A strike of lighting, a flash of red

"Would you believe me if I said it was because I have no face?" she replied while gesturing to the unnatural darkness that waited inside the hood. To go with the gesture, two red orbs that would have been where the eyes existed shone through the darkness. To drive the point even further, she reached up and pulled the hood back some, though as the hood was pulled back, a small cloud of the same unnatural darkness spread out very slightly and remained in the area just above her neck. "My name is Scarlet though, if that's any consolation."

Aurora raised an eyebrow, before shaking her head. "I would say that you are likely a liar, and that are simply hiding your face behind an illusion, likely one similar to one that was placed over my door... probably also placed by you," she explained. "Hide your true face, if that is what you will. At least I know your name."

Aurora placed her helmet back on, keeping the faceplate up. "Shall we head off?"

"Aw, well aren't you just no fun," Scarlet whined to Aurora's little analysis of her while her arms crossed in front of her. One could hear a brief blowing sound similar to someone trying to blow the steam off too hot soup, and with it the little dark cloud disappeared to reveal the pout expression bearing mare beneath. Matching up with her hands, her fur was a bright and solid yellow that contrasted with the two toned, red on the outside, purple on the inside mane. A part of said mane came down in a single large strand that threatened to obscure part of her face and partially cover one of her two almost glowing red eyes that sat behind a pair of thin rimmed glasses. The presence of a unicorn horn was also unmistakable as it protruded outward on her forehead, forcing the mane around it to part. While maybe something slightly eccentric, the mare looked fairly normal.

"We're leaving just like that? Well, you are the adventurer here," Scarlet said as she finished stowing away the rest of her writing utensils and stood up. She pulled the hood back up and a minute later, the little dark cloud reappeared to completely obscure her face. "So where to first?"

Aurora studied the mare's face as she removed the illusion, a small smile gracing her lips as she did so. "Well now, that is a much prettier look than evil cloud of darkness, wouldn't you say?"

Nodding, she began to head towards the door. "Indeed we are. I have places to be, and each second I spent here is lost time elsewhere. Though," she held the door open for Scarlet. "I would say being in Equestria is better than... well, anyone, let's be off."

Even though it couldn't be seen, Scarlet blushed lightly at the compliment. "Maybe, but you still made me ruin my air of mystery," she said with a pout.

"Alright, where are we being off to?" Scarlet asked as she stepped out through the door and into the ever present storm.

Aurora sighed as the rain began to patter over her armour, groaning as the water soaked her violet plume. "I'm not entirely sure. I believe we should scout the coastline for any caves... I think they would be the best place to start," she said, glancing back at the bookworm. "Unless you have a better idea?" she said, turning to face her as she slogged through the soft earth.

Scarlet paused and looked up to the sky for a moment in consideration. "Hmmm... maybe after we've checked the caves. Those seem like the best option at first," Scarlet went on as she made sure her hood was up. The cloth quickly became damp but seemed to keep the mare inside dry enough for now at least. "We should be a bit careful though, with all this rain there could pretty easily be some flooding," Scarlet added.

Aurora strode forward, nodding at Ruby's assertion. "Indeed they could. I assume you specialise in illusion magic and nothing else?" She asked, before moving making a gesture at the sky, an umbrella drifting down. "Well... a small mercy I guess," she said, lifting it up to cover the pair of them.

"I don't know if I'd say I specialize in it, and I can do other things," Scarlet protested while moving next to Aurora to ensure her cover under the umbrella. "Though I guess you've only seen me do the whole dark face cloud thing," Scarlet added with an unknown expression since said cloud was back and obscuring all her features. "How far out is the coast anyways?"

Aurora sighed and made sure she was under the large umbrella before leading Scarlet slowly away from the town. "Indeed, I have seen little of your craft. And it is not so far that we will have to walk for a long time, but far enough that it will take us time yet," she said, glancing at the mare beside her. "I assume you have decent footwear?"

Scarlet nodded silently before quickly glancing down at her own worn in boots. Sure they weren't exactly pretty, but they seemed to be holding up well enough against the mud and puddles. "Ah, so you know this area well? I've never really been before this trip," Scarlet went on.

"Nope. Never been here before in my life. I got a pretty good few on the way down though," she said, glancing at the mare. "Also, I can smell the ocean from here," she explained.

"You can?" Scarlet asked in disbelief. To test it herself she tried taking in a deep sniff, but her expression didn't seem positive. "All I can smell is mud," she replied with what could be a skeptical look if it wasn't for the shroud of darkness that filled her hood. "I can't hear it either," Scarlet added after she'd apparently been trying to strain her ears to hear to waves.

Aurora smiled and nodded. "When one spends so much time where I do, the smells of something like sea... it is refreshing to say the least," she sniffed the air again and sighed.

She glanced at the cloud of darkness that was her face, before glancing at the dark clouds above. "We are almost there..."

"Huh, I guess I could say the same about books, and maybe a library?" Scarlet replied as she watched Aurora sniff the air again. Following suit, Scarlet tried to smell the sea again, but still all she could smell was the wet earth and rain. "So what do you think we'll find?"

"No clue... something extremely dangerous most likely," she said as the they crested a ridge and the coastline came into view. "This is just about your last chance to leave me... at a guess I would say that things will only get more life-threatening from here."

Aurora's armoured boots sank into the sand and she clicked her tongue in annoyance, before she pushed onwards, heading for a set of fierce looking cliffs to the north.

"Turn back? No way, this has gotten really interesting and looks like it could be great material for my next book," Scarlet replied with a grin that was so prominent that it could be felt through the shadow cloud under hood. "Besides, I'm more dangerous that I look," she added mysteriously.

As the terrain shifted to sand under her boots, Scarlet looked at Aurora curiously when she made the noise, but she didn't say anything. Instead Scarlet just followed along, out of questions for the first time as they walked on.

Aurora chuckled at her statement, rolling her eyes and snorting. "Of course you are more dangerous than you appear. You look about as dangerous as a puppy, so it shouldn't be hard," she said as they walked down the coast. "Once we arrive at the cave systems, you're going to need to be on your guard. I won't be able to protect you indefinitely."

"I can protect myself! I trained with my dad and big sister after all and they're really strong," Scarlet protested as she became compared to a puppy. Even with her features hidden, she was visibly annoyed, though she still continued walking along until the caves came into view. "How are we going to avoid getting lost in there?"

"Sure you can," she replied, chuckling at her annoyance. "I am easily capable of not getting lost in a cave system," she explained as they stepped into cave, pulling out her spear and willing it to glow.

"Well then I'll have to be sure to stay close," Scarlet said as she followed. A few minutes after though and she looked quizzically back to her companion. "So have you gone on a lot of adventures like this before?"

Aurora paused, before shaking her head and continuing onwards. "Very rarely am I allowed to go on an adventure at all. This was supposed to be a fairly quick and simple mission, though this strom has clearly complicated things quite a bit," she said as she examined the walls. "These caves are quite old indeed," she remarked, humming quietly.

Scarlet arched her eyebrow at the reply that Aurora barely got to adventure at all. To Scarlet, she seemed just like a true adventurer, what with all the armor and the weapons. Still that could be something asked later on when then weren't possibly in a dangerous cave system that could possibly hold monsters. "Do you think there'll be ruins or something in them if they're that old?"

"Most likely," she replied as they ventured deeper into the caves. "After all, there is something down here that is stopping me from leaving, so there is most likely an artifact. And where there are artifacts, there are ruins." She said, stopping an intersection. "Which way?"

Aurora's answer drew a big grin from Scarlet as she thought about the potential for ruins in the cave system, enough of one that it even shone through the shroud of darkness her hood gave her. When she came back to the real world from her fantasies, Scarlet spent about a half second before motioning to the right-most path without explanation or reasoning.