Truly Evil?

Faerie nods thankfully, taking a deep breath. Raising the flute to her muzzle, she begins to play. Her horn lights up, as tendrils of her magic wind around the flute. Faint purple notes become visible, swirling around Faerie. When Diamond Mind adds her own magic to Nyx's, the notes become bright and clearly visible.
The notes are drawn to an area above Faerie, forming a glyph above her. Atop the glyph, a ball of purple energy steadily grows inside, until it is two yards in diameter. Its color snaps to a greenish yellow. The incorporeal sphere expands across the area of the vault, and remains there. Its faded, blank surface is gradually interrupted as small runes begin to form across its surface. Occasionally, twisted lines of blue-green magic arc from the interior of the sphere to various damaged portions of the vault. the slide across the rubble, ghostly tendrils navigating as they possessed only the sense of touch, lacking sight and sound. Occasionally, a part of the sphere will glow blue, forming a hollow circle. These circles then glow bright red, before filling the entire interior area of the sphere will a brief blue glow, then subside.

Faerie continues to play, feeding magic into the spell. It is obvious straining her as, and she sways unsteadily as she plays. Her horn is heating up rapidly, the spell's complexity pushing her magic to its limit.

Silver did not mind the simple command, though he didn't know how to help until he noticed Faerie starting to struggle with her spell, whatever it was supposed to do. Introductions can wait. May as well add my own power. Dusk would do that, Silver thought. Now, he had to figure out how to do that. He knew touching horns could do that, but he didn't think that was safe at the moment. Unfortunately, he stuck with watching and being ready if something unexpected happened.

The spell was impressive to say the least, and finer details soon began to become clearer. But then suddenly, Faerie would sense something coming, a countermeasure to such an effect and a big one at that. An impressive backlash, programmed into the cover-spell, and it seemed to be one built for the princess's attempts at breaking down this spell. The extra power and extra preparation Faerie was using was about the only reason she got a chance at seeing this spell backlash coming for or at all. If her attempts at cracking this distorting effect weren't ceased, she'd bear the brunt of this backlash and all that it would entitle, but if she finished, Faerie might actually allow for a clear image displayed for all.

Faerie immediately recognizes the situation. Her mind races as she balances the risks. If her glamors went down, ponies might start wondering who she was and why she was there. But they needed this picture! Faerie Fire had business in this city, and Sin had to be found! Making her decision, manages to scream out "Bring medics, quickly! Backlash!" Before the full force hits her.

Despite the urgency of Faerie's command, it was another moment or two before the backlash actually struck her. In those moments, her spell finished and Faerie's spell broke down the cloaking spells to reveal a rather detailed recreation of what happened. At first there was just the vault, with all the walls still intact. Then a noiseless explosion seemed to just rip the bricks from where the now collapsed wall was. Whatever spell was cast there was apparently outside the vault and had seemed to pull it apart by force rather than try to overcome it's inherent magical defenses. The a clear visage Sin strode into the vault.

He reached the pile, shifted a few things around in it before pulling from it a single large crystal. Then he simply strode out of the space, as if nothing had happened at all. Once he was outside the vault, Sin turned about and cast a couple more spells, what could be assumed to be the cover up and backlash that struck just as the illusion began.

Faerie would feel a lot of things in the exceedingly brief moments of the spell's completion. She'd feel pain wracking her whole body, an intense burning sensation all along and around the base of her horn, and a lingering sadness behind the magic she'd just broken through. At least until she felt nothing. It was so sudden, she might have even wondered if there was magic to be felt in the first place, but all of a sudden, there was absolutely nothing. The music was no longer hers, the magic sustaining it and the illusion were no longer hers, the various other connections, spells, illusions, and so forth were no longer hers or there. For in that moment, all magic seemed to have been cut off from the mare, even her own seemed to have completely disappeared. Not to be confused with the sense of just being drained of magic, this time it'd been cut off.

Even those helping with her spell could feel a slight effect of the backlash as it spilled slightly into their own pools of magic, though they only bore a slight burn on their horn and a splitting headache, it would be obvious that most of the damage hit Faerie head on.

Faerie winces as the image comes up. Any second now the backlash would hit a-
She doesn't scream. The pain is far to great for that. Her horn feels like it's been doused in oil and set alight. She can feel her magic screeching in agony, before it doesn't. Everything it gone. She twitches briefly, before toppling to the floor, unconscious. As her magic is cut off, the numerous glamors preventing anyone from thinking to hard about why she was here fizzle and die. Granted, until ponies started questioning where she was from this wouldn't be a problem, since they hopefully had other concerns right now.

The revealed scene had command of Silver's attention, up until Faerie Fire collapsed. He heard there was a backlash, but he didn't know what that entailed, or if it was still in effect. He thought about just standing aside and letting others take care of her, but soon squashed that idea as Dusk never would've done that. So, he decides to run up to her and see what he can do. He is relieved that she's alive, but she seemed relatively unharmed. Though he knew healing magic, he was on par with Dusk on that, so it was only really good for light wounds. Besides he wasn't too sure if that would work. Still, he told himself that Dusk would try anyway, and tried a simple healing spell on her, focusing on her head first.

Sure enough, the medics responded fairly quickly, all but ignoring the displayed illusion of what happened. Sure there was some hesitation towards the whole unusual appearance as the glamors disappeared, but the medical staff still held true to their Hippocratic oath. After a moment of their first few looks, the guards went back to keeping the viewing public away from the scene where they couldn't interfere with it.

Once the entire display had finished, a few guards immediately left the room, likely to report this latest finding to the princesses. And in the few minutes that it took for Faerie to be escorted to another room by the doctors, the princesses did indeed show up to learn first hoof what had transpired. When they'd been fully informed on the specifics and had a chance to conduct their own personal investigation of the treasure pile, the two turned towards Diamond and Silver. "We'd like to speak with the three of you concerning this matter. We'll discuss this in the morning when your other companion should be recovered enough. In the meantime, we'll have a couple rooms made here at the castle for you to stay in. Just let a guard know when you'd with to be taken to them and it'll be done."

With that, the princesses left Diamond and Silver there for the moment and to their own devices. They could be escorted to their rooms now, or venture out into the city to possibly resupply on needed things, or even just venture out in search of a decent meal.

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OOG: So yeah, as the post says, this point is kind of up in the air for what the players choose to do. Lolk, Faerie might wake up as early as late in the night, but she'll just be in a hospital room. If you do choose to venture into the city for equipment, please PM me with what you intend to acquire, there may be some discussion into what's available and what isn't.

[Possibly an hour or two after Faerie is carried off]
Faerie Fire groans, straining to open her bleary eyes. She immediately closes them again as the bright lights of the room at too much at first. After a few more tries and groans of pain, she manages to adjust to the brightness enough to take a look around. Nyx doesn't recognize the room, but it definitely looks like a section of the palace, as evidenced by the sun motifs. After a moment to get her thoughts in order, she suddenly realizes with a start that her glamors have collapsed.
"Shit shit shit... Can't use magic, no glamors, they'll be asking questions, no way out... I'm in the Princesses' home after pretending to be part of a guard investigation into Sin bucking Ester..."
She crumples, having a small panic attack.

Diamond could only look onward as the medics took Faerie away. She changed to her male form, leaving for his father's house in Canterlot proper, mainly to keep him from tearing apart Equestria looking for him. He had a list of items to collect before he went back to 'adventuring'. He was going to be prepared this time around, rather than be caught off guard.

[About an hour or so later]
Diamond sat against a wall, facing Faerie's bed while reading. He was now wearing a chain shirt and a satchel. Three strange looking swords sat in their sheathes next to his chair. He was reading a Tome of Crystal Magics, seemingly obvlivous to the world or the passage of time. He slightly looked up from his book as Faerie stirred, watching her curiously. "Good, good...you're still alive and not a vegetable." He listened to her rambling, chuckling. "I'm half changeling and pretending to be a pony, the princesses didn't smite me. I think your odds of anything bad happening are slim to none." He said, smiling at her.

Silver took the opportunity to see Dusk, hoping that Fairie would be alright. When he arrived, Dusk was no different than when he first left. His family was still there too, silently waiting for Dusk to either wake up or die.

He was grateful for the meals the hospital staff brought them, as he doubted any of them would've gone to get food if it meant not being with Dusk in his final moments.

After about an hour, everyone soon heard Pastel say, "Hey, he's waking up!" Everyone, nurses included, came up to ckeck on him. Once Dusk was fully conscious, the nurses did a few quick tests to make sure there was nothing wrong with him mentally. He seemed okay, despite the terrible condition he was in, and his family was glad to be able to talk to him. After a little small talk, he asked, "So what do the doctors say?"

They knew they shouldn't lie to him, so they told him the truth. He likely wouldn't live through the night. He didn't seem too bothered by that. He actually was surprised he was still alive, and voiced that to everyone. With that, they continued talking, almost forgetting that Dusk could die at any time.

[Go ahead with another round of posts everyone, the night is passing but the dawn's not here yet and that's when everyone's supposed to meet with the princesses]

Faerie jolts, looking over at the mare, then at her gear. "I remember you, you helped me with the spell." Her eyes dart to the book, then back to the gear. "I don't suppose they sent you don with some ether potions, or some spare magic?" Needless to say, Faerie was distinctly uncomfortable without her magic. Still, she needed to find Sin for reasons of her own, and as long as things didn't get too severe she could leave and take on a new identity. She was good at that. Risks that would normally be out of the question could be taken in pursuit of this goal. Hopefully it wouldn't be in vain, she was rather partial to this color palette.

Diamond looked over Faerie, finally forcing himself to make eye contact with her, despite the pain it caused him. He considered his actions, feeling that he needed to do something to help her, even if it was only a little. "I......have enough magic to spare. We probably aren't heading out until you get better, so I'll be back at full power before we even depart to continue the investigation." He got up, moving next to her, waiting for her response.

((Since Dusk and Silver are by themselves, perhaps I should simply wait for when someone decides to join them or until dawn. If dawn comes first, I shall have Silver reveal Dusk's fate in the meeting.))

The moon's travels through the nighttime sky take time for some, and speed by for others, but ultimately the night does pass and the sun's radiance come forth to replace the moon. For a brief moment, the two share in their embrace of the sky, but the moment is fleeting as the moon continues to dip below the horizon and the sun continues to rise from it.

Sunlight streams into room and through windows as it floods the world with it's warm and gentle caress. Ponies come and go quickly as the daily activities within the major city of Canterlot begin and in the chamber of the princesses, the two diarchs sit patiently awaiting their summons to be answered. Greeting them kindly and warmly as they enter.

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Alright, sorry about the delay, just go ahead and post your entrance into the main hall when you can.

Faerie steps into the hall, more than a little shy. She had rewoven her glamors once her magic was restored, for all the good that it did. It prevented the stares and whispers at least, which was good enough for her. She was also quite glad to have her gear returned to her, which she kept on her. She bows to the Diarchy once she is no longer blocking anyone else's entrance.
"Your hospitality was enjoyable, your Majesties."
There was a strongly implied 'thank-you' in that phrasing, but it seemed the mare was uncomfortable with outright saying it.

Silver entered the throne room, acting as stoic and proud as he could. However, one could see a faint smile on him, as fate had given him and his family a reason for it.

He soon walked beside Faerie and bowed as well. "Silver Liner, reporting for duty your Majesties.

Diamond approached the throne room, following somewhat behind Silver and Faerie. He was wearing pieces of silver knight armor, multiple sheaths with multiple different swords and a spear. Diamond wasn't going to take any more chances with his own safety, nor was he taking any chances with Sin Ester.

Both princesses greeted the ponies as they entered with smiles and polite nods. Celestia was the first to speak. "My dear little ponies, it is good to see you all here. I hope you've rested well and are ready for the day. I also like to take this moment to extend our thanks for all of your participation in this matter so far. I know it's been difficult and-"

"Sister, we haven't the time," Luna interrupted and while Celestia frowned at her sister, she did also nod in agreement. "Sin Ester has recovered a powerful gem from the royal vault and we believe he'll be beginning the final stages of his plan soon."

"Which is why we'll be staying here, to provide cover and protect his targets since we don't know where Sin is or what kind of attack he's planning," Celestia spoke up.

"The three of you and several other teams will be sent to other locations to find and stop Sin, hopefully before he's able to use the gem's power," Luna spoke up again

"Do you have any questions before departing?" they both asked.

Faerie Fire looks at her companions and shrugs, the turns back to the Diarchy. "Where are we going would be one. How do we shut off the gem, and what exactly are his final plans would also be some good answers to have."
She didn't expect to get answers to all of those questions, since they were apparently in a hurry. Or at least, the Princesses wanted then to feel rushed, so they didn't ask too many questions. Immortals could be tricksy that way.

Diamond shrugged, make a noise of discomfort as he put his wizard hat on. "My questions are the same as Faerie's, but I have one more question." Diamond coughed, clearing his throat. "I want to know who the hell Sin Ester is. He somehow managed to kidnap me and did something. I'd like to know who I'm dealing with, so I can be more prepared."

Silver had no questions for the Princesses, so remained silent. The others had asked the necessary questions anyway. He remained standing at attention in his armor. He had wanted to tell the Princesses that Dusk had lived through the night, but he was certain they could easily learn that for themselves.

"You'll be going north, the mountains the make up the Neighagra falls," Luna responded first as the two princesses got up and began to escort the ponies towards the exit.

"To shut off the gem, you merely need to remove it from Sin Ester's contact, keep him from feeding it magic," Celestia answered the second one. "As for his final plans, we believe he intends to attack the nobles of Canterlot using the power of the gem. What exactly that power is, we are uncertain. Them gem was a dangerous artifact from before our rule, we only found it and tried to make sure none would use it for harmful means."

"We do not know Sin Ester's identity for sure, but based one what you managed to recover from the manor, we believe he was one of the noble-pony university professors, known as Mesmerize," Luna answered Diamond's question. "Regretfully, that will have to be the last question as there is your ride," Luna went on with a point to the chariot already prepared for the ponies.

"They'll get you to the falls, or at least as close as they can," Celestia spoke up then.

"Best of luck, we hope that should you find him, you are able to stop him before it is too late," the both said. After the group boarded the chariot, it'd take off and fly at a pretty quick pace.

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Woo! we're moving along. Alright, my next update will be describing what you see upon reaching the falls, in the meantime, there's no posting limit or order so to speak and within reason. If you've nothing you wish to do in the travel time, just make a post that you're standing at the ready or something of that nature.

Silver promptly went to the chariot, but he didn't get in quite yet. There was a lady in their group and by Celestia he wanted to be a gentlecolt and assist her into the chariot. It helped that Faerie was quite attractive in his eyes.