Power Surge was dumbfounded by the spectacle he had just witnessed. After a moment of staring, he began jumping for joy and hugging everypony. "I told you!" He shouted, "There IS an alternate Equestria! We just saw proof! Hallelujah!" He continued prancing around the car and hugging the inhabitants.
Rifter looked around. This was not a good sign. "Everyone! Stay on guard!" He began looking around for the missing tan Pony, his eyes, darting around the room.
Tex started when the lights went out, and he got...something akin to butterflies when the ghostly image appeared. But...it didn't seem to have noticed them at all. It had taken the conductor, and it had called him...Blackwash? Well, that was how it seemed to Tex, at any rate. He grunted at Rifter. "It's gone," he said. "Probably not coming back. Looks like it was after the conductor."
After peeling Power Surge off of him, Rexar stood up, spear at the ready. Then he cast a confused glance to Tex. "You, uh, do realize that the conductor is the one who drives the train?" With those words, he began to stalk forward. That was so out of character... I have to do something quick. "C'mon mutts! Let's get that ghost!"
Spike comes out from under a table that he was... conveniently... underneath, and looked up at the Diamond Dog. While his past encounters with them had been much less than favorable, he was willing to give these ones a chance. They seemed to have their heads on straight, for once. "Yeah, and we can't let anypony get hurt!" The lights in the train slowly dimmed. The walls began to appear as if they were bleeding darkness, as the light yellow wallpaper slowly morphed into a dark purple, and all of the little flowers on the design were changing into skulls... pony skulls. That cackle repeated, and as Rexar continued into the next cart, it was more of the same. This cart seemed "much" longer than the carts normally were, or physically should be. The aisles blurred as either side's compartments seemed difficult to discern one from another. In the distance, a tan blob moves back and forth, and Rifter's keen eyes can see that it is the pony they saw earlier, wrapped up in what appears to be spider silk.
Power Surge glanced around nervously. "Okay, this is too much alternate Equestria..." He whimpered. Glancing at one of the skulls on the wallpaper, he suddenly hardened his expression. "Who is this!?" He shouted as he unsheathed his metal rod. Glancing around the room, he noticed a tan blob across on the other side of the now extended car. "Stop what you're doing! I swear to Celestia, I know how to use this thing!"
Lady Daress leapt to her hooves, unsheathing her great sword and brandishing it threateningly, her icy blue orbs darting around the morphing train. "Vile undead or demonic wickedry!" she shouted, slamming her heavy hooves to against the ground. "Come out, come out, beastie!" She huffed angrily from her nostrils, eying the tan pony's figure suspiciously. "Be warned, comrades; he could be an illusion!" Aurora was surprised by the surging eagerness for violence that her character inhibited. With danger rising its eerie head, the pegasus saw it as a challenge to devastate. This kind of attitude was new for Aurora, but that's what roleplaying was all about, wasn't it?
Tex was now suitably nervous. He'd had jobs with ghosts before (though they weren't common, obviously. He'd had perhaps two in his entire career), but this was...this was something else entirely. However, he knew that one of the prime reasons that beasts like this one made big, scary scenes was that it distracted and confused opponents. He shut the cackling skulls on the wallpaper out of his head and set the improbable dimensions of the car out of mind, and then looked around for something tangible to fight.
Rexar crept through the train car, spear out in front of him. His keen eyes were acclamated to dark spaces, but that didn't lessen his fear, in fact, it might've made it worse, as he could clearly see the images on the walls around him. It reminded Quill of a haunted house attraction that they might have during Nightmare Night. It was that thought that kept him moving forward. It's just a game... Just then, he spied a tan blob in front of him and suddenly had the urge to beat it senseless. The "Quill" aspect kept him from doing so. Wait for it to attack... He kept his spear trained on it and barked at it once. That, like having the independent digits, would take some getting used to.
Norm just stared at the figure that appeared before them, not saying anything to see what it wanted. The figure then went towards the conductor. He didn't care much about the show going around him, because it was too dark to see around, so he summoned a light spell to make things much easier to see in the now grimmly looking train. j then thought to himself "Woah, it's like I'm using my own unicorn magic. Weird feeling."
Tyro was watching the encased colt, muttering silently about flows of chi and energy and wondering about the point of spiritual infestation. Arc watches the world around him morph and warp and the wrapped colt bob up and down. Now, he had no clue what-so-ever about what was currently happening but he figured that someone was just sort of messing with them. This sort of thing doesn't just happen, this is probably just a cruel trick, right? Ghosts don't just appear from no-where. He looks up and down the carriage, spotting only the colt wrapped in ghostly silk for the minute. "All right, everypony. How about this? We split up and look for clues." Tyro wondered if he those words really had tumbled out of his mouth... "Half of us ought to go up the train and see if there's anything else floatin' around. The other half'll go and see what's up with that colt in the wrappings there. We should also try and check that there's still somepony driving the train. Make sense? I'm going to check out the mummy over there." Arc walks down the aisle towards the floating, wrapped body. Every step is punctuated with another check in another dark corner of the carriage.
Power Surge gritted his teeth. "I can't stand another moment in this car." He said with a tang of nervousness. "I'm going to one of the other cars. Anypony want to come with? I'd rather not leave alone..."
Norm heard this and said "I will go with you Power Surge. We must not be alone in these times." and he followed Power while still having the light spell active. Norm apparently made the hat glow with his magic, almost like a light bulb, so that they may be able to see and that his left hand would be free.
As members of the group near the tan pony wrapped in the bindings, he is suddenly lifted upwards into a ceiling impossibly high for a train. Pulled out of reach, but still in view, the white pony appears standing in the air next to him. "Go on and lead me to Gallopmere, ponies. I shall have my tome... and with it, I shall return to this world!" The sinister cackling happens again as the tan pony begins to scream. Spike finds his hiding spot behind Daress, as the screams of agony pronounce loudly through the train. Then suddenly a crack and a gurgle, as the strung up tan pony bleeds from the throat and mouth. "What is this? You are not Blackwash lineage! Not but a lamb, and a foolish foal." It looks down, as if it suddenly notices the group is there, and looks unnerved by this development. "Is this a form of trickery? Who are you!"
Before he could exit the car, Power Surge heard a commotion behind him. He turned just in time to see the tan pony begin to bleed from its orfices. "What the hay!?" He shouted. The tan pony yelled "Is this some form of trickery? Who are you!?!" Power took a step closer to the ghastly sight. "Considering you're outnumbered, I think we should be making the questions here! What do you want from us?"
"Perhaps you are right..." The tan pony drops from its elevation, hitting the ground with a loud thud as the ghost continues. "My minions do not answer me... my call from beyond the grave is not strong enough." The white specter slowly lowers towards the floor before gasping in realization. "Ah! I shall just have to take your souls!" With another sinister cackle, the ghost phases out. A dark purple glow illuminates the train car from the outside, glowing from the cavern walls. It's starting to feel like this tunnel is going on forever. The tan pony's eyes begin to glow white as he coughs out blood, groaning. "Ssssssouls~" The doors on either side of the car close up, shutting the group in there with him. In the grim glow of the dark purple, ponies can see the large black spider slowly descending the wall behind the bloodied pony. White eyes glow from the 8-legged monster, as it stares upon the group. For those perceptive enough, the skulls from the walls slowly melt away, but the wallpaper continues to be painted that greusome black crimson. Such theatrics for the midnight train. Perhaps we should've set off during the day? Ah, but it's not like the princess would believe in ghost stories now, would she? Do try to keep your souls intact. You'll be needing them later.
Without a second thought, Rexar leapt into action, putting himself in between Spike and the Spider. Holding his spear in a defensive pose, he glanced back at the baby dragon. "Stick with me, little guy. Ol' Uncle Rex'll protect ya." "Ol' Uncle Rex?" What am I on...? Trying not to pay any heed to Eight Star's warning or the horror show going on around them, Rexar snarled at the spider.
Rifter prepared his claws. He let out a loud battle cry before preparing to attack. "Come on! Lets show who not to mess with! GWAIHH!!!!" He let out a bit of a smile as his eyes, squinted in case of attack. Now the fun began.
Lady Daress was bristling with energy, her eyes blazing with fury. If any creature came close to infuriating her like a raging drake did, it would be the undead. The unnatural magic ruffled the pegasus' feathers irritatingly, and the warrior barely kept her frenzy bridled. In fact, Aurora herself felt like she was in a rodeo, trying her best to barely keep up with the bucking, furious character. The only other factor that kept Daress from flying into battle with the spitting spider was the small dragon cowering behind her. Dragonslayers had a keen fascination and respect for the creatures, and they served only against dragons who portrayed great evil. Daress would dedicate her fight for Spike, to protect the youth at all measures. Until the enemy chose its prey, she would wait to throw herself into the fray.
