The First Ritual

[rubynights]

“Wait… What the hay?!” Ruby immediately cried out, still galloping hastily away from the moat. She had heard what appeared to be the intense roar of an ocean… and inside a forest of all places.

The mare slowed to a halt and immediately turned around, but it had already been too late. Before Ruby could even react to it, the immense flood quickly snatched her up and carried her forth. Washed up directly into the bark of a large tree, the mare suffered a forceful impact and had been quickly knocked out. Ruby had now been left helplessly unconscious within whatever remained of the flooded woodlands.

[Selenia]

Selenia waited for the impact and subsequent shattering of the ice wall, but it didn't come. Her eyes shot open and were instantly filled with water as she punched right through a tidal wave of liquid where the wall used to be. She came cleanly out the other side, the magic field around her dissipated into the water and not slowing her down at all. Selenia closed her eyes and bared her teeth, holding out her forehooves to break her fall as she crashed into the compacted ground, one of her legs twisting at an unnatural angle as it gave out under the force. The pain was sharp and ended instantly before the rest of her body smacked into the ground. Selenia let out a strained cry as she felt, and heard, one of her ribs snap in her chest.

She tucked tightly together out of pain and reflex, rolling a few times before coming to rest in a heap in the clearing. After a minute or two of regaining her senses and letting the pain sink in, she tried to unfurl a bit before yelping out loud again as her broken rib twanged against nerves in her chest. Slowly but surely, she managed to get herself up, breathing heavily and examining the damage. This is exactly what she didn't want to happen. She had planned to hit the wall and let all of the force transfer to that and be absorbed, not be thrown off course and into the unforgiving ground.

Selenia stretched to relieve tension in her muscles, trying her best to ignore the pain from her ankle and chest, and almost everywhere else in her body that ached or was cut, which was pretty much everywhere. She looked up to see the gray and brown mares still in the clearing. The whole place was soaked, the wall and light were both gone, aswell as everypony else, including Ranger and his squad. She prayed to Luna that they were unharmed. Selenia leaned forward and placed her weight on her one good forehoof, limping her way through the soggy ground and paddling across the moat to the clearing before dragging herself up the embankment and collapsing in pain in the muddy grass at the top.

Selenia gave a slaved huff of dissapointment. She assumed that they had failed to find out what was going on at the light, and even more so, she would have to buy a replacement cloak in the overpriced stores in Canterlot. What a drag. Also she had her injuries to worry about, but those could wait until after an official report was delivered in pony to Crystal.

[Red Charge]

Ranger pushed off the army pony that was on top of him and jumped to his hooves, looking around frantically but seeing none of the cultists. "Rats! I can't believe they got away again!" He called in frustration.

"Whoever these guys are, they sure are well organized." One of the soldiers spoke up, Ranger nodded, moving on to inspect the injured, as one of the soldiers dragged Ruby's unconscious body towards him, after already having cuffed both pairs of hooves. "Here's your crook, Ranger." He said, giving her an ungentlemanly kick with a front hoof, though in her unconscious state she probably couldn't feel it.

"Hey, easy on her. She's still a pony, now go make a perimeter." Ranger scolded, turning around to inspect the others, noting that Tunnel was already prodding whoever wasn't up. Noticing Selenia huffing on the bank of the river he pulled her over to the grass, "When'd you get here anyway, Selenia?" He asked, wincing slightly as he looked over her injuries, beginning to administer First Aid as best he could.

"We sent one to get reinforcements from Canterlot, they should arrive soon." He reassured her, "You careless filly, look what you did to yourself." Ranger scratched his neck with his blood stained hoof absentmindedly, as one of Selenia's lacerations was bleeding quite profoundly. He moved to bandage it quickly. "You're going to be out of action for a while now." He said with a scowl.

"Hey you, crowbar filly, get over here, where'd you come from? Why'd you attack these guys?" He question the grey unicorn, eyeing her up suspiciously.

[tunnelnexus]

A good number of the ponies that were around were already up and about, so Nexus stowed her crowbar in her pack. She saw the Equestrian troops arrest an unconscious pony, and was about to protest when their leader, a masked stallion in a green cloak, called out to her.

She trotted slowly over to him, looking at him as suspiciously as he did so to her. Fortunately, she could hide at least some of her wariness behind her sunglasses, although he might be one of those ponies that could read body-language; there wasn't really much for Tunnel to go on, what with the mask obscuring his face.

"It's Nexus," said the gray mare, "and anyway, I was here because I was planning on doing some exploring. I got distracted by the light, and things kind of spiralled downward from there."

[Selenia]

Selenia cringed and her muscles tensed at even the slightest movement of her body. "I was in Canterlot when the beam came up. I just decided to come investigate. In hindsight, I should really have just alerted the authorities, but where's the fun in that, eh?" She gave a quick laugh before baring her teeth in pain again. "Oh, dear. Remind me not to laugh, I'm barely holding together as it is." She rested her head down on the soft grass and sighed. "That went well."

Selenia strained her neck to look at that new pony named Nexus. "Nice to meet you, Nexus." She waved from her awkward position on the grass. "Quite an interesting way to make a friend, I guess." She bit her lip and tensed again when ranger went poking around one of her cuts, glaring at him. "How long do you think I'll be out? Healing goes rather smoothly when magic is involved, and the Canterlot Hospital has some of the most qualified ponies in that field." She gave him a desperately unsure look. If there was one thing Selenia hated, it was being confined to her small residence to cut down on strenuous action, or, Luna forbid, a single bed.

"Ow.. You can't blame me for this entirely. At least I tried to take down the wall." Selenia pouted. She really wanted to use her telekinetic charge, and she had a perfect opportunity to do so earlier.

[windstorm]

Wind Storm through the trees saw the massive ice walls melting, creating a tidal wave in its wake. All the ponies there would be swept up for sure! He hoped there was some plan with this happening to get the cult members out of here alive.

When the water dissapated, Wind approached closer to the clearing, taking care not to be seen. Not that this would be an issure of course as the other ponies were probably waterlogged or unconscious. Giving a quick check, all the Cult ponies seemed gone as if they vanished into thin air. "Looks like all the Cult ponies are gone," Wind said, "Wait a minute. If all the ponies are gone, why am I still here?" Was he the last survivor of the cult from the wave? No, something else must have happened. The cult must have got everypony to safety. But, how could he explain why he wasn't taken with the others?

It must have been a mistake. Maybe he was too far away from the wall. Whatever the reason, he knew that he had a long trek back through the Froggy Bottom Bog and to the HQ. It wasn't going to be easy, but he didn't have much of a choice as he couldn't teleport. "Here goes nothing," Wind Storm said with a frustrated sigh as he made his way out of the Whitetail Wood and towards the Bog.