New Moon Rises (MLP Quest)

((A/N: Sorry for the delay - getting the new laptop setup took longer then I thought.))
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You don't even have time to think as the familiar surge of magic rushes through you… It is time I made them regret their ways…

And you strike.

The first attacker is sent flying back with a flash of bluish-purple light, crashing into a wooden column with a sickening crack, but you pay him little mind. Your attention is instead focused on the three remaining ponies.

Motes of silver light dance from the tip of your horn and dance across your coat and mane as ethereal smoke-light streamers the same color as your magic unfurl around you before wrapping around cultists and yanking them to the ground as you grin, "Come now, my little ponies," you taunt them, your visage illuminated in strange contrasts by the lights dancing off your horn, "Surely this isn't all you can muster? Your goddess would be so disappointed." You don't bother trying to suppress the giggle at your own personal joke. Oh, you really did need this!

Your grin widens as two of the cultists struggle to their hooves. "Splendid! We would hate if this was over so soon – good to know we chose our words well." You dean to wait until the stallion – for this one is a stallion indeed, albeit barely old enough to qualify – to charge you, dodging aside at the last moment with but half a step. Your tail brushes across him as you spin around and you momentarily wish that you were wearing that cape, if only for dramatic effect.

Thoughts of fashion pass from your mind a moment later as you lash out with both hind hooves, catching the stallion in the rump with enough force to send him tumbling head over tail across the cellar, "That's two..." you say to yourself as you glance around, "But where are three and four?"

"Freeze!" A shout from off your your right draws your focus to where Chromia stands, one of the cultists holding a blade to her throat, "Don't move or she dies!"

"...Care to explain yourself?" you ask the bat pony, raising an eyebrow.

"Sorry ma'am," Chromia replies, "I wasn't paying attention," then she raises an eyebrow of her own, "How can you see me, anyway?"

You grin, "Spoilers."

"Hey!" the cultist snaps, "I said I'll-"

"Be silent into you are spoken to!" you snap. After a moment to ensure his compliance, you continue, "Now – what is it you lot expect from your goddess?"

The cultist blinks owlishly, "...What?"

"Oh, don't play coy," you say with a smirk. Behind you, you can hear three sets of hooves. You'll have to remember to buck harder next time, "Nopony does anything for free – so, why try so hard to bring back this goddess, hmm?"

"Our goddess is the rightful heir of Equestria!" The cultist shouts, loud enough to make Chromia wince, "And when she returns she shall reward us for our loyalty! We shall have the power others would deny us!"

"Power, is it?" You say. Your smirk is gone, "Do you think the night gives such things freely?"

"What are you-" The cultist starts to say, but is cut off as a an arcane bolt of energy slams into his forehead, sending him careening back as a smoke-like tendril plucks the knife away and sends it flying away into a column.

"The Night care not about your adulations!" you all but shout as the others move, converging on you. They're fast – but you're faster, "The Night does not play favorites!" you continue as you leap upward, leaving the three ponies to crash into each other as you arc overhead and land behind them, "The Night judges all equally."

You grab the nearest cultist in your telekinetic grasp and swing them toward one of their compatriots, "Those who respect The Night are welcomed! Those who embrace The Night are rewarded!" You release the cultist, letting him – or maybe her, you aren't paying attention – barrel over the other, "You wish to do neither! You seek to use others to cover the costs that you should rightly bear yourself! You praise the night only to exploit it! This is not worship! This is not respect! This is the petty pleading of foals after a sweet roll!" With that, you grab the two remaining cultists and swing them around, hammering them into the first two and landing the quartet in a heap at the base of the steps you had stumbled down a moment before, "The Night does not reward, nor does it punish. It simply… judges. And you have been found wanting."

Your verdict delivered, you unleash a surge of arcane power that sends all four flying upward and through the cellar doors with a crash. Sunlight streams through as you climb the steps with regal poise, coming to as stop a step from the gaggle of cultists, "We are not a prize to be taken, nor an offering to be hoofed over for the sake of power. We are... You trail off as a wave of dizziness washes over you, ...we are...

And then you stumble.

You give your head a shake you fall onto your rump and cradle your head with one hoof, "...ugh. Trixie is feeling most unpleasant." You weren't ready to use that sort of power – my mistake.

A series of slow hoofsteps making their way up the steps behind you, and as they come to a stop next to you, you spare a glance at Shining Armor. He stares at the pile of cultists before you before turning his stunned expression to you. After a moment, he turns his attention back to the cultists before finally settling on you again, and finally says,"Where the buck did that come from?"

You give him a weak smile as Chromia walks up and comes to a stop on your other side, "Spoilers."

"So..." Chromia asks, glancing at you, "What do we do with them? Questioning?"

"We have more ground to cover," Shining says, still watching you carefully, "We're better off having them taken back to the castle."

[ ] Question them now
- [ ] What do you ask?
[ ] Have them taken back to the castle
[ ] Take them back to the castle yourself
- [ ] What do you ask?

Achievement Unlocked = Heart of Darkness.

You stare down at the cultists for a moment before turning away with a sigh, "Trixie can talk to them later," you say, making your decision, "For the moment, Captain Armor is right. Send them back to the castle."

"Are you sure we shouldn't send you back to the castle?" Chromia asks cautiously as a group of Shining's guards cuff and take the cultists away, "You look a little… haggard."

"Trixie is fine," you snap, then sigh as Chromia recoils slightly, "Trixie apologizes – she's snappy when she coming down from an adrenaline high."

"No problem," Chromia gives you a slightly nervous smile as moves back to her original spot, "Guess its more useful than locking up, right?"

You're about to reply when Shining turns from overseeing his troops to you, "What the buck was that?"

You blink owlishly, "Pardon?" He means me dear.

"You. Downstairs," Shining replies sharply, "I want answers. Now."

You raise an eyebrow at that, "Trixie is certain we already talked about this."

"No," Shining replies, his stern expression slowly morphing into a glare, "I asked, and you deflected. I didn't push it since we had to handle the cultists. But now I want to know – What. Was. That?" You're going to have to tell him something, dear.

You sigh, running a hoof through your mane before replying, "Trixie has occasionally had… episodes, since her foalnapping. She imagines it has something to do with whatever they did to Trixie's mana circuits."

It was Shining's turn to blink owlishly. Obviously, he wasn't actually expecting you to give him a straight answer, "So, uh… like a mana flare?"

You mull it over before nodding, "something like that." But, you know, better.

"When were these other flares?" Chromia asks, her earlier apprehension washed away by a wave of curiosity.

"Well," you tap at your chin as you go over the last… week? It feels like its been longer, "The first time Trixie conjured shadow-tendrils against a cultist. The other time was during the interrogation. Trixie imagines the effects are some manifestation of her subconscious." Oh, is that what I am now? Your Subconscious?

"Well then, your subconscious is sort of creepy," Chromia replies with a smirk, "So – now what?"

"We continue our sweep," Shining answers firmly, "Those cultists knew we were going to be here. Knew we'd be looking around for them. Somepony around her had to have seen something."

You nod, "Then lets go ask."

The next couple of hours are spent asking the surrounding shopkeepers a myriad of questions as you try to piece this puzzle together. The owner of the store over the cellar didn't even know anypony was down there, and apparently the lock on the door had been broken for a while. A few others recognize you – apparently a silver and blue mare in a purple pointed hat and cape stands out in ones mind for a while – and confirm that you, in fact, were being chased by ponies in cloaks.

What's more interesting is that a few mention somepony else had been asking about in ponies in cloaks a few days back. A rough description from the shopkeeper fits Mister Spoon to a T. They also mention seeing more of the cloaked figures that evening as well.

"So," you say as you step out of another store, "Trixie thinks that confirms our suspicions."

"Yeah," Chromia nods, her expression pensive, "Now we've got to find them though."

"And I don't think we're going to find them here," Shining adds in with a sigh, "They knew we were coming, but if they were set up here they've packed up shop."

Where to now?
[ ] Let Shining choose.
[ ] Theater District
[ ] Palace District
[ ] Warehouses
[ ] Write-in