have none for now, that's why I wanted us to stay hidden and observe.

>>27810715
>Then why even come back?
Because our husbando wanted to. Surely he now sees that his soldiers are lost.

>>27810746
Well maybe shield has a plan. Also, we should crush a crystal to at least have some energy back so we are less sluggish

>>27810939
I fairly confident that we have used them all.

>>27810976
We has 3 charges left on them I think

>>27810939
The energy only refreshes after sleep and we'd take a little bit more damage.

>>27810976
We still have a few left, despite people trying to waste them all.

>>27810747
Only if we don't act.

>>27811069
And acting now might hurt us badly.

>>27811077
And it might not. We might be able to avoid combat entirely.

>>27811102
Knowing how things tend to go, we'll probably be fucked over if we try anything.

>>27811139
>Bad things happen, so what's the point in trying?
With that in mind, we should've stayed dead.

>>27811323
Nigga, after what we just pulled off and with how fucked we are already I don't want to push our luck.

>>27811478
We never had luck to push. We've only had leverage and power. Now we have more of the former rather than the latter and there is an important pony that doesn't want to waste time on cleanup.

>>27812235

B up

Verity, the mad but powerful unicorn, throws an annoyed glance across the battlefield. She keeps a straight, focused glare upon the exact boulder the two of you decided to use as a hiding spot. With a twitch, she turns away. Phew.

“Fine with me, Soarin. If you don’t care about your acting commander then so be it... but (!) I have reports that ‘Shield was captured and taken away by those contraptions as well. And I’m not letting him escape, again! I need scouts!”

The Cloudsdale Officer presses his hoof against his template with a tired sigh, “I’ll send scouts, Verity.”

“Then hurry up,” she raises her voice with a present, boiling anger, “The sooner they leave, the sooner they’ll be able to catch up! Get to it, officer Soarin of the ‘Elite ‘Wonderbolts’ Squadron’!”

After a passing and weak eye roll, the blue stallion offers the “Harmony Initiate” a respectful and dutiful salute. She answers him back with a sharp salute of her own. The officer pushes himself off the ground with a simple, even weak, motion of his wings. Soarin gives Verity one last nod and disappears into one of the more chaotic gatherings nearby.

In that moment, the horn of the unicorn mare ignites. The vivid, red energy forcefully pushes the two silhouettes, ones you did not even notice, before her. With a powerful, telekinetic push she makes the two ponies fall on their knees. With a maniacal chuckle, the “Initiate of Harmony” removes the bags over the ponies head and fangs her teeth. One of her prisoners is the “Royal Centurion”, Mudbrick; the second pony is Lunar Meridian, the only bat pony around here.

“Mudbrick, Mudbrick, Mudbrick...” she says with a calm endeavour. She uses her magic to drag the stallion closer. “Was losing your eye not enough for you? Admit it; let the ghosts of your victims celebrate! Be honest, you lost!”

Then, “Centurion” covers her face with a spew of cheap alcohol he was holding in his mouth. While Verity is taken aback, he forms a cold, calm response and says, “Lost, you say? As far as I can see, the “Legate” has been rescued.”

“You,” she snarls back in response. Her magic swiftly forms a mould of the earth before their eyes. Then, it grants the soaking “earth mallet” the qualities of hard, painfully solid steel. Mercilessly, she takes the steel hammer into her hooves and strikes it across “Mudbrick” face with the physical power of a stallion. “Centurion” loudly gasps in pain; he bites his lower lips to avoid showing his weakness. The mare, on other hoof, does not stop; she strikes again and again until his face is a complete, bloodied pulp. With a relieved sigh, Verity raises the stallion on his two legs.

“Mudbrick,” she says again with a relaxed, smiling expression, “Was his “escape” worth it? All of you got captured, it was a trap. I knew you, the slaving soldiers of Sombra, would never surrender. You fell right towards it. While he might no longer be in our chains, instead, we have his entire army. Pretty please, just admit the honest, obvious truth.”

Mudbrick raises his red, narrowed eyes at her. The “Centurion” spits blood onto the ground beneath him. He mutters with a painful yet serious, soldier-like attitude, “It is not the fact that hundred soldiers got captured, not counting the ones who died. It is not the fact that you will now be able to destroy our powerful golems...”

“It is not?” she fakes a curiosity, “Are you lying to yourself now, Mudbrick. Very well, amuse me: what is it?”

The stallion grins, “He is the only other pony that you, and Equestria, are afraid of; as long as you are afraid, it will be worth it.”

The calm, enjoyable smirk of Verity’s face twitches. She grinds her teeth and then smashes the stallion into the ground with the strong hold of her arcane magic. With a gentle breath she removes a long gilded strand over her face and then whistles a note. She pushes Mudbrick aside with her unicorn magic and places the bag back on his head.

“If you do not want to be honest so be it. You will be; together with every single one of your soldiers, Mudbrick. I will put all of you under the martial tribunal. All of you will rot on the “Cloud Nine” for the atrocities you committed!”

The mad mare turns towards Lunar Meridian and by now you realize she’s either bipolar or... something worse.

“Let me go, bitch!” Meridian shouts into her face despite what she just saw Mudbrick go through.

“Neutrality!” she shouts into her face, “Hah, what happened to your precious “Neutrality” in this conflict, bat pony?! I knew it, I knew it, and I knew it. You are all a bunch of traitors and liars. Just wait until Canterlot hears about this.”

“I did this out of my own will,” Meridian panics, “The others have nothing to do with this-!”

“Shut up! We’ll hear all of your pathetic excuses on the tribunal. And then you will confess the real truth!”

You finally lower your head to look at Golden Shield. The lemon-skinned “Legate” is barely able to hold down his emotions. He’s shuddering; his eyes are hollow. You can see your friend struggling with the reality of the situation. He realizes that acting now will be futile and suicidal but at the same time, he’s struggling with his inner morals.

>What now?

>>27817743
Put a hoof on his shoulder and tell him we all knew the risk of the rescue; we can't come out of every engagement with minimum casualties, but future fights may still see victory now that he's free

>>27810139
>Varity (stupid name)
I-it's Verity guys.

>>27810486
>Vince, I think your drawing may be getting slightly better.
Thank you. This is the last drawing I did so I imagine my skills deteriorated again thou'.

>>27817743
They know that they are hurting with Spitfire gone, an Element missing, and you free. There's nothing we can fo here Shield. Let's get going.

>>27817743
God damn you cowards! We came here for a reason and it wasn't to watch everybody get hauled away, never to be seen again! Thell Shield to find another hiding place and when he's safe we should step out into the open and announce our presence, making sure to get Verity's attention. We have the leverage to negotiate with.

>>27817978
I already told you that "leverage" might as well be endgame for us, dingus.

>>27817978
I think we'll get crushed or tortured.

Aren't ponies supposed to be the good side in Sombraverse?

>>27818705
Aren't they?

>>27818670
Explain it again, because I don't think hundreds of lives is worth a rock we have no way of using. Unless you want us to give it to Sombra.

>>27818679
She has a functioning brain, she'll be able to realize that regaining an element of harmony is worth a lot more than keeping a bunch of cannon fodder out of spite.

>>27818978
I am afraid her "functioning" brain might tell her to try and get everything at once. I already explained why.

>>27818994
Then we just have to stop being a coward and stand our ground. We're the only connection to the element and if we put the pressure on she will have to admit defeat.

>>27819031
You know what prematurely ended our previous adventure? Recklessly following a kid who happened to be connected with a thief we chased before. That thief is now a Vizier and we were dead for quite a time.

>>27819031
Sorry dude, but that bitch be cray. We're leaving.

>>27819052
And she was hiding behind enough traps to defeat every army in the world. What does she have beyond a serious temper and earth magic?

>>27819058
Not so crazy that she isn't trusted with a position of authority. The harmony initiates were depicted as being replaceable, if there wasn't able to function properly than some other qualified pony would've been given the element instead.

>>27819085
>What does she have beyond a serious temper and earth magic?
We don't know. This is the thing right here, you see. We have no idea what else she can do, besides crushing crystal golems to dust and being a maniac. There will be other occasion to play a hero for you, I'm sure.

>>27819099
She's an earth mage. We've seen enough of her magic to come to the conclusion that she isn't a wingless alicorn capable of fighting Sombra head-on. She's just a pony with seriously enhanced magic, like how the pegasus used enhanced weather magic against us. The elements are being used to boost what the wearer naturally has. Not turn them into an invincible demi-god. Shield has been able to survive fighting against all of them so they aren't unbeatable.

I'm not going to convince you, and I don't feel convinced either. I want to stay hidden and observe or get the fuck out right away, and you prefer to negotiate and face the crazy fuck. Maybe we should let other players have their voice now?

>>27819201
I have been voicing. Voicing to get the fuck outta here.

>>27819201
I've been debating against every player that's trying to run away. It's not the unwinnable scenario people keep making it out to be.

>>27819212
And help Sombra crush Equestria!

>>27819262
Maybe it's another thing. We aren't a regular pony anymore, we can't simply lie down in some forest after that and regenerate. Our crystals aren't growing back. We're already heavily damaged and as far as I know, there's no way of helping it. We don't even know if Ginger is among the prisoners, although I admit it's likely.

Seriously, as I've said previously, if you have a plan, I will just agree to go with it. Negotiating with a mad mare who holds all the cards but one doesn't sound like a plan.

>>27819285
Reminder that we're not on a quest to help Equestria, but to free the Crystal Empire. For now Equestria doesn't look like a potential ally for our cause.

>>27819291
She doesn't hold any cards. We have the element that Equestria NEEDS, we have Shield, we've one a major battle against Equestria, and all she has is a bunch of slaves which are treated as little more than cannon fodder. Her magic won't even be a part of the equation if we keep it from turning into a fight. Seriously, only she only has three ponies that are of any value and all of them are worth less than the irreplaceable Element of Harmony.

>>27819328
If Equestria falls than all of the resources committed to fighting would than be redirected to securing Sombra's holdings and removing any possible threat. Essentially making it impossible to fight him.

>>27819356
Remember that Sombra is gone atm and we're planning to end him via super McGuffins.

>>27819356
It shouldn't fall, but I'm not sure it should win. I need to see how do they treat Fidelity guys. And by far ponies shown little to no understanding of our plans. Even if we tried to explain them to Spitfire, more or less.

>>27819380
Like the elements we have absolutely no way of using and Equestria hasn't been able to successfully use despite having them the entire time?

>>27819387
It's possible that fidelity helmets can't be removed, if they could than a unicorn would just need to slip it off their heads to disable them and free them up to switch sides. Considering Sombra, it's most likely that they have some kind of magical kill switch. As for the last negotiation, that was ruined by a retarded attempt to forge an alliance despite having nothing to offer and no way of gaining the enemy's trust. Also Equestria is losing slowly so losing an element would only accelerate their defeat.

>>27819449
Well, if the kill switch or other magical whatever preventing Fidelity Helmets from being removed is the case, we still don't have too much interest in letting Equestria win. That would cost CE way more lives than simply focusing on gathering McGuffins and letting the war rage in the distance.

>>27819482
Who said anything about letting them win? Trading the element for the soldiers would just maintain the status-quo. Buying us more time to do whatever we can.

>>27819524
How about a compromise? Stay here, see what happens for a brief while, and then follow your suggestion of relocating Shield and revealing ourselves? If nothing bad happens in the meantime, that is. Random rage bursts count as bad things.

>>27819544
I think we should get going since they're going to be looking for us.

It seems it is settled then. But please Vince, let us observe first. I hope Ginger got away somehow, even if it's basically impossible. He could fix us.

>>27819544
We already did that. They lost the battle, they lost Spitfire, they lost Shield, they lost their fortifications, they lost an element (even though they don't seem to realize it yet), and all the have to show for it is a few hundred slaves. The rage ain't going anywhere. The only thing that could logically change is they'll find out about the element and they'll have more control over the area. Now is the opportune moment.

>>27819613
They have no reason to look for anybody and, when we start negotiating, they won't have a reason to.

>>27819658
Who says they just won't lock us up with the others? Not to mention threaten to kill Shield unless we fess up?

>>27819728
Shield wouldn't be there for them to capture since we'll be going alone. Also we'd make them believe it's en route to the empire thus creating a time limit to agree to our ultimatum. Also they wanted to kill Shield from the get-go so it isn't that much of a threat.

>>27819760
That last sentence is true, he was supposed to be executed. It wouldn't be a threat, more like stating a fact.

>>27819809
Did you agree with that post or just agree with one part of it?

>>27820078
One part of it.

I still don't get what you guys want to ask from her. If it's to free all the prisoners, I'm certain that it is not going to work. She doesn't look like sort of mare that will agree for such half-assed trade, let's be very careful here. Also, they think that Shield got taken with Spitfire by the birds.

>>27821834
Yeah. We should just skedaddle while we have the chance.

>>27822572
This, she was able to take out a mostly intact golem, I'd rather not take a chance with a one-hit game over right now

>>27820976

If the chains are not like the ones that was holding Golden, then I think we should use a crystal and break the chains thats holding mudbrick while she yelling at meri

That is a lot of suggestions guys, it's awesome but I'm a bit at loss here. Please do not blame me if you are unhappy with those I selected.

>>27824959
It's a discussion around two suggestions. Beginning negotiations or heading home with our tail between our legs. Negotiating was winning.

“Now that you have broken the Princess’ trust, there’s no place but the tight prison cell for you, ‘Nightmare Traitors’.”

The moment she tosses Meridian aside with a push of her scarlet magic, she immediately enchants her voice with another flicker above the tip of her unicorn horn. You can feel a slight sense of envy towards Vizier and now, Verity. Those wizards do not appear to struggle with a set limit of spells or mana, be it the ordinary or dark magic they use.

“Officer Soarin,” her shout rings across the ruins of the battlefield, “Where’s Gliding Wing anyway?!”

It takes a brief moment for the officer to leave his previous spot and fly back to the “Initiate of Harmony”. It appears that he’s not the type to raise his voice; a far parallel from the mare who is supposed to representing the best vows in ponies. With a gliding hover he lands before the unicorn mare and says with the most official of tones:

“She’s injured and has been hospitalized, Verity. Just like every single other pony present during the fight.”

You silently break the crystal of the necklace in your hoof. The dark energy of Vizier’s inner magic transforms into a telekinetic force. You quietly surround the metal chain surrounding Mudbrick’s body. With a slight pressure the chain breaks. Mudbrick acknowledges the lose chain with a shake of his head.

Now, all he has to do is straighten his legs.

He decides to not do it just yet, a wise decision. He’ll be able to escape later when there are fewer ponies around.

Verity whistles in annoyed return, “How is she going to defend her “Element” in her condition?”

Soarin’s face pales. The Pegasus awkwardly twiddles his wings and then, with a loud sigh, adds, “There’s something else we recently discovered. It seems that the “Element of Loyalty” has been stolen off her neck during the battle.”

The mare blinks, she blinks several times in fact. Her, somehow calm, features twitch. She looks around the field and with the angriest of shouts, smashes her hooves against the ground. Her blazing eyes burn through the raised clouds of dust and crystallized ash, “Are you joking with me here, Soarin?! The element is lost, stolen even?! I swear by the spirits of your ancestors, Pegasus!” The mare grabs the officer by the neck of his white shirt and obnoxiously roars, “Do you realize what this means?! One or more of them escaped, and with an “Element of Harmony! Catch them!”

Soarin visibly gulps down his own saliva, “I understand your frustration and situation but we are in no condition-“

“You have dozen of perfectly fine fliers, Officer Soarin,” she responds to him with a roar. Then, she calms down and explain her thoughts further with a reasonable tone, “The ‘Pie Sisters’ will be arriving here shortly. They will help and guard against the possible return of those birds. I’m going to pursue those ponies to the Empire itself if I have to!”

“Fine,” Soarin acknowledges her reaction, “You can take a few “Military” personal with you but I do not allow you to cross the border that is the “Neighara Falls. Is that understood, Verity?”

“The less we speak, the faster we run,” she says with a patient smile, “They got five minutes to join me.”

You are ready to act; despite your sluggish movements, unclear mind and crushed body you are willing to risk it.

“Golden Shield,” you mutter as quietly as possible to your companion, “I’ll go alone and talk with her, you best hide.”

Golden Shield faintly shakes his head in a negative. The stallion looks at the bright sky with a passable regret, “It’ll be idiotic to try to do anything now, and it will disrespectful to their sacrifice. Without this army the Crystal Empire is barely safe. We need to return back and recall the forces from Manehattan, Fillydelphia and Vanhoover, Aurora. They will want to have another meeting again, they always do. They might look so, but they are tired of this war.”

>What is your decision?

>>27825232
YOU DON"T MERGE EVERY OPTION! We wasted a spell for absolutely no reason what so ever! Now we lost the element of surprise in regards to the element because you also decided to use a compromise that was SHOT DOWN! And now your going with the running home option!

>>27825156
>Negotiating was winning.
No it fucking wasn't!

>>27825221
>>27825225
>>27825232
I agree with Shield, LET'S LEAVE.

>>27825330
The only argument against negotiating was people crying, I don't wanna. There was no logical complaint against it other than being a completely cowardly bitch. You guys are just making the situation worse with your short-sightedness.

>>27825232
We're negotiating before it gets any worse! And we're leaving our necklace with Shield so no more idiots can waste our spells.

>>27825357
Shield waid there will be more, better opportunities to negotiate. He can pull other armies. We need to leave!

>>27825380
Those would be worse opportunities since it'd be an official negotiation. It'd be solely to benefit the empire rather to maintain the status quo. It'd bring Sombra that much closer to winning and make it that much harder for us to do anything.

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>>27825290
>>27825357
>>27825368
>>27825397

OH GOD this is the sewers all over again, we did something to help free mudbrick and got confirmation that the element was a true loss for them, and the pie sisters are coming within a limited amount of time, we already have the angry unicorn to deal with, and we are already in very poor condition to even run, let alone fight

LIVE TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY

>>27825397
Dude, Sombra is gone still. The point is to defeat him once he returns. It's benefiting the Crystal Empire, not Sombra. The most we have to worry about right now is the Vizier.

>>27825415
THIS ISN'T THE FUCKING SEWERS. The QM even agreed that she was OP. We didn't hel Mud brick at all, he's still behind enemy lines, he's still surrounded, he's still badly injured, he's still blinded by the bag, and the reinforcements are still coming. If he tries to run he'll be noticed and beaten into submission, if he tries to take off the bag he'll be noticed and beaten into submission, if he does nothing the broken chains will be noticed and he'd be beaten into submission. Only a retard wouldn't be able to realize that the Elements of Harmony are important and irreplaceable! Wasting time until the Pie sisters arrived wouldn't have happened if we just negotiated from the get go. Negotiating isn't fighting! Our condition is irrelevant as long as we keep it to words!

>>27825425
He'll be back and supporting the Vizier doesn't help free the empire, it just helps her enslave and harm more of Equestria! We have absolutely nothing we can do against Sombra at the moment so tipping the scales in his favor is idiotic!

>>27825477
It's two against one. Majority rules. Accept it.

>>27825232
Let leave and hope we don't get spotted.

Alright, guys. I'll spoil it a bit but:

Trying to negotiate has a high risk of a bad end, but there's chance of huge reward as well.

Leaving with Golden Shield is the safest choice and since you already have the element, they'll be forced to negotiate regardless in the future.

>>27825522
Fuck that. Majority =/= a good idea. we have everything to gain and nothing to loose. You guys saw this:
>We need to return back and recall the forces from Manehattan, Fillydelphia and Vanhoover, Aurora. They will want to have another meeting again, they always do. They might look so, but they are tired of this war.
And read this:
>We need to return back and recall the forces from Manehattan, Fillydelphia and Vanhoover, Aurora.
Rather than this:
>They will want to have another meeting again, they always do. They might look so, but they are tired of this war.

They want to negotiate and we can do that. If we wait and let somebody else do it, not only would they not negotiate in the Vizier's interest and indirectly Sombra's, they'd be given time to get all of their cards together and actually be able to negotiate rather than be ambushed while unprepared and be forced to take a raw deal.

>>27825583
*not only would they negotiate in the Vizier's interest and indirectly Sombra's

>>27825583
No, fuck you. Running away is much safer.

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>>27825559
Given how our prior attempts at negotiation have gone, I'm rather uncertain that we'd be able to avoid a bad end if we don't leave. But, as I'm going to work in a moment, I won't be here to be the one making the argument.

I'll let the other anons decide whenever or not they got the diplomancy to pull it off

To everyone else, IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE SKILLS, RUN TO THE HILLS

>>27825595
Safer = stupid

>>27825606
Our prior attempt to negotiate was sabotaged by idiots tying to convince enemies to ally with us when we had nothing to offer, no credibility, and no way of gaining their trust. They were also about to score a major victory by killing Shield so victory was in sight.

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>>27825617
Holy fuck, if that's how you argue there's no way I want you to decide how we negotiate, I've begun to change my mind about staying

>>27825625
I have a very bad feeling some those same idiots may be the ones wanting to stay, and negotiate in their own way, and if we screw up this time we're dead

>>27825641
You can't achieve anything good if you aren't willing to take risks. If you want anything more than a mediocre ending or even a bad ending, playing it safe is a bad idea.

>>27825641
I was one of the people that pushed for that original negotiation, but I was unable to participate. If I was I would've shot down any attempt to talk about peace since, despite being what we wanted, it would've been impossible to achieve or enforce. I also would've acted to prevent Spitfire from taking control of the negotiation and shoving that ultimatum down our throat. I was able to get back in time to complete our secondary objective of getting those foals a home in Equestria though. In this negotiation, we have all of the cards. All we need to do is maintain control and we can do to them what Spitfire did to us.

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>>27825716
If that's so, then by all means, let's do it. My main concern was that we'd be left with the anons that can't negotiate well for this event.

>>27825738
I still say we leave.

Alright. You will appear and negotiate then.
Tell me how you want to appear, with what words?

>>27825777
Aw fuck. We're dead. Can we not?

My rough idea was to step out to where we're visable and than announce our presence to Soaring and Verity. Than we'd approach them asking to trade the element, that's enroute the the capital, for the soldiers that were captured in this engagement, that includes the ones that were attacking other clouds. Impress upon them that we know the element is more valuable than a bunch of slaves and that we only want the soldiers back while they NEED the element back and if they wait for the official negotiation they'll be asked for a lot more if we're even willing to trade the element any more. A very strong option in negotiating is the ability to walk away. So if they don't accept or attempt to use force than the offer is off the table.

>>27825847
If they don't like the deal they're just gonns smash us to bits and send ponies after Shield. Let's leave.

>>27825922
We are going alone, so if they distorey us they lose the only information they can get in where the element is.

>>27825956
We say it's going towards the Empire. They send ponies towards the Empire. Vince said they're going to have to negotiate later. We literally have nothing to loose right now.

“Trust me on this one,” you nod towards Golden Shield with a mental smile, “Just, trust me Shield.”

Golden Shield looks at you with a raised, uncertain eyebrow. He agrees, “You managed to rescue me, Aurora. If something bad happens then I swear an oath that I will do everything in my power to rescue you.”

“Nothing bad will happen,” you push him gently, awkwardly, “Just hide and wait.” He doesn’t need to know you are unsure if, and how, the whole situation is going to end up like. You just have to keep a stoic pose and harsh voice...

You concentrate; you allow the veil of your remaining dark magic to cover you like a blanket. You have to keep your body under total, direct control. You need to keep your mind fresh and at the same time, vivid. You are going to negotiate on the enemy ground, with an enemy maniac, about the stolen artefact of Harmony. It’s dangerous.

“Let’s do it,” your voice echoes in your mind.

You strike your hooves against the steep side of the boulder as you begin climbing it. The cracking echo of the stone swiftly grabs their attention. The shadow of your crystal figure quickly slides across, and soon covers, both Verity and Soarin. Once the powerful, morning sun is able to properly reflect off your crystal skin, your entire crystallized body practically ignites.

“You do not have to be in such a hurry,” your crystal voice echoes, “I am Aurora Flare.”

Verity’s horn explodes within a bright, scarlet flash. Soarin and the soldiers nearby quickly wing up into the air. The powerful magic of the “Initiate of Harmony” quickly covers and nudges your body towards her. You stand straight.

“And I am in a possession of the “Element of Harmony”,” you finish coldly. This makes the mare flinch.

“A talking crystal golem?!” she yells, as if insulted by the very notion of such act, “Sombra is out of his freaking mind!” Despite standing still and straight, like a statue, the magic is able to drag you with little effort to meet her face to face.

With a snarl, she whispers, “It seems the guilt is dragging your soul down, where is it?”

“It’s currently on its way to the Crystal Empire,” you tell her, “And only I know how to get it back. I know it’s valuable for you, the most valuable relic in all of Equestria existence. I’m willing to negotiate with you; I have what you want. ”

There’s a literal fire inside her eyes. “And what makes you think we won’t be fast enough to get it back now?!”

>What will you do now?

>>27826140
Large numbers of prisoners and wounded that need taking care of, a commanding officer that needs to be rescued, those that are carrying it are fully aware of a potential attack, and would you even be able to get enough forces to both find them and fight to retrieve it before they cross into our territory, which we heard you aren't allowed to go into.

>that fuck actually pushed the negotiation option
As a person who was against it the whole time, I'll give you your time to shine, brave boy.

Just a note, this was the last post for today.

>>27826560
I swear to God, if a single loud faggot gets us killed...

>>27826580
Sleep tight. If you can, draw some more things sometimes. But don't force yourself.

Ventilate the Vizier's head bump.

Bump to remember.

We are going to fuck the Vizier nonsexually bump.

Was it really just one person? Whew.

>>27829184

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>>27826140
>>27826260
Plus she assumed too quickly we didn't anticipate an attempt to steal it back; her haste and anger will be her undoing

>>27830340
He did okay so far, but I swear, if that guy doesn't get back before Vincent begins to post again...

>>27830340
>>27831761
I swear to not post until that ONE guy does if you do.

>>27831761
Peridotposter is a qtpie.

>>27832682
I'm awake and I'll post if I'm not going to be here for some reason

We fucked up bat poniez.

You knock your head in her direction; you make sure to avoid a straight collision. Your personal space is important.

“I know for a fact that after this battle, you have a large number of wounded and prisoners you have to take care of,” your magical life-force brightly scintillates from within your crystal eyes, “You have a commanding officer to catch and rescue now. The ponies that left and are now carrying the “Harmony Element” are fully aware there are still pegasi left who will, more than likely, pursue them. But face it; they’ll be long gone into the territory you are not allowed to step into.”

Verity offers you a casual whistle. With a stubborn attitude she raises her chin and says, “Well, well and well, are you not well informed and talkative for a big lump of crystals? First of all, now that we heard all of this... Officer Soarin?”

The aquamarine Pegasus clears his throat and, with a hasty retreat, nods, “You can pursue them further, Verity.”

The wicked smile on the pony before you grows, “Then, I also know the rough sizes of your army. And I know that the majority have fallen in this battle: about hundred crystal ponies are captured. So, how many are on their way to the Crystal Empire now? Is it ten weak and injured ponies? Oh, maybe it’s even less? Five? They are too slow for us.”

“What makes you think all of them participated in the battle?”

Her head quickly flinches into your direction. Her eyes narrows and tremble in obvious, boiling aggravation, “That’s a lie... It is what I would say... I can usually say when a pony is lying; it is rather obvious with their weakening, forced voice and the exaggerated expression over their faces. But you, you are not a pony. It is as if you don’t give a flying arcane particle! But you do, I know you obviously do else you wouldn’t be here, talking.”

“If you decide to not accept my proposal, or if you send your forces now, it’s off the table. Then-”

The unicorn mare coughs at you. Her anger twists into amusement then, it turns into a maniacal laughter. She raises her hoof and, after Soarin’s approving nod, all of them open their wings wide with an echoing flutter. Then, she points her hoof into your direction. In a single blink and blur the four pegasi blast out of a growing, thunderous cloud.

“So what is it now? Is the offer off the table now, golem?” her lips twitch, “Don’t make me laugh!”

You do not move your body, “Is this the risk you are willing to take? I am your only hope to get it safe and sound.”

Her voice comes to a grind, “I do not negotiate with traitors and terrorists, or their willing servants. ... Amuse me,” she gently pushes her hoof to face you from your right side, “What are your conditions? I’m genuinely curious, really.”

>What now?

>>27833817
You release all of the prisoners gained through this battle and than the element will be returned. I assure you that's a better deal than you'll get through official negotiations.

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>>27833891
This, she'd have to give far more to get it back if she turns us down now, if the empire gives a chance to get it back at all once there at all if we aren't there

>>27832767
I could have sworn I've only posted two SU gifs in this entire quest, but eh a theme is a theme, it's not like the image limit is getting taken up by anything else

You remain stoic.

“You will release all the prisoners gained during this battle and then the element is going to be returned.”

“Oh,” she raises her chin again, “I’m more than certain that once you return with your army you’ll keep your word.”

You grunt, “It is still a better deal that one you will get if you try to officially negotiate with the Crystal Empire.”

She pushes her head towards you, “I do not negotiate with the tyrant’s servants,” she practically hisses through her teeth. “I do not know if you are reckless, stupid, arrogant or all three but I’m not betraying the ghosts of the death and deceased to release the prisoners of war. They have committed heinous crimes and they will pay for the things they have done!”

“I know the “Element of Harmony” is important to you or for the success of the Equestria.”

‘Then there’s even less of a reason for me to trust or believe you,” the fire inside her eyes rises, “You have lost the battle, your pathetic remains are retreating. We are moving the border now, we are moving forward now! And you know what? We will take ours by force. We will take Manehattan back. And, listen, we are going to siege Empire too.”

“It took you more than three years, you are still losing.”

“You are a persistent brat,” she shouts at you with anger. It takes her a second to calm down, “Let me make it clear,” her horn flashes; you can feel your heavy body forced to slowly spin in circles, “You will beg me for my conditions.”

>What now?

>>27834399
Is she the Element of Honesty?

>>27834549
She certainly isn't Kindness or Laughter.

>>27834635
Generosity would probably be better at negotiating as well.

Reminder to also ask to send rain the the forest. Or we could keep ignoring the fact that the bears ever existed.

Also I still feel that we've REALLY fucked up. No, not we. Just that one guy and Vince since Vince would rather listen to the single anon who bitched the best than the majority.

>>27834399
I'm betting your the Element oh Honesty, because you absolutely suck at lying. Do you honestly believe you'll be able to take this almost complete defeat and use it to reclaim all of the territory between you and the capital as well as capture it before the front line is reinforced? Celestia and Luna united weren't able to prevent Sombra from taking power, all they succeed was banishing him for a millennium and getting the Crystal Empire erased from existence. Even when it returned your princess was powerless to prevent Sombra from reclaiming it. And you expect us to believe that you'll be able to do what your princesses couldn't without being able to wield the full potential of uniting all 6 elements? As far as not negotiating with us, we have it on good authority that Equestria does come to the table often. We believe it when you say that you'd never negotiate with us, they'd never allow you near the table.

>>27834717
Now's not the time to get sidetracked.

>>27834549
Could be magic?

>>27835020
Isn't magic supposed to unite the other elements?

Now I have a theory. The bird ran away from Aurora when she had the Element. So either just the aura of the Element was enough to send it off or maybe the Element of Loyalty resonated with Aurora. I think we can attest to the fact that Aurora has been damn loyal to her friend, Shield. Just a thought.

“I bet you are an Element of Honesty,” you reply to her dryly.

She smirks at that, “This is the element I wear proudly and I see you ogling, crystal. But you’ll find it harder to steal.”

“No,” you shake your head in a negative, “It’s the fact that you are a horrible liar.”

You can see her eye twitching, “What is that supposed to mean!?”

“Do you honestly think that this is a victory? Of course you do not; else you are lying to yourself. Do you honestly think this is the only army the Crystal Empire has? That you’ll be able to reclaim all the territory until the reinforcements are aware of what happened here? Cloudsdale barely managed to survive this attack, and that’s the truth.”

“You cheeky brat,” she grinds through her teeth, “We fought this war without the elements until this point.”

“And that is why you are losing. Even Princess Celestia and Luna were unable to do what you are trying to, together. I know for a fact that Equestria is tired of this war, and so am I. I am well aware that Equestria representatives come to the negotiation table often, but the negotiation that will come later will be an absolutely loss to you. Use this chance.”

Her horn flashes again. You can feel yourself quickly rising above the ground. Then, the scarlet, boiling telekinetic feel tightens are your entire figure; your crystal skin slowly starts to crumble up and crack. She’s mad, absolutely vivid.

“Who do you think you are?!”

“I am Aurora Flare. I want to help us both here.”

“Then you should know that I never lie, and seek the absolute truth from others. No, I believe that we have the right moment to attack and take back territory. No, I believe that we’ll eventually push you back! And I believe that we’ll be able to stop your current leader, be it Sombra or not, regardless of the elements. The artefact is powerful but not as powerful as the message we send today. They are not as strong as justice; they are not as strong truth and righteous creed. They are stronger than what you fight for. And every single one of those soldiers, and the Empire, now know it. Sombra is not returning to guide you; he’s not going to save you now. Your days are finished. Give up and surrender.”

Your body begins to crack. If you do not react, it’s going to cause some enormous damage to your present injuries.

“You made me angry, Aurora Flare; very angry. You picked the wrong mare to speak your gabble. But... I’m not horrible; I am not unlike your false “King”.” You can feel the hold of her magic disappearing. She takes a few steps back, “If you return with the “Element of Loyalty” I will consider giving you back a single prisoner, whoever it be.” There’s a fire inside her eyes, “Or, as the spirits will it, we can let the truth speak for itself, physically. I am no liar.”

>What now?

>>27835393
You are right. You are no liar. Just a deluded fool that believes lies to be truths. Today was a victory for the empire. You lost the fortifications around Cloudsdale, you lost numerous soldiers, you lost your commanding officer, you lost an irreplaceable element of harmony, and you lost Shield.

so anyone else seeing a bad ending happening

>>27835640
She is going to fucking kill us.

>>27835640
I do not know what you are trying to achieve with this.

>>27835652
Yes I do. I just pray the Vince realizes that bad end lies squarely on the shoulders of a single anon and goes back to give us a chance by following the popular decision of running away.

>>27835653
>>27835658
One can't control a situation if they can't control themself. Also she isn't the only pony here with authority and the other one has a much more level head and has heard the entire exchange.

>>27835699
You're depending on someone else to step in to save us?? That's a shit plan!

>>27835699
Soarin is a cuck he won't save us.

>>27835741
>>27835753
I'm not depending on him, I'm just acknowledging an option. I'm actually surprised she hasn't thrown a tantrum yet, just a lot of attempts at intimidation.

I just post to let you know that I fucking hate you shitty negotiator with passion, every single particle of my miserable being burns with rage and craves your blood. And you're also a faggot.

>>27835793
Her tantrum would be her crushing us. She can one-hit us dude. She's the worst pony to anger.

>>27835866
Angering her is the only option. We come to the table with all of the cards and, even though she has one card at most, she believes she has all of the cards. That's why she's trying to take control and force an ultimatum down our throat. Right now we have to focus on breaking her fantasy, which is going to cause resistance. After we finally break the shell, than we'll be able to talk to a pony rather than a holier-than-thou paladin.This is a battle and no battle was ever one without taking a few hits in return.

“You are right,” your voice grinds as you stand up from the ground with a struggle, “You are not a liar, just a deluded fool. You lost your “Rainbow Network”, you lost Golden Shield, you lost Spitfire and you even lost the “Element of Harmony! You are also losing your temper now. How can one pony be so stubborn and stupid?”

She turns at you with a flame inside her amber eyes, “I even tried to be nice, crystal lump, and I even offered a prisoner for this ‘exchange’. Alright, so be it.”

“Verity,” Soarin clears his throat in awkward gesture, “Perhaps her conditions are not fair but-“

“Officer Soarin,” she glares at him like a predator would look at his prey, “Do not demean your dead comrades.”

“...Of course. I leave this and the matters of “Element of Harmony” to you, as per Spitfire’s wishes.” He stands aside.

“Then I’ll show you that my words hold strength and power,” her voice echoes through your head. In a blink of a notice you are lifted off the ground and tossed several meters away, “And that you are the one who is delusional here. I believe that we will conquer through even if we can’t find other elements. There are no tricks here, crystal servant.”

You can see the scarlet magic enveloping the ground around you. You can hear a faith, quiet underground tremble.

“You fighting me will prove nothing but the fact that you are refusing to think.”

“I have the power to prove to you, to the Cloudsdale soldiers, and the spirits of the death as well, that we’ll be able to achieve what I said. Maybe one day, when Sombra was in full power and in rule, you could speak high and mighty. But you are weakening; you are stumbling down and becoming desperate. You are refusing to face the consequences of your actions and admit the truth, that you are, in fact, leeches! The end of the shadow reign is at hoof, Aurora.”

“Beneath that holier-than-thou shell of yours you know I am right,” you stand up, ready to act.

“I promise before the ponies around me, dead and alive, that if you can convince me of my weakness and prowess, I will release every single prisoner captured during this battle. But, if you fail, I’m not going to simply crush you like the rest of the mindless golem puppets. I will make you tell me everything and more, no matter what method it takes.”

The ground around you rises up; like a circular wall it begins to slowly entrap you behind it.

>What will you do now?

>>27836277
Are you serious? First intimidation and now combat? And you call yourself a hero of Equestria? Proving your worth by killing an obviously crippled mare that only came to negotiate? What's next, a foal? Guess the elements aren't very picky, it'd explain how I was able to use loyalty against the birds.

What a wonderful job you've done anon. What's the next step in your master plan to get us killed?

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I hope anon is willing to take the blame if we die

Can we, um, jump away from the obvious death trap set under us?

>>27836557
It's an arena.

>>27836557
Mr. Negotiator has made his bed, now let him die in it.

>but being hero while almost ded works guise, i swear!

>We can cast 3 spells max
>We are going to fight

>>27836661
Fighting is exactly what she want and something we most likely aren't capable of even in our best condition. So we aren't going to do it.

>>27836695
Okay, what are we doing then?

>>27836705
She started this fight since she's been cornered and she declared she'll prove to everybody just what kind of leader she is. That if we can convince her of her weakness she'll yield. Her weakness is most certainly not combat and there are ways of winning that don't require lifting a finger. Let's prove to everybody that she's the kind of individual that, if followed, will lead them to their graves.

>>27837889

>>27836695
>>27836759
Fuck, we're either social-tanking our way out of this or not at all