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Post by Lucent Leer on Nov 4, 2014 14:28:00 GMT -5
Lucent looked over his rough map of the Rocy Mountains with a tinge of pride. He hadn't drafted up his own adventures like this since his foal years, yet his navigational skills had seemed not to fail him. The whole endeavor had brought a bout of nostalgia over him, although the pleasant feeling was cut short when he remembered the purpose of it all.
The strange merchant's “game” could begin at any day now and Lucent knew he was going to need more than a good sense of direction to beat out the competition. If there was one advantage he might have, it would be his magic. Perhaps he could get some training from the mages at his old college in Canterlot? Those unicorns may have been a bit stuck up, but they sure knew their spe-
He stopped his reminiscing when his eyes strayed toward the latest newspaper headline:
BLACKMANE SLAIN, CANTERLOT DESTROYED IN ATTACK
The grey unicorn's heart sunk instantly. He had been in the Griffon Kingdom for so long now; the war in Equestria had seemed so far away. Were his friends alright then...were his parents? If anything was sure though, it was that he couldn't go back there now.
With a defeated sigh, he continued to trod down the street. Just as he became lost in his thoughts again, Lucent felt somebody bump into him. “Oh, s-sorry,” he quickly apologized. When he looked around, however, Lucent saw no one nearby. What he did see was a new scroll sticking out of his saddlebag.
With a stroke of his horn, the unicorn pulled the peculiar paper out. It was a rather plain sheet of parchment with a simple message scrawled across it:
Improve your magic with ease
Inquire at Westside Warehouse B at dusk
The whole thing was more than a little suspicious and Lucent already began to crumple the paper up. However, he stopped himself when a sudden realization hit him. This seedy advert could be one of his only real chances at any sort of magic training while he was stuck in the Griffon Kingdom. It wasn't any more strange than the first offer he took here in Trottingham! Maybe fate would be kind to him again? Reluctantly, he stuffed the parchment back into his bag.
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The day passed painfully slow for Lucent as he waited, the sun almost seeming to taunt him as it eased its way below the horizon. The faded, red B finally came into view as he made his way down the quiet streets. The large, rusted warehouse definitely seemed more intimidating during the night and Lucent hesitated to approach it. With a deep breath, he gathered his courage and knocked on the iron door.
“Hello?”
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Post by Red Charge on Nov 29, 2014 5:04:07 GMT -5
The large square structure that was the warehouse towered ominously against the starry night. What few industrial lights still worked revealed rusted walls, gutters and ventilation shafts, giving the building the impression of an old, condemned structure. The area around it was littered with trash and filth. This warehouse was obviously not in use anymore. At least, he couldn't assume it was, as the other warehouses were pretty much immaculate. The fence around the perimeter was just as rusty and crumbling as the main structure and the old guard booth has long since broken down. The road leading down to this section had no street lights either, really not the place one would want to be in after dark.
When Lucent called, the door did not open, nor did any voice reply to his call. However, Lucent could hear something inside, a sort of hum? Maybe it was muttering? A loud noise alerted Lucent to one of the upper windows on the warehouse roof opening. Some gutter filth spilled down the side of the warehouse. Well... it WAS a way in. With the front hoof horseshoes Lucent found in the wilderness he could theoretically climb up the ventilations and the gutters to reach up there. After all, those special horseshoes were made to help provide better grip on walls and slopes.
He could definitely hear a humming now, as though several ponies were humming in unison inside the warehouse in the most creepy way they could. Maybe they were summoning an ancient beast from Tartarus... Well it was either do or don't, right?
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Post by Lucent Leer on Dec 2, 2014 2:47:53 GMT -5
The lack of response made Lucent even more apprehensive, though it shouldn't have surprised him. No one was supposed to be inside there, if the state of the building was any indication. By the Goddess, he shouldn't even be here! With another deep gulp, he tried the door himself. It was locked, of course, although he had almost expected the old thing to fall off its hinges. There was a soft melody reaching his ears now. The hymn in his head? No, that had been silent for now and this was coming from inside.
As he went to investigate further, however, a loud screech startled the unicorn. He tried his best to stifle his “eep” and turned his attention to the source. A window on the upper floor had been opened for whatever reason. Lucent waited a bit, seeing if the perpetrator would reveal himself, but no one came to view. Instead, the ominous humming from before only became clearer. What were those ponies even doing?! Maybe they weren't even ponies. Thoughts of strange, demonic creatures strayed in his imagination. As much as he tried to shake it, the fear continued to fester.
Lucent had set his mind to getting inside and wasn't going to let this deter him, even if he could feel himself quivering. The filthy gutters looks like his only way up then. He still had his climbing shoes from his expedition in the Rocy Mountains too. Lucent tentatively tested his weight on the rusted piece. Despite its appearance, it seemed sturdy enough. Now he just hoped it all didn't fail apart when he tried to climb it. The unicorn carefully began to scale the side of the warehouse, praying that this obstacle was going to the greatest of his troubles for the night.
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Post by Red Charge on Dec 14, 2014 8:48:13 GMT -5
The water drain held as Lucent scaled it up to the open window. He hadn't realized how high it was until he actually got there. Lucky he had those shoes, huh? Taking a peek inside the warehouse, Lucent was unable to see anything but pitch blackness. The only thing he COULD see was a single square of dim moonlight from the window he himself was looking through. Oh great, it's one of THOSE places. You know, THOSE places, the creepy place where everything is completely black until you enter it and then the lights flicker on to reveal an army of skeletons waiting to devour you. Or maybe a hideous, deformed, mutant hydra... with a chainsaw.
The humming stopped, it wasn't sudden, Lucent hasn't even noticed it until he thought about it. Everything was so quiet, he could hear his own stomach shrinking at the thought of going into a dark, abandoned warehouse where until that moment was ominous humming in a part of the city no one would come to save him from if anything happened to him. Of course the headlines already wrote themselves "Stupid unicorn fell for the dumbest trick in the book and was sacrificed to appease a rabid chinchilla." Then again, if this was real and they went through all this trouble to keep out cowards, they had to have some unorthodox training that would be worth the hassle, right?
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Post by Lucent Leer on Dec 17, 2014 15:32:48 GMT -5
It was a high climb, but it went without incident. Lucent gave a smug grin; he was really starting to get the hang of this! Now he was able to take a peek inside. Peering through the window revealed little, however, as most of the interior was cloaked in darkness. Didn't those ponies even bother lighting a candle?! If there was anything that worried the unicorn more than the thought a monster lurking inside was the one that he couldn't even see! Could he really just hop in blindly?
The answer became obvious with a glance at his own cutie mark. He may have come here to learn some magic, but he still had tricks of his own! Lucent closed his eyes and concentrated, his horn releasing a small spark. He could feel a familiar warmth spread throughout his body as his vision adjusted to the night. Opening his eyes again, the stallion took a second look into the warehouse.
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Post by Red Charge on Dec 17, 2014 15:56:14 GMT -5
There was no describing what Lucent saw in the darkness of that warehouse. It was so alien and so foreign that it might as well have been ripped straight out of tartarus. If he HAD to describe it, though he'd shudder at the very thought, it would be some form of... hybrid between a floating squid and a spider, with tentacles spreading in eight directions and then almost looking as though they were broken in a sharp angle, the tentacles hung all the way down to the floor, a good three stories tall and brushed it silently. The mere shock caused Lucent to trip backwards and fall right down the warehouse, fortunately, into a pile of gunk at the bottom of the drain pipe.
Though he suffered no physical damage, what he saw was beyond traumatizing. He could almost swear he heard an unearthly whisper "No cheating..."
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Post by Lucent Leer on Dec 21, 2014 16:01:27 GMT -5
Lucent screamed as the creature came into view, stumbling off the edge in surprise. His fall was broken by a filthy pile at the base of the drain, but at the moment, the unicorn hardly cared. His mind was locked in the image of that...thing! Whatever it was, it was real and inside that warehouse. He had to get the guardponies, no, the army! His whole body was shaking now; Lucent could barely get back on his hooves. Staying now was suicidal! He started to dart out of the area before abruptly stopping in his tracks.
No, he couldn't give up this lead now. It wasn't like this “game” he was going to participate in was going to be safe either, and probably not even legal. To get what he wanted, he was going to have to take some risks. They had invited him anyways, right? So, he shouldn't feel threatened. “That big old monster was p-probably just nothing, an illusion even! They are supposed to know magic after all,” Lucent reasoned to himself with a nervous laugh.
There wasn't any use for stealth anymore. After the commotion he caused, there was no way they didn't know he was here, if they hadn't before. Lucent brushed the gunk off himself and approached the door once again, pounding on it harder this time. “I got y-your...um...flyer! About the magic training?” he called.
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Post by Red Charge on Dec 21, 2014 22:30:21 GMT -5
As the now gunk covered Lucent circled the warehouse to get to the door again he noticed that the sounds of night began returning, crickets, the occasional owl. The warehouse still stood as ominous as ever, looming tall against the night sky.
Knocking hard against the heavy metal door again made a lot of noise, it echoed arounnd Lucent. Some rust and dirt shook free of the door frame as he repeatedly pounded his hoof on the metal surface, never much of a good sign.
A reply came after a short pause, "50 bits upfront!" A small tray in the door pulled out towards Lucent to place the money.
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Post by Lucent Leer on Jan 4, 2015 17:32:26 GMT -5
As the loud knocks echoed throughout the area, Lucent braced himself for whatever horror would answer. A metallic click eventually sounded and the unicorn shut his eyes in fear. He had fully expected the strange abomination to lunge out and grab him, but instead there was...nothing?
He opened his eyes to see the tray and hear the demand for payment. Lucent could only stare blankly at it for a few moments, before a sigh of relief. “Y-yeah, sure.” He eagerly dug into his saddlebag, gladly depositing the bits away. A swindler was much preferred to a bloodcrazed cultist anyways!
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Post by Red Charge on Jan 23, 2015 11:20:21 GMT -5
"Thanks mate, now bugger off." The voice behind the door called out, snickering as the swindler backed away from it into the warehouse with Lucent's hard earned coin in his pocket. At first it may have seemed like a joke. But after a while nothing was happening. They really were swindlers, they really were just about taking the money and leaving Lucent 50 bits lighter outside in the cold.
Was Lucent going to take that sitting down?
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Post by Lucent Leer on Feb 13, 2015 17:58:44 GMT -5
It all happened so quick; it all seemed like a joke. Lucent kept waiting by the iron door, hoping that the voice would return to open it with a laugh and an apology. However, the truth of the situation began to slowly creep upon him. The unicorn knocked on the door once more, calling out to those inside. All he was returned with, though, was wild laughter, sounding from even further away now.
Lucent stood at the entrance, dumbfounded. It couldn't just all end on that, this was his chance! They couldn't just deny him like that! He could feel the rage boiling inside him as the music in his mind rose to a crescendo. Something was slipping, but he wasn't concerned. All he wanted was to get in there and pound that swindler.
He wailed on the door, ramming and bucking it with his all his might. Unsurprisingly, it didn't budge. Lucent's attention turned to the upper window instead, clambering up the pipe again. This time, however, he did not merely peer inside. The unicorn turned and bucked at the glass, shattering it with a few kicks. The adrenaline rush was in full stride now and the thought of the strange squid, spider...thing seemed like a distant memory. Clearing a few of the remaining shards with his horn, Lucent lit up his horn with a spark of magic and dove inside.
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Post by Red Charge on Feb 25, 2015 14:31:17 GMT -5
Landing inside the warehouse, nostrils flaring. Around him was complete silence, it lasted for a few minutes, before he heard a voice, apparently coming from all around him.
"You dare?"
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Post by Lucent Leer on Feb 25, 2015 14:47:26 GMT -5
Lucent dashed through, landing with surprisingly no harm. It was still dark inside, his horn only lighting a small circle around him, and it became eerily quiet upon his entrance. His sudden burst of courage began to sink back to terror, the unicorn's heart now beating violently against his chest. He stood his ground, not sure of what to do next, until a voice called out to him from the dark.
"Well, y-yes, I-" Lucent started to stammer out. He recomposed himself and tried his best to appear confident. "Yes and I won't be denied!"
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Post by Red Charge on Feb 25, 2015 14:56:16 GMT -5
The voice boomed with fury, "And what would you do if I told you, no." It wasn't a question, it was a challenge. Lucent saw something large moving in the darkness, it was travelling around him with an eerie squeaking sound.
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Post by Lucent Leer on Feb 25, 2015 15:06:35 GMT -5
Whoever it was didn't seem to like that reply. Something lurked around him in the shadows, its silhouette towering over him. Was it that...thing?! It was hard for Lucent to imagine anything worse, though it wasn't like he could run now.
"You...you won't!" he cried defiantly. "I'm not leaving!"
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