Rose shrugged. "As fast as the toxin moves, she's lucky to be alive at all. She must have some kind of natural resistance, slowed the spreading." Nightshade glanced at the wraith still spiked to the floor. Realizing that it couldn't escape, it had gone silent, and was glaring at her hatefully. "What are we gonna do with that?" Rose shrugged, and poured another cup of the antivenom. The wraith snapped as her as she drew closer, and she took the opportunity to toss the potion in the creature's mouth. As soon as the liquid went down its throat, the wraith began screeching. Steam poured off its body, filling the room. Within a few minutes, the unearthly wail of the wraith began to change. What had been an animalistic screech had transformed into a terrified, pained scream. Nightshade realized what was happening before the others did, her eyes piercing the steam to witness the physical changes. "Get those spikes out of her now!" ************************************************** Silver sighed and recovered the sword, slipping it back into his pack.
Rave nodded. "Yep! Want an effect, they can brew it." ~~~~~~~ It didn't take Azrael and Navaja terribly long to realize, given the audible clues. They rushed over, each of them cleanly pulling a stake out of one of the pony's back hooves. They hurried up, doing the same to the front hooves. "Why in Tartarus couldn't I take the other souls, then?" Azrael asked himself.
The mare lay on the floor, sobbing, the wounds in her legs oozing a strangely dark blood. "Do you see it?" Nightshade asked, nudging Az. Some sort of ethereal energy was flowing into the pony, visible to those who were able to see such things. "It's... it's her soul. She didn't lose it. Something took it. And she's fighting to get it back." The mare looked up, tears in her eyes. "Help me. Please, for the love of the gods, help me!"
"*squee!*..." Azrael slowly rolled his eyes back as his horn began to glow, using his special sense to focus on her soul as he did his best to force it back to her. If whatever took it was nearby, he would surely see it now. ~~~~~~~~ "Everything," Raven answered simply.
The earth pony mare's soul settled back into her body, as she stared at the strange ponies around her in terror. A hulking brute of a unicorn. A pegasus filly, with cold eyes and disturbingly long fangs. A pegasus mare, her white coat stained with blood, with eyes like a demon. And some sort of monster. Half cat, half bird. They were better than the alternative. "Help me. I want to go home." ************************************************ ~WHO DARES~ Far beneath the ice and snow, self-entombed in the frozen ground, the entity stirred for the first time in hundreds of years. ~WHO DARES TAKE WHAT IS MINE~ The tiny equine creatures had tried before to recover what the entity had taken. Even now, it could feel the faint tug as dozens still fought desperately against it's insurmountable might, struggling to reclaim their puny, insignificant souls. ~DESTROY THEM~
"We'll get you home," Navaja promised softly. "Can you stand?" Azrael's ear twitched, and he took a look around the room, eyes still back. Any magic would be plainly visible. "Something is off. Can any of you feel that?" ~~~~~~~~ Raven nodded. "It's a whole lot. Wish they'd legalize all her potions already."
*Far above the planet, the research ship finished whatever it was doing, and turned to face the planet's polar region, therefore exposing solar panels to the sun and starting to charge its Universal Transposition Drive, in order to leave.*
The mare looked at him miserably. "No." Her legs were in ruins from the spikes Rose had used. Galahad sighed. "Rose, go back down and get Rain. Make sure everypony gets a dose of that potion, too." ************************************************************************************ Nightshade nodded to Az. "I've felt it since we got here. It's everywhere. A taint, like the land itself is diseased. It feels almost alive."
"Well, that surely cannot be good." Azrael used his magic to lift the injured mare, gently placing her up on his back. ~~~~~~~ Raven shrugged. "Some of 'em are pretty sketchy."
"As long as they're not, like, death traps, I'm sure it's no big deal." An idea popped into his head regarding drinks. "Hey, ever made snakebites before?"
*Some strange energy brushed over the ship and prevented the ship from charging its Drive. Alarms started blaring in the ship as its crew started to report various systems failing*
"That's a new one, but I can totally do it." Raven turned to the taps, grabbing a mug and filling it half way with cider and half with top tier lager.
He regained his composure some. "It was just the taste." After quickly getting used to the mix, he drank some more with ease.
