A Nightmare's Legends Returns

Harun had no idea what side to intervene on, but he didn't like the conflict between group members. Did that mean Scythe was one of them now? He quickly paced over to Scythe and Ruby, placing a hoof on the mare's shoulder and whispering into her ear.  "Heyheyheyheyhey. He said he wouldn't hurt anypony." Harun knew those where not the exact words spoken, but he wanted to put her at ease. Ruby had certainly undergone some kind of transformation as she certainly wasn't as frightened as when she had introduced herself. "This isn't productive to the mission." 

Scythe grinned. 'So she has a second her aswell, huh... this might be interesting.' he thought and stood up with a knife at his secretly armored neck. "Considering you're againt Lunars, my best guess is Nightmare Moon's castle. It's all logical." He said and chuckled.

Ruby pulled the knife away from Scythe's neck. She trotted past him and down the path. She swung at a random tree and made a rather large slash in it's bark. It wasn't fun when pesky ponies interpret her fun. She would have oh so very much loved to hurt Harun, but she couldn't and that's what she hates most.

She stopped, her coat going back to it's original color. "I'm...sorry..." She said quietly before continuing to walk down the path, her ears flat against her head. For that moment, she didn't care about herself and only cared to get away from the other ponies for their own safety. She slowly put her knife into it's scabbard, with a long sigh.

Despite whatever intentions may have been thrown at the group, Shard was quick to follow after Ruby for more than one reason. She however was too out of practice with social interaction to think of anything to say, and rather just followed along in contemplative silence. Hoping that the rest of this venture would prove at least mentally and socially easier.

Scythe looked after Ruby and Shard and then at the rest of the group. "So..." He began, pulling the hood backwards, revealing his messed dark-grey mane with white highlights and red eyes. "...what now, my dear ponies?" he asks the rest of the group, his eyes drifting for one to another pony.

Harun released a breath he didn't know he was holding. He didn't want to be torn between disarming the mare or having anypony being on the end of the weapon. "I think it's best we both leave her alone," Harun said to Scythe. "That isn't how she normally is, I'm sure some quiet time will fix it." Harun still didn't have much trust for Scythe, but if he tried to do his creepy act and pull him closer he knew he could take care of himself. 

Rain looked after Ruby, his water rippled, 'Since when did she grow a pair?'

He growled and out loud practically yelled, "OH WOULD YOU SHUT IT?!" He paused and looked around before facehoofing, "Talking to myself, never mind it." He shook himself, jostling his water in the process and looked back to Scythe, "We could do with your help I suppose. But yes, I agree, no killing of thestrals, or... Well anypony for that matter." He added the last part just in case, that smile was a bit creepy. With that and a nod to Harun, he walked off towards Ruby. His water flowed under his hooves coating the ground around him, one side seemed to boil while the other froze the grass and tree roots he walked over.

"Okay..." Vision gleaned around, looking at everypony in turn, then the ominous Everfree Forest. "I guess... I'm ready to go, whenever you all are." His horn glowed softly. "Feeling a little better too."

Ruby looked at Shard as walked down the path. She wondered if she was having difficulty holding her other side back. Her ears stayed flat against her head in defeat. I despise you...I do too. You despise yourself? Technically I am you. "Grr...SHUT UP!!" She shouted, shaking her head. "You are annoying as all hell. I'll be damned if a thestral kills you before I do." Ruby said to herself, not even giving a damn about the others anymore. Temper, temper. I'll be damned if those ponies don't realize you are fighting yourself.

She stomped her hooves and threw her knife at a nearby tree. "I swear, one day I will find away to get rid of you...And once I do, you'll be sorry..." She muttered, yanking the knife out of the bark of the tree with her magic. She charged up the runes on the side of her blade, her magic becoming a white color. She continued to look forward as she swung in the air, causing a lightning bolt to come out. She kept her knife by her side, he magic still a white color. She kept on walking down the path through all this.

A whitish purple hoof found itself hesitantly resting on Ruby's shoulder and the pony it belonged to was giving her a kind of hard look to read with the reflective glasses covering a decent chunk of her face. Shard had always been worried, but compared to this, her corruption almost seemed mild mannered. All it'd done prior had obscured her vision, forced rather dark and disturbing thoughts into her mind, and occasionally messed around with her magic, but she never had to truly fight it for control over herself, just try and keep it from influencing her decisions.

Still, Shard wanted to try and help even though she had no real clue how to other than simply being there. Still, she struggled to offer a comforting smile for a fleeting moment, just long enough to make it at least seem genuine Shard had guessed given her lack of social skills before letting her usual blank demeanor take over. "We'll need to move quickly, thestrals will probably be on the way because of the noise," Shard said beckoning Ruby to continue onwards quickly before proceeding at a faster pace herself.

Ruby stopped and looked at Shard. Her face twisted with frustration. Her looked soften when Shard tried to smile at her. She put her knife away with a long, deep sigh. Then the realization of her actions hit her. "Oh buck me to the sun...I...I'm so sorry. I-i...it's just...Y-yes. We should move quickly. I'm sure a scouting quad of thestrals are on their way. At the speed they fly, or run, they should get here rather soon. Come on!" She shouted behind her, picking up her pace to catch up with Shard. Oh...Look what your little temper did to you now... What a shame. SHUT UP! Hehe...No.

Vision noticed Ruby's condition as well, but he felt that Shard was probably more qualified to provide emotional help than he was.

Instead, he just said, "Once we get into the forest I can cast and maintain an outer illusion of darkness for a little while. Make us harder to detect. Not impossible, but... They'll need to look carefully to find us."

Scythe grinned and licked his lips as he slowly made his way down the path where Ruby was. But just as he made a few steps, a branch fell from a tree, hitting Scythe right on the head, causing Scythe to collapse momentarily.

Vision's eyes widened as he dashed to Scythe's side. "Are you okay?" He checked his head, trying to remember the brief tendrils of a painkiller spell he'd had... enough experience using back in the day. It mightn't work, but he could try.

He touched his horn to Scythe's head and summoned forth his spell, hoping that it would work, even if only ineffectually.

Scythe slowly opened his eyes, lifted his head and looked around. "Uugh.. where the buck am I.." he thought out loud. Then he finally noticed Vision "..And who are you?" he asked, more silently than before. He then noticed the rest of the group. "Ohgods, what has he gotten me into this time..."

"Uh... huh." Vision stepped back, eyeing Scythe with equal parts confusion and suspicion. "Who are you talking about? Who got you into this this time?"

Scythe quickly stood up and extended his hoof towards Vision. "Before that, hi, my name is Scythe Spin." He says with a smile. The tone of his voice was a lot different and calmer from before. "And 'he' is, well.. another part of me, if I may say so."

Vision visibly withered. "Ah." Great. What with Ruby already like this... He forced a smile. "I see. But, if you'll excuse my distrust, how do I know that you're telling the truth?"

Scythe shrugged. "Idunno, up to you, I suppose." He said, looking at him and then everyone else in the group. "It's a long story I do not like remembering." He says.

Vision looked at him, a bit of suspicion still lingering in his eyes. He turned to the others, a weary set of features imposed on his face, as he muttered, "Your call, everypony."

Ruby glanced back at Scythe. "We should really get moving...We can talk about Scythe later. The thestrals are on their way." She said, getting into a gallop. She galloped her was down the path and deeper into the Everfree. She pulled out her map and looked to see where they were on the map.

"So uhh, I suppose I can follow you guys then...?" Scythe worryingly asks and starts running after Ruby. "..thestrals? What's even going on?"

"We'll explain later." Vision said as he hurried after them, casting an illusion of undergrowth and general darkness in a hemisphere above them, hopefully obscuring them from any aerial scouts. "How far do we have to go through this place?"

Rain moved off to the side, analyzing every ponies behavior, "Multiple personalities as well as multiple entities in one body, must be tough to know what's going on..." He continued to mumble to himself, but kept looking forward wanting nothing more than to continue the mission.

Harun had some things he didn't like about himself, but they were nothing compared to problems everypony else seemed to be dealing with. It seemed being able to keep yourself to yourself was a rarer skill than he had thought...maybe it was just Equestrians that had those kind of problems. 

Contrary to what it was meant to do, the shroud made Harun feel more uncomfortable. Everything had made him feel uncomfortable so far though, so he was used to the feeling. It never was going to be a long walk followed by a quick rescue and battle. There was nothing to do but carry on though, so with his head facing down, instead of the alert up it should have been.