Traveling Tantalus and Tree Tits Troupe. (Private)

Eve grabbed Sakura's arm, all the dark energy pouring into her, and down into the roots, but then something happened, all the light energy of Sakura's life force expelled the energy rapidly, sending all of Eve's soulrending energies out the web of roots...And straight up through the remaining souls. They'd be shredded, ripped apart until nothing remained, and Sakura'd abandon the roots, the plantlife moving on it's own and slowly growing into a pine tree, small, yes, but still there, refusing the snow and cold it's win.

Sugary was prepared to fire away further, but soon knew it wasn't needed as she witnessed the combined efforts of Eve and Sakura. Overall, she was impressed with the results, though was fascinated by the remaining tree she grinned in a victorious way for the time being now there were no other immediate threats. "That was excellent...! Seriously though, you two are fighting together very well. You sure you never met before...?" She'd then move over to the tree in curiosity, looking at it, the ground, and the effects, before looking at Sakura and Eve. "... Is this supposed to stay there...? If it's holding any if the fell souls, I got a few stories to tell about giant evil trees... You don't need me to purify anything, do you?"

"I'm pretty sure I would've remembered a sexy Undead like Eve, Sugary." Sakura grinned, sticking out her tongue playfully. "And the tree's just the excess nature magic I used, decided to make a tree, I guess. I think I'd've felt those souls if they were still alive, right, Eve?" She asked curiously.

"Yes, they'd still be in your senses and mine. No, the tree is clean, just pulsing out life energy if you look at it's aura. It's rather strong for such a small tree." She smiled and yawned. "Anyway, job's done, I wanted paid, then we can go celebrate a job well done, eh?" She grinned, hooking an arm around each of the other mares' shoulders and leading them away.

"Just making sure. Seen and fought enough possessed trees to be wary. Never could stand them when making leisurely travels in some forest or other..." She kissed Sakura lightly on the cheek when she was close enough. "I like this cute little tree though~" With how much Sakura flirted with her, she thought to return the favor a bit while she could.

Once Eve began walking along with them rather merrily, she looked to the distance where the clouds seemed to grow darker. "If only it were that easy... Whoever gets the least creatures pays for dinner though!" It was a challenge mostly to Eve, but Sakura could consider herself included as well.

For the most part, the group that went to attack them were nothing more than grunts. The clouds further ahead seemed to be more of a threat as they hovered low, and menacingly, almost as if about to engulf them as they reached the foot of the icy mountain up ahead. "... Stay sharp..."

Eve grumbled, and nudged Sakura. "Bit for your mana?" She grinned, tossing Sakura a bit playfully as they grasped each others' forearms, the Undead draining mana from the Treemare fast enough to make her dizzy, but Sakura seemed to not care much. "Sugary, gather some light magic and hold it in front of me, I've got an idea." There was a crazy grin on Eve's face, mingled with a fury in her eyes. As before, when she had locked down his magic, her eyes slowly shifted into an icy blue color, blazing like fire as the Undead began gathering a rather massive amount of mana from her reserves, but with help from Sakura and Sugary, this would be cake.

Sugary was a bit hesitant at first, not because she didn't trust Eve, but because the heavily ambitious look in her eyes was indicant of something big. "Fine. Light magic, coming up!" She'd gather up her Mana, spreading her arms out before them as an orb of light formed, becoming bigger and bigger as it moved forward a bit every second to give Eve time to adjust. It was at that time, that the clouds literally attacked them in the form of hail, to which Sugary had to counter through the simultaneous use of a barrier over their heads, seemingly aiming for them to pelt them down; It also seemed that as the hail hit the ground, more of the Dark Ones began to take shape here and there as the hail went on. "Whatever it is you're gonna do, make it count...!"

Eve's eyes glowed lightly as her smirk appeared, the mare grabbing the orb before her and laughing maniacally as she crashed a fist into it,the energy absorbing inside the Undead before she roared in challenge, all that light magic, and Eve's soul-rending energies, dispersed rapidly in a shockwave, most of it directed upwards in a cone to destroy the cloud, but some going for nearby Dark Ones, others were left alive, but Sakura barely caught Eve's stumbling form. "Phew, that was fun." She grinned, eyes going back to normal. "I could never gather light energy on my own for that. Sakura, could you...?"

Sakura nodded and handed Eve to Sugary to help hold her up as she recovered from the usage of a fair amount of mana. The treemare wandered away and, using several vines, began lashing any surviving Dark Ones into the ground, aiming to destroy them.

Sugary gladly bore the weight of the Duhallan, keeping the shield active while the remainder of the hail fell. "Good job, Eve. We should try experimenting more spells some time..."

Indeed the attack was successful, overpowering the dark clouds which served to maintain guardianship of the location as they combination of Eve's soul rendering ability, Sakura's natural lifeforce, and Sugary's ablity for Light magic was far too damaging to deal with. It would also come to pass that Sakura cut through the remaining Dark ones easily as Eve's magic flowed through her still in a way, on top of her very being to be full of naturally high vitality.

Sugary watched Sakura tear away easily, thinking as well of possible ways to improve their effective offensive against the dark ones. "Sakura... You can easily take in Eve's and mine's magic, can't you? It doesn't bother you at all?"

"Mhm...Rather simple...once you know how to combine magicks..." Eve panted, soon standing on her own and shaking herself vigorously. "That, my friend, was fun." She grinned now and looked at Sakura, who had returned to the group. "Nice with using your natural life energy in those vines."

"Ehh, just kinda concentrated on attacking them. And Sugary, yes, I'm fine with magic intake. Nature magic doesn't discriminate." She grinned cockily and nuzzled Sugary. "Celebration makeout session~" SHe murred, kissing Sugary lustfully and sliding her tongue into the unicorn mare's mouth, tongue wrestling with Market's and soon releasing her, pulling away after a minute. "Your saliva's kinda sweet, yaknow?"

Sugary though about how a lot could be done through Sakura at the worst case scenario, right before getting into a heated kiss with Sakura anyway. "W-Whoa... Sakura, you've been getting more passionate lately, you know that?" She was left flushed and smiling, liking the victory spoils for this occasion.

After also acknowledging Eve's answer, it was time to continue moving further ahead. They may be highly effective against the fell creatures, but many more awaited further ahead as a stronger howl came from the cracks between the mountains. "... I get the feeling we'll have to pick a proper route... They're in there somewhere... Eve, Sakura, think you can find the best route?" It was now on them to select where in the mountain was the best place to go to. They could go right through hordes of the Dark ones, or they could fit in through a safe route. It was all on them.

Sakura grinned and nuzzled Sugary gently, murring into her ear. "Always fun with a bit of passion in your life~" She then grinned and put an arm around Sugary's shoulder, holding her lightly. "I say we go where Eve goes. She's the mare with the knowledge, while we've got the extra power to help. Oh, that reminds me." She dug into her pocket and threw Eve a small bottle filled with a violet liquid. "Mana Potion. Potent as hell. One for my sexy Sugary, too~" Sakura purred, slipping it into Sugary's pocket.

Eve caught it easily, it vanishing immediately. "Thanks, Sakura, depending how this all goes, I might well need that." She sighed and let of her aura for a scan. "Side path that'll...bring us right around above the main group...And...a path ahead that'll lead us straight into them..." She retracted her aura slowly. "Side path's smarter, but if we were to head straight at them, I bet they'd be surprised, but a surprise doesn't last long enough to be of much use when you're surrounded." Eve started trudging forward, Sakura following with a grin. Eve was headed in a wide, circular path to that side path, hoping they didn't run into anything before they got to it.

Sugary graciously took the Mana Potion and even took a light sip from it to have a taste test for quality. "Hm... Hmmmmm....." Her face was one of thoughtful approval, as if drinking such potions were hardly a new experience in any way, though there was the challenge of figuring out the ingredients while getting used to the extra kick in potency running down her throat.

As for Eve, Sugary was alright with the decision to try and sneak in... and as it were, it was in fact the smart option. Howls beckoned them to come straight into the horde that awaited within up front, but when it became apparent the group would sneak by, a large number of the creatures began to run amok from the main entrance towards them in a frenzy. It seemed they would not come to immediate danger regardless though, especially when a more focused pulse of light from the Crystal Heart went towards the mountain at that time. Unlike the last time, Eve would be nowhere near the effects, and was actually safe as well as the rest of the group. The horde was hit directly by the pulse, and the howls of anger became wails and screams of panic and pain, signaling that the horde was being affected badly by it as many were immediately purged on the spot. The Princess of the Crystal Empire had the group's back as she harassed the monsters from afar. Eventually, a large number of the creatures would form up on the front of the mountain, but none would move or towards the group as they blocked the entrance. The ones outside were currently using themselves as a shield from the light to protect whatever was hidden deeper inside. They had been found, and were forced to sacrifice their own to prevent losing whatever was held deeper inside, giving the group a good chance to infiltrate unopposed.

"W-Wow... Princess Cadance is definitely not pulling any punches with her magic..." spoke a reasonably impressed Sugary.

Sakura grinned as Sugary tasted the rather extremely sweet potion. The treemare had looked away only to stare as Cadance unleashed the artillery on the spirits, and blinked a few times while Eve merely whistled appreciatively. "Not bad." Eve grinned, and then hastened along towards the path. "Let's go, we shouldn't waste this opportunity to get in there without notice." She said simply, running along at a quick pace, but she was hanging back enough for the others to keep up easily, and from Sakura's light grin of challenge, and how the mare was keeping up, she was fine with Eve's plan.

Initially, there would be seemingly no proper entrance to take as the group went on, but if Eve kept following the safe trail patiently, one particular crack of an opening into the mountain would look to be less like plain old rocks and more an artificially structured form like an old gate without doors. The area they would begin to traverse inside of was a narrow set of old stairs battered under the ice for so long.

Deeper and deeper the group would go to the point darkness became more engulfing... were it not for a few ancient runes giving a dim light to the pathway for the time being, the source of it's ultraviolet light coming from further below, removing the need for any spells to light the way. Eventually, a fork down the path would be found, and neither side showed any peculiar markings of any sort to differentiate what either path held further ahead. Perhaps the only noticiable difference was that the ultraviolet light of the walls seemed to flow faster in pulses towards the left path than to the right, but nothing guaranteed what was safer to take or not. "Hm... What do you think, Eve? Either way it feels like there's Dark magic all over..."

Eve continued on until that fork, letting her natural dark energy reserves be drawn towards the biggest source around, before sighing as that didn't work. "Too much energy around us to track further. But yeah, it's everywhere, and I think we might need to be careful...But when in doubt, head towards the light." She grinned lightly and headed towards the left path, and, despite her heavy armor, she was more silent than the grave.

Sakura lagged behind a little, patting her pockets down slowly and carefully as she was obviously searching for potions and double-checking they were all there, after a bit, she smirked, playfully patting Sugary's rump when she wasn't paying attention. "Let's hope this is as easy as it was a bit ago, right?"

Sugary walked along with a grin as she got patted by Sakura, following after Eve being no more certain of a correct path than she was. "Sakura, I hope my tush isn't distracting you too much. We're practically behind enemy lines here..."

The path they took was harmless in and of itself, but at some point the path would widen to what looked to be a dome-like room, and in it were half a dozen old chests of varying sizes, all with dull dark colors, scattered across the room. There was another path to take on the other side of the room where the pulses of ultraviolet light kept going.

Sugary saw the chests, and her first thought was to open them... before taking no more than one step, and hesitating. "Wait... Can't fall for those again..." She spoke softly, recalling some old travel memories as she looked around. "Hm... Hmmmmm... Something about the chests rub me the wrong way..." Both she and Eve might very well be able to tell, that the chests had something in them in some form or other, but with all the Dark energies around, it would be hard to specifically tell what from a distance.

"Not that distracting, sexy~ I've seen nicer than yours~" Sakura teased, then watched Sugary's hesitation at the chests. "What? They're just chests, aren't they?" She asked, frowning.

"Not with that much dark energy around them." Eve grumbled. She gathered lighter energies around her hands, condensing them into golf ball sized orbs. She then threw them at each and every chest, the energy powerful enough to both damage and light afire any darker spirit, but if they were regular chests, the dark energy would merely be purged from them.

While Sugary felt a light strike at her pride about her looks, Eve had been correct in her approach. Not a single one of the chests was normal by any means as they all screeched aggressively when most where purged and destroyed. However, a couple furthest from Eve managed to dodge her magic, and make way towards them with their mouths open, an-"AAAAAHHH!!"

Sugary angrily blasted one before it came halfway across the room, while the other one hopped in terror as she chased him down with a mace she summoned from her Inventory. The relentless pursuit would not last long as Sugary caught up with the Mimic, and striking it mercilessly with the blunt weapon to pieces again and again. "That's for teasing and lying to me all those times before, you fiends!!"

Eventually, the smashing would end. Sugary would be panting and staring down the remains of the creature before charging her own leg with magic, and stomping on it to fully purge the dark energies of it. She then looked over to Eve and Sakura quietly for a moment. "... I don't like Mimics... Shall we keep moving?"

Sakura cheered Sugary on playfully as she angrily hunted the mimic down, giggling madly and giving Sugary a light kiss. "Definitely looked like you didn't like those things, hon." She giggled, then moved around the room, searching for anything of note.

"Sugary, next time we find Mimics, I'll let you handle them, okay?" She grinned, patting her back lightly and moving on to the next pathway, hands ready to throw up a barrier in case something appeared. "Let's keep moving. If those spirits are gaurding something, it's probably something tied to Sombra, and it's probably keeping them alive."

Sugary had no shame whatsoever about what she did, but as she firmly held the mace, she thought perhaps too much had been done just for a single monster... not that she regretted it, but she probably could have held back *CRACK* after giving the remains one last solid stomp anyway as she went along with Sakura and Eve. "That felt good either way. Doesn't look like there was much else here though..."

As the group went onwards, and another fork in the road showed up, the ultraviolet light seemed to gravitate a bit towards Eve herself for a change, but more notably away from Sakura. This made Sugary very curious. "... Hey, Sakura? Why don't you try to lead the way this time? Maybe we can get a proper route through you with our magic instead...?"

Sakura looked to Sugary, nodding and stretching her arms, humming as she led the way, barely seeming to think as she wandered through the left fork. "This way, you two~" She purred playfully, walking along seemingly without care, but her magic was obviously ready, flared out slightly, but held back.

Evoltit followed behind Sakura, her hands falling to her side, but the undead's eyes were wary, her hand soon drifted to draw her dagger, but then she seemed to think better of it, lowering that hand and looking rather on edge, but her face stayed calm as normal. This dark energy was rather getting to her, the mare's Darker nature wanting freed.

The path Sakura would take them all to would lead to yet another large room, but unlike the one before it, it was not filled with as much Dark energy. It seemed relatively safe to traverse, but there were some decorations on the walls that resembled those found in the Crystal Empire; There were some differences of course, such as how some of the writings depicted practices opposite of what Cadance was working towards, and instead showing images of what Sombra and others like him studied, as well as images of Sombra himself. The location was clearly a remnant of ages past affiliated with Sombra. The room, of course, was safe to travel, but they could stay and observe further if they wished.

Sugary was following Sakura's movements closely for the most part, but she didn't have anything to worry about so far, and actually thought Sakura was doing a rather swell job so far. Her main concern at the time, was Eve though, wondering why she seemingly went for her dagger. "... Eve, you holding up okay...? You look really tense right now. Something wrong?"

Sakura looked around, curiously examining the area while Eve growled softly. "I'm...fine, Sugary..." She turned the the other unicorn with a sigh. "All this dark energy is getting to my head. I feel my nature struggling for freedom. It's getting to me. And it's...annoying. If I lose control, I may end up harming one of you two...or I might end up ripping all our enemies to pieces...It kindof only depends on who's in front of me if I go crazy." She sighs. "I hope you two aren't..." She looks at the dagger sheathed at her hip, growling lightly. "I want to get this all done. Before I go crazy. Come on." She stalked past Sakura as the treemare was about to head down another path, causing Sakura to shrug and follow after, humming lightly.

For the time being, Sakura had little to worry over, as the light within her would greatly help her reach the best path overall. It was Eve who was starting to become another threat as Sugary could tell. She would try once more to mend the Dullahan's anxiety a she extended her hand towards her. "... Eve, if it's bothering you that much, then share some of it with me. I'm not an expert in Dark magic, I'll admit, but I might be able to help filter it out at least."

Soon after, a loud roar would be heard coming from further down below. It was similar to that of the other monsters, but this one was booming to say the least. Another sound that could be heard was that of yet another pulse of light hitting the monsters guarding the main entrance once more. The entire location seemed to tremble in anger somewhat...

Eve ignored Sugary, silently moving ahead with hands half-clenched into fists, like she was about to grab someone by the throat. She moved quickly but cautiously, glancing back at Sugary with a shake of her head. "I highly doubt you could handle it, Sugary, no offense to you, but it isn't energy within me, it's what's around us. If you think you can push it all away, at least wait until we get to some main room, where it will be useful." Eve looked ahead once more, growling softly as she started to suspect a challenge. 'If I willingly release you if needed...will you submit to my terms...?'

'Hmm~? Terms~?'

'You have five minutes. Five minutes to destroy all but Sugary and Sakura. These are my terms. Agree or stay locked away.'

'The terms are...Acceptable~ I look forward to working alongside you, my dear Evoltit Black~'