| IC date: | Autumn 37, 1007 |
| OOC date: | October 26, 2012 |
| PCs: | Blackbird, Heartsong, Jade-Lightning, Kludge, Manyara, Ruby-Blossom, Sky-Sparkler, Snowfield, Sodium-Fizz, Solar-Wind, Windrose, Winter-Solstice |
| NPCs: | Ice Spiral, Ironmane, Nightmare's Will, Polar Breeze, Professor Redmane, Tom |
| GM: | Applejack |
A whole week come and gone since the mention of a need for a great quantity of supplies, and the idea of taking them from the one place that could probably stand to lose a few boxes of stuff to feed a horde of hungry ponies.
Thus it is that a group of ponies lurk behind a conveniently placed snowdrift, the mountain of snowy ice hardly more than maybe a quarter-mile from the nearby encampment.
Within this group, Professor Redmane, stick in mouth, drawing a very crude 'map' of the nearby camp based on what a small group of cloud-camoflaged pegasus are reporting. Ironmane, sitting across from the Professor and his map, is doing most of the interpretation and coordinating of said airborne spy crew.
"Right. So we've spotted about ten, maybe twelve Shadowbolts either in patrols or skulking around the camp. We've also confirmed Will is currently in the base, and her pet dragon's guarding her tent." Ironmane speaks, pointing at spots on the 'map' with a hoof so the Professor can mark them. "The supply tent is going to be one of these three next to what we assume to be the Mess Tent. Those are our primary targets."
Setting the stick down, the Professor looks around to the gathered ponies. "So here's what we've got that I'm aware of. We've got a handful of our own pegasus, most of which are going to be engaged in generating a big storm to block out all the moonlight. That will help us get in and get somewhere while there's confusion. I'm sure they'll spend some time trying to clear the skies again since the weather's supposed to be in the Queen's control."
The Professor takes a moment to grin, "At this point, any of you that have plans that will help us get in, grab supplies, and get out again are welcome to share them. I know this is kind of an attack, but remember we're doing this to get supplies, not to bloody someone's nose."
Ironmane snorts, "They've earned a lifetime of bloodied noses…"
Solar-Wind emerges from the back of the crowd with two other pegasus ponies in tow, "we've got a distraction team setup, we're flying their colors so to speak" as he motions over the roughly hewn garb of the two 'psudobolts' beside him, His uniform however is standard issue, though a little tight. "We'll come in if we see some trouble, call it like reinforcements, they'll see us as backup, but it won't quite be that way for them" he laughs some and nods his head, "My team is as ready as we're ever gonna be" and with that he pulls up the official 'Psudobolts' garb
Will suddenly pops up behind Professor Redmane - the evil mare in who Redmane just indicated is safe in the encampment! Ruby who at the moment is a spitting image of Will - save for ruby-red eyes, cheerfully proclaims "I'll go first!" Still quite unsettling to see such a villian so close, and certainly it doesn't help having several fake shadowbolts among the group either. Ruby's eyes dart towards Sodium-Fizz "I'll leave the fun part up to you." She sticks her tongue out at the group before launching into a trot towards clearing that leads to the camp - that is unless somepony prevents her early infilitration.
Sodium-Fizz couldn't claim she liked the idea of flying up on high to deal with cloud-work, what with being a pegasi herself. If one rather horrible at weather control. Giving a helping hoof, thought, that she could do. Turning about she hefted her bulging saddlebags of her cloaked back and dropped them in the snow. It's not the only addition to her tattered Nightmare Night regalia, a bandolier of vials and a waterskin having joined it. She flashes Ruby a small smile before turning back to the group. "We could most likely do both, turns out we have a fair few fire-bombs. That'll work for both confusion and nose-bloodying. I also have a bunch of illusion powder that could be used for distractions."
"Plus… Ruby had an idea for how to occupy the dragon, should they sick it on us."
Windrose probably would of jumped a lot more if she hadn't already known Ruby was planning to go in disguise like that. Even as it is she still starts a little at the sudden appearance, before remembering what's going on. Reaches over to give 'Will' a light bop. "I see you're getting into Nightmare Night early," she teases. Then recollects herself and nods to Solar Wind. "We're as ready as we'll ever be when it comes to the rising storm." She's a little rusty on full blown weather manipulating, but looks like it's going to be an in the field refresher course.
"I'll keep the ground team and our sleds covered," Snowfield says as she looks at the map. "So long as your weather team keeps snow in the air, I can make sure the storm stays thick enough around our group that they won't see us coming." She glances at Sodium and Ruby. "Well, don't keep us waiting," she says. "If you're going to be playing any funny tricks we should know about them in advance so we don't panic and bloody your nose by accident."
"Okay, but really, if their noses get in the way, I can't really promise that like things aren't gonna get bloodied. It just might happen. And you ought to be aware of that." This is Winter's explanation, as she keeps a careful eye over the ridge, towards the camp, before ducking back down. You short ponies have it easier- the towering mare has to hunker twice as much, duck twice as far! to stay out of sight. And all that extracurricular hunkering is putting even more of a damper on her anxious, stomping pacing than the packed snow underhoof does. It's probably a good thing, though- seeing as Winter is wearing The Boots. They're the ones she wore to this world that first night, when the spell first went awry- burly leather, charred and worn by the heat of a forge, with hooves ringed with thick iron plates. They add an extra thump to every drop of her hindlegs. She's wearing her snow suit, of course, and though normally she goes hoodless, tonight she's wearing a white hood to help cover that obnoxiously colorful shock of red that runs down the center of her mane.
Stomp stomp, pace pace. Winter narrows her eyes as she watches Ruby go, though her look is one of Strategic Concern, not worry about how freaky she looks. Red eyes, remember. Do not pummel the one with red eyes. The one with red eyes is your *friend.* Winter frowns and looks about at the rest of the group, refamiliarizing herself with everybody's faces. Those are friends, too. Don't pummel them.
Heartsong gulped nervously, fluttering her wings. "I'll be in the air, Professor. Just… just tell me what we need and I'll try and… y'know… get the… mood. Going." Ahem. Encounters like this, clearly not her forte. She's a lover, not a fighter! …Okay no. But she is a singer, and it's hard for her to quite see how she'd be useful. But that won't stop her from trying!
Manyara has stayed mostly quiet through all the planning, watching the map and looking thoughtful. Whatever plans she has, she's keeping to herself. The delicate creature doesn't look like she'd be much help in a fight. But she certainly does not look at all nervous, either.
Blackbird stands by, grim and silent as he surveys the encampment. He doesn't look nervous, so much as… tired. Still, Ruby's disguise gets a little jump from the teach, before he huffs out a sigh. "I can infiltrate, or shoot," he says to Redmane. "Your call, boss."
For all of the imminent danger, Kludge is looking rather unworried. Of course, he's also harnessed to a sled-cart he constructed, and he's not planning on moving until the goods are located and ready for loading. Let those who are competent at fighting deal with any combat; he's going to try to stay out of the way and do what he can, no matter how little it might be.
"Right, right… Well, there's really only three things up with our alchemical arsenal… It goes up in flames when it cracks open," Sodium-Fizz fished a small clay pot out of her saddlebags, putting it on the ground. "Second, there's the dust, good for creating ghostly images. Glows green and can take shapes for a while. Lastly… Winter?" She turned towards the large mare, grinning. "If the dragon seems to be a big problem… rush at it and holler as loud as you can so I can find you."
Her hooves keept digging through her saddlebags, grabbing more objects. "With that said… Everypony, feel free to grab what you want out of this and be ready if you think it's needed, both to distract and to fight."
At the meantion of 'weapons' Windrose scoots closer to Sodium to see just what it is she's got. "Better take a few, just to be safe. We'll be up in the sky, so there may be ample… oppritunity to add to chaos on the ground as well." Not entirely sure how much help she will really be, but be darned if she isn't going to give what help she can.
Snowfield hmms. "I'll stay away from the special effects, I'm better with ice than fire." She considers for a few moments more the distinct possibility of fighting a dragon. "Do we have some sort of signal for if Will's pet harangues us? If need be I can conjure a Windigo disguise again, it was convincing enough the first time to make them turn tail."
Solar-Wind takes a firebomb and a smoke bomb and has his two wingponies also do the same. firebomb for defense, smoke for emergency escape, him and his two slip to the back of the crowd, "Good luck everypony, May Celestia be with you!" He calls as his two team-mates take off, hover a moment then shoot off to collect their thunderclouds. Look the part, be the part!
The Professor nods to each in kind, stiffening slightly at Ruby's brief scare and giving the fleeing disguised mare a smirk. "At this point anything will probably be helpful. Whatever you all do, be careful. Be mindful of your fellow ponies, and let's wrangle out as much as we can."
Ironmane clears his throat. "Right… So here's our plan." He points a hoof at a nearby group of pegasus. "That's our 'weather team'. They're going to get the storm brewing now." He nods his head to said group, the majority of which take off into the air to begin collecting clouds for the coming snowstorm. "…Ruby is already on her way in. I'm assuming she's going to be locating the proper tent for us to raid, or helping to create some chaos. We have…lots of ways to create chaos." he notes, eyeing the firebombs, the iron-hoof'd pony, the fake 'shadowbolts', and…the bard? Yes, that's probably going to be chaotic too.
"Once we get the storm going, we can run in. There's not much more than a few fences keeping us out, so the remaining few pegasus can either fly low and drop you in, or you can get creative with removing the problem. Find the right tent, signal the pegasus, and we'll hightail it out with all the stuff we can carry. And if anyone or anything gets in the way…" He shrugs. "I think most of you have been looking for a chance to do something like this for a while now." He eyes the Professor. "No reason to hold back now."
"I can name two reasons." the Professor harumphs. "Will, and her dragon. She's loaded with enough tricky spells to confuse anypony, and he's a bleedin' dragon. So…don't go get killed. That's all I'm saying."
Ominous dark clouds already begin to form… Along with an all too bitter wind and the first signs of a new snow. That storm isn't going to take long at all to kick up!
Ironmane gets up from his spot in the snow. "…Let's get moving. By the time we get there, the storm will be ready."
Blackbird salutes smartly, and then starts in toward the encampment. He's remarkably good at sneakery, for being a mild-mannered schoolteacher. Someone must've taught him a trick or two in the base.
Sky Sparkler has no weapons or tools beside her magic: even the pencil was left at the base for this mission. Given her skills and talents, she's helping the weather team to bring in the storm. "I've got a trick that should help slow them in clearing the cover," she reports, "I'll charge up random clouds with electricity, so they discharge when touched." She teleports up to the clouds to do her part.
Winter-Solstice turns to nod at Sodium, wearing a slight smile. "Holler at the dragon. Got it. I'll holler at the shadowbolts, too. And at that jerky unicorn. I'll holler at the tents, too, if they look like they're making funny faces. I'll holler at everything, I don't even care. I'm a mare on the edge and I'm not backing down! I've got nothin' to lose!" She pushes up from her hunker and starts stomping more anxiously. "The system can't keep me back! The man can't keep me down! Yeah! Let's get personal. Let's get personal! Can we go yet? Can we go yet?" She half-surges forward before catching herself with a bite of her lower lip and slinking back to her hunkerin' spot.
And there she lingers, listening to the explanation. Oh man so boring but so important, like all good plans usually are. Let's get moving, though? Yeah, that's what she wants to hear!
"Right! Creative entrance time. Anybody not flying the friendly skies, I'll help clear the way." With that, she pushes upright, and starts clambering up and over the snowdrift. The Boots slow her down, but she's still fairly driven, and is soon galumphing through the snow at a brisk pace of exagerated, skipping steps. There is no sneaking. There is no trickery. And when she inevitably reaches the fenceline, there will be no stopping.
Sodium-Fizz flashed Snowfield a thin smile, "Worth a shot. I'd rather not suggest Winter Solstice taking it on by herself as a first option, even with the help Ruby's thought up."
With those words the slight pegasus takes of herself, flying low towards the camp, well of to the side. A diversion would be rather a wasted thing if sprung on the side facing their makeshift assault after all.
Well on her way is right - the diguised mare swiftly but carefully making her way across the tundra towards the (hopefully) unsuspecting base. Her pace gradually slows as she gets closer, taking great caution to watch patrols or prying eyes while surveying the camp. As the dark clouds begin to form she can't help but grin - gingerly snipping away a section of fence with with a pair of cutters she borrowed (see: took without asking) from Kludge. (Here we go!) quietly slipping in through the opening she made - remaining low to the ground heads towards Will's tent - kind of intent on approaching from the side without you know, a dragon.
When the signal is given to take off Windrose spreads her wings and bolts skyward along with the other pegasus weather wranglers. As clouds are pushed into place she starts stomping from cluster to cluster, 'pumping' them with her hooves to start building up the moisture and temperature that's going to be needed to do what they want. Plus damp clouds hold electrical charges better. It's just how pegasus weather magic works, don't ask us how.
Snowfield nods at the mission briefing. "Alright, everypony who is going in on hoof, stay behind m— hey, Winter, get back here! Honestly!" She grabs a spellful of snow and skates after the larger mare, unhindered by snow on the ground or boot on the hoof. "If you're going to lead the way, at least let me ride on your back so I can put up the camouflage!" the unicorn says as she begins to swirl the powder thickly about in a very convincing snowstorm pattern. It looks incredibly out of place by itself but once those stormclouds start doing their thing it'll be the perfect disguise for the footsoldiers. Hopefully Winter won't outpace her!
Heartsong takes to the air as well, looking incredibly nervous and fluttering about for a moment like a filly on her first flight before composing herself and soaring up higher. The Abada, meanwhile, has… disappeared? There's no sign of her besides hoofprints where she'd been standing… and, for that matter, the same dainty hoofprints, heading off after Winter!
Ice-Spiral, Solar-Wind and Polar Breeze have managed to collect their angry black stormclouds and are now on patrol looking like any other Shadowbolts patrol though the leader is easily highlighted by his sheer size in comparision to the other pegasi flying today. Big, black dyed, and ready for a fight! Solar's team has the standard formation of a triad, with the leader flying forward of his two wingponies just cruising the skies for now, looking out for other patrols or any other possibile threats to the mission.
Winter-Solstice turns to glance back over her shoulder. Oh, here comes the wizardry! Winter half-grins back at Snowfield. "Well, hop on up if you want a ride! If you couldn't just, like, walk on the snow all the time like you do I bet we'd have lost you in a snowdrift the first night we were here!" She tromps for a few more steps, slowing gradually. "On account of your being short." She eventually lets herself drop back into the roling cloud of swirling powder, squinting her eyes against it, although all that pent-up energy that would have otherwise been spent on charging heroically into battle is instead channeled into a prancing flourish to her every step.
"You are lucky we need you fighting fit," Snowfield says sharply as she catches up with Winter Solstice and leaps awkwardly onto her croup and climbs up onto the taller mare's back. "You'd be buried in snow up to your eyeballs for that comment otherwise." She glances back at the ponies behind them to make sure that the camouflage is covering everypony that it needs to.
Just because everypony else might be keeping an eye out for trouble (or are intentionally hunting it) doesn't mean an extra set of eyes and ears would be amiss. Kludge is keeping watch, although he does tilt his hat back and out of the way as the others deploy as they see fit.
The collection of tents large and small looms in the distance… Closer for some than others now. Ruby would get the first look up close and personal, winding past the other tents on her way to Will's much bigger (and so very fancy) tent. It's got a lamp on inside, and a faint silhouette lurking inside. Unfortunately her dragon is right there next to the front flap of said tent. Snoozing, apparently, with a big mess of…something that may have been gruel nearby. Recently fed dragon, apparently.
The base itself is quiet outside of the patrol scoping the storm out. A few Shadowbolts lurking in the Mess Tent, or chilling in other tents. One in particular almost stumbles over Ruby, coming out of one of the three 'marked' tents, seeing his assumed 'boss', and promptly stiffening in a salute. "Majesty!"
Meanwhile, outside the Camp, Solar's team goes pretty much undetected. This is pretty much due to the fact that there's a big storm approaching. The weatherponies may have gone slightly overboard with their storm, rolling black clouds that blot out what little light the half-moon created in their wake. It's borderline creepy how that storm's moving, and it's drawn the attention of one three-pony patrol from the outskirts of the camp, swooping in to check out the clouds! They sure hadn't called for a storm!
Winter-Solstice's showy trot is stifled a bit once Snowfield is up on her back, but she otherwise does not slow down. In fact, now she can speed back up! Huzzah! Why wait for the wizards when you can bring the wizards to you? Introducing Port-a-Pony, the pocket-sized unicorn that travels with YOU. "Awwww, lighten up," says Winter, who probably doesn't know who she's talking to very well. "It's endearing! Besides, everybody looks short to me." She's starting to hesitate a bit. The thing about being surrounded by billowing snow is it makes it sort of hard to see OUT of it, too, so suddenly she's much less sure of where exactly the picket lines begin. It doesn't help that the abominable night is slowly eating what meager light there is. "Hey, hey. You probably have a better view from up there. Tell me when we're getting close so I know to start smashing."
Windrose has worked her way towards the upper portions of the gathering clouds with her 'pumping', where she's taken perch upon one darkened swirl as a lookout while the more weather experienced pegasi touch up the build-up. Despite the darkness and the clouds the mapmaker's sharp eyes pick out the approaching patrol. To avoid raising farther notice she doesn't say anything, instead motioning to the nearest other weatherpony to alert the teams they have possible incoming, and then ducks down in the clouds herself to wait. She's not a fighting pony, but if she can get the jump on someone she sure as heck will….
The briefest moment of shock passes over Ruby as she's almost bumped into; fortunately the mare-in-disguise Ruby, has been diligently practicing for this night - immediately launching into a small tirade while avoiding being loud enough to alert the real Will or anypony else. The pegasi's salute is met with a nasty glare, and quick snap of "Latrine duty, now." swift punishment for somepony who came anywhere near bumping into 'Will', and without another word the mare quickly moves away from the Thunderbolt - the fun thing about tents is that new entrances are easily made. Ruby's intended point of entrance is away from the dragon - clear on the otherside of tent; hoping to make a small cut and slip in low~
Solar-Wind's team remains cruising their given 'patrol' zone. They are the most visable of the groups flying tonight, but at this range their garb wouldn't give them away, not to mention the style and formation is spot on in character of a normal 'bolts' patrol. His team keeps 'patrol around the perrimiter of camp, keeping an eye to the camp itself and not deviating much from their position. He hopes the weather team can envelop that bolts patrol before that gets out of hand. His team does subtly alter their course for a wide intercept
Up in the clouds, Jade-Lightning is diving in and out, swirling among the clouds as she helps work the storm into something of note, little zaps of lightning following in her wake and popping out anywhere she touched a cloud. She's grinning. Widely. This is fun. She doesn't get to do this sort of thing nearly enough!
Snowfield puts her front hooves on top of Winter Solstice's head so that she can better peer over the earth pony's head. "If I had to guess," she says as she squints through her own snow storm, "I'd say you're about four paces from tripping over the picket line. You may wish to jump."
The little unicorn releases her spell, allowing her portable snowstorm to fall back and merge with the regular snowstorm brewing above. Sure enough the first picket line is RIGHT THERE. Surprise!
Sky Sparkler is less visible than Solar Wind's team, but she does notice the incoming Shadowbolt patrol. She moves herself into one of the clouds, both charging it up and trying to nudge it into the path of the hostile patrol. She'll teleport away to another cloud when it hits, and her own jump should be lost in the discharge.
Sodium-Fizz dropped to the ground within the picket fence, trusting her snow covered cloak and termal suit to keep her hiddden for now, and the growing storm. After a quick look around she reached for her own part of the diversion, six pouches of illusion dust. Moments later they were open, set in a line before her and glowing a soft green. All set to give everypony something else to think about! Of course, she needed something good for that too. Couldn't be a windigo, considering Snowfield might use that one.
Oh no, she'd go for something a bit more pony-shaped. Large and pony-shaped. With wings and horns and solar brands on their flanks. Half a dozen illusionary Celestia's would most likely bey quite the distraction, indeed.
The Shadowbolt who saluted splays his ears. Latrine duty? He just got off that list! Aw man… He slumps off as his 'boss' does. … The dragon gives a soft snort at the passing mare, but doesn't exactly open his eyes. Just far enough away that foreign pony scents don't reach him through dreamland immediately. Getting into Nightmare Will's tent? Easy enough.
Naturally the prissy unicorn is right there, sitting before a grandiose beauty setup, combing her mane thoroughly with a brush and draped in the warmest, fluffiest, most comfortable-looking downy robe ever created. It may have very well been lined with baby griffon down. Brush, brush~
The Shadowbolt patrol investigating the storm finds that the storm is approaching a lot faster than they expected! This comes as quite the surprise to them when random clouds begin attacking them, knocking into one with a comical discharge of lightning! Bzap! One Shadowbolt starts to fall… The other two are a bit faster of wing, darting below the next cloud and glaring at the rush of stormclouds. It doesn't take a scientist to figure out the two of them won't be doing much against this force. They both turn tail, intent on fleeing back to their camp!
Solar-Wind's team moves in for the kill so to speak, aiming their clouds for the other bolt patrol coming in swiftly as if to aid their fellow bolts with their weather issue, as more ponies vs a pending storm might be able to turn the tide. Solar's team however does not drop any lower, making sure that they are just slightly higher than the other fleeing bolts, so that Solar's team may utilize their own lightening strike, Aimed, and targeted at the fleeing Bolts.
"Jumping is for chumps," says Winter. "Hold on!" She brings herself up short of the looming fenceline, rearing up, pivots about, drops back down, brings her hindlegs in, and waggles those iron-plated back hooves of hers for a few moments. Her face curls into a goofy smile. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Savor it.
POW.
The fence gets a hole blown into it. Shards of wood and shattered metal bindings are scattered into the snow. A few more backward stomps press down any remaining obstacles, iron plating turning aside sharp edges and fragments. Winter spins about and resumes her advancing with a cheerful prance, still smiling.
The next fence looms closer. It suffers a similar fate. Hopefully, the darkness is thick enough that only a close investigation will reveal what the source of the noise is… and the gathering thunder and lightning will help obscure it further. Even if it doesn't, though, Winter has a lot more smash where that came from. She glances back over her shoulder, checking to see if Snowfield is still aboard, and to check to see who is still behind her on the ground advance.
From her partially hidden perch as the Shadowbolts, well, bolt. But right towards Solar-Wind's incognito team by the looks of it. Good, good. That's going to get them stirred up and start causing confusion. On to step two! Darting off her point and diving deeper into the stormclouds Windrose goes to help get the winds kicking up appropriately. That'll make it harder for any more nosey snoops to fly close to the storm, at least easily.
Ruby takes the softest, quietest breath before oh so quietly sneaking into the tent - all of her effort focused into going undetected; oh the horrible things that could happen were she caught by Will - no she musn't think about such things. The disguised mare attempting to sneak into place behind Will then slowly rise up behind the other unicorn until she's perfectly behind Will. Softly she pipes "Looking good." in an attempt to catch the mare completly off guard a mere moment before attempting to mist Will with a sleeping draught curtesy of Sodium-Fizz. Hopefully the sudden appearance of another Will will be enough to startle Will. Will it?
Sodium-Fizz feelt her ears perk upright at the sound of splintering wood and creaking metal as Winter smashes through the fence. Her head snapped around as she scanned around, she heard it becaus she was expecting it, had anypony else?
Once on the second cloud, Sky Sparkler looks back, and sees Solar Wind and Co dealing with the other two of the patrol. Good… She inspects the cloud she is now on, and finds that it is large, and suitable for holding a large electric charge. She starts pulling the charge into the cloud, getting ready for a big effect.
"Getting ready to zap something?" The quiet voice would come from a little bit above Sky-Sparkler. Not waiting for an answer, Jade starts to circle the cloud, working more lightning into it faster. Still grinning. She is enjoying this - now if only she could be the one to do the zapping! Maybe next cloud.
Solar-Wind utilizes targeted strikes of lightening to attack the fleeing shadowbolts. Its plain to see from the other bolts perspective, that fellow Shadowbolts are attacking 'them' or really aiming for a close weather disruption pattern? Darn thats too close though! Solar's Team keep on firing off bolts, one each to let the other charge up for the next shot!
Snowfield hunkers down and grabs onto Winter Solstice's back with all four hooves as the large mare decides to buck the heck out of that poor, defenseless defensive perimeter. "If they didn't see you burst out of the snowstorm they undoubtedly heard you knock that fence down." Seeing as they've about arrived at their destination the unicorn hops off of the earth pony's back and begins trotting towards the encampment to get a better look at things. As has become standard for when she goes into hostile situations she picks up snow as she goes and lets it float around and behind her like a little nebula.
"Yep!" Sky Sparkler confirms for Jade. "I'm going to save this one up for the dragon. I think it'll be big enough to knock even the big one out!" There's a grin on her face, visible in the moonlight above the clouds.
With Jade and Sparkler getting the lightning ready, Windrose focuses on stirring up the winds to blow the snow and mist over the camp, making it harder for the unexpected moonworshipers to see what they're doing and farther sow the confusion.
Stealth is also for chumps!
The fleeing Shadowbolts are ambushed! Ah! Another of the two gets knocked out of the air in a smoking spiral! The last one looks up in confusion, barely avoiding another streak of static! Why are…Shadowbolts pushing clouds around? What? He charges off as fast as his wings will carry, covering the rest of the sky back to the camp! Shouts ensue… Several groups of Shadowbolt pegasus leaving their tents to look at the approaching cloud, a good group of seven now taking to the skies to put their combined wingbeats to use in trying to blow the clouds back! Weatherponies they are not.
Another group have certainly heard the sounds of fences breaking. More shouts, and another trio of pegasus beating wings to see what's come to their camp aside from some extra-foul weather. All three of them seeming to dash out of the darkness between tents to appear right in front of Winter! They seem just as shocked to see a huge pony barrelling in as they were to hear the noise, too!
The rising commotion has perked draconic interest. Lazy eyes squint open, the purple beast giving a mighty stretch and a yawn as the noise level increases. Maybe it's dinnertime…
Inside the tent, Nightmare's Will does indeed suffer a shock. Just before Ruby can manage to pull off a full-fledged sneak-attack on the fussy and fuzzily-dressed unicorn, her eyes flick to the other red-eyed 'her', prompting a shriek of sound and a spin on her cushion! "What!? Who dares!?" Eyes widen, her head just ducking the misting of what she assumes to be poison! "Ahh! I'm being assaulted! I'm being ASSAULTED in my own TENT!"
Of course it couldn't be that easy - Ruby knew that; sure she wanted to believe it could be that easy but she was just lying to herself. The mare takes a page out of Winny's book and throws the whole darned vial at Will - cause you know when the things go wrong break crap; maybe a vial full of sleeping draught will knock the fight out of Will. In Will's own voice Ruby shouts "Imposter! Imposter wearing my ro~bes~ Those are designer~ Stop her!" an addorable whine that is sure to infuriate Will as the imposter who's attempting to subdue her is now making fun of her.
Solar's team gets the hint, they stop mid flight and stomp on their clouds using them as catapaults for a greater hit of speed. Their clouds rightly burst into static shocks blazing groundward while their occupants each spiraled away, "gig's up team lets blitz em!" Each of the three fake shadowbolts tuck their wings and aim into the fray diving into the approaching other members of the shadowbolts to incite more confusion. Wings tucked till the last moment and aiming for strikes!
Sodium-Fizz shot up straight, somepony did it would appear! Her wings shot open wide as she bit down on her lower lip, eyes on the six bags of glowing illusion powder. A deep breath calmed the curning of her insides, it would be easy to just up and leave for something a tad bit safer, but…
Her wings shot forward, the gust of the beat whiping the dust up before her, quickly forming six coppies of the figure before her minds eye, all six of the yellow-green glowing regal alicorns leaping forward on spread wings, beacons of light soaring over the dimmed camp for several moments before striking down, each puffing into a slowly dispersing haze of glowing dust.
Winter-Solstice hauls up short once more as the shadowbolts emerge from the… the, er… the shadows. She is not as surprised as they are- she was expecting trouble, after all, not being all complacently evil about working for basically the biggest jerk of a queen ever- so she gets a bonus on her iniative roll. She squints briefly at them… no, not familiar. Not friends. Pummel_ok. "Hi!" she says, and then she lashes out with a front hoof, trying to bring it down on the noggin of one of the surprised pegasi.
Which tends to be her plan any time one of the little jerks comes near. Now, she's a big lunk of an earth pony. She probably doesn't have the speed or agility to keep up with any of those squirts, but she DOES have good reflexes, so if any of them get close they're going to have to work fast if they want to avoid getting a kick in the nose.
And sometimes that kick comes to you. Winter surges towards the pegasi following her swift front-hoof kick, barreling through any of them who haven't taken to the air yet. In such a fashion she pursues any that holds still for too long, at least until it looks too slippery to escape- in the meantime, hoping that she's making a big enough nuisance of herself that Snowfield, or any of the others, can start doing something more productive.
Sky Sparkler finishes charging up the cloud, then begins looking down, waiting for either the dragon to come into view, or another suitable target. Sniper in position…
Looks like it's time to do what they came here to do, because they certainly got their attention!
Windrose drops onto a cloud and pauses there, eyeing the newest batch of Shadowbolts that are trying to blow back the storm. Fortunately they had a good deal of time to get this one up and swirling so it won't be an easy task for them. Narrowing her eyes, Windrose perks her ears and fans her wings just slightly, letting the wind currents growing around the storm flit through them and her sense of wind-direction give her the information she needs.
Then she reachs into a pocket and pulls out one of the few bottles of ink she has with her, propping it in her forehoof as she adjusts her aim. Sacrifices for a good cause! Adjusting for wind and distance, aim… and she flings the ink blotter at the face of the Shadowbolt in the lead of the group trying to blow back the storm! That will hopefully mess up his face and goggles a bit!
As Shadowbolts begin to pour out of the woodwork Snowfield holds her breath and sets her horn aglow. The snow beneath her hooves glows momentarily and becomes as quicksand. She drops down and out of sight as the Shadowbolts race past to deal with the attackers. She proceeds to landshark her way through the camp, the only indication of her presence being the little mound of snow above her head that markes her progress.
When she reaches where she believes one of the supply tents should be Snowfield pokes her head out of the snow and pokes her nose inside to verify the contents.
Something about a whole herd of Celestia images popping up out of nowhere has the effect of completely scattering the airborne force first attempting to blow back the storm. For that matter, it scatters darn near everything in the camp too! The ones that aren't getting kicked by Winter, at least. It is one heck of a diversion for the short time it lasts, all but a couple of the Shadowbolts that had been in the camp now hovering outside the camp's makeshift walls, looking utterly and completely confused! Even as the illusions fade, they're reluctant to just zip right back inside right this second.
Needless to say, the raider pegasus helping to manage the clouds have ample opportunity to maneuver the swirling, snowy, lightning-charged stormclouds over the Camp proper… Phase one, more or less, is successful! Even if they did alert the entire camp to the presence of Foreign Hostile Bodies.
The dragon, so spooked by the Celestia copies, hunkers down next to Will's tent! Eyes on the skies, he almost misses the shrieks going on inside! Almost. Hearing two versions of his keeper's voice, the dragon's attention turns to the tent, snorting curiously. Attack? Gasp! The dragon growls, stomps around, and thrusts his head into the front of the tent! Snort!
Just in time to see Will and 'Will', one looking properly haughty, though with creepyish eyes, and the other in familiar dress. He snorts again… Two mistresses? He's either a very lucky dragon, or a very doomed dragon…
Speaking of Will, the real Nightmare's Will is indeed rather upset at the impostor! She doesn't bother ducking the vial of sleeping agent, when unicorn magicks do just as well to catch flying objects, hovering the vial next to her horn. "Hmph! That's not a bad disguise… But you've made a fatal flaw!" She lifts her head, bringing herself up to her most regal height. "I wouldn't be caught dead in that outfit. That was so last week!"
The Landshark… With a camp that's been largely emptied, and Will and her Dragon distracted for the moment, has nothing really to impede her progress to the first tent. Which is chock full of rations! Little boxes that smell of better things than blue leaves to be sure. One supply tent, located!
Solar-Wind's tri pony shadowbolt team is flitting around the other frightened ponies, each aiming to take them out at the wings. Hoves flying psudobolts twisting and diving dodging and doing their very best to fool the other bolts into fighting amongst themselves.
Zooooooom! the three split up enough to still see each other, but enough to mingle with the other scattered pegasi.
Solar Wind practically thunders into other bolts using his size and bulk nearly like a flying ram, aiming to down as many of the guarding shadowbolts as he possibily can!
Excellent! Snowfield cracks a rare smile and ducks back under the snow, which begins to glow…
The entire tent shudders as the snow and permafrost beneath it falls under the ice manipulator's sway and begins to scoot its way through the camp in its entirety.
Ruby-Blossom beams quite cheerfully as Will catches the vial with her unicorn magic - the mare almost appearing pleased about the entire thing. "Sadly I haven't the luxury of being as ~privilaged~ as yourself. I do however have the upper-hoof." pointing at Will's hoofs where a convienent little orb is resting - an amused grin appearing as the little orb bursts into a gooey mess right against Will's front hooves! "Oh my~" she cries out in mock-terror "Where-ever will you get a manicure to tend to that mess in this desolate wasteland~ WAAAh~"
Winter-Solstice takes a few more swings, only to see everybody fleeing. Her voice rises in a cackle! "That's right! The sun is rising, evildoers! On your… evil doings! Now get back here and suffer my justice! You just wa… uh…" Several Celestias gallop by. Winter glances about, voice trailing off. She scuffs a foot and pouts. At least Snowfield appears to be off to do something useful- good. Hopefully the baddies were so worried about Celestia adn Winter they didn't notice where the wee unicorn went.
Winter looks around for something else to smash. She spots a Nightmare Moon banner and stomps it flat, hopping up and down a few times to mash it into the snow afterwards. She goes back and stomps the inner fence a bit more. She then glances up to see… AAAAHH ATTACK TENT!
Rearing up, Winter kicks a few threatening times at the tent as it sails past. It presumably shows little interest in a fight. Winter calms down, sits up, and watches it go. She then raises a hoof and shakes it. "That's what I thought! Coward!" Lowering that hoof, she turns and heads deeper into the camp, looking for a tent that will better stand its ground. Ahh! That one there. She sticks her head inside to see what, or who, is there, and then starts kicking down the stakes no matter what the answer is.
From Kludge's viewpoint, things seem to be going well. The chaos appears to have the Shadowbolts keeping an eye on the inside of the camp and not on the periphery where the planning took place.
He has realized something, though: how was the main raiding party planning on letting him know where to haul the sled-cart for loading?
Sodium-Fizz leapt back into the sky to get a view of the chaos going around the camp. There were more than she had imagined, the Shadowbolts seemed stunned into inaction for the most part, with the exeption of where they stood fighting Winter-Blossom. She also managed to catch sight of… a tent scooting along the ground? Shaking her head she pulled a firebomb out of her cloak and, after fighting back a twinge of conciousness, tossed it into the nearest tent, lighting it on fire with a soft boom as she set of to find Winter-Solstice.
More bombs followed in her wake, lighting up the camp in gouts of flames. "Winter!?"
And as the dragon looks into the tent, it means that it isn't looking anywhere else, and is nicely distracted. Which means it's time for Sky Sparkler to work her magic on that nicely prepared cloud, and unleash a very large, powerful, bright, and LOUD lightning bolt on the dragon's neck. She's riding this one down, just to be sure it hits properly where aimed.
Heartsong has been circling the camp, trying to will herself to blend in. Luckily, with all the snow, her off-white wings blend pretty well! And the snowsuit helps with the rest. She peers through the snow, trying to figure out what's going on. It's going alright? It looks like it's going alright? She really hopes it's going alright!
Remember how I said early that while she wasn't a fighting pony Windrose wasn't going to pass up a chance if she got one? Well now would be a good time to take it, while the camp was already in chaos. Got to give the others time to get those supplies after all!
Grabbing a chunk of the stormclouds and pulling it free, Windrose dove out of the storm and closer to the camp below. The clump of stormcloud held between her forehooves, she gives it a good squeeze every so often as she barnstorms the camp, sending little bolts of electricity arcing here and there to farther add to the distractions. This is what you get for being big mean jerks!
Solar-Wind's team continues to duck and wheel through the scattered bolts causing mass confusion in their wake. Bolts vs Bolts and it is Chaos in the ranks nobody knows whom to blame but everybody's got the same uniform on so everyone's to blame!
The Psudo-Bolts break their formation and race away from the fighting only to reconveine at the edge of the forest near the entry point. Each of the pulls off their hoods so as to not startle whomever is back at the staging point. The skies have become chaos, and the lightening coming from above was getting to be too thick to safely fly in even for them. Time to change Tactics!
Such chaos…
The Shadowbolts apparently have a 'traitor' in their midst! Confusion! Ahhh! A couple of the more fiery members of the winged crew are certainly tricked into duking it out with each other, tumbling through the skies as they go, but… The ruse can really only go so far. When there's images of Celestia floating around, why would they be at each other's throats? That's suspicious! Thus does Solar earn the dubious privilege of having a trio of Shadowbolts seek him and his wingmen out, fully intending to go for the aerial tackle-to-the-ground tactic!
The rest of the Shadowbolts get their act together… Sure it's been a while since they've had to deal with something so bold as an attack, but that doesn't mean they're a bunch of weak-hearted foals! Not…entirely! Three trios remain not engaged with Solar, or pounded by Winter, each heading in different directions. One set of three zoom towards the moving tent, another moving to intercept Winter…though this group makes a pitstop to pluck up a few blunt objects to help. The other three remain in the skies, with all the floating clouds and ponies moving them around! They're certainly more than willing to rough up a weatherpony, lightning bedarned!
The Dragon is…shocked! Literally! Shocked at seeing two Wills, and then shocked at the zap he gets, prompting a loud roar and a lifting of mighty draconic head, ripping Will's tent right out of the ground! So much wind and snow and weather now swirls around the two copies of Nightmare's Will, one with gunk all over her hooves. Ugh. She's wrinkling her nose at that, Will is, but if the intent was to cause a freak-out… Well she didn't get into her position by being a panicky little wuss of a pony now!
No, she stands her ground and trades thrown object for thrown object, fighting through her desire to go jump into a warm bucket of water to meet her copycat nemesis eye to eye, wind whipping their collective manes about dramatically!
"I don't know what kind of sick prank you're trying to pull here… But I won't take this insult to her or my image sitting down! I'm taking you all in to my Queen! Starting with you!" The vial is flung, from the unicorn's horn at her mirror image!
And the Dragon is…snapping at Sky and her cloud! Grr, grr! Teach you to lightning bolt something fifty times your size!
» Ruby-Blossom rolls 1d10 (Ruby dodge?) — Result: 2 | Sum: 2
Winter-Solstice knocks a tent over from its weak spot- the inside! Ha ha! Ha- oh- oh it's falling on her head. It collapses atop her just as Sodium starts calling out for her attention. "Soda!!" answers Winter, raising her voice. She romps forward, struggling against ice-encrusted canvas that feels more like a sheet of heavy plates than fabric, and manages to get her head and a few legs free just in time to see a few cudgel-wielding Shadowbolts drawing near. Winter kicks the canvas free- leaving whatever it previously was covering exposed to the night- as she faces the three nearing pegasi with a crooked grin. "Soda! C'mere! I found some friends!"
Ducking her head, Winter glowers at them, then charges forward, head lowered and weight thrown into her shoulders. She likely does take a few hits along the way, but thick winter clothing and a body built to endure help her shrug off anything short of a focused attack. As long as she's able to scatter these irritating gnats, she's considering it time well spent- the more they worry about her, the less they're worrying about Snowfield, Heartsong, Manyara and the others.
Ruby fully expected that Will would use the sleeping draught against her - in fact she planned on it! Ruby is fully prepared to dodge, at least until the dragon roars and pulls up the tent; a mere moment of distraction causing Ruby to be struck square in the face with the sleeping draught as she attempts to dodge at the last possible second - the vial bursting into a a sizable cloud of sleeping draught. Of course the one thing Will didn't take into account is that she's pretty stuck in place at the moment - so a single misplaced gust of wind will see her knocked out just like her dopple-ganger; speaking of which Ruby promptly face plants in the snow - she is a dead ringer for Will with her eyes shut.
The moving tent is completely oblivious to the incoming Shadowbolts, considering that the thing moving said tent is currently underneath of it and doesn't exactly have a good view of what's going on around her. Most of what Snowfield is hearing is muted dragon roars and the stomping of dragon feet reverberating through the permafrost.
The cloaked mare drops out of the sky right next to Winter, and on top of one of the Shadowbolts though it seves little more than to knock him down, hauling a thin vial out of her cloak and tosses it to the towering earth pony. "Winter, growth potion, will make you about dragon-sized! Wreck the pla-," Sodium-Fizz whiped around at the sound of the dragons roar, a shiver running through her. "Drink it up! We need you to stop the dragon!"
Of course, standing on a very much concous enemy combatant isn't nececarily the best idea, as the alchemist finds out a moment after as she's tossed of her hooves, landing hard on her back, still amongst the Shadowbolts engaged with Winter-Solstice.
Jade has begun weaving through the clouds, kicking lightning bolts out of every one she can reach! Most are aimed, even, shooting at the incoming Shadowbolts! Some arcing past towards the dragon! Some just zapping this way and that making a scene! BAM, lightning, is the point she's going for here.
Ice-Spiral finds that he's being tailed by somebolt thats pretty darn fast too he practices his own trick with that of his namesake and flys near the ground for a quick take off spiraling the snow behind him in a fowl mix of ice and snow. He uses the few tricks he learned from Solar during his time training with the big pony. Smoke bomb, and RUN. He's not got the training to do too much more than that. He applies that smokebom and aims for the treetops to hide in the upper foliage.
Polar-Breeze on the other hand doesn't know she's got a tail on her, and is taken up by force the moment she lands. Her training isn't much more than flight and storm stomp, and she's rapidly taken into custody by the bolt, There's al big struggle with this one though.
Solar-Wind also doesn't initially hear his attacker, and he's almost back to start point, but its all over when the other tries to tackle him. Solar is already on the ground, but does indeed go down rather hard in the snow. It doesn't go well though, for the other pony that tried to take him down. Shadow Bolt, vs MUCH BIGGER PsudoBolt, they go hoof to hoof. in a knock down drag out fight. Little pony doesn't stand much of a chance against the mac-ish air tank.
Well that didn't work as expected! Sky Sparkler is left with an angry dragon nipping at her heels as she gallops away. Her refresh time on her teleport means she needs at least a little while… Hopefully she can move quickly enough laterally
Uh oh, looks like somepony is in trouble! Windrose drops in, discards her spent fluff of stormcloud, pulls out one of the vials Fizz was passing out early, and lobs it at the Shadowbolts near the alchemist. "Fire in the hole!" Hopefully the sudden burst of smoke and flames will give Fizz time to get back on her hooves and out of immeadiate harm's way. Because Winny's kinda busy dealing with the dragon there and we don't need allies getting trampled underhoof by accident.
Tussles are everywhere! Solar's crew gets more or less tackled, though the one tangling with the big skypony probably isn't going to have the best of luck, no. He tries anyway, sneaking in a big ol' headbutt just for good measure! Hiyah!
The Shadowbolts trailing Snowfield's tent dive down, all three of them zooming in to see what could possibly be making this tent move so oddly! "Halt! In the name of the Queen!"
The three ponies in the sky are practically bombarded with lightning though, and other pegasus of the rading camp, catching two of them right quick. The third one, left all alone in the sky, makes a strategic decision. He retreats! Right through one of the stormclouds, streaking out of the area! One can only assume he's run off to tattle on the do-gooders.
Meanwhile the ponies facing Winter are..finding out that sticks and stones don't do squat when you're trying to fight a padded iron-laden marshmallow. Seriously. They can't get close enough to pick the big mare up and they can't get a good swing in… When one of them gets crushed beneath Fizz, the other two open their eyes wide! One swoops in to try and snatch up the vial! The other…dashes off to find something bigger than a stick to use.
The dragon snaps! Snap snap! Rawr! He stomps around, making a total mess of the camp, trying to chase down Sky in the air.
And then there's Will. Laughing like only the truely haughty can laugh. "Hohoho! Such a poor imitation! Really. Nothing can stand up to the Will of the Queen~" …Except that stray breeze. Like a puff of knockout gas, apparently, sweeping past Will and putting her out on the snowy ground before she can finish her taunt.
The animate tent apparently hears and obeys as the leader of the Shadowbolt trio yells at it. It grinds to a halt and slowly rotates in place so that its entrance is facing the three of them.
Underneath of the tent Snowfield is considering her options. She has more than enough ice down here to come out in full Windigo garb. Are they likely to be scared off by that or will they take it as a challenge? Decisions, decisions… well, it won't hurt to begin crafting the shell while she waits for them to come close. Let's see, we'll need some forehooves, a long-muzzled head, extra angular cheekbones…
Sodium-Fizz flinched as the explosion went of nearby, giving Luna a silent prayer it wasn't any closer than that. Still, it does give her enough time to scramble to her hooves, if only to lunge at the Shadowbolt trying to snatch up growth elixir and bringing him down in a tangle of haphazard limbs. Of course, being a much smaller pegasus, and one without combat training, does have a certain disadvantage in a situation like this.
Winter-Solstice glances up from where she's tussling with a shadowbolts, and tanks a few blows on the face to see a vial being flung her direction. What? What? Pumpkin, what? What? Pumpkin? With a look of surprise she shoves her opponent away to reach up and scramble for the vial with clumsy pie-plate hooves better suited to stomping things than manipulating delicate objects. The shadowbolt at her feet pushes upright and surges in, trying to seize the vial as well. She turns about and headbutts him. "Ha!" she cries in a dizzy fashion, reaching down to scoop the vial up- just in time to get bowled over. Winter grunts, but keeps a firm grip on her prize, holding it between her two front hooves; and twisting about, tanking a further blow to the noggin, she winces through the pain and the stars as she uncorks the vial with her teeth and tosses it back. "Mmmff. Tastes like… like sugar and mushrooms," she mumbles.
And then she quivers. Winter sweeps the shadowbolt atop her aside with a broad gesture, sending him tumbling into the snow once more, and peeks down at herself. Her whole body shakes and trembles, faster and faster, rattling about in place, and she clenches her jaw tight to stop her teeth from knocking against eachother. And just when she thinks she's going to be sick, like that foamy feeling building up in her stomach is going to start squirting out her nose and ears- and just as the shadowbolt is leaping back atop her, club at the ready in his mouth- there is a bright flash, and a *PUFF* of red smoke, rolling out across the camp in a thick, obscuring fog.
But it dissipates rapidly, and when it does, Winter is revealed, the size of a house. A big house, mind you. A *nice* house. Made of bricks. A stunned Shadowbolt is perched atop her head and he just can't even.
The mare glances about, taking stock of her situation. Right. There's Sodium, adorable. Snowfield must be like extra-tiny. And there's the dragon. Winter wastes no time, turning towards the dragon and barreling towards it. Her hooves shake the snow-encrusted earth; her voice rings across the camp! "MY GIANT PONY, MY GIANT PONY, AAAHHH-AHHH-AHHH-AHHHHH-AAAAHHHHHHH!!!" This last bit is delivered as a ferocious a battle cry as she rolls to take the dragon down with a flying tackle.
Snowfield pauses in her underground Windigo sculpting as a deep, reverberating baritone echoes MY GIANT PONY through the permafrost. "What in Celestia's name…?"
Polar-Breeze and Ice-Spiral have been taken out, captured most definately, but that still leaves Solar whom is in the midst of a battle royal with that bolt. The headbutt knocks him for a loop a bit, and he indeed takes a few staggers back. "Oww you little Runt!" he growls back, stomps his forehooves,
"Now ya went and made me angry!, You won't like me when I'm Angry!" he spreads his wings and charges down on the much smaller pegasi all angry like! If ponies could grow, you'd definately hear something feral from the big guy
It wasn't Sky Sparkler's plan to use the dragon to cause more chaos and destruction in the camp. It also isn't in her plan to get EATEN! Thankfully, Winter Solstice's help buys the weather unicorn enough time to scramble away… "Oh sweet Celestia's beard," she says, as she gets an idea. Perhaps it's a good idea? Or perhaps it's the worst idea EVER. But she'll have to deal with it later, right now she's finding a calm spot in the storm, and looking for a cloud above to transport to.
Windrose just sort of stares. More so at Winter's rambling as she charges into battle than the fact that's now a giant dragon stomping pain train rolling out of the station. Then it breaks into a smirk in Fizz's direction. "I think right now we're all glad you two are on -our- side." The storm's still brewing, the camp is already in midst of madness and chaos, and while she's tossed in a good lick here and there she's really not eager to go into full blown fighting. What else can she do to help?
Oh yeah! They're suppose to be here for supplies. The pegasus bolts off to look for more caches of goods while the fighters are fighting.
Ruby-Blossom isn't all that intresting at the moment seeing how she and Will are currently quietly co-habitating in a nice little pony pile of warmth. Two identical mares - both taking an extended rest for the forseeable future.
Too much! When a red fog sweeps through the camp, and in its wake is the Biggest. Pony. Ever. A couple more Shadowbolts dash off, or crawl away, seeking to get out of the way of giant pie-plate hooves! The three that lurk within the moving tent pause… There's an awful lot of thudding going on outside. One peeks out, his eyes widening! Well they're not going to leave the tent now!
Most of the tents that aren't moving under magical influence have been damaged, burned, stomped, blown away, or otherwise Dealt With. There might be one other tent for Windrose to find, and it's got quite a bit of cloth and such in it! Non-food supplies! Hooray!
The Dragon roars! It snaps at Sky one more time, then realizes there's something big showing up. A new challenger! Slitted eyes narrow, a wisp of smoke rising from his nostrils. He turns, plants his great scaley feet on the ground (just narrowly missing squashing both versions of Will), and charges off with head lowered at the great threat of a great pony! Rawr! Here comes Tom!
At least things are quiet around Kludge and the sled-cart. It sounds like a full-scale battle over there, and considering how much help he was(n't) that one time with the snow wolves, well… it's probably best that he's over here, standing guard over the cart.
» Winter-Solstice rolls 1d20 (Kaiju Bodyslam Panic!!!) — Result: 4 | Sum: 4
Quite suddenly, Ruby would disappear! And then moments later, Will as well! With no apparent explanation. Except, if one looks quite close, little hoofprints in the snow around them. From the look of those tracks, something's circling them, trying to find a good position to lift.
Snowfield pokes her head up through the floor of the tent and looks at the three Shadowbolts cowering within and peeking out the door at Winter Solstice. This isn't going to work with the three of them staying here. Her head sinks back down under the ground… and the front half of a Windigo rises back up. It silently floats up behind the three hiding Shadowbolts.
It snorts once, loudly shooting a jet of mist at them from its nostrils.
Sodium-Fizz keeps on giggeling as she watches Winter-Solstice stomp through the camp. Glorious! She kinda wished she could lay claim to the idea herself, but it had been Ruby-Blossom's. Speaking of the sneaky mare, she had no idea where she was. Or anypony short of the now un-losable Winter. Speaking of ponies there were still a few groans ringing out around her, from ponies not quite unconcious enough after their encounter with the giant mare. Not quite unconcious enough meaning the odd one was getting back up!
She scrambled for the waterskin at her side and pulled out the cork, pouring herself a mouthfull. Not water, but rather rather flamable elixir. Turning her head she exhaled, spewing a gout of flame after the odd pony picking themselves up and to escape. Good ridance! Of course, that doesn't help with the mister slowly-recovering concussion she's tangled with.
Winter-Solstice throws herself at the dragon at the height of her charge, and with her legs thrown out and her mouth drawn back in a snarl (which is also a grin (because oh my gosh this is the best ever)), she looks pretty fearsome. Maybe if she wasn't so giddy with giant delight she might have done a better job judging the distance between herself and the dragon, but as it stands, all she manages to do is throw herself into its legs, knocking them out from under it and bringing the beast down on top of herself. Hopefully nobody is caught underneath as both land heavily. "Hnnrrffff!" she gasps, briefly winded. "Get off me, fatty!" Winter pushes up a moment later, still doing her best to grapple with the beast- to bind its wings, and its tail, and its long neck, and hopefully get it into a position to hit it in the face. Hopefully nobody is nearby as massive hooves go swinging about in the melee. Briefly, as she's waggling a forehoof at the dragon's face, she considers that maybe hopefully there was also something in the potion to make her fireproof, because fire probably hurts just as much when you're giant. "Get- get over here and-" Swipe swipe. "You big, stupid snake! Quit waving your head around and let me punch it already! Ugh! Ugh! Fine, fine. We're LEAVING." Winter hunches her shoulders, adopting a protective stance as she moves to instead grab the dragon by the tail and drag it out of camp. Hopefully nobody is caught underfoot as she plows ahead, and presumably the dragon tries to tug back in the opposite direction or maybe bite her or claw her or set her head on fire. Hopefully the dragon can't read her mind and realize how much Winter does not want to be set on fire right now.
Sky Sparkler had been looking over at the two white unicorns, wundering which she should save, but others seem to have dealt with that. Instead, she goes a-looting in the remains of the tent, stealing Will's dresses, jewelry, and other finery, in addition to any food she can find. Espeically candy.
The three remaining Shadowbolts feel a sudden chill. What! Gulping in unison, the three 'Bolts sloooowly look over their shoulder, and up at the frozen equine-shaped head. "AHHHHHHH!" they all scream, zipping right back out of the tent, past two giants fighting, and off into the dark horizon! So much escape.
Tom growls! And snarls! And flails around like a giant snakelizarddragonthing can! Grappling with a pony that matches his size! This was not in the script! He's supposed to be bigger than everything else! Confused, and more than a little cranky that all this chaos interrupted a perfectly good dream without even one tasty morsel for him to chew on, Tom the Dragon squirms about beneath Winter's grasp, twisting against the pulling. By the time he's tugged outside of the camp and into the snow, he's managed to regain enough footing to dig in there, whipping his head around with full intent on introducing the Ponyzilla to the worst-smelling breath ever! Oh, and fire. Because that's what dragon's do dangit.
Ruined tent… burned tent… ruined -and- burned tent… ruined.. can't even tell… broken… something… AHA! Dilligence pays off as Windrose finally finds a tent that isn't burned, ruined, broken or otherwise. Double score, it's full of cloth and stuff. Now the basedwellers will be able to feed and cloth themselves. Not that they really go anywhere, but it beats blue weeds and rags right? Right. Right!
Windrose promptly stuffs whatever smaller items she can into her own pockets and saddlebags, and makes note of the tent's location for when the big haulers come in finally. Then scoots back towards the entrance of the tent to guard it until then.
The Windigo sticks its head out the door and watches the Shadowbolts flee towards the horizon. It snorts again in satisfaction and then sinks back into the ground.
The food storage tent turns around once more and resumes going on its merry way.
One of the Wills reappears! The other stays vanished. Hoofprints lead away from it, off back the way the raiders had come, at a quick pace! Given enough time, they would return, heading right on back for the reappeared Will. Who… would vanish again. Whoops.
Winter-Solstice manages, with much tugging and pulling, to get the dragon out of the camp, hopefully leaving some big claw marks raking through the snow and permafrost, like one imagines a cat leaves on the floor when dragging them to a bath; the ground continues to tremble with her steps, the sound of it weirdly muffled to a deep thrum by the omnipresent snow. Now, she's not sure what she's going to do with the dragon once she gets OUT of camp… planning is for unicorns and professors, after all… so she slows down a bit after she tromps through the fences on the far side and turns to look back at the beast, hoping to get some ideas.
She instead sees an open mouth and the ominous glow of a building flame. Winter's eyes widen, and she releases the beast's tail to throw herself at its face with both her forehooves raised. Again, she's not good at planning, and this one is admittedly bad, but here goes…
» Winter-Solstice rolls 1d20 (sudden mouth pinch shut technique) — Result: 14 | Sum: 14
… and it sort of works. Winter looks as surprised as anybody as she clamps one hoof on the dragon's chin, the other on its nose, quickly enough to cinch its jaws shut before anything roasts her in the face. She does get a faceful of smoke, though. And she is left holding the beast like that. She stares at it grimly and maintains her position.
And then tries to kick it in the shin with a free back hoof.
PUFF. A giant cloud of smoke rises from the beast's closed mouth, kept from breathing fire out everywhere! Good thing, that might have hurt. Tom looks like he's downright pained that he had to swallow his fire back down, wresting himself away from Winter in spasms across the snow and permafrost, coughing, wheezing, and otherwise throwing a fit that he can't breathe! He's had enough!
The great beast, red-eyed and coughing up a veritable smokestorm, gives one last spin to try and thump Winter a parting shot, then attempts to (quickly) lumber off across the wasteland, wings spreading out. He's outta here!
In the camp? Yes, the raiding is under full swing. The weather ponies have dropped the storm, with no further threats to deal with, but they're moving quick… There's very likely to be reinforcements from Canterlot coming to investigate, and none of these pegasus want to be around in case the Queen herself shows up!
With the sounds of battle having faded out, Kludge moves in with the sled-cart. He goes from looter to looter, pausing long enough for one tent to be emptied before heading to the next one. Finally, his chance to be useful!
Heartsong glides down slowly to help with the raiding, still looking on-edge - and pausing to gape up at the giant dragon-fighting pony. What… what… just what. Really, just… what.
Solar-Wind has dealt with his following attacker, more or less left the other pegasus to his own crunchy devices. He's taken off to look for the rest of his team, worried for their saftey. He brought them into this fray, he desires to bring them back home in one piece at least. They did their duty, now its his turn! Solar flys each pre-arranged meetpoint, looking for them, or trouble, whatever comes first!
Sodium-Fizz shuddered as she struggled to pull herself out from under the half-brained Shadowbolt. She'd have to remember to thank Winter for just leaving him there! Getting up she groaned as she looked around, there didn't seem to be much camp left, which rather sent her stomach lurching. She couldn't help but wounder if somepony'd been caught in the fires…
She turned as she caught Heartsong in the corner of her eye. "Seems everythin went according to plan… More or less… Do you know what we're going to do 'bout them?" She nodded towards unconcous Shadowbolts strewn about.
Windrose promptly carries some stuff out of the tent to be loaded. And directs some of the pegasi back to the tent she came from so they can grab more of the stuff in there. While making a few trips for herself. Now all those poor foals that got chased out of their hiding spot by the undead can get proper blanekts and such, yay!
Heartsong blinks. "Oh, um… I… I don't know," she admits slowly. "Where's the Professor? Maybe… maybe he had something in mind. Or… or the, um, the other Pegasii." She can think of what the raiders would want to do, though. And it's not pleasant. She visibly winces at the thought, shaking it off with an actual shake of the head. "…Probably ask the Professor first."
Winter-Solstice dances about on her hind legs, front hooves busy trying to swing at the dragon or grab its nose or pull its wing or *anything,* so she's not very well-balanced, and takes that parting shot on the hip. She's sent spinning about and tottering on one hoof and, soon enough, toppling over. Good thing she pulled the dragon out and away from the camp, right? Because with front hooves flailing, she's pitching towards the ground like a collapsing building. Oh, gravity! Oh, you harsh mistress! It takes like five dramatic minutes for her to sail through the air and land heavily on her side, and when she does, the *THUMP* that it creates rolls through the camp in a small shockwave- though it is muffled a bit by the millenia-frozen earth.
Winter lies strewn in the snow for a few moments, then slowly starts to pick herself up, shaking her head about. Being huge is HARD. Her limbs feel so heavy, and so slow, and though she twists about and pushes to her feet as though she could pursue the dragon, she sees she'll never manage to catch up to the beast. Does this count as a victory? Does she still get XP? These are the things she considers as she stares at the beast's fleeing profile before it disappears into the night.
Oh well. Someday, dragon. Winter turns back towards the camp and approaches at an easy pace. "Hey, guys! Ha ha ha! Let's pack EVERYTHING up. I will take it all. I will take ALL the stuff. Let's go, right now. Just start heaping that stuff up. What do we have? Blankets? Food? Evil masks?" She reaches over with a hoof and casually punts one of the few Nightmare Moon banners still standing into next Tuesday. "Stupid. Forget the supplies, I'm just gonna go knock down her big stupid castle right now. Who's with me? Free rides!"
As she says this, red smoke is beginning to pour out of her ears. She has not yet noticed.
Snowfield is nowhere to be seen! Not at Kludge's sledge, not at the rendevouz point, nowhere at all. But some of Bloodrage's pegasi might notice a lonesome supply tent trekking across the wasteland in the general direction of Horseshoe Base of its own volition as they circle the area hunting down stragglers.
Finally, the Abada has appeared again! Manyara stands in the snow on the edge of the camp, looking around alertly. At her hooves are two ponies! One on her right, one on her left. Both unmoving - both quite fancy! One of them is Ruby. One of them is most decidedly not! Good luck guessing which is which - and which deserves more attention right now.
Speaking of the Professor! Apparently word has returned to him and Ironmane about the greater-than-planned success. They've come to the remains of the camp to oversee the claiming of what's left to claim. And quick, too!
"Great job ponies!" the Professor exclaims to the first ones he spots, Ironmane taking off into the air to get a better view of the carnage. "You've not only given the Queen's forces a bloody nose but you blackened her eye and probably gave her a fat lip too! Now we should probably hurry with the raiding part before reinforcements arrive. Things with wings don't often take long to get here."
Kludge unhitches himself from the sled-cart and goes over to check on the two unconscious unicorns. Carefully taking off a snowboot, he carefully opens an eye of each of them, one at a time. In *theory* only one has Ruby eyes, but there's one thing Kludge has learned regarding adventures and such: things will likely go wrong at the worst time; thus, fully check things before making a significant decision.
"I think it would be a bit to early to call it a bloody nose, Professor," Sodium-Fizz muttered as she turned, a hoof pointed at the unconcious ponies on the ground. "Stealing supplies and pillaging their camp is good but… It's ponies that are going to win or lose this for us. And them. A lot of them escaped, so they're still dangerous… As for this lot…"
Winter-Solstice gets ready to start gathering up ALL THE STUFF. And she would have gotten away with it, too, if the potion's effects didn't decide to abruptly give out then and there, in the form of a titanic sneeze. Giant Winter sucks in an ear-rattling breath, and releases it in a big gust of red smoke- blown back into the air by the force of it. When she lands, toppling out of the thick but rapidly disappating cloud, it's as her normal self, snuffling and wiping her nose on her sleeve, which is classy. She winces and picks herself up. Suddenly the assorted aches and bruises and bonks she suffered at the hands of the shadowbolts feel so much bigger, and she reaches up to hold her head with her hooves. "Uuugh," she says, dragging herself over to the others and joining in the pillaging effort.
She passes by Sodium on the way, and flashes the alchemist a wincey sort of grin. "Heck of a brew there, Soda! Can't say I care much for the hangover, though."
Blackbird emerges from the snow — wherever he's been this whole fight — with a few crates and saddlebags in tow. He totters back and forth a little, then pushes toward the sled-cart to drop it off. Nodding mutely to ponies as he passes, he lopes back into the snow, vanishing to find more.
Solar-Wind takes his bolts uniform off and stashes it in his wingpack (pack that sits betwixt his wings) so that he'd not be mistaken for one of them and trades his atire out with his normal thermal garb. Solar loops the scene looking out for the rest of his team. He finds places where they may have gotten into fights with attackers, but doesn't find them. Bolts are here and there out cold, or limping off into the forest, or in lesser conditions as he circles and eventually lands near by that of Sodium-Fizz and now Winter-Solstice. Only sign that he had gotten into the fray, is a bump on his head and a bloddied muzzle, but he's none the worse for wear. "Heya winter, ya gonna need a helping hoof back to base?" he asks of her, "or a sled for yourself?" he asks with concern seeing her reel about some.
Manyara looks over at Kludge. "I think this one is ours," she states, pointing to her right with one hoof, "but better safe than sorry. Besides, the other might… come in handy. Perhaps." She shrugs, looking the one she supposes to be Will over thoughtfully. "Either way I thought it safest to remove both from the fight and go from there."
"What about them?" the Professor wonders to Sodium, squinting slightly. "…Leave them to their fate. Their leader is not a kind one. They may perish in the cold before they're rescued. They may be punished by the Queen's hoof. But they're already beaten. No reason to kill them now." Then he waves more supplies! "Come on! Let's wrap this up! We can sort out who gets what at the Base!"
"Good enough, I guess," the alchemist mare muttered, shooting the downed Shadowbolts a glance from the corner of her eye, shivering. Sodium-Fizz sighed. "I really want to get away from here, I think…"
Winter-Solstice turns to flash Solar a grin. "I'm fine! I have not even BEGUN to fight!" She wobbles about a bit and then pitches in with the luggin'.
Professor Redmane pauses at the edges of the camp, next to two unconscious Wills. He blinks at them. Then up at the abada who's no-doubt standing nearby. "…I guess we take'em both. But tie them up until we figure out which is which.
Solar-Wind nods to Winter-Solstice and keeps an eye on her all the same no need for her to have 'issues' like he did last time. Solar's gone to EMT mode. "We have anyther injures round, so we can get some stuff together, and get going? Anypony hurt?"