For a Thousand Years 2: The Rising Night (CableZ) [Dead]

[Xelliea]

For a Thousand Years 2: The Rising Night

Discussion Thread

Alicorn Royal Family Tree

Speech Key:
Lime - Codii
Purple - Aurora Slipstream
Orange - Quip Crack
Blue - Lapis
Pink - Utopia
Black - Ash
Black - Noctis
Grey - Cronos



Chapter I - Walking the Wheel

The Rose Juncture, a large, but still relatively fast passenger airship slowly began to dock at the Canterlot port. This was in no way its final stop, as it was on course for the Fillydelphian port, and was predicted to reach the city in no more than an hour or two. The Canterlot stop was more of a brief transition. The ship could be refuelled, and passengers could both come and go from the vessel. Airships, while not always the most common form of travel, were a favourite of some due to their speed, and the views available as it drifted across the Equestrian skies. The Rose Juncture even had small gardens on the deck, where ponies could enjoy spectacular flora on their journey, or just relax with a breeze carrying the fragrances of various flowers.

In the west garden, the smaller of the two, sat Codii. Looking up from her book, she scanned over the happenings on the ship, now that it was docked at Canterlot. It wasn't long before all those who were leaving the ship had left, and the newcomers were making their way aboard. There were all types, and for a while she found some amusement at gazing at the various arrivals. Eventually, the novelty wore off, and she decided to go back to her book. It was titled Rosemoor Hall, a science fiction novel in which Changelings are discovered to be aliens, and that the original Changelings had built a vault of technology under Canterlot, called Rosemoor Hall. Once the vault is discovered, the main characters must race to stop it from falling into the hooves of evil.

Oh hey! Mind if I sit next to you? Codii had just turned the page when she heard a voice. She stopped reading, deciding it best if she replied. Looking up, she saw a young mare, her straight and styled jet-black mane almost covering her eyes. Codii was sure she recognised the pony, but couldn't quite put her hoof on from where. Of course you can, but perhaps the more pressing question is if we know each other? Codii tried to be as polite as she could with her question, but she was intrigued to hear an answer.

The other mare giggled a little. Oh please. I'm Aurora, remember, I went to the university where you gave lectures? That was it, Codii realised. Back from when she used to give lectures on magical science in a Canterlot university, Aurora was one mare she remembered quite well. Not for achievement, however, but rather for complete apathy. Often she acted as if she'd rather have been anywhere else but in the hall, but, that begged the question as to why she wanted to talk with Codii now.

For a moment as she sat down, Aurora said nothing. Codii felt a little relieved, hoping that she would have to spend the entire journey to Fillydelphia talking to an old student. However, it seemed the opposite was true, and as soon as she sat down, the Pegasus mare began to talk... endlessly. Most of it was absolute drivel, the likes of which Codii had absolutely no wish to hear. But apparently, she had to listen to it anyway. Be it the latest fashion that she was wearing, or what happened to her the other day, Aurora seemed to be an complete font of banter and rubbish.

Leaving the port far behind, the Rose Juncture was already well on its way across the azure sky. Finally deciding having to hear any more would drive her mad, Codii excused herself for a while, explaining that she needed the toilet. In truth, she only wanted the chance to have a peaceful walk around the ship. She took the time to think over her reasons for coming to Fillydelphia. An old friend of hers had contacted her the other day about a discovery he'd found while out on a walk. He had no idea what it was, and certainly didn't want to keep it. However, knowing it was some sort of magical device, he'd told Codii about it, and she'd jumped aboard the first flight.

Aurora yawned, finding herself extremely bored now she had nopony to talk to. Oh how did ponies cope with being on their own? Frustrated, she glanced to the sky, deciding to count clouds short of nothing else to do. She only got to twenty two before she was once again bored. Standing for a moment, she looked around the garden in the hopes of Codii returning, or at least someone she could talk to. Nothing. Stomping her hoof, she trotted over to one of the garden's collection of flowers. They sure looked and smelled nice, and, while she was dying to pick one, she decided it better not to risk it. Instead, she sat down in front of a n especially pretty flower, inhaling the scent and batting it a couple of times with her hoof in hopes of curing her boredom.

Eventually, the great metropolis of Fillydelphia could be seen on the horizon, slowly creeping closer every minute. Codii, her ears finally stopping ringing from Aurora's drivel, decided it best to at least return to her seat for the last segment of the journey. Still, she thought as she looked over the side of the deck at the stunning view below, it wouldn't hurt anypony if she stayed there for another moment or so, just to admire the sights.

[CableZ]

The pleasant breeze whistled in the air as the air ship silently flew through the sky, the low swish of its propellers lazy movement providing a calming feel to it all. It was not a trip for those who rushed through life, it was calm, relaxing, and peaceful. Of course that was the intention, but in the land of Equestria that's not so easy, some ponies just don't have that mindset. As ponies chatted and enjoyed the view, it became apparent that there really wasn't much going on around the vessel, it was about as lively as the very way in which they were traveling, light, fluffy, slow, and full of hot air. As Codii went to look over the side, there was a small explosive sound that came from quite far below the ship, really if you weren't listening out for something you would have missed it. then came an odd sound, like rope uncoiling, to the point that it made that tell tale woosh woosh woosh sound.

Like a hand of the earth, a metallic claw shot up from below, and then dropped, hooking onto the side of the ship..and that was it. For a moment there was...well nothing, silence, just this weird grappling hook...thing digging into the wooden guard rail of the ships side. The passengers looked over toward the commotion with confused eyes, most were looking at Codii, thinking she had done something. From below there were some strange grunting sounds, like a pony lifting something heavy, but there it was too difficult to see who it was, the rope they were more than likely climbing was swaying about too much in the wind, along with the angle in which the ships hull went down. The silence of the boat was an uneasy one, no pony knew what was going on, and it was rather disconcerting. The silence went on for a minute or so, and...well frankly things got kind of boring. Most of the ponies sort of went back to their business, while a few of the crew investigating the strange metal claw/ hook thing

However, just when they were about to pry the metallic nuisance free, an organic nuisance arrived. With a leap and series of intricate flips from below, came a pony, flying over the side of the ship. Where he had some from was obvious, how he had done so was not. As he leapt through the air, he moved his body to land facing the crew that were investigating. His landing was like he was just stood there all along, except he fell from the air, the impact of his landing having no...well impact on him at all.

"Sorry I'm late, the ship left without me" the masked pony giggled, holding out a silvery shiny ticket with a golden inlay. To which the crew immediately straightened up and looked all serious.

"Its not issue at all mr Crack, I do apologize, can we do anything for you?" The steward sounded almost worried, Quip held out a premium VIP ticket, and were to be treated with the utmost respect, and they had left him behind.

"Oh no its fine, I'm quite alright" He laughed

Turning quickly, one of the crew pulled the metal claw from the woodwork, then all of them promptly scarpered. Quip looked around with a little giggle, before waving at the girl he had just jumped over, Codii to be precise.

[Xelliea]

As soon as it had attached itself to the ship, Codii found herself intrigued by the hook. It certainly didn't look weight bearing, but, then again, why would somepony snap such a thing onto the ship, if not to bear something. Physics wasn't her specialised field, but she certainly had enough knowledge to notice how 'off' it felt. She held out a hoof, about to tap it to see what kind of resistance it gave. However, before she could make contact with it, it started to shift. After that, it was just moments before the late arrival cast himself on board. Typical, it would seem. Codii had exchanged one nuisance, and got herself another. And so, for the moment, she stood still and watched the pony have his little back and forth with the oddly stressful staff members aboard the ship. Clerical errors happened, but to leave behind a VIP? Maybe it was just a really big error.

Her position as a spectator was robbed from her when the very Earth Pony who'd made the flashy entrance had turned to wave at her. Well, this was sure to be a barrel of laughs. Was it just her, or did he look like he should be in some kind of mental hospital? From the looks others gave, it wasn't just her. However, perhaps he'd in fact end up as a good source of a decent conversation. So, gazing at the metal hook again, then over to Quip, she trotted over to the mask wearer. I suppose cutting your losses and finding another method of travel wasn't an option? Very well, allow me to introduce myself, if only to give the laws of physics time to recover. My name is Codii, and I'm afraid I didn't catch yours.

_______________________________________________________________

That was it. Aurora wasn't going to spend a moment longer waiting around. After all, Codii could be in trouble. Maybe the toilet blew up or something. Oh well, one could hope. A number of ponies all seemed to be heading in a certain direction, all with confused looks. Whatever it was, it seemed to draw a lot of attention. Aurora smirked, considering that, if she couldn't find Codii straight off the bat, then following all the noise could lead to something interesting. And so, getting up and giving the flower a last quick tap, she slowly followed the steady stream of ponies.

She was surprised to find that it was Codii in the centre of all the commotion. Well, her and... somepony else. Irritatingly, the crowd was too thick to really get close, or even see what was exactly going on. She tried to raise a hoof, hoping that Codii would notice her, but, amongst the others, she wasn't sure. Her only real option was to wait until the crowd got bored and broke up. Of course, that all depended on what was going on on the other side.

[CableZ]

Quip cocked his head to the side as the mare walked up to him, she didn't seem too fun loving, at least from how she introduced herself. His attention was next drawn to the crowd surrounding him, with a laugh he turned to face them with a quick hope and a laugh. Most seemed to recognize him, and smiles began to creep onto the ponies faces. A group of fillies and colts had pushed their way up to the front of the crowd and all had amazed and happy grins on their faces, to which Quip smiled himself, not that you could see that. Quip stood up on his back legs, and reached behind him from his left side, using the opposite hoof. As quick as lighting he brought the hoof back, holding a bouquet of beautiful mutli-coloured roses, to which the crowd gasped and stomped their hooves slightly. He then gave each of the young ponies a flower, which got a few D'aw's from the adults. The kids looked at the flowers and then to Quip happily, but then they felt a jet of water shoot onto their faces as they sniffed the flowers, and were left slightly bewildered as the adults started chuckling, and soon the kids joined in with the laughter also.

Another quick 180 hop back onto all fours had Quip facing Codii with a giggle, as he bowed to her.

"Quip T. Crack at your service" He laughed, holding out the last perfectly white rose to the mare.

[Xelliea]

Codii stood confused through Quip's odd display. Unlike many of the ponies in the crowd, she'd never heard of the strange masked pony before, but he seemed to be quite the performer. Quite the crowd pleaser, too. In fact, Codii even found herself smiling at his little display with the foals. Despite his almost insane mannerisms, he didn't seem that bad at all. She also liked that the attention was being drawn away from her. She didn't mind the spotlight when it came to teaching and such, but she preferred to be the one to decide when that attention would be on her, and she certainly wasn't a fan of being stared at. But, of course, Quip turned around, and eyes started to dart back on her. She raised an eyebrow at the presentation of the rose, but there was no mistake that she was happy with the gift. She quickly levitated it behind her ear.

Well, thank you, Mr Quip. In fact, I'm pretty sure I could collect just the right amount of α-Pinene and β-Pinene out of the oil. Perfect! She spoke this time with genuine thanks, although perhaps for the wrong reasons. Codii always saw a scientific opportunity before anything else, and that sometimes blinded her, so to speak. Still, she was clearly thankful at the gift. However, she found herself sighing a little when a familiar face came running out of the crowd. It seemed her enjoyment of anything was never allowed to continue past a hoof full of moments.

Oh my... it really is you! Quip, I love your performances! Excitement was clearly evident in Aurora's face, as she almost skipped with glee. Leaning in a little, Codii mumbled to Quip Oh, the joy of fangirls... before she was interrupted by the purple coated pony jumping between them. What's it like... being you, I mean? I can imagine you're ever bored! You just have to tell me all about it! Aurora was ecstatic, and that left Codii with the young mare's attention away from her, which was a plus. She just hoped it would stay away.

Aurora, being both extremely spoilt and bored easily, was always trying to find ways to amuse herself. In truth, one of her favourite ways to spend her time was watching live shows. Now that she was finished with the long and dull university course her parents had forced her to take, she had even more time on her hands. With the amount of money her father gave her, she really had no need or wish to have a job. Instead, she now had as much time as she wanted to have fun. She'd been to many interesting shows, but Quip's were up there with the best around. And now, to meet him here... it must have been her birthday!

[CableZ]

Quip bowed slightly in politeness after giving the only real rose to Codii, however he brought his head back up when he heard an excited voice, turning with a grin on his real face, he got sight of his fan. She was a nice sort, although Codii leaned in and seemed to think otherwise, to which he just giggled and bowed to Aurora. The rest of the crowd soon dispersed, Quip was only traveling after all, he was probably going to do a performance in Fillydelphia, and they didn't want to be a bother. Quip stuck by the mares, they seemed fun enough for now, so why not?

"Boredom is a natural part of life, I'm the unnatural part sent to kill any boredom where ever I find it" Quip stood on one of his back hooves in a display of his awesome balancing skills as he spoke. "Anypony can not be boring, just got to enjoy whatever you're doing" He laughed back flipping onto all of his hooves. "So you're a fan eh? Pleasure to meet you" Quip grabbed her hoof and leaned down and pressed his mask into it, as if he were kissing it in respect. "So what has you two heading to fillydelphia? I..assume you know eachother?" He asked looking at them both.

[Xelliea]

Aurora giggled as Quip 'kissed' her hoof, her face going quite red. To have her favourite performer be so chivalrous, it made her flustered. For a moment she, and Codii watching her with rolling eyes, stood quiet. Then, they both registered that they had been asked a question. As to be expected, Aurora dashed in to answer first. I'm just heading to Fillydelphia for a change of scenery, to have fun and maybe buy anything that takes my fancy. To be honest, I thought I'd hang around with Codii... she pointed her head to Codii, since there hadn't really be introductions from each of them ... for a while. I'm Aurora, by the way. Aurora Slipstream. Being sure that the miracle had come where Aurora had stopped speaking, Codii cleared her throat. I'm to meet with a friend of mine. He's got an interesting discovery he wanted to give me.

To be honest, while some ponies might not want to explain their business right off the bat, or even give their real name until they felt guilty enough to, Codii had no problem with telling the two her plans. I suppose you could come with me, Aurora, just, please, don't touch anything. For all I know, the thing could blow up. Aurora's face turned to a huge smile, already excited to see what this 'discovery' was. After a moment, she turned to Quip. Um... Quip, if you've got time, could you hang with us for a while? I mean, I don't think I could ever be bored with you around. She almost looked at him with puppy eyes, hoping that he'd say yes. To spend time with Quip... anything fun could happen. It would be great!

_________________________________________________

Eventually, there was a shipwide 'clunk' as the Rose Juncture came into contact with the Fillydelphian port. Almost as soon as it landed, ponies rose from their seats and slowly made their way to the exits of the ship, seemingly eager to get to where they were going. There was no rush, however, with Fillydephia being the final stop for the ship that day, despite it being relatively early, not much past midday. Passengers could leave at their leisure, and those who wanted to could continue to relax in the gardens. As for Codii, she was already twitching with anticipation at the thought of tinkering with the find, and Aurora was just as eager to tag along.

[CableZ]

Quip simply nodded along with the mares as they gave their reasons for heading to the great city, frankly neither of their reasons jumped out at Quip as amazingly fun, Aurora seemed to be trying to seem nonchalantly cool, and Codii was an academic, two things Quip just snoozed at. However he was only heading to the city for some decorations, some thing you can only get in certain places after all. Still, he had some time to spare, and why not, it could end up being fun, can't exactly knock something without first seeing where it may lead. With a shrug Quip gave his answer.

"I don't see why not, never know where something may take you after all...well unless its a train, you usually know where that's taking you" He giggled.

Turning his head to see that they were coming into dock, Quip didn't even move at the sudden lurch of the ship's docking, most ponies lost their step and some even fell over, Quip just stayed perfectly still, his balance skills were freaky sometimes. Still, with a giggle he turned to begin walking off the ship. Picking up a suit case and putting on a hat, he began happily trotting off the vessel. Stopping for a moment, he turned back to face the girls with an expectant look hidden beneath his permanent grin,

"Well...are you coming?" He spoke as if he knew where they were going.

[Xelliea]

Aurora skipped a little as she followed Quip across the deck of the Rose Juncture. Overwhelmed by a combination of excitement and anticipation, she couldn't wait to get going. Codii, also eager, joined the other two at the end of the ship, and the three left the vessel to enter the streets of Filydelphia. There was no sort of checkpoint at the airport, but, then again, it wasn't like they'd gone to another country. Even leaving the port, the streets were crowded. It was a beautiful day, and not all that late, so ponies from all around the city were out for the sun. Codii walked a little ahead of the other two, best knowing the way through the city. She hadn't been there a huge amount of times, but she'd visited her friend quite a few times, and had got to know the way to his house. Aurora remained close to Quip, firing random questions at him.

What made you become an showpony? What's with the mask? What's your favourite colour? What's your favourite act? What's your favourite city? Where abouts do you actually live? She spoke without pause, and Codii found it hard to see how she hadn't passed out from lack of air after a while. Eventually, having weaved through street after street, the group came to a rather large house. It was one of the largest in sight, the door frame made from carved marble, the door itself being covered in elaborate carvings. Well, here we are. Be nice, both of you. Reaching forward, Codii knocked her hoof against the door, being careful not to damage it.

Answering the door stood a stout Unicorn, his white mane combed in a very stylised manner. It was clear from his house's interior that he was an artist, with various pieces visible around the room. He had thought of keeping the relic and using it in one of his pieces, but it apparently buzzed with energy he was a little fearful of.Ah, Codii, darling, come in, come in. I'll go fetch it for you. They exchanged smiles. This means a lot to me, Lapis, thank you. I hope you don't mind, I ended up with a couple of unexpected guests. The artist seemed happy for the other two to enter, saying that any were welcome, perhaps hoping to show of his art.

He disappeared into his living room for a moment, then returned seconds later. In his hooves lay a metallic orb, about half a meter across, covered in various runes. It literally hummed, letting out a strange oscillating drone. Well, here it is. Looks old, real old, but it's still as warm as a muffin. He let it down on a close by cushioned stool, letting all three guests take a look.

[CableZ]

As Quip walked with the mares, he took in the great Fillydelphia scenery, the city was as beautiful as it was expansive and old. Quip didn't visit the city nearly as much as he wanted to, but his work kept his quite busy in whatever location he called home at the time. He was so caught up in his sight seeing, that he almost didn't hear all of Aurora's questions. With a little jump forward, Quip flipped around 180 degrees and began walking backwards, with a weird level of precision to his movement and balance.

"Its a long story, I want to smile all the time, I'm partial to purple, I like this stallion called Baritone Shores and his brother Ruby, Manehatten, In a cart currently parked in ponyville OOOOO' ICE CREAM!" Quip dashed off in a puff of smoke toward a nearby little ice cream stand.

---

As the arrived at the house, Quip enjoyed his ice cream..which he was somehow eating? Anyway he was slightly preoccupied to care about what was going on, but when the weird ball thing was presented, Quip went slightly wide eyes under his mask.

"ooooooooooooooooo' whats that?" He asked in a state of awe

[Xelliea]

Ignoring the interested comments from both Aurora and Quip, Codii jutted forward, sitting on the floor next to the orb. She raised a hoof, keeping it just above the surface. It did indeed radiate heat. But how? Everything about it said it was very old, and after all this time, even if it was laying in the sun for a while, it should have lost any heat. But, it was warm. It pointed to magic, and that got Codii very excited. She moved around it carefully, having not examined it enough to trust in touching it. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a glass tube with some sort of white mist inside, similar to a thermometer. Let's see just how much magic you give off... She spoke in part to herself, part to the sphere, and part to the others. Gently, she moved the tube closer, the mist inside expanding at a astounding rate. As she moved in to about an inch away from the item, the tube shattered. Well, exploded, showering glass down upon and around the stool. Thankfully had the tube levitated far enough away to prevent any harm. That wasn't supposed to happen... I'll clear this up shortly, Lapis, just allow me to...

Lapis, calming down from the small explosion, turned to the other two. She'll be a while... feel free to sit down somewhere, I'll get the kettle on. Giving one more confused glance to what Codii was doing, he wandered off to the kitchen, presumably. Aurora, on the other hand, was quite transfixed with what Codii was doing, and so stayed with at Quip's side. So... um... Quip, what do you think that thing does? I really hope it doesn't blow up. As she spoke, Codii continued her examinations. Most of her equipment would likely suffer the same fate as the reader, and so she dared not use them. Instead, she decided the only way she'd really find out more would be to touch it. Lapis had held it with a sheet of cloth, so she knew not what it would do if directly touched. However, how bad could it be? Well, that was a question she soon hoped to answer.

With caution, she reached out, giving the sphere a slight tap with her hoof. For a moment, an imprint of where she'd touched glowed in bright blue. Then, nothing. It clearly responded to her contact, but didn't seemed to do much at all. No no no, something with a magic aura that strong had to do something else. The next option would be to hit the object with a brief bolt of magic. It would be more in danger of something going wrong, but it had to be done. Signalling for Aurora and Quip to stand back a little, her horn glowed lime for a moment.

In a split section, there was an stunning boom that erupted from the orb. This was accompanied by a shockwave. Oddly, it had no effect on any of the art pieces around the room, but blew all three ponies right off there hooves, regardless of dexterity. As soon as the ponies looked at the object again, it was floating about a foot off the stool, the runes each glowing brilliant blue. Then, each of the three would feel themselves being pulled a little toward the object, and then... they were gone. By the time Lapis ran in to see what the noise was, he would be faced with an empty room.

_______________________________________________________

Codii, Aurora and Quip reappeared in mid air, the sphere hovering between them. Looking down, they were met with the familiar sight of the deck of the Rose Juncture, only from the top. They hovered there for a moment, almost paralysed, until the orb fell, and them with it. Cascading downwards, it crashed through the airship's deck, the three immobilized ponies coming with it. It would have been understandable for one to expect the orb to keep going, to keep falling until it hit the ground, smashing the ponies against the rocks. However, it didn't. Reaching the hold of the ship, the sphere halted, hovering a little and realising the ponies from the suspension. For a moment, it lit the otherwise rather dark hold with a faint azure light, but then quickly shattered, the metallic orb breaking into mundane shards of metal without any magical essence.

Both Codii and Aurora, understandably stunned after being thrown through a wooden deck, slowly opened their eyes at almost the same time. I-Is everypony... ok? Aurora yelled a little louder than required. She had a couple of bumps, but nopony seemed to be bleeding or anything. Where they just lucky? Or had the object shielded them somehow? Codii, however, didn't reply to Aurora's question. Instead, she stood in both confusion and amazement, staring at a strange, pyramid shaped stone relic, nestled in a small, metal open crate a little way away from where she stood. Even without any equipment, she could feel the magic radiation coming off the thing. Like the sphere, it too gave off a drone, but this one was continuous and solid. Even as it sat there, its power was clear, slowly imploding the crate around it like it was sucking the air out of a balloon. Whatever it was, Codii was willing to bet money that the orb had brought all three of them here because of it. That meant it was important, and it made Codii's interest skyrocket.

[CableZ]

Quip watched Codii inspect her new toy with a blank face as he continued to enjoy his icy treat, his mask obviously hiding any expression, he just sort of sat there watching silently. He didn't know what to make of it all really, relics were never a specialty of his, although weirdly he had collected a few in his time. Regardless they were not an area of knowledge for him, so he didn't exactly have much of an opinion concerning it all. Thats why when Aurora asked him what he thought it did, he shrugged and made and "I 'unno" soound as he licked his ice cream. Making a few sounds of licking his lips, he wiped his mask with his leg/ arm before looking at Aurora for a moment.

"Not sure really, I've never been good at this sort of thing...or interested either." Quip mused to himself on the final part of that sentence.

He didn't really flinch when Codii tapped the item either, frankly he didn't think it would do much, it was just a small hunk of junk after all. This would also explain why Quip, when Codii hit the ball with a bolt of magic, and they were suddenly falling, that Quip didn't really react at first. He stayed amazingly still as they fell through the air, slowly spinning around at different angles as the wind resistance moved him, while he kept a sitting position, still eating his ice cream nonchalantly.

However, as he fell, the wind slowly slid the ice cream cone from his hoof, and as it floated away from his graps right in front of him, the bomb dropped. Looking down with a short glance Quip looked back ahead of him with a nonchalant gaze, before his whole body jumped in fear slightly as he let out a yelp.

"how'd we get to this?" He shouted over the wind just before the trio crashed into the ship.

---

Quip ended up with a majority of the wooden decking on top of his when he fell, so when he got up, his head popped up out of the rubble, looking around slightly with one ear flopped down slightly in confusion.

"What on earth happened?" He asked before opening the rubble like a door, seemingly impossibly, and walking out of the pile. He then turned and closed this door, and the rubble once again acted like it would normally. falling in place of where Quip had just been.

Looking around for a moment, Quip then saw the new artifact and sighed.

"Sometimes you just cna't have a peaceful day" He moaned slightly before looking at Codii, recognizing her as somepony that might know what the hay is going on. "Where are we...I mean aside from the ship."

[Xelliea]

Once Quip had emerged from the rubble, Aurora dashed forward to see if he was all right. As with the others, the orb would have prevented any great harm to him, but bumps were likely. Codii would have perhaps had something to say about Quip's physically illegal emergence, but she was far too distracted. Even after she was asked a question, she took a moment to even register it. Still looking intently at the relic, she sort of half turned to acknowledge the question. The sphere... it must have brought us to the Rose Juncture's hold. But why? It must be because of this, it just must be. She briefly pointed at the pyramid shaped item in the nearby crate. Perhaps it would be better to be a little more careful with this one, in the hopes that it would end up crashing them into anything. With some effort, Codii channelled a telekinesis spell, pulling the crate around the relic into the centre of the room such that she could get a better look, and perhaps so could the other two, though neither seemed that interested.

I'd wager some of the markings on here are words, just in a language and with an alphabet lost to us. Although, in some ways it appears to share the same roots as our own. It isn't even ancient Alicorn. Of course, that begs the question as to what language it is, and who wrote it. That leads me on to who made it. It's old, but the makeup is similar to that of the orb. That leads me to confirm that the reason the sphere brought us here was, as I had suspected, because of this. Codii realised she was going on a little too much, and so looked up at the other two as she paused. Seeing how confused and rather bored Aurora was, she found herself getting quite frustrated. You can't seriously tell me you have no clue about any of this? You've been to quite the few lectures on the subject, most being mine, even if you did find them uninteresting. You must have some thoughts on the whole thing? Aurora continued to stare rather blankly, just shrugging her shoulders.

Codii groaned a little, it being clear that Aurora really was clueless about the whole thing. Mr. Quip, what about you? You must see something in this whole thing. Don't you want to take a look at this thing up close? You may never see something like this ever again. She spoke eagerly, not scorning Quip as she did Aurora slightly, mainly because she was hopeful that Quip, unlike Aurora, might actually be interested in the thing. While she waited for any kind of response, she went back to looked over the artefact. After a few moments, her eyes went wide. Hold on... the magic of this item is temporal in nature. As in, it actually can affect the flow of time. Maybe pause it, maybe reverse it, or even maybe transport the user to a different point entirely. It's just so... remarkable. The power of the magic must have been created by a very powerful crafter, the strength rivals that of the strongest Alicorns. Hmm... but who made it... and why?

[CableZ]

Quip Listening with a blank face as Codii talked and talked and talked, she certainly seemed to like the sound of her own voice. Cocking his head to the side as he was hit with the wall of words, Quip had to take a step back from all of the words hitting him. Quip looked at the artifact she was explaining and tentatively studying as she explained it to him, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

When she asked him what he thought, Quip began placing around the area. He then turned back to face Codii, staring at her for a moment. However then he just shrugged.

"I Don-" Quip was then cut off by Codii once more, Quip just smirked.

Sitting down, Quip just let Codii's words go in one ear and out the other. Quip was not a unicorn, nor was he much of an educated pony, so Quip had little to no idea what Codii was actually talking about. However there came a pause in her speech which finally gave Quip a chance to speak.

"Where does all that green text come from....err, anyway, I don't really know whats going on, I'm not good with relics...hm, we got here by you shooting that orb with magic though, maybe shooting this thing with magic will take us back, or at least take us somewhere new." Quip giggled, not really thinking about what he had said.

[Xelliea]

Even though Quip might not have known what he'd said, it both made Codii think about zapping the thing with magic as a viable option, and gave her the confidence to do it. I'm going to put a little magic into this thing. I don't know what it'll do, though, so I need to be sure you're all ok with it. She mainly focused on Aurora, given that Quip had been the one to suggest it. Why not?! In for a penny, after all. She smiled a little, partially interested to see what would happen, and partially just happy to spend more time with Quip. I'm glad you're so... eager. To be honest, Codii wasn't fully sure of herself. After what that orb did when she zapped it... and that was just the usher. This was the party proper, and whatever it did, it was sure to be quite something.

Taking a few steps back, she looked intently at the pyramidal relic. She paused, reminding herself that whatever happened, she'd know more for it. Her horn was enveloped in a swirling aura, and a small arc of energy leapt from it to the relic sitting still in the crate, like from a Tesla Coil. As soon as it was struck, the relic's whine raised considerably in volume and pitch. The crate crumpled like paper, shrivelling, then imploding, then cracking into fragments of metal and shattering all around the artefact like glass on the maroon oak floor. Rising from the fragments like a phoenix from ash, the pyramid leapt hovered a little, rising slowly while humming even louder, the noise echoing through the hold.

In a split second, the relic birthed a translucent aura of shifting colours, from red, to purple, to green, to grey, to many more. Rushing through the ears of all three ponies came whispers just too quiet to make sense, but clear enough to be noticeable. They sounded a little like ponies speaking, but with odd undertones. But, before too much attention could be focused on them, the relic let out a noise like a scream, then released an blast of light that rippled through the hold. Light, and then darkness.

_____________________________________

Codii's eyes flickered open, although the world around her was so dark she wasn't sure if her eyes were even open at all. Her head dizzily rolling to her left, she saw both Aurora and Quip lying amongst the world of nothing. There was no floor, but they were all on the same plane. Slowly, the young mare put her two hooves out in front of her, pushing with some effort to get up. After stumbling a little, mainly from the confusing environment, she was able to stay on her hooves. The whole place didn't make much sense, and certainly broke a few physical laws, but given the events of today, those laws were quickly becoming badly-followed guidelines.