revenance_rpg | Elementary, my dear ponies

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Elementary, my dear ponies

Who: Soma and very, very open - preferably everyone who wants to help search for the elements.
What: The game is afoot, but it's not a foot, it's jewelry.
Where: Equestria, round and about (Library first)
When: A day or two after this and this
Warnings: Probable violence, possible language, and all the general character-specific warnings. May as well go ahead and say this one's party style, no posting order, since the idea is for everyone to split up.

Soma was finally used to the new world. He could hover, he could soar, he could even do a barrel roll, and weather manipulation was much easier than he had first thought now that he had an actual idea how it worked. And he'd even regained a couple of his normal abilities - namely, the ones that had worked with his Giant Bat form before, plus Black Panther. They were a little different, admittedly - most had been scaled to fit his new form, for example, and Bat had given him something like a sonar sense - but they were familiar all the same, and that made him feel much more at ease.

In the same vein, he'd acquired a new weapon from the Moogles; a nondescript katana, well made but entirely devoid of enchantment, much like the ones he'd found in the castle and subsequently sold to Hammer. He could live with that; it was short enough he could use it in this form, and that was what really mattered to him. It gave him something he could use without relying on his souls or the poorly understood magic of this world. And he had Yoko now, too; the Peepsta Hoo was a welcome addition to his team.

He'd asked for everyone to gather outside of the library tree, since that was where the Elements had been taken from. He had confidence in this group's capabilities, but there were far too few of them likely to be able to use the Elements present. If it came down to a big fight, well... they were going to need all the firepower they could get.

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Home is where the heart is'. And given the mentions of hearts in that useless clue, it was as good a starting point as any. Hiding them in locations close to where their present time Equestrian bearers reside made sense to Carolina, and she doubted they were being stored together. That seemed far too straightforward.

"This way," she said, nodding her thanks rather than voicing it. While Carolina knew Emile's name now thanks to the network and certain chatty unicorns, the SPARTAN hadn't given her permission to use it. As it was, Carolina had to rein in (heh) the instinct to bark orders to Noble-Four; he wasn't part of her team (not that she had one anymore) and she was uncertain how her former UNSC rank matched up against his old unit. (She hadn't had much of a chance to talk with Kat anyway, beyond getting her to back off from harassing Church.)

She strode towards the first of the larger buildings; it wasn't clear if it was for cattle or merely hay and apple storage, but the doors barring the entrance were strong and sturdy. Rearing with care onto her hind legs, the blue mare set her hooves against the door and pushed.

Dax slithered out from under one of the carts to catch up to her, merely waving his tail at his opposite number; Lela was more than happy to be the welcoming committee, rubbing against Spikes briefly before trotting up to the kab kannon and snuggling against its stomach in greeting. It's great to meet you! Our person's looking for that too, but we haven't found anything yet. But with all of us, I'm sure we'll be find something!

Emile really wasn't sure why everyone seemed so obsessed with one vital organ and not another, but then, he probably wasn't one of the good candidates for finding an Element of Harmony or unlocking the keyhole of a world. Didn't stop him from looking, though. Acting together with Carolina, he pushed open the door to the barn, though at the moment it was still dark inside. What might there be inside?

Jorgie shied away a little from Lela, but the little kitty was insistent and he hesitantly reached out one pawlike limb to pat her on the head (while Spikes squaked encouragement; like Lela, he approved of making new friends). But oh! They had better catch up with their Persons. What if there are Nightmares there?

All about the metaphors, man. Not that Carolina was particularly interested in the magical side of matters - she doubted she'd have anything to do with the items themselves either once they were finally found, but she wasn't about to let anyone say she hadn't done her part in searching for them.

The doors seemed to jam at the half way marker, leaving the sunlight to fill part of the barn and stretch their own shadows out before them. Not at all ominous, really. What she wouldn't give for a working suit right now - at least her regular helm could have switched modes to determine if anything was hidden in the dark. "Be prepared for anything," she said offhandedly to Emile as she squinted into the dark.

I am sure our Persons can handle any nightmares, Lela said loyally, before smiling up at Jorgie. It was okay to be shy! Still, catching up to the PonyPersons was a good idea! She trotted into the lead, meowing at Dax to wait for them to catch up.

Carolina, meanwhile, had bent her head down to pass on orders. "Stay out here. No fire in the barn," she instructed her hebby repp, who nodded his understanding before plunking down outside. Guard duty was important too, after all. Also, required the least amount of effort. Awwwyis.

Spikes looked to his Person at the command not to use fire, and Emile nodded sharply. The barn was probably full of flammable material. He plopped down next to Dax and started muttering, ready to rush to his Person's side with some rolling action if needed. Jorgie just shook his head, though, and drew a little closer to their Person. He could act as support without burning the place down, he knew it.

"Anybody in there?" Emile didn't seem to be concerned at frightening anything off, since they were looking for objects. Would the Elements of Harmony glow if they got close, maybe? Or were they going to have to shuffle around in the dark? Pony night-vision was not as good as MJOLNIR-enhanced night vision.

"Knock, knock," muttered Carolina, lowering her head as she stepped into the open space of the barn. Just far enough for her shadow to connect with the darkness within the barn, and her tail twitched, not quite a nervous tick. Instinctively, she turned left, following the line of the wall, while Lela proceeded to skip merrily into the open space ahead.

"Don't see anything, or anyone." Yet. Nightmares lurked outside, after all, and while doors had been closed, this still counted as an outdoor structure. One hoof jarred a bucket, and she resisted the urge to shy aside. "Watch your feet," she called in warning.

Half tempted to tell Jorgie to light up the place with his fireworks, Emile instead trotted over to one of the windows to nose it open. Won't find anything if they don't have light. Then again, they might not find anything anyway, but they still had to look.

Light filled at least part of the barn, flecks of golden dust filling the air and making it sparkle just a little. It was probably wasted on Emile and definitely wasted on anyone with allergies. Instead he pawed (hooved?) around in the neatly stacked farming implements.

"Which one is supposed to be here, again? The red one?"

"Red or orange." With a bit of light, the barn seemed instantly less ominous, but Carolina was reluctant to lower her guard - nightmares didn't care for your convenience when they showed up, after all. "The girl Namine's drawing on the network shaped them like a lightning bolt and an apple, respectively."

Rearing carefully onto her hind legs, one hoof knocked aside the lids of several barrels lines in a row along the opposite wall; different apples, red and green, were neatly stacked with no extra room for concealing jewelry. Some were empty; Lela leapt in and out of them, making her PonyPerson sneeze at the dust that popped up.

This was beginning to feel futile, and they weren't even half done yet. "Anything on your side?"

"Plenty of apples," since his exploration was yielding similar results to hers, but "no jewels." Although he did take a moment to put a couple in a sling-like messenger bag for later; fresh fruit was still almost unreal to him, and at least eating something like this as a pony was less....silly than eating grass.

He was careful to look in any and all apple containers, though, because it seemed pretty obvious that was where an apple jewel was likely to be hidden. Emile grumbled about the sheer number of them after a while.

Might be empty.

Given ponies here enjoyed sugar and cupcakes, the lack of obvious and overt grass consumption in favour of cooked goods was interesting in its own way. Carolina had certainly never felt a need to graze when out in grassy areas, at least, but she also made a point to return to Twilight town if she ~~remembered~~ needed to eat.

Only once a thorough search - and Carolina was glad that Emile seemed of the same mind there - did the mare stop and step back out into the central space of the barn, irritated no end. "Nothing. Given this farm is apparently run by a family of ponies, and has been for years, you'd think there'd be at least some clue."

Emile was just as glad, really. His pony form might not take quite the four-thousand-calorie diet that his human form did, but even so, he craved grains over grass. Maybe magical ponies needed a lot of calories, too.

"If it was that easy, Rarity and the others would've found at least one of the Elements by now." But still, they had to at least look. He looked over one more barrel and, finding nothing, headed back toward the doors.

"Keep moving?"

Carolina's metabolism was high enough that now she'd gotten back into the habit of eating real food, rations weren't going to cut it. Perhaps she'd come back for apples later..

"If they had, I can't imagine any of them would have failed to mention it by now." A lack of hands didn't prevent them from using the communicators, even if their typically human counterparts had issues with that. Still, there was no point wasting further time here.

"If the next barn over has no results, there's always the farm house itself."

Real food was still a treat for him, and while Emile ate as much as Rarity would help him make, his level of cooking was definitely more in the "assemble a sandwich" category. Apples at least were easy.

"Roger that."

Time to keep searching.

Easy, except for figuring out how to hold a round object without looking ridiculous. Balancing them on an upturned hoof was trickier than advertised.

"The last time I was exploring around here, the barrels and crates outside had nightmares waiting in them or beside them," she added after a moment's thought as she stepped towards the door. "Didn't seem any stronger than the regular kind, though. I would have thought there'd have been something in here.."

Perhaps there would have been more reason for suspicion if the doors had been barred from the inside?

Assuming one didn't want to eat them directly off the ground or out of a barrel, anyway, which Emile didn't seem to mind doing. He still couldn't quite wrap his mind around pony physics and biology, because they really should have hands.

He grunted in acknowledgement. "Maybe the house? It's the heart of the farm, I think."

But then, he still didn't understand what the Elements of Harmony actually were, aside from jewelry, so how was he to know if they behaved weirdly?

Carolina privately agreed regarding the hands issue, but at least this form wasn't permanent outside of Ponyville. "Can't hurt to look at this point," she agreed, shrugging awkwardly beneath her armor - shoulder movement was weird when you had four legs - before the redhead broke into a sudden trot, moving out of the barn at speed.

Dax all but fell over getting out of her way, while Lela skipped immediately after her. At this point, she wasn't particularly concerned about nightmares - if anything, they'd give Emile and Carolina something to work on.

Emile followed along, a little impressed despite himself at her speed. "You think fast on two legs?" Not that he couldn't keep up - he had been practicing as a pony, after all, and his build was rather ridiculously muscular - but he doubted many of the others could have.

Jorgie couldn't - but then Spirits had a way to poof out of existence and then catch up later, which he took advantage of. Spikes rolled along, though, seeming to have no problem keeping up.

The farmhouse at Sweet Apple Acres was large and almost ridiculous-looking to Emile, but then he'd spent most of his life in military installations. Bright colors, a wide-open feel, and friendly decor. Emile shuddered.

"Always," she replied promptly, tail flicking to one side. Once there might have been an edge of boastfulness to her voice. Nowadays, Carolina didn't have time to waste on such things. Fact was fact, after all. "Learning to adapt to my environment is something I've always been good at."

Adapt or die. Pretty fitting description of her life, really.

The farmhouse was...pretty. In much the same way a toy dollhouse was. It didn't seem at all practical for housing a pony, let alone an entire family of them. She smiled slightly at Emile's shudder, in understanding rather than laughter - whoever lived here had a very different set of aesthetics to humans, after all. Theta would likely have liked the place, though - it matched his AI colours! "You want to take upstairs or down?"

"Good." Sadly, in the world of adapt or die, Emile had had entirely too many friends die. It wasn't because they weren't doing their very best--and a Spartan's best was nothing to take for granted, not at all--but just that there had been too many impossible situations. He'd accepted in coming here that he wouldn't be able to count on any of the other dreamers as being quite as skilled or fast or strong as his team had been, but....

But even so, it was very reassuring to have someone else doing her best at a level well enough that he noticed it.

"I'll take down. Find anything interesting, let me know."

He'd just have to have the two Spirits help him look - there were bound to be tons of trinkets sitting around in a residence like this. He could sort of vaguely understand the idea of acquiring lots of things - he had a great collection of alien weapons himself, which was really pretty illegal - but the amount in this house was just staggering to him.

"Copy that," she replied, before making her own way cautiously up to the higher levels of the barn-house. Cat and lizard followed at her heels, unconcerned by the steps, and Lela eagerly bounced away to nose her way through open doors and into unoccupied bedrooms.

Carolina didn't have many knicknacks herself, but more due to circumstance than choice. Anything she'd had that wasn't somewhere on a distant world in UNSC storage was long gone with the crash of a certain ship, save for a lighter kept in a compartment within her armor. (She'd worried, briefly, when it seemed to have vanished on arriving in Ponyville, but it reappeared immediately when she returned to Twilight Town.)

Two rooms later --one intended for a child, the other for an older adult-- and she poked her head over the bannister, calling down. "Nothing here so far!"

There were a lot of metallic objects in the kitchen, but none of them seemed at all like the symbols that had been shared before. Spikes seemed to be more interested in putting a colander on his head and grabbing a spoon to joust with than looking, but Jorgie was dutifully fending him off and poking through the cupboards at the same time.

"Nothin' here, either."

This was starting to get frustrating.

Lela meowed boredly from up above, poking her head between the landing's banisters. Could they go now? The empty house was pretty but not very exciting.

Carolina leaned on the rail as well, distantly impressed it could take her weight. Then again, the family of ponies that lived here all seemed to be the earth type (if the photos were any indication). Stuff here was built to last.

She envied them. Almost. "I don't think we'll find anything here. We should head back to one of the Towns. See if anyone else has had more luck."

"Knock it off, you two."

Giving the downstairs one more cursory glance, Emile frowned and nodded up at her.

"Maybe see if we can find more clues. This ain't going nowhere."

"Copy that." Carolina descended the stairs slowly. Fast as she was, she wasn't used to going down stairs with four legs, and wasn't about to chance a fall.

Lela mewed as she followed behind her, looking mournful. As of on cue, Carolina could feel her stomach growling. "And maybe some lunch," she added. Her appetite seemed fare greater after spending time as a pony - not necessarily bad, given how underweight she'd been when she'd gotten here, but the change in forms seemed to mess with her metabolism something awful.

Emile smirked a little to himself, though she could probably catch it - one of the disadvantages of almost always having a helmet was that he didn't have much practice keeping his expressions in check.

"Pretty sure they don't have the expression they could eat a whole horse here, but I could go for somethin' a little more substantial than a bale of hay and some apples."

Which reminded him, Spikes and Jorgie had been helpful, even if they hadn't found anything and Spikes had spent half his time goofing off. (Better than spending the whole time goofing off.) Emile grabbed a couple of treats and tossed them at his Spirits to thank them.

Seeing expressions on his face wasn't particularly unnerving - he wasn't in armor, after all, and she was used to people being people. ...Even if they happened to be ponies right now. She paused to let Lela hop up onto her back, Dax making grumbly noises at his lack of treats. Only briefly, however, given the Look Carolina cast back at him, before strode forwards to open the door, holding it open for Emile.

"They'd probably take offense," more so if she said than Emile, maybe. Luna, certainly. Rarity would likely be aghast. Oh well. "But I'm sure the moogles have something a little more solid. And there's plenty to drink if you know where to look."

It helped, being aware of a few locations that York had concealed some of his infamous stashes of alcohol - even after many years, some things hadn't changed. And given his absence, there was no one likely to notice if something had gone amiss..

Sounds good!

spaceracist - 2014-02-27 03:23 (UTC) - Expand

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Elementary, my dear ponies

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Wrap?

Sounds good!