BUT WHERE ARE THEY [Open]

[unrecovered]

Who: Anyone who wants to look for keyholes
What: Time to split up and find the mysterious migrating keyholes.
Where: Every World
When: Half an hour after this post
Warnings: Depends on who shows up and what goes down.

[We're gonna skip the meeting; for now, each world has its own subthread. The mods will keep an eye on them and let you know if you find the keyhole and/or drop hints as to its location. No tagging order.]

[A note: Wash will probably have recommended that people stick to searching the worlds they know best. Feel free to utterly disregard his advice.]

Comments

[fatemeter]

Naoto wouldn't have called herself particularly qualified to head back into this portal, out of all of them - even after having learned that familiarising herself with the layout of the place was the best lead she had, she'd been avoiding this world as long as she could. Well, no longer. With the situation apparently coming to a head one way or another, she had to admit she'd rather charge into a trap armed with as much foreknowledge as possible than any alternative.

Not that she intended to fall in, if she could help it. For that matter, she wasn't yet sold on this idea that the keyholes were what they needed to look out for, following that ominous message. Still, a starting point was a starting point.

If she hadn't worn herself out early zipping across the town, she might not have stopped by this statue at all. But stop she did, her slate-blue wings beating just level with its horn.

"The monster that appeared in Traverse Town," she said aloud, mostly to collect her own thoughts. "Perhaps there's a deeper connection..."

The part she didn't say was that she'd be much quicker to spot such a connection if she'd spent more time investigating the statue before. No use regretting that now, though.

[letteropener]

"I do not know if you know, but this is where the Nightmare version of Nightmare Moon first appeared. And I really must think of a way to say that without being so redundant." She made light of the situation to covers its darkness, and the anger and pain the sight of the corrupted version of her corrupted sister brought and continued to bring with each thought.

[fatemeter]

"I didn't, in fact," said Naoto with a small smile, completely missing the undertones. "Would that be why you came to check on this area first?"

It was an honest question, or at least intended to be. Judging from the ominous atmosphere, the facsimile of this town may not have been stable in to begin with, let alone perfect in every detail - but the fact remained that Celestia was better positioned to determine that than Naoto was.

[realmenknitplushies]

Dammit, having wings was a definite advantage here. As soon as Kanji had realised what Naoto was up to, he'd set off in pursuit - after all, he'd had experience fighting on four legs. She hadn't as much.

So here, then, was a rather annoyed looking purple earth pony, glaring at his friend from home as he arrived. "Have ya always gotta do this?" he asked, sighing, before giving the Princess a nod.

[fatemeter]

"The pattern allegedly established by other powerful Nightmares was that the defeat of each triggered an event linked to the appearance of these 'keyholes'," Naoto said, quite patiently, with a nod towards the statue - not too dramatic a gesture, of course, for fear of another hat-related mishap. She didn't expound on the connection with the behaviour of the TV world that she'd already formed, though; until she confirmed everything, it could well be coincidence. "However, by all accounts, no such event has occurred here. Surely that struck you as anomalous too, Kanji-kun?"

The idea that he might have been referring to something more general hadn't yet crossed her mind.

[letteropener]

That was fine. The understones were intended to be missed; that was why thwy were undertones. Celestia offered a somber bow to Kanji as he arrived.

"That is why I came here. That and I am not certain what other areas are significant to whatever power holds us, besides possibly the library." Celestia moved forward, lowering her head to begin her search at the statue's base.

feel free to skip my turns or godmode whatever for now btw.

[realmenknitplushies]

A bow from a Princess. Definitely a bit awkward where Kanji was concerned.

"Eh, I just figured that with everything happenin' here last time it was as good a place's any to start." He paused. "That and someone flew off in this direction."

[revenancenpcs]

There's not much to be found at the base of the statue, or in the area at all. Looks like the keyhole's not here.

[fatemeter]

"In any case, I'm glad you're here. My apologies if I worried you." She gave him another calm smile. An extra pair of eyes couldn't hurt on an investigation like this, especially in the dim light; an extra pair of eyes she knew she could trust, much more conclusively than her professional standards were yet willing to grant Celestia, was even better. "I'll defer to your familiarity with this world."

With a few careful wingbeats, still a little clumsier than she hoped either of the two would notice, she started to descend.

That turned out to be long enough for her sharp detective instincts to pick up on a couple of new deductions, if not on any of Kanji's implications. "...I take it nothing particularly obvious is amiss?" she said, presently.

[letteropener]

If Celestia noticed the clumsiness, she made no comment at all about it.

"I see no signs of the Keyhole or any tampering, magical or mundane." Celestia shook her head. Well, she hadn't expected it to be that easy, but there had always been hope.

"If we had access to further in, I would say the old castle would be the next logical step. But lacking that, I am inclined to say we should return to Ponyville and check the buildings of note there, starting with the library."

[fatemeter]

Damn. That meant her initial hunch had been mistaken. "No signs of tampering either... I see," said Naoto, careful not to sound as put out as she felt. The less she gave away, the better. "I do recall being pointed toward the library during an earlier investigation. It was linked to the so-called Elements of Harmony in its original location, yes?"

She hovered just above the ground for a pensive second, reluctant to land.

"Under more normal circumstances," she said eventually, "I might suggest splitting up and reporting back here in order to cover more ground, but that seems unwise before we know the nature of our foe." In any case, she wouldn't get away with it - thank goodness she had such trustworthy friends. "Shall we?"

[realmenknitplushies]

Ah, well. No getting through to some people. Kanji smiled back.

The library, though? "Yeah, that'd make sense. We're wastin' time hanging around here, then - let's go." He started to move off, but keeping an eye on the flyers as he did so. Dammit, they'd better not leave him down here!

[letteropener]

No need to worry; Celestia set off at a walk, mindful that her companions seemed more comfortable on the ground and in the air. "I was the one who thought the library would be a place worth checking. It is the home of my dear student Twilight Sparkle, and thus has been the resting place of the Elements of Harmony for some time."

[fatemeter]

"It was in your reality, you mean," Naoto pointed out, not trying to be pedantic. If she was still a little annoyed that poking around the library last time had led to her missing the biggest lead of all, she wasn't conscious of it.

For now, she more or less kept pace with Kanji, fluttering a little ways overhead and doing her best not to think too hard about it. The latter was easier said than done.

"May I ask how you determined the absence of tampering?" she added.