When in the Dark (Private)

[CableZ]

While the others were discussing why they thought there was both a fear and a curiosity of the unknown, Dread was looking out of the window admiring the scenery. Outside the train the climate was changing quite dramatically from the warm climate albeit cloudy climate he had left behind in Ponyville, a few patches of snow were popping up on the rocky and shrub filled landscape which was a clear indication that they were nearing the final ascent of their trip into the northern Equestrian planes. Dread had always enjoyed the site of snow, it seemed very pure despite its excessively cold nature.

Thankful that he was in the heat of the train carriage, he turned back to listen to the conversation just as that stallion whose name eluded him asked if anyone had any decent stories. Now Dread had to think about this question because it could mean two different things with him, did he mean just a story or did he mean something Dread had done? Well Dread had written a lot of tales in his life mainly due to the fact that it was his job, however he had also done quite a few interesting things in the real world. Assuming that they wanted real life events Dread had to consider what to tell them, he had done quite a few things in this last year alone. Since no one had yet answered the questions, shifting in his seat Dread looked at each of the males in the carriage before clearing his throat softly.

"Well.. I've traveled in time, I got trapped by some kind of artifact and sent back thousands of years where I had to battle an ancient demon that was going to destroy the world." Dread then went back to looking at his notes as if what he had just said was a totally acceptable piece of information.

The train continued onward and was rapidly approaching Detrot, it would sit in the station for an hour to resupply on coal before it would make the journey to the unmarked town that lay on the edge of the Tramplevanian county line which would mark the end of the long train journey and the beginning of the real adventure.

[Dream Gaze]

"...Curiosity is dangerous, but the danger of the unknown is what makes that curiosity so exciting."

Dream Gaze nodded in agreement to the griffon "Couldn't have said it better than that." He then turned back to Gearshift and watched as he put together another one of his inventions on the spot as he gave his opinion on the subject before asking about any stories that the others wished to share. Augen decided to pass the role of storyteller to another and the dark stallion... he actually told a story... sort of... It was more of a summery more than anything and it left Dream with an inquisitive look.

"Well.. I've traveled in time, I got trapped by some kind of artifact and sent back thousands of years where I had to battle an ancient demon that was going to destroy the world.""...I'm I the only one here that wants to hear the rest of that story?" He said before thinking about his own story to tell... it wasn't easy to choose and it was unlikely that they would get anything more out of the dark stallion based upon what Dream had seen so far.

"Well I don't have much to share in terms of stories... so how about some history instead? I'm sure the end will raise your curiosity as much as it has mine." He said before clearing his throat and closing his eyes as he recalled the past. "I wasn't born in Equestria originally. I hail from a place called the Equine Glaciers, a frozen wasteland far to the south. My home was a village of Cyromancers at the base of an icy peak... Said to sit on the very bottom of the world, it's as far South as one can go. It's an unforgiving environment... So we've developed an immunity to the cold, It's the element that Cyromancers control after all." As a quick demonstration, Dream Gaze tapped his water bottle with his hoof. The outside of the bottle became covered in frost and its contents soon froze solid... he resumed speaking soon after "The Cyromancers had strong beliefs that if you were able to ascend the Southern Spire, they would find a gate to paradise... So more often than not, they would go on a pilgrimage to the top of the spire... and never return... No one knows if the perished or if they actually did find a gate. But I'll admit... That this is one piece of unknown information that actually scares me."

[Nimbus]

Rook sat and listened as the discussion came around about stories, to which, unfortunately he had not much to add, reason being, in all of his travels not much stood out from the rather unfortunate but significant events leading up to him leaving his home, and he had decided this was something he was not about to share, therefore didn't interject with his story.

His interest was caught by the tale of the ancient demon, so he decided to attempt to get more out of that story

"That thing about the demon, that sounds interesting, I'm afraid in all of my travels, I haven't come across anything quite as… interesting or intense as that, just stories of moving from one place to another for me, not that moving is boring, it just doesn't seem to make good story telling"

His thoughts shifted to the journey again rather quickly, and he said, in a somewhat lost in thought way

"I wonder just how much longer we'll be on this train, It looks so interesting out there, in the meantime I'd love to hear any stories the rest of you have to offer, I'm afraid I must save mine, for lack of interest over anything"

He then, as he had so often done, looked outside, he liked the sight of snow, it reminded him of home, which, oddly should make him sad, however the snow itself reminded him of how beautiful it was up in the mountains that he had come from, despite the hardship he had faced, it brought back happy memories of the winter. He took note of the cryomancy being displayed to them in the carriage by dream, he looked at it for a while rather interested, the amusing thought came to mind that it seemed great to use in the summer, however in the climate as it was outside the carriage, he saw it as rather useless, it would just be making cold even colder

[darktobias13]

Gearshift's eyes widened at what he had heard so far. Inquisitions, Cryomancers, Demons, time travel? He gave a low whistle of admiration.

"Traveled back in time that far? What kind of artifact or relic was it? And how in Tartarus did you manage to defeat an ancient demon? And Dream, ice magic, aye? Would it be too much trouble to ask you to teach me a bit of that? It would come heavily in handy when my machines' cores overheat. And that's not the first culture i have heard that have beliefs that a dangerous journey would lead to paradise. And Augen, i am sorta curious about this Inquisition. I have never heard of this before."

"As for my stories, i have traveled, as i said, all over the continent, learning different arts of many different crafts from various masters of the art. It wasn't easy with language barriers and all until i made a translator. I have gone on quite a few adventure, some not intentionally, sometimes searching for artifacts and magical relics to get a better grasp of the magic we used to be capable of. That is how i found my Illusio amulet, a relic that allowed oneself to manifest two other copies of their being, with their own sentience, at least for a little bit. After about ten minutes the illusions depart back to the amulet, which has to recharge for a day. One memorable adventure was one in which i was looking for a lost pony deep in the Everfree Forest, and ran into an Alpha Timber Wolf. These things are bigger and meaner than their smaller brethren and i almost believe that they become a bit intelligent over the decades that they have lived. The only way to defeat it was to blow it up, which i did by accident, and teleport the pieces away. If you didn't know, the only way to kill a timber wolf is with fire, otherwise they just pull themselves back together after a while. If that thing is intelligent, it remembers me, and someday i will have to face it again and finish the fight...." Gearshift drifted of into thought.

[Augen Horns]

At the putforth given by the dark stallion, Augen couldn't help but raise a brow. Augen had always found epic tales of earthshaking proportion to be fascinating, even if they were best to be taken with a grain of salt. He couldn't help, however, a tinge of skepticism. He'd encountered his fair share of destructophilic demons before, albeit not necessarily of the world-ending sort, but the time travel as stated certainly begged some questions, far beyond just the viability of the subject. He hoped the dark stallion would tell more: it'd be interesting if elaboration on the tale would quell Augen's doubts on the claim as given. He'd prefer to be convinced than not.

The gate to paradise, atop a spire, also peaked Augen's interests. Reminded him a bit of a legend he had heard back home, although ultimately the two were very different. He was still musing on that when Gearshift spoke up, the mention of the inquisition perking the goat's ears. "... Oh yes, I guess the inquisition probably never reached this far," Augen said, thinking that was probably for the better. He figured he'd do his part to explain in due time, first letting the tinker give his piece. The goat listened closely, curiously.

"Interesting," Augen said, stroking his chin. The way timberwolves regenerated gave him a few ideas that he might find useful in his own machinations... Perhaps it would be a good idea to discuss this with Gearshift later on. "... OH, am I up? Hmm..." The goat leaned back in his seat. "Not sure where to start. I mean, my tales are less in quality and more in quantity. Just one of many so-called good hircines good at doing bad things bad hircines were good at, so we did good by doing bad to bad guys. Sometimes they turned good, sometimes they turned good-riddance," he explained, mimicking a neck-cut gesture with his hoof. "Unfortunately, after a while the good guys weren't so good and the bad guys weren't always bad anymore. Which is why I quit."

The goat gave a sigh, looking up at the cieling. "... It was our job to quell heretics and demons across Hircinia, as well as some of the surrounding nations and territories. Alongside my comrades I had faced off against a fair share of witches, liches, and sons of the Fallen Spirit, as well as just regular old enemies of the order. Sometimes it was brute-work, other times investigations, but more than anything else we were sent to capture and interrogate. Thus the title 'inquisitor'. However, when one archdeacon passed and another took office, the meaning of the word 'heretic' started to get a little more broad. More and more we started taking on assignments without really knowing what the accused had done against the order. Started to believe what I once saw as feigned ignorance."

The goat paused and took a sip of his coffee, his eyes glancing around. "... I was raised following the Revivalist Order, but my ancestry was of the Olden Faith. I still followed many of the traditions. I took pride in my roots... So I guess the final straw was when my cohorts and I were sent to an Olden village to subdue the populace and bring them in for interrogation. Their only crime: holding onto the Olden Faith after they'd been petitioned to convert to the Revitalist Order. My companions seemed not to hold the same objections to the assignment, so I sabotaged the operation. I'd not say it was a stupid decision on my part to do so, but I was a fool not to cover my tracks. I was pending excommunication and brought in for trial, whereforth I gave my resignation... Anyway, I seemed to have gotten carried away. Did I actually explain what the inquisition was, or did I forget and wind up giving my life story," Augen asked, his eyes widening as he realized he was mostly thinking out loud this whole time.

[CableZ]

While the various members of the group told their stories of intrigue or simply wondered about the stories of the others, the train pulled into Detrot. By the time Augen had finished his little tale, the sounds of resupplying coal and water could be heard outside while the harsh whistles and gushes of steam providing a backing soundtrack to it all. Dread stared outside as he wasn't really paying attention entirely to the stories of the other passengers, although he was absentmindedly writing down little bullet points on their stories. Now that there was a one hour wait, it just seemed to push Dread over his limit. He was thoroughly bored now and this trip was the cause, he regretted certain aspects about it. Turning to the group he felt he may as well engage in some idle conversation.

"I believe I've had quite enough of this train...I feel like I've been here forever." He sighed as he slumped back in his seat.

It was true that this train journey had felt like an age, it was one of the longest trips that Equestria Rail actually did. Dread would use an airship next time, much faster and more peaceful despite his slight aversion to heights. Hindsight was pointless now however so all he had to do was just sit there, waiting for the train to move and even then his journey was far from over.

"Since you ponies..and uh griffon...and goat. Are intent on following me to my destination, can I ask what you plan on doing there when we arrive?" He asked with a raise eyebrow in his usually cold tone.

[Dream Gaze]

"And Dream, ice magic, aye? Would it be too much trouble to ask you to teach me a bit of that? It would come heavily in handy when my machines' cores overheat."

Dream Gaze pondered this for a moment before responding "I suppose so... some basic ice spells would probably fit what you need so we'll work on that when you have a spare moment." Depending on the individual, elemental casting could be easy or really difficult. Spell casters have an affinity for one of the classical elements. Depending on the casters affinity it would decide what was easy to master and what was almost impossible. For Dream Gaze, his affinity was Ice, which was an extension of the water element. He mastered Ice magic very quickly, yet fire spells are difficult and uncomfortable to use for the Cyromancer. The question here was... what was Gearshift's natural elemental affinity?

"Since you ponies..and uh griffon...and goat. Are intent on following me to my destination, can I ask what you plan on doing there when we arrive?"

Dream Gaze was quick to answer this as he went through a mental checklist he had made during the journey. "Get off the train. Find out times for the next train tomorrow morning. Find a place to stay. Sleep. Get up. Get on earliest train. Return to Ponyville... Yeah... that about sums it up."

[Nimbus]

Rook's interest peaked when he heard the question asked about what they were to do once they arrived. He had only a slight idea

"Well, what I usually do is I arrive in a place, then make up my mind, I never leave immediately, I like to stay for a few days or weeks at least, get to know the place, the locals, what's going on around the area, whether or not it is worth staying and so on, but as is my nature I tend to never settle, and move on once I feel my time is up in one place. I like new things, new people, new places."

In truth this was all he knew about his purpose, he never planned too far ahead, as he never knew where the wind would take him. Hearing the other point about being fed up of being on a train, he began to think about that himself, this was the longest he had been on a train, he usually travelled by wing to wherever, or on very short journeys via train.

He noticed that he had been itching to spread his wings as it were, but had been too distracted by their little trip and discussion to pay attention to that, but now it had been mentioned he couldn't ignore it. It felt like the wintery looking outdoors was calling to him, the cold sky and dramatic terrain, it was, to him, perfect flying conditions, his personal preference of terrain and the look of a place worth exploring.

"

You know I am getting tired of the journey too, we can't be on here much longer, right? I can't wait to just get out in the air again, cabins get awful stuffy even with opened windows…"

He chuckled, musing about the open air he was now beginning to crave, he sunk back into his chair and looked as if he was daydreaming of being outside, since the thought of being fed up had been called to mind he now couldn't think of anything else other than his desire to just get out of there.

[darktobias13]

Gearshift pondered for a moment. What was his plan once he got to this town? "Well, i guess my first step is to figure out the local dialect or, in some cases, language. It would not be a good situation to try speaking with them and accidentally insult them with your pronunciation. Then i need to find the post office, and send off a letter to home to let them know where i am, so they can mail back some of my money. While i wait, i plan on finding a map of the area, so i can complete this section of my notebook. And i guess if all goes to plan, i will do what i did whenever i arrived at a new town during my travels. Find the craft ponies. You would be surprised how many ponies were friendly and helpful, despite me being a stranger, once they found out i was a metal worker like them. I can exchange processes and such, find out new ways to work metal, and sometimes they give me just the idea i need for the next invention."

He kicked back and just thought. "Hopefully we pull in soon. As much as you guys are fun to talk to, i need to get up and walk around a little bit. Wake me up if we get there." He dozed off once again.

[Augen Horns]

"Plan plan plan," Augen mused, thinking exactly what his course of action would be. He was almost done with his note-taking now, the thought of their eventual arrival had rather slipped his mind. He felt no hurry, of that he felt assured, despite the potential urgency of his objective. Thought would neither speed nor slow the train, a thought he took joy in. "... I guess it'd be best I look for clues. I'll start with the locals. See how they react to me, ask if they've seen anyone like me... Surely my kind are rare a sight there as well, right?" As he gave thin inquiry Augen began unlocking his bags and cases, thinking he'd best acquaint himself with the devices he received from his employer.

"... Of course," the goat said, setting a skull-like mask upon the table in front of him. "If I don't get any answers, I'll have to look myself. Starting with whatever's dangerous or unknown. Given that in mind," the goat said, raising an eyebrow and looking towards Dread. "... I hope you don't mind, but I may also have to make my way t'wards this 'Tramplevania' place. If not much is known of the terrain, it's likely my comrades went to map it themselves," Augen explained, curious as to whether or not the stallion would have any input towards the proposed tag-along. Even if unpermitted, however, the goat had no intention of swaying his course.

[CableZ]

Possibilities and no sort of concrete answers were most of what he got, well Dread supposed he couldn't expect much more. If there was one thing that he defiantly knew was true, it was that you had to adapt to what life threw at you. But that didn't mean he had to like it. While the others thought and talked about what they were going to, the train had begun moving for what was thankfully the last time in this journey. As the train rattled along the light of the day outside was beginning to wain, the pink light of the horizon that signaled that the setting sun grew bright before the twilight.

It would only be an hour or so before the train finally pulled in to its final stop, with this in mind Dread knew that he would still have a ways to go to get to Tramplevania. As such Dread rested his head back against his seat and tried to get a few hours sleep before arriving.

(You can post what your characters did during this time)

~2 hours later~

The loud whistle of the train abruptly woke Dread from his slumber, he jumped slightly and looked around in confusion. Sighing softly, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and began gathering his things together instinctively as he knew this was the last stop. It was getting darker and darker now, but still there was a ting of blue in the sky left as the train shuddered to its halt. Slinging his saddle bag over his back, Dread hopped from his seat and headed down the carriage so he could get off the train without another word.

Outside was cold, sub zero in fact. Due to how far north they were and the season of the year, it was pretty near arctic up here. The platform was a small little thing, much like the one they had boarded on at Ponyville, only the wood was dark and there were pockets of frost in corners and on the surface. The town itself was not actually on many maps, it was known as Reoite. Due to the large distance they were from central Equestria there was a more foreign feel to this place, the ponies looked hardier, and more worn than what could be called the 'pampered' ponies of the south. Heading out into the chilling cold, Dread walked outside into the town itself. The ground was dark and muddied but solid from the cold, the buildings had a worn feel to them and seemed like period buildings. Ponies wrapped up wandered about the streets as things winded down for the day.

Looking around for a moment, Dread remembered he had something that he was meant to do. Turning his head and quickly rummaging through on of the little pouches on the side of his saddle bags in search of something, pulling from it a folded up piece of paper Dread quickly scanned it over. He was meant to be looking for a carriage stand they would take him the distance to Tramplevania. Unfortunately for him the town was the size of Ponyville...this could take a while.

[Dream Gaze]

Dream Gaze paid little attention to what the others plans were but nodded in agreement at the mention of the long journey. He felt stiff and uncomfortable in his chair and like the others, he looked forward to getting off the train and stretching his legs. Until then he distracted himself by staring out the window... watching the cold, winter landscape pass by until the journey finally ended.

---

Dream Gaze sighed in relief as the train came to it's last stop. He stood up slowly before picking up his things, putting on his cloak and hat before walking outside the train onto the cold station platform. When he got onto the platform he stretched out a little, feeling some satisfying pops and clicks in his spine and shoulders before taking a deep breath of the ice cold air and felt rejuvenated, the near artic conditions almost reminded him of home... Now wasn't a time for reminiscing though. The Alchemist walked over to a notice board that had train times on it and gave it a quick scan before he found what he was looking for. 'Late afternoon tomorrow... possibly the morning on the day after that. I'm stuck here for a while so... I might as well explore. Next on the list, find a place to stay. There has to be an inn or something in this town?' With that in mind, he strolled into the town curious as to what he would find.

[Nimbus]

For the remainder of the journey, Rook remained rather quiet and simply kept to himself other than when absolutely necessary, he was enjoying the scenery more than anything, and as such didn't wish to be disturbed

---

Upon arrival, Rook looked around at the seemingly old buildings, his first observation being that it was extremely cold, luckily in his satchel he always kept a shawl to put over himself in adverse weather conditions when he wasn't flying. He quickly put it on and walked from the platform and stood near, but not exactly where Dread was standing, just looking around in some kind of bewilderment, he had never seen anywhere quite like this, so he was both excited and observant as he seemed to scan the buildings with his eyes, he noticed that Dread seemed to be waiting for something, possibly transport. He remained on his own, just looking around, not wandering too far however.

He recalled, although it was totally unfamiliar territory, that it somehow reminded him of where he was from in the mountains, although his home had been a little warmer than this, perhaps because it wasn't as far north.

He decided he was going to wait to see what the others did upon getting out of the train, wondering what the others were going to do, he wasn't too keen on going off and doing his own thing just yet, as he quite liked the little group that he had met on his travels.

[darktobias13]

Gearshift stirred out of his nap when the train finally pulled up into the station, looking around sleepily and gathering his belongings. The remainder of his grogginess evaporated the moment he stepped outside, the chill biting deep into his pelt. He had somewhat of a tolerance to cold temperatures, but this was a whole new level of cold. He wrapped his scarf tighter, and pulled out a set of shoes, coat and earmuffs, all lined with warm synthetic fur. It blocked just a bit of the cold, but he still felt the cold down to the bone when the wind picked up. He was glad that the wind couldn't pierce the seals on his goggles, and looked around. Spotting what looked like it could be the main building, possible a town hall, he took off, running through the front doors and sliding a bit on the slick stone that made up the ground level. He took off the ear muffs, and sighed as the warmth of the building washed over him.

Next to the door was a small desk, where a earth pony sat, looking a bit annoyed that a stranger had let out some of the warmth. Gearshift turned to her, and smiled, "Greetings, Ma'am. I am not from around here, and i seek to use any maps of the area that you can provide, if that's not too much trouble."

Thankfully, he later realized, she understood and spoke Basic Equestrian, so she understood exactly what he was looking for. Leading him to a file cabinet in the archives, she unrolled a large map on a table, and he sketched quickly, but stopped abruptly. Pointing to the side of where the town sat on the map, he raised an eyebrow at the blank spot that stood like a rock in his way. She refused to meet his eye, and just muttered that as far as those in the town knew, nothing existed in that area. He muffled a scream of frustration and sketched what he could. He thanked the pony through gritted teeth, and left the warm building in a fit of frustration.

"Nothing exists out there, huh? Sweet Celestia, i can't just leave the map blank, i must know more. My curiosity requires it of me...but how to find the right place to catch the carriage." He decided that he needed to find a guide, and focused his ears to pick out a certain sound, while also looking for one of the others from the train. He walked through the driving snow, listening for the sound of hammers hitting metal.

[Augen Horns]

It was fortunate for the goat that, while he'd not been expecting such weather, his preparations quite suited it. Before leaving the train he'd found a chance to affix under his robe most of his gear, pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to conceal gear in contrast to the train systems back home, the goat comfortable kept all his questionable belongings under his clerical garment, where they belonged... The exception being, that skullinous mask which he kept in the coil of one curled hoof, which any familiar travelers who looked might notice now wore a banding of metal, like an elaborate-but-crude steel bracelet encoiling the full length of his leg.

Immediately with a wave to his fellow parting travelers, Augen got straight to business. He tried to put himself in the shoes of the tower's agents, thinking in the sense of where they'd likely have been... A library or a mapmaker, he'd thought. Of course after looking across the town for places of note, as well as inquiring of anypony who'd given him a sideways glance, the goat found he'd not had much luck in this regard. Between the language barrier and the likely absence of his ilk, the priest seemed likely not more than a babbling foreigner to these ponies, and instead resolved to return to the train station in hopes of finding a map and travelers' guide.

Along the way the goat decided to make his stop in the town hall, figuring if anyone strange had been spotted in town then these'd be the ponies to know. Augen was a bit embarrassed that this had not occurred to him earlier, but as he approached he saw one of the travelers from the train exit the building. Pausing for a moment, the goat changed his mind and thus his course, instead making way towards the familiar unicorn. "Ah, Shifty-boy," the goat exclaimed, zooming straight to Gearshift's side. "What bareth this ya say about a map," the goat asked, hovering almost nosily about the unicorn's pacing. "If the intrusion is not of unwant," Augen continued with a subtle smarmy grin, "is there perhaps any way I might be of use?"