A New World Fools

Live Iron ignored Verde's question and moved forward through the tangled bushes and thorns, leading them off the beaten path and into the thicker trees, Equinox ducked low as he followed her to make sure Night Rose didn't hit her head on anymore low hanging branches as he went but turning back to Verde and walking backwards as he went.

"I'd keep it down about that one." He whispered to Verde while Live Iron practically kicked an entire bush out of her way. "Trust me, some are so afraid of her they reckon just saying her name would be enough to make her come after you."

They kept going until Equinox stuck out an arm to stop the group again; Live Iron had reached a hand forward and seemed to hit a solid barrier. "I'd keep an ear open and memorise this kids, you won't be able to get back here otherwise."

She stepped up to the edge of what looked to be a small clearing, cleared her throat, and then began to sing loud and clear.

"It started with a mare, but it wasn't the end. She held the sun in her hands, but then she lost her friend. She found her victory, but it tore out her heart. Now the power resides with the demon, a poor mare's work of art; what we have are masqueraders, what we need are liberators. To overthrow the plan, what we need is what I am."

She had a surprisingly beautiful singing voice and as soon as she finished the verse the air around them shimmered like a wave of heat had passed between them, getting so blurry they couldn't see for a moment before it faded to reveal an old fashioned looking hut carved out of a tree, along with the clearing around it being full of tents and makeshift huts.

"Welcome to one of the last free places in Equestria." Equinox told them, walking forwards and bending down to let Night Rose down off his shoulders; a zebra was mixing ingredients in a potion in front of the house carved from a tree, muttering incantations as she did so and occasionally producing a loud bang or a puff of smoke.

Sickle was  doing the finishing some touches on the sketch of princess luna (who was in a "Draw me like one of your french mare."pose). She did stop when she heard Iron sing. "Wow, Iron that was beautiful.You know a mare named Sandy Pyrtinker? cause you two do seem to have things in common. And she could be friendly, ya know if you dodge the bullets she occasionally shots at you." Sickle asked.

Swindle kept quiet for the duration of the trip, choosing to not respond to Live iron for getting his name wrong. He was content to sulk until they reached their destination, waiting to get to saftey before he had a word with those who brought him here.

When they reached the clearing, he thought that it was all they had. He was about to go on a small tangent, until he was distracted by Live Iron's singing. He was impressed by it, but thought it was pointless, until he found himself in a new area. He looked around at the setup they had, and found himself satisfied, taking into account that he thought they only had a clearing just a moment ago.

Night Rose gave Live Iron a little applause as she got down off of Equinox. “That was great. You’re a better singer than auntie Lemon.” She said, before the tree hut grabbed her attention. “Oh wow, Mom told me about a place like this, but I’ve never seen it in person before.” She went up to the zebra and waved hello, before observing what she was doing. From a respectable distance of course. Personal space is important after all. And it looked like what she was doing was important, so she didn't want to interrupt.

Verde blinks at him. "I understand being nervous around her when she's in a bad mood--she loves getting in fights as I said--but why would you be so terrified of her that you're afraid that speaking her name will bring her after you? She's rough around the edges, and very strong, but there's no bad in her," she says back in a similar whisper.
She stops when Live Iron gestures for them to and listens intently as the mare sings the short song, smiling a little at her lovely voice. When the barrier drops, she blinks at the sight of the zebra in the clearing. "Is that... Zecora?" she asks Equinox and Live Iron in a low voice. "And if it is... um... is she like a bad mirror-image version like my mum's marefriend apparently is?"

((HUUUUUUUGE apologies everyone. A spike of depression combined with job hunting and now a holiday has made my schedule even more fubar than usual))

Live Iron looked at Sickle and actually gave a small chuckle. "I'm not familiar, but it sounds like she'd be a hoot to have around Crescent Ground some time." The gunslinger said as she led the group into the clearing. "It ain't exactly the luxury life, but it's safe and we got good, which is more than a lot of those of us who aren't content to be sheep can say."

"I don't know what your Zecora is like." Equinox said to Viridian as Zecora knelt down to Moondancer's level and gave her a friendly smile, returning her wave. "But I do know that without her my head would be a trophy over Nightmare Moon's mantle right now." He said, sitting down on a log around one of the camp fires.

"The wrath of a princess is sure to follow, when you lead her to a dragon's hoard that you know is hollow." Zecora reminded him.

"Hey I led her to the hoard, I didn't promise there would be anything in it." Equinox defended himself with a rather mirthless laugh; Live Iron had grabbed a few bundles from a tree stump and was handing them out to each of them in turn.

"We ain't got enough sleeping sacks to go around I'm afraid, but if anyone wants mine you're welcome to it. Otherwise, we got blankets." Each bundle contained a simple one pony tent and a few blankets as she had said. "I imagine you've all got a lotta questions-"

"But I'll answer them." Equinox said, slightly firmly. "You, need rest." Live Iron looked like she wanted to argue but Zecora nodded and, looking almost begrudgingly relieved, the gunslinger slouched off to her own tent for a rest. "Onion soup anyone?" Equinox asked, offering out some bowls and bread loafs.

((Okay guys, this thread is going to continue; anyone who doesn't want to continue, I'd appreciate saying that now since things are going to kick off truly here and it will be much harder to write you out from here if you're not interested))

((I'm going to stick with this thread through thick and thin.))

//I've realised at this point that I must have stopped watching the thread at some point. I was wondering why no one posted for months. I'm only posting this because I noticed a new post in the index... I feel a little awkward now. <.<

(( I'm still in. I need somewhere for me to be weird. :-P))

(Keep me in. Even if my filly is probably going to die anyway, I'll stick with it.)

(I still would like to continue. I just, you know, don't like to post first after the OP posts.)

(Continuing from them offer soup and bread.)
"I'll take some bread, "sickle said in reply. "Strong stuff like onions make my snow smell funky." 
"So my question, Why did you guys make this weird spell thing to get help for other worlds? would it been easier to find other in this world?"

"Well, she seems like the same mare here as there," Verde remarks after Zecora mildly chastises Equinox in rhyme. "Although in my version of reality, she talks normally most of the time and just does the heavily-accented rhyming to amuse herself at how much it annoys certain ponies. Such as my mum, come to think of it."
Verde accepts the proffered bundle and nods eagerly at the offer of onion soup. "I'm a really big fan of the entire root vegetable thing so if you've got soup and it's onion, I'm in fully support of the situation and would love to have a bowl, if you please."
Verde tucks into the food with enthusiasm, looking up only to nod in the direction of Sickle, indicating that she was wondering the same thing.

"I'll pass, thanks." Swindle said, eying the food suspiciously. He was mistrusting of the intentions of those who had brought him here, fearing the worst.

He was about to start his line of questioning, when Sickle had asked her own. He gave a small nod before gesturing in her direction. "Yes, that." He said, wanting to know the answer to that, before adding on "and I'd like to know something as well. Why us? If it was random, that seems like a bad idea." He said, giving a quick glance to each of the others. "And if it wasn't," he continued, "that seems like a worse idea".

In truth, he had his own theories as to why they had been summoned, but kept quiet about them, wanting to see what answer he would get.