[IC] Nighthaze - The offical unoffical sequel to STOMP

[GodSentinelOmega]

“I’d say you got the better deal in the looks department. I mean, if we compare who gets more attention.”

Scarlet winced, then laughed as he succeeded in ruffling her feathers.

”Touche.

Though when has that ever stopped me.”

 

[Shadewing]

Rhapsody decided to head up into the church from the secret hideout below, deciding she wanted to get some fresh air while she waited for everypony to return and maybe see if there was anything she could do for her church's followers.

 

[Caldwin]

Hazy chuckled. "Hardly ever! C'mon, Captain. We're almost there."

Back at the church, Rhapsody saw a familiar face walking up to her. "Hey, there you are. You'll never guess who I caught skulking around the coffee pot," he said with a sour tone in his voice.

 

[Shadewing]

Rhapsody took a deep breath as she saw Static walking up to her, taking a moment to mentally switch gears. "Greetings Static." She says with a weathered smile, as the head priestess of the church she needed to act that part for her day job. It honestly wasn't much different then the old days, except she likes to think she's better at the whole 'socialization' thing. However whatever veneer she had managed to muster up immediately dropped at the mention of coffee. "Oh. So you've seen him too then. I suppose Lady Luna isn't so kinda, wherever she is nowadays, to have let that just be a stress hallucination, or something." She replies, not wanting to reveal just how much she knows of Hazy's operation and those partnered with her; there are somethings she knows Static would never understand.

 

[Caldwin]

"No such luck," Static said with a huff. "We might want to put a guard around the coffee, you know, make sure he doesn't take it all and bolt." He takes a long swig from his own coffee. "Of course, if he does that, maybe we could get the entire congregation behind finding him and throwing him off a cliff," he puts on a large, fake smile, "just like you always wanted!"

 

[Shadewing]

Rhapsody took a deep breath. "Posting a guard around the coffee would send the wrong idea to all the others that come here looking for help." She states, sounding like this is something she's already considered. Rhapsody then grinned a grin she's not grinned in sometime. "Oh Static, throwing him off a cliff is such a pre-sunfall idea. Nowadays there are MUCH better solutions to that problem, if we were to venture down darker paths. Easiest path would be to just simply get him arrested, he'd spend some time in a very tiny box of a holding cell, until being shipped off to some mine where'd he get to do the worst possible thing; actually having to work." She replies in a hushed tone. "Now, of course, as the Head priestess here, I can't officially condone such actions; especially not when this troubled soul has done nothing to actually harm any of my flock. We can't even be completely sure it really is him. But it is a fun idea to entertain, especially from such an old gray mare such as myself..."

 

[Caldwin]

...
*sips coffee*
...
*opens mouth*
*closes mouth*
...
*sips coffee*
...
"It concerns me to no end that I actually like that idea."
*sips coffee*

 

[Shadewing]

Rhapsody nods politely. "It is something to keep in mind, should this Night Cap prove to be as reliable and trustworthy as the previous one. Just remain vigilant, and let's pray that the second verse isn't the same as the first."

 

[TerraSqueek]

There was a hard thud. The filly splayed out on her back. Firmly out of bed and half wrapped in the sheets of the cot that had supported her augmented weight while she had been in the throws of that half-waking nightmare. Her mouth tasted like metal. Her already red irises were met by the whites of her eyes holding jagged red veins throbbing from agony. Her unaugmented body parts twisted and writhed while she whinnied and whined in an attempt to get herself back up on her hooves.

It wasn't easy. Not the least becasue the rest of her body was only barely starting to follow suit. transistors meant to convert the biological impulses into signals for the mechanical all balked and screamed at her commands to move. at one point an augmented wing nearly knocked the cot over as the first few struggles and strains to move herself overcorrected into the fake limb. Soon enough the bat pony was slumped down on the floor and groaning from the way her stomach twisted and twriled in knots. Nothing felt good. It felt like nothing ever would. She tried to sit up, to yank her glasses off the tableside and pul them on. But that did not really work. Instead the poor girl simply lay on the wooden floor as if distance from the ground was the source of her agony

 

[Caldwin]

As Hazy and Scarlet entered the church, Hazy made a hard turn towards the private area. "I'm going to check on Moony. If Rhapsody's there, I'll let her know we're back." As she entered, she saw Moonbeam reaching futility for her glasses. "Thank...whatever deity was listening...you're still alive!" She trotted over and took the glasses in her wings and put them back on the bat pony's face. "Here, take it easy. You've been through a lot."

 

[Shadewing]

Rhapsody taps a hoof to her ear and nods to Static. "Please forgive me, it seems like one of our patients has awoken. I will likely need to attend to them. Have a pleasant day, Static and may Luna watch over you and your family." She says before slipping from the room and down one of the hidden passages to the secret area below the church. "Ah, Hazy. I see you have returned as well. So that should mean, at least half the team is here. We can go over your intel once we make sure that Moonbeam is capable of more then just sitting up."

 

[Caldwin]

Hazy gives a startled gasp as her head whips around to see Rhapsody. "Buck, I need to learn better. Getting caught unawares like that is gonna cost me one of these days" She takes a deep breath to slow her heart rate. "Yeah, Scarlet's back too. I hope it doesn't take long for the others to get back. The owner of that lock box is hoping to use the Heliodryl as a cheap drink for a party tonight."

 

[Shadewing]

Rhapsody smiles a bit mischievously. "You have a long way to go before you get better then me. I've had plenty of years leaning to move in the dark, even before Sunfall."

 

[Caldwin]

Hazy grins back as she helps Moonbeam back to her bed and helps to untangle her from the sheets. "Reminds me of the stories Granddad told me of those superheroes Black Night and Tesla Titan...if you believe such stories." She finishes untangling Moonbeam. "There! How you feeling, Moony?"

 

[TerraSqueek]

The first thing out of her mouth was a string of profoundly bad neighponese with an accent which made her sound like someone poorly dubbing an anime back into its native tongue. She shook her head bitterly and tried to curl her wings around herself. The bat pony not really able to do so very well, almost gashing her cheek with some of the lightweight materials of her cybernetics.

"Luna wished me to survive, I suppose"

the flat affect and attempt to 'play it cool' did little to hide how shaken she really was. Her nose wrinkling a bit as she let out a sigh "I suppose I'm not yet ready to accept the gifts of Lady Luna without the need for those cursed mediciens, am I? Still, Thank you, Omae."

She then looked at Rhapsody and winced a bit. Clealry the girl was unhappy with the situation. Probably more so than she let on, with the dark, faye goth mood she still tried to keep up. She lowered her head and took a few breaths trying to keep from trembling as her body struggled to adjust. Anxiety flooding her even as she was hit by what her system frankly needed.

"I can do my part when the time comes, whatever that part is. I take it you don't want me to frag anyone? That was the plan, as I understood it."

 

[Caldwin]

"I assume Omae means friend?" Hazy asked, relieved that Moonbeam seemingly didn't hate her after all. "You're welcome...Omae." She continued tried to calm herself, reassuring herself that Moonbeam was indeed okay while she turned to speak to Rhapsody. It took a couple moments before something clicked in her head. "Wait a minute...cursed medicines? Are you saying your," [don't say 'cult'] "friends would have you chrome yourself yet turn you against using Heliodryl? Have they actually found a way to survive chrome without it? How many has that worked for?" Very few, she suspected.

 

[GodSentinelOmega]

Scarlet had walked in during all of this and nodded.

”I don’t think fraggin anyone will be necessary. Though based on what we found, that might be a tougher call than previously thought.

In one case anyway.

Staff there are all good ponies, mostly. The lockbox owner… not so much.”

Then he did a doubletake as Hazy spoke. Then he looked at Moony and (slightly) reassessed his view of why she was so overchromed.

”Willpower does not stop the body from having problems with the chrome. You can’t force yourself to function.

What the bucking hell is this?”

 

[Caldwin]

Hazy put a hoof on Scarlet's shoulder. After being so near to death, the last thing she wanted to do was antagonize Moonbeam. "Maybe we should discuss chrome after the job. We have little time, I'm afraid."

 

[TerraSqueek]

"It's mroe a saying. I'm not calling you fr-. forget it" The girl sighed "The night is here to test us. We have to be strong enough to ascend. Have to become something more. To become one with these gifts. Rejecting the sun" It didn't make any of what she said sound less crazy, and she bristled a bit more. She probalby would have gone on if her body hadn't twisted in pain just from the effort of yelling. She looked at the other two a long moment, shook her head, and sighed "Just tell me what it is you need me to do then. I can do my part in any job, chummer."

 

[Shadewing]

Rhapsody looks over to Moonbeam , and begins to speak fairly fluent neighponese. "Redī Runa ga anata ni jibun o motto daiji ni shite hoshī to omotte iru koto o hontōni shitte okubekidesu." Not really sure how much of that would be understood, based on how poorly the filly was speaking it.

She turns to look to Hazy and Scarlet. "This is the trouble with the cults. None of them actually knew the princess and what she would want. She would be ashamed to know this is what ponies do in her name." She says, doing her best to remain calm; her family has served Princess Luna for generations, even when she was corrupted into Nightmare Moon; her family still had faith in the Night Princess. Even before Sunfall, Rhapsody had dedicated herself to Princess Luna and the night; to promote the bounties that could be found. It is how she eventually found herself in the role of head preist after Sunfall; she was still doing essentially the same things she did before, little had changed for her. And this chromed little pony infront of her... pained her more then any other, she wanted to coddle the filly just as much as she wanted to throttle her; but neither of those were gonna break through to her. There was no easy or simple path, this wasn't some children's story that could be wrapped up in 22 minutes or less.

"We still need the others in attendance, hopefully they get here soon."

-----
Translation:

Spoiler

You really should know that Lady Luna would want you to take better care of yourself.