In The Kingdom Of Hope [Concluded]

The smiled a bit that everyone had no objections though it faltered when he was called shell shocked. "Did everyone see me?" He thought to himself, hoping that they hadn't. He nodded in keeping Sugary in the back since he thought it was enough to him and One in the front. He didn't catch onto the fact that Luna hadn't remembered his name and he really doubted she did. He was a solar guard, a low-ranking one at that. He did take a bit of offense from One though it was slight, taking the fact he didn't really know his name and had guessed to remember it. He walked next to the Vampony and glanced over at him for a moment. "I not much outside of your regular thief or changeling attack." He raised a brow as he shifted his attention at the construct in front of them, glowing in a faint green light as it passed over the outward edges of the cave. "Why do you ask?" He said, getting the feeling it was his reaction to the things before.

"Either way is fine, Princess..." Sugary had no problems with how Celestia referred to him at the moment. And while he still didn't quite trust her, she seemed nice so far. Perhaps, in another time, another place, he might have been in her employ instead had things gone differently after all.

Thus far, Blade and Fearful were keeping themselves busy up ahead of the group, so Sugary simply remained in the far back with Summer, lightly providing light through his magic as needed to help with view from behind. He kept his eyes and ears sharp as he then placed the cape he lent to Summer back in it's inventory, while curiously watching her smirk to herself an awfu lot, and hearing Summer cooment about her apparent intelligence. Looking at the real thing and the phantom as if making double takes, he tried to inquire them. "What are you two on about...? What is it that you know? If it's important, please, speak up." It was a bit much having two identical cocky mares right next to him without any immediate reason.

Luna did not bother shaking free the trace amounts of dirt on her as she arose, thinking it a waste of time when there was a chance it may need be done again. "Exactly what I meant. I would have been disappointed if you did not take things with the appropriate severity," Luna replied in an equally dry fashion. She was slightly amused, but there was not a chance she would concede a even smile to Fearful, as that would only encourage him further. She just kept her eyes forward as they kept moving.

Celestia had plenty of opportunity to think as they walked. Diurane slowed to fall in line with her, seeming to want to say something, but she gave him a glance which silenced him. Conversation was not to be had right now was what he picked up, though the princess did not seem to be moody. He looked over her, looking without making his stares obvious. He could figure ponies out, and Mittere had been rather keen to promote this skill, but some ponies weren’t like everypony else. All he could read from her ears perking for a moment was that she was in thought about something.

"The both of us?" Mittere asked with concern. "You are talking with that other mare again?" She made no attempt to address the actual question. She could tell Sugary, but the same concerns she had before about her idea being used were still there. “I trust you would share if it was anything important,” she said in order to flip the situation on its head She wasn’t planning on withholding anything for too long, just long enough for the problem to become evident, then she could sweep in and reclaim some lost pride, which had been wounded despite her seeming to no symptoms.

The way ahead was now somewhat lit up, there was no light to be found at the end of the tunnel. Blade may have felt something unusual ahead, but it was omnipresent throughout the tunnel, meaning it could easily be something akin to background noise. How noteworthy this was came down his own discretion.

Not gonna smile eh? Guess I'll have to step it up... "Yes well, you know, someone in this group has to be serious. Heaven forbid anyone crack a joke in this place," he paused, glancing around the tunnel. "Though I must say, do all supervillians have a weird fetish? I mean, with Discord it was chocolate milk, Sombra had that thing for stairs and now this thing has a liking for long, dark passageways. Glad I have nothing like that."

"Worry not Blade," he murmured as he turned to face the guard pony. "I am fairly certain I'm the only one who noticed." Fearful considered his question for a moment before responding. "Your innocence is refreshing. It is not often I see a guard who is so willing to defend his nation, yet does not know the horrors of war. I do mean that as a compliment, by the by. Monsters like myself... We cannot guard the common pony. Our thirst for blood... Spilt, not drank, is excessive." He chuckled. "Truly, I wish more were like you, and less like me..."

Fearful watched the end of the tunnel approach, his eyes scanning the wals for traps.

Blade gave a slight chuckle from the villain fetishes though he didn't know about the Sombra and stairs thing. It sounded humorous. He wanted to think of some other villains, but then that meant thinking about failures of the Guard to actually protect Equestria, unless you counted the Captain as the Guard. The thought made his smile falter a bit until it completely faded when the Vampony said he had not seen the "horrors of war". The stallion grew serious immediately as he fought against the urge to talk about the horrors that still plagued him and why the simple utterance of the word "dragon" made him tremble. Blade kept himself from doing so because it was not the place to bring it up.

When the Vampony said that he wanted to be more like him, Blade didn't seem to really care and only responded "I guess". The guard had to admit that the power of a Vampony was strong and Blade envied that. If he had that power on that day, he could have saved them. His parents would probably still be around, but why did simply drinking blood make things so bad? It seemed more inconceive in the end since he guessed that a Vampony didn't have to drain someone dry to feed. He felt the strange presence and decided to move away from the subject that they were on. "I'm feeling something strange, can you see anything? He asked as he moved a few steps slower, waiting on One's response before he said anything to the rest of the group.

There was little Sugary could do being at the back of the group, as it was up to those ahead to get a better view of the front and assess what was what. So, for the most part, he'd remain on stand-by along with Summer and Summer. "I guess that's true... But then what's so funny? The phantom says you know something... strange as that sounds... And no, I still don't know why she's still here with me. Frankly, I'm surprised you're not all more worried about her. She's still right there... Riiight next to me..." Let none of the others in the group think he was crazy. That was his hope. He had been through enough as is.

Luna laughed, though it was weak and empty, rendering it similar to a melancholy Heh. It wasn't that he was not amusing, but it fell short once again of getting her into a mood to laugh. “I am sure there is something to be found. Or is it that you think you have lived long enough to grow out of it?” Fearful not being a villain, it likely wouldn’t be anything creepy anyway.  

"Just what reaction are you trying trying to elicit from me?” Mittere asked. He’d placed a great deal of emphasis on how how she was right next to him, which could mean only one thing to her mind, with its slightly unusual priorities. Was a phantom trying to seduce Sugary? It was in her image, which made it odd because he was cheating on her with herself. Which she had to wonder as to if that counted. This line of thought was an enclosed loop to her, so she brute forced her way out of the hedge maze she had constructed in her head. "There is One thing I should probably tell you..." the mare did admit in order to free her mind of thoughts most inappropriate to the current situation.

"Once you know the method, all magic is simple to degree," Summer said with with a smile on her face, almost proud of how cryptic she was being. To herself though, she was making perfect sense. She was rather limited as to what she could say in her current form though, she was forced in being cryptic, she couldn’t just tell Sugary everything, or even just appear to anyone. Given the option she would have appeared to a pony a little more important, but the stallion Sugary Market was the closest at the time.

Celestia tried not to be affected by the pony looking get over or other ponies talking around her. "We should stop," she said, her soft tone masking the fact it was an order. Making it not seem mandatory had functioned much better than barking orders in a loud voice. The traditional method. Making sure at least some eyes were on her, she turned to walk away, back where they had come from. Nothing seemed for a while as she got further away from the group. Hoping she still had attention, she began to move a little faster, though still with a great deal of royal restraint. Once she had reached slightly over thrice the distance of the group from front to back...She just disappeared from view. Not even a moment later the mare show herself again, this time a little ahead of the group. The princess said nothing, letting the event speak for itself.

Fearful caught sight of the gleam of desire in Blade's eyes, even if it was there for a moment. "Trust me kid, you don't want what I've got." He muttered, before glancing at the end of the tunnel. "Nothing particular... Can you describe what you mean by strange?" He asked, glancing at the group behind them.

He considered Luna for a moment. Never delicate... But she was not always this cold. Is it this situation, or has she really changed so much? he questioned himself. "We could always test it~ but I do believe I possess none. Gods, I remember when you and Celestia were both but children. Oh, those were the days, you with your lisp, and Celestia, accidentally confessing her feelings for her tutor. I did have a good laugh at that one." He would glance at Celestia to see if he could at least one pony to at least show some emotion.

Fearful frowned as Celestia walked away, and the frowned deeper as she reappeared in front of the group. "Well, that's rather unique. I haven't something like that in ages... Quite a difficult spell to maintain, particularly if the group kept attempting to walk backwards." He considered it for a moment. "It seems, we are wanted ahead."

The stallion shrugged. "I really don't know, but I just feel all round the construct. It hasn't done anything yet so I guess the feeling might be the creature's presence, but that's only a guess." The guard kept walking down the cave. His attention shifted over to the Princess as she asked them to stop and did so. He waited for a while, expecting an explantation in them stopping, and took a step forward as the Princess was out of sight. "Princess Celes-", He managed to say before he caught movement in the corner of his eye and turned his head towards it. "Tia..?" The guard was left confused by what just happened. She hadn't used teleportation since there wasn't a flash, but how else did so get in front of them? Then, it seemed like One had known what had happened. "What spell did she use?" He asked as stood there confused in which direction he should actually be going in.

Sugary was eagerly awaiting for Summer to answer, but it seemed another pressing issue happened in the form of Celestia moving away, and suddenly coming back from a completely different direction. Needless to say, he groaned as this reminded him of all too familiar of a territory. "Figures... Stepping into a dungeon with warped features... We might have been going in circles for a while."

He tried to take into account what was being discussed, what Summer was telling him, and what Summer was about to say as he looked straight at her. "Madam, now would be a very good time to speak. I've been shining light for a while, but nothing else has been happening despite my suspicions... Unless a stronger light is needed?" He looked to Celestia, and then back at Summer. He was stumped at the moment.

"That is a nice fiction," Luna said, being rather quick to respond "But I think you should keep such things to yourself. I would love to hear your stories another time." She was confident she had saved face. "And if I may ask a question about your prior statement, the one about testing. Are you implying something by that?”

"There was no magic on my part," Celestia said to Blade. "That is where the problem lies. The question I feel we should be asking is if it works both ways and how easy will our exit be? Also, most would be considered a child to your eyes Fearful, but age and maturity are not synonymous. Please do not belittle others. I may be happier to talk about such things at a better time." Celestia's face remained soft but slightly distant. It was impossible to tell what, but she was certainly thinking thoughts about stuff. Her eyes did glance to Mittere, who looked as though she was going to speak up.

”I guess you already know what this is about Mr Market, do you not? We have indeed been walking in a loop. It is a trick I have recently revised. Good for keeping things in. I have also had a rather intimate experience with the conjurer's magic to get used to the feeling. Fortunately,” she said as her confident smile showed itself again. “I know both the trickster and the thick, getting rid off it shall not be too dissimilar to dismissing my own version.” There was a ‘so I hope’ that should have gone in her statement somewhere were she being fully upfront, but she’d hid everything about the problem until they’d discovered it existed so far.

Mittere shook her head, clearing it ready for work. As her horn lit, she closed her eyes, expecting it to be as cathartic as throwing a ball with a deft flick. The reality was that it was more like having to perform surgery. She slowly worked her way through deconstructing the spell, knowing if she did it wrong, missed one step of the forty or fifty total, the energy would have to go someplace and would blow up in her face. She was working against a more powerful entity that was actively trying to stop here, but there was something about having her life and pride tied to a moment that she liked. Her mind was clear, it was just like chess, only with a tangible goal. Check. Check. Check. “And mate,” Mittere said aloud accidentally, looking to Sugary in order to cover up the slip, as she felt the magic around them bend to her will and dissipate. Very little changed in the surroundings. Same dark tunnel. There was at least a sign of progress ahead where the tunnel seemed to take a slow decline. Deeper was the way to go it seemed.

"It's a spell Blade, that once a creature reaches a certain point, shifts reality so that said creature appears back where it started. At least, I assume that's the version of the spell that this creature has used," he explained. "As Celestia demonstrated, it stops us from retreating, and probably going forward."

Fearful raised an eyebrow as Miterre shattered the spell. "Are you playing chess with the spell Miterre?" He asked with a snort. "I assume that means you were successful?" He asked as the barrier flickered. "Huh, well done."

He turned to Luna as he began to progress further into the tunnel. "I was implying something, yes Luna. I shall leave it at that." He smiled sweetly, before snorting. "Remember the time you were grounded for..." he trailed off for a moment. "What was it? Ah, it's on the tip of my tongue... Oh, that's right. You decided you'd remove the gems from the crown of the dragon ambassador and replace them with plastic. A good prank to be sure, till he almost declared war."

His head swivelled and he faced Celestia, now walking backwards with no apparent difficulty. "Oh, I do not belittle someone unless they need it. As for the whole thing about children, I am just as much a child as everyone else... Let a dead stallion have his fun Celestia." His smile faded and she sighed softly. "A better time? Perhaps, if we all make it through this."

Blade was simply confused by the tidbit of information Celestia had given him, obliviously not familiar with magic like this. It wasn't until that One gave him the answers did Blade actually start to understand what had happened. "Well, I guess that explains the feeling I felt just recently." He said, now feeling a little dumb that they had been stuck for a loop because he unable to detect something everyone apparently knew already. The stallion best himself over that fact until and would have apologized if he didn't think that it was unneeded and dumb. Soon, he noticed Mittere's horn lite and only watched as she finished her spell. He looked around and expected more than a simple decline to change the cave. The stallion's mood might have lighten up a bit from One's tale about Luna, but the mention of a dragon ruined it for Blade. "So, would anymore mind if continue ahead with my construct?" Blade as he took a few steps further ahead and would keep walking until someone said anything against that action.

Sugary was caught way off guard as Summer suddenly spoke to him by saying 'and mate'. Different ideas swirled throughout his mind as to what she meant and how to respond, even going so far as to incredulously think "Right now, Summer!?" until things began to make sense as the complex enchantment in the cave was de-structured.

His first concern wasn't that the path was revealed however, though he was glad for it, but rather Summer's condition as she was struck by a trap not too long ago. "Madam, if this is what you were talking about, you should have said something! Are you really in any condition to do things like this without help? Do you feel alright?" His tone was a stern one this time towards her as he positioned himself by her side, cape at the ready so as to let her lean on him again. He had already shared his thoughts with her about not pushing herself too far, but now he was more worried she was just being stubborn against her better judgement. But he was not one without gratitude. "... Thank you though..."

He had no problems with Blade taking the lead, though he did have a thought of his own to share about Fearful's comment as well. "No problem, Sir Blade, but don't forget to trade places with someone if possible to moderate use of magic. Just in case... By the way, I'd like to point out even a child can be mature... Jests aside, I hope all gathered here are taking this seriously." Now it was a matter of finding out where the path led to.

"Chess?" Mittere asked, trying to sound confused. Her eyes strained to look at the pony she was talking to. "I would much rather play a real game. One that requires actual skill to play. I was merely wishing Mr Market to my side. I did however forget my surroundings somewhat. Go on ahead, we may be a little slower, but I still intend to see this through.”  She couldn't allow herself to sit back and be useless. "Do not waste all your energy worrying over me, or at least my exertion, Mr Market." Honestly, she liked being such a large part of his thoughts. “I am not going to say this very loud, but I feel the large burdens are going to have to be taken by Celestia and her sister. I trust you and my grandson to represent me well.”

"I appreciate what you're trying to do,Fearful, I think to some extent we all do," Celestia said, following Blade's lead. "And while laughter in the face of adversity is important, it is best not to try too hard to force it."  To Blade and Celestia, a certain coldness could be felt from ahead. Celestia took a small inward breath in shock. It made some sense it would colder where there was no sunlight, but such a chilling breeze certainly felt that way. If Blade has his sense tuned in, he would be able to feel the cold was certainly not natural and was being generated from further down the path in front of them.

Awaiting them in an awkward angle of their view was a point ahead where the slope fed onto an open area with unrealistically shaped pillars supporting the heavy roof in an awkward and unsafe looking manner. Ice made up the bulk of the material used for the room. But it was all so neatly carved into whichever shapes needed, like the stonework, if it could be called. Although it was clear that it was ice, the surface was rough and textured to make them as frictionless as gravel road, and something had been done to make the ice virtually indestructible.

“It sure is a lot colder in here, huh?" One of the guards said, breathing out just so that he could see the condensation form in the air. A childish habit.

“I’d certainly not object to throwing  a coat over this armour right now,” another replied, lowering his head a little to cover part of his exposed neck
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"Out of the frying pan I believe they still say," Luna offered. It was somewhat in defiance of what her sister had said about not forcing a laugh, but she really didn't need to do what she said. In fact, were it a more playful situation she would have given a counter order giving Fearful permission to run his mouth about whatever, because it did lighten the mood at least a little bit, even if it was just the guards.

Fearful turned his head, still walking backwards, to face Miterre. "Feeling a little weak? I can lend you some of my strength if you need it. I owe you that much, and I have so much right now, here in the darkness." If she agreed to take it, one of his wings would glow gently, a stream of barely-visible energy floating from it into her horn.

He turned back to the direction they were walking, placing his hoof on Blade's shoulder. "I'll take it from here Blade. Move back, and recover your strength, you've done enough for now," he murmured, before moving past him, heading down the tunnel.

As he reached the cave, he chuckled. "Unfortunately Lulu, the saying would have to be changed to 'out of the frying pan and into the freezer.'" He shook his head and bent down, examining the ice closely. "This is... Incredible. Even Isabelle or her mother would struggle to reach this quality on such a scale. Whoever made this was incredibly powerful."

Fearful glanced behind him, making sure no one was too close to him, before he muttered a word. If anyone was close enough to hear his whisper, their ears would sting, as if struck by a whip. A small drop of blood fell from his mouth, before a tiny flame, only as big as his fang, appeared next to his head. He let the flame drop, curious to see whether the dark flame he had summoned would melt the ice.

Blade chuckled a bit at the fact he was called "Sir" once again. "I will." He said, feeling like Sugary was a mother shouting a few last things to her colt before he went to school. It was well intended and Blade didn't mind the advice. He continued walking down the cave, deciding not to tell One to stop since he really didn't mind and enough people had done so already. Blade noticed Celestia was not too far behind him and it made his pride swell a bit. Princess Celestia was following "his" lead. Once they reached the cold part of the cave, Blade felt a strange feeling of magic to touch his. It was mainly because he was using magic and when magic rubbed against his own it would be felt by him. "Magic?" He said in some disbelief as he shivered a bit from the cold, now wishing his armor covered up more of his body.

His gaze focused over the area below and his eyes widened a bit. "Wow..." The guard said as caught in awe by the amount of ice to be found now. Blade's construct would continue to move in front of them though it would only cover the ground, covering 20 yards in each direction, if it was larger than the cave.

Sugary felt a bit confused at first, but even he didn't buy what Summer meant by calling him over. That didn't stop him from chuckling on good spirits though. He kept her words in mind about representing her to heart, as it seemed she was finally giving herself a chance to not push herself more than needed when she had others by her side to help as well and it put him at ease.

The cave certainly brought back some memories as it got colder and colder. It even got to the point where he muttered something about Ice Wolves and Death Eyes while looking around for signs of danger. He also watched with curiosity as Fearful tried to melt some of the ice, but he got the distinct feeling that the location likely had more latent magic than any single being in the group after what's been happening since they arrived.

Nothing else of interest was showing up, so he simply kept on the lookout for anything that might be worth noting as he spoke. "By the way, if anyone's feeling especially cold, I do have a few extra capes and sheets with me. Not too many though..." He also made sure that Summer would remember he still had one of the extra capes on his back if she needed it by pointing to it.

He then tried to see if Summer had any ideas to share. "Phantom... Any chance you can share anything about this place? Would this be connected to any sort of village nearby at all?"

Mittere did not want Fearful’s magic, that thought of it was just...eww..In a gross fashion to her. She did accept all the extra energy however,  and began to feel a little better for having done it.
For whatever protection it would provide against the cold, Mittere took the cloak that Sugary had offered to her, putting it over herself securely, indicating she planned on wearing it for some time. It didn’t do too much to help with cold though, and she longed a little for the familiar oppressive heat which she had grown accustomed to over the months. “How about you tell me what you don’t keep in that little bag of yours some time, Mr Market.”

"There really is no point in me saying anything at the point. It is all written down for you." Summer walked in front of him, wearing a rather familiar cloak of the opposing colour to the one Mittere had taken. She appeared to be in a relatively chirpy mood, and the cold seemed to not affect her her.

There was so much ice at such a thickness, that was impossible to get an idea, visually at least,  as to how it had responded to the flame. The magic keeping the room preserved was immense, and had more than enough to snuff out any spells that could be cast if they did not accommodate for it.

Blade's construct reached to the walls, to the left and right at least, managing to scale up the but only just. With the hard work of his colleagues the visibility was enough to see the far side of the room, where there was a door that was in fitting with the architecture.  

"Isabelle?" Diurnae asked, walking slowly around the outside of the room. His attention quickly fixated on one of the several two-feet tall walls sparsely populating the outer rim of the middle raised platform in the room. "Somepony I've not met?" He said, bounding across the room. He was mindful of traps, but not necessarily scrutinous.
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Celestia’s eyes widened as she saw the unicorn move ahead. The room was still dark and she did not want him to end up doing something, or doing anything in under less than ideal circumstances. There could be traps in anything!

"Humor him,”her sister said quietly over her shoulder. It was optimistic, but she had a feeling that Diurnae would not fail to find some surprise, as he seemed to be a pony of some importance. "Also, allow me to solve the light problem." A light came from Luna's horn, leaving a streak behind it for a moment like a shooting star. The light travelled in a linear fashion until it embedded itself in the icy ceiling, drawing power from the room in order to illuminate it. “That should burn brightly for a long time. You stallions can take this time to rest yourselves.” Perhaps it was a kind of magic better suited to her sister thematically, but the two of them spoke and worked together. There needed to be overlap so that they could trust each other to handle things.  

Diurnae traced a hoof along some oddly shaped markings on one of the walls he had approached. To his best ability, the markings were for all intents and purposes writing, but not of any kind she had seen. Some of them were of a hieroglyphic nature for sure as they depicted scenery, while other markings appeared in a similar pattern as contemporary Equestrian writing.

"A three dimensional script of some sort,” came the conclusion. "A good guess would be to say it tells us a little bit about the darkness…What we shall be facing.” What it was about seemed to be pretty obvious in his eyes, but what was actually said on the subject matter was not so easy. He had an amount of experience with places of this age before however, amusing, given that fact that a notable portion of the group were relics themselves.

”That means We're safe," Celestia said softly to herself. “It’s likely that this room carries far too great an importance to put any traps in it. It may be some kind of library." Likely was used as a synonym for hopefully.

"Somepony needed to be able to access this information, or else it would not have been committed to...word,” Luna agreed, not sure how to refer to the writing, which seemed syntactically impenetrable.

"Or it could be a final warning," Mittere said, not hiding that fact she enjoyed giving a more realistic view that Celestia did not. “Turn back now, here there be dragons, or some other such demotivational message.” She was certainly interested in the room and by herself would have spent time combing it. she was however with company she did not wholly enjoy the company of in a room that was a level of cold that was incredibly hard to acclimatise to.

Fearful, despite himself, was glad that Miterre had taken the magic from him. He was more than a little surprised when his flame didn't even scratch the surface. However, his expression did not change as he stood up, stretching his neck as he looked around the room. He let out a grunt of annoyance as he saw Blade still using his magic, having apparently disobeyed his order to relax. "Blade, I appreciate what you are doing, but I did order you to relax, and stop using your magic, did I not?"

He turned to Diurnae as he entered the room, watching as he moved with a child-like happiness. "Isabelle is my daughter. I do not believe you would have missed her, but Blade has. She is a prodigious ice mage, and Draculina. I'm sure you would love to meet her," he smiled, before his eyes lit up. He glanced at the glowing orb and his lips curved upwards.

"Thank you Lulu," he murmured, certain she would hear. He walked over to Diurnae's side, nodding at his conclusion. "It seems to be. I don't suppose anyone knows how to read it properly?" He asked quietly, running hoof across the text. "A warning eh? Perhaps... I have no idea. I don't think I ever encountered anything like this."

He lay down, resting his head on his hooves. "Why is this creature setting up so many traps? Are they a coward?" He sighed.

Sugary wasn't particularly comfortable with Fearful giving energy to Summer as he was fairly certain the source of his might was hardly a safe one, but then again Summer was hardly normal herself as an Alicorn so he merely kept an eye on her to make sure there were no drawbacks. He did get a bit of a chuckle out of the ever resilient and reliable magic bag he owned. "You spend enough time traveling on the ground, and all kinds of ridiculous circumstances occur. But I mostly just carry survival gear aside from my regular gear and materials. It's not like I can squeeze my ship in here... At least, I don't think I should try..."

Since the room now had a steady source of light by Luna, he stopped using his own magic to light the way and rest. Since Summer was only being obvious, he had little else to go by but think on what was available. Since Summer looked to be fine and no one else seemed to need more of his supplies, he'd stay by her side but still looking around, down, and up. He'd also address Blade and Fearful for a moment. "One, do you actually have any official rank above Sir Blade to be ordering him at all...? For that matter, feel anything odd, Sir Blade?"

Brief chatter aside, he began to do exactly as the Phantom alluded, and looked to the writing. He looked back and forth between the symbols and the more contemporary writing for at least a discernible pattern if not something that seemed similar. In fact, he even looked a the way the writing was arranged to see if maybe there was something else being blatantly spelled out yet hidden in plain sight for good measure, crude as it may be.

Blade decided to pass on the offer of equipment from Sugary since he thought it would be a little weird to have over his armor. He took note that Diruane went further off and didn't try to stop him since his construct hadn't set off anything, making him guess that there wasn't one in the entire room. He was happy to have some extra little light. His gaze shifted over to the places where his construct didn't touch in order to get a guess of what it didn't cover, quickly noticing the text. The mention of dragons caused him to suddenly pause before shaking his head to get him out of his trance. Blade kept his gaze to the floor and rubbed his face with his hoof. It wasn't until One came over to him and told him to relax did he finally pry his attention away. He tried to respond, but Sugary cut him off. "Well, right now I don't feel anything besides the obvious cold being generated by magic. Also, Sugary it's okay is only showing his concern, something I'm appreciative form though it's not needed. I have trained with this magic my entire life so something like this is like breathing for me. Also, One, do not call the thing that can destroy the world and everything on it a coward. It might simply be a way to prove we worth facing it or placed in order to keep anyone foolish enough to try and set it free."

"For all that it is worth, I agree with him," Mittere said. "If such power exists then the point of subterfuge is non existent. Too heavy a reliance on such tactics and traps showcase a lack of confidence in other areas.” The mare was actually smiling a little now. “Nearly anypony in this room is capable of doing a rather large amount of damage, but the limit we can take compared to some creatures is rather small.” It was ironic. She had just chastised Celestia for jumping to the best conclusion and then went on to do it herself. This was not lost on Luna, but she thought better of mentioning it, think it best to throw herself into solving a different problem instead.    

The princess scanned the walls, eyes settling on a certain part. The symbols were easy to interpret for her, seeing as she knew their context well. Although her eyes remained fascinated, her body reacted with a rather strong tensing. When she had finished with the passage she was observing, she turned violently and began to wander closer to the exit, hinting that she was done here.

"Gibberish, right?" Ashen said to Sugary, looking at the same part of the room as him.  For all his other Weaknesses he was taking the cold pretty well. Growing half way up a mountain tended to have that effect  "Doesn't matter if we know these letters if they don't make any sense. It must be legible Does anypony here know anything about cryptology?”

Staring at the text harder led to no epiphany for most of the group. Diurnae sighed at Fearful admitting he had no knowledge of such the writing. "You were kind of my best bet," he admitted with a shiver. Until the epiphany came. "Hey, Mittere, didn't you commission a friend of yours to do some research for you? Ancient scripts were on that list, in case I came into difficulties, right?”

Mittere wanted to downplay the idea, seeing as it was not the main focus of her research, and she certainly did not want to seem as though she forgot such a detail that could be useful. “You are correct. That warrants some form of-” Mittere sneezed in a mixture with a cough. This motivated her.  Her eyes scanned the room, looking for anything that registered in her mind as legible. She settled on something. One of the walls in the middle of the room, though not one anypony had been drawn too. “It reads about how our…” she groaned as she thought of how to convey the word that did not exist. “‘Emotional security’ shall be tested in addition to the physical trail ahead. ‘Emotional security’ does not cover even half of the meaning. I feel as though there are many scholars that are turning in their resting places at this moment.” She did not really care about if she had used the word slightly wrong. Pseudomystical crap like this was on the same level as ‘being in the zone’ for utter uselessness.

“Not a lot to go forth on,” was all Celestia had in the way of commentary on events. Her wings wrapped themselves around a little tighter than normal, but she was otherwise unaffected by the cold. Mittere likely had some counter remark planned, but she opened her mouth to a similar form of sneeze. It would have amused if she had directed it at Celestia, but she turned her head to a direction there was nopony close by.

"Well Mr Market, I was a general under Celestia, and I have neither died nor have I been court-marshalled. Thus, it is logical to assume that I am still a general and therefore e should follow my orders." Fearful replied. "And normally Blade, I would agree with you. Today however, I am feeling a tad irksome."

He tapped the wall again and side. "Unfortunately, I am not as proficient in languages as I am say, in dark magic. I am as capable of reading this as Miterre is doing some of the things I can do." He smiled Diurnae. "I am curious though. Where did you learn a shield breaking spell of that calibre?" The end of his sentence was a whisper.

He glanced at Miterre. "Mmmm... You are correct I guess. I mean, I can take more damage than most of... Did you say 'Emotional Security'?" He faced her and sighed. "That... Could be a serious problem. I may not be able to continue if that is the case." He he winced as his scar twitched. "For more reasons than you may think."

Personally, Sugary wasn't exactly sure how Fearful kept his supposed rank given his apparent state of mind recently and the fact he has his own forces already outside of the Royal Guards for who knows how long, which made the claim suspect at best in his eyes. "That's what you claim and assume, but I'd rather hear it from the Regal Sisters in your case." He didn't think they would say anything on the matter right away, but it would hardly change his own position within the group as he was working for Summer while allied with the Regal Sisters until further notice.

When Summer sneezed, he would walk to her side again as he thought about whether or not they could manage anything out of the room after he nodded at Diurnae in a half-earted agreement over the lack of knowledge of the writing. Then of course, came the rough translation of the writing, and so he would try to fill in the apparent blanks for her as he brought out a small and plain white general purpose wiping cloth for her to use if she needed it. "Emotional security... You mean the strength of our resolve? Or does it also refer to how much conviction we have for what we do...?" He gave it a bit more of a deeper thought, having to cautiously deal with those whom would attempt to cripple their foes by finding weaknesses in their psyche rather than taking the direct approach. "Or could it also mean that something up ahead will creep into our minds by force as a test...? Although..." He looked around to spot Summer, knowing full well she was still there, and quite present in his own psyche somehow with no way of tuning her out just yet. Then again, even if she did invade his senses, she had not yet conquered his heart and will. "Phantom, this sounds like something right up your alley... You really know nothing? You did say you might even help me out... So will you?"