darkSpyro

Starsong slowly flew up the flight of stairs, glancing back now and again, checking that Arlon was following her. Not that she would have minded him wandering off somewhere else, but she liked to have company in the large crystal castle. Of course, there were other ponies around, but they weren't currently in the hallway where she and Arlon had been standing. She also wasn't really friends with any of the other ponies, except for Supercell and Flash Photography.
At the top of the stairs, there was a long hallway, with many doors lining the walls. The blue pegasus flew over to one of the doors, a few feet away from the stairs. When she saw Arlon's head appear as he walked up the stairs, she spoke.
"This is my temporary room." Starsong pushed the door open and fluttered into the room. There was a small bed with a dark blue cover, a medium blue chest of draws, and a window, but black curtains were drawn over it.
Starsong landed and pulled a brown backpack out the chest of draws, and began placing stuff in it. She looked back at the door. "Are you sure you don't need to pack anything?" she asked Arlon. "Also...what did you want to do upstairs again?"

"Canterlot is probably a good place to start." Flash Photography said. "I don't think the Everfree Forest would be a good place to go, would it?" She looked at Arthur.

Starsong stopped packing and looked over at Arlon. "My...story?" she asked. "What, you mean...my life up until now?"

"I think we're all in charge." Flash Photography gave Arthur a small smile. "And I hope Zecora is okay too, and that she hasn't been taken away." She paused. "But I do think Canterlot would be a good place to start. We might find some clues about where the princesses have been taken. But...how would we get there?" She placed the old maps on a table near them. "We could either walk up the mountain, or walk along the train tracks."

Starsong frowned. "You want me to talk about something, just so you can ignore it and think?" She packed a few more things into the backpack and did up the straps, then slipping it on and using her wings to adjust the position on the backpack on her back. She looked up at Arlon again, a slightly confused look on her face. "Do you still want me to just...talk?"

Starsong kept her dark blue gaze on the older kirin. She was curious about his history, but wasn't sure if she wanted to know it or not, and there wasn't much of a chance of him telling her about it. And even though sometimes he spoke in ways the pegasus did not understand, she had begun to set aside the major differences he had from the other ponies and respect him and show him kindness, as he seemed to have gone through a lot in his past.
"Sorry." Starsong apologized and lowered her head slightly, still looking at him. "I don't understand insanity, or what you've gone through. I shouldn't question it." She coughed awkwardly and padded over to the door, glancing back Arlon. "Do you want me to start talking or something? Or should we go downstairs and see where the others are?"

Starsong nodded at Arlon and trotted out of her room and to the top of the staircase.

"Mhm." Flash Photography nodded, placed the maps on the table, and ran out the library. Seeing that they weren't in the hallway, she decided to check upstairs. As she looked up at staircase, she saw Starsong and Arlon.
"You two!" she called up to them. "We need to leave shortly!" She then ran back to the library.

Starsong began to descend down the stairs.

Starsong glanced back at Arlon, and seeing his expression, decided to stay quiet as he seemed to be thinking about something. She reached the bottom of the stairs and trotted down the hallway at a medium pace. She soon reached the library doors and pushed one open, seeing Flash Photography, Arthur, and Bridle.

"Those are good places to go to first." Flash Photography said, looking down at the places Bridle had circled on the map. "And splitting up could work, but I wouldn't suggest splitting up in the Everfree Forest. Who knows what could happen to us in there."

Starsong padded over to the others and looked down at the map. "The Everfree Forest, Canterlot, and the Crystal Empire. Yeah, they seem like good places to go to. Which place will we be heading to first?" She looked up at Bridle.

Supercell flew into the library, almost bumping into Arlon. "Are you guys done yet?" she asked, flying up and laying on a ledge above the library door.
Flash Photography glanced at her briefly and then looked back at the maps.

Suddenly a loud rumble echoed throughout the castle, immediately followed by a large shockwave, almost like an earthquake.

Supercell, taken by surprise, fell off the ledge, but was able to beat her wings in time before she fell onto the hard crystal ground next to Arlon.
Starsong clung onto the table and looked around frantically. "What was that?" she asked slowly.

A loud voice could be heard down the hallway, belonging to a guard. "The nightmare mist! It reached the castle!"
Another voice could be heard. "It did?!"
"We were able to blast them back with a light spell, but they're closer now!" The first voice replied.

"Okay, we really need to leave soon." Flash Photography looked down at the map. "And I suggest we head to Canterlot first."

OOC: I don't know if that's a good idea. And the shockwave wasn't that large. If you're in the mist now, I don't know how the others will get you out. I think it's better if you stay in the group, because otherwise I'd have to create a small 'storyline' for Prince Astrello while also working on the storyline with the group.
This kind of thing this can happen later on, of course, it would make the story much more interesting, but just not right now. The group hasn't even gone outside yet.

"I've already packed." Starsong said, standing in a spot.
Flash Photography rolled up the maps with her magic, and still holding them, rushed out the library, followed by Supercell. They returned a few minutes later with bags and walked over Bridle and Starsong.
"Wait, where's Prince Astrello?" Flash Photography asked, standing in a spot. "Wasn't he here in the library a few minutes ago?"

Four guards stood next to the large doors which was the entrance to the crystal castle.
"The mist is going to get into the castle soon." The first guard said.
Another guard shook his head. "We've held it off for 3 months, I'm sure we can continue for a few more. As long as the magic remains and we keep using light spells to keep it away, we should all be safe."
"But haven't you noticed?" The third guard spoke up. "The magic here in Princess Twilight's Castle is fading."
The guards fell silent, until the forth guard spoke up. "I heard Prince Astrello is going on a quest with some other ponies to defeat the mist. They have permission from Princess Cadance and Shining Armour, so we can't say no to them."
The first guard blinked, quite surprised, not quite sure what to say at first. "Alright then."

Starsong overheard Arlon. "Take the magic in the castle?" she asked, looking over at him, with a slightly surprised and confused expression. "Arlon, you can't do that. What about the other ponies here?"
"I don't completely disagree with that idea." Flash Photography said slowly. "If he takes the magic, he would be stronger, but the nightmare mist would take over the castle, and the ponies here would be taken as slaves. Though, like he said, the castle's magic is fading. Who knows how much longer it will be here? The castle could be taken over while we're away on this quest."

Flash Photography noticed Prince Astrello enter the room and she ran over to him. "Astrello, are you alright? What happened?" She looked around, and seeing a piece of cloth lying on top of a bookshelf, she picked it up with her magic and brought it over to them. "This will have to do, unless anypony has some ice." She slowly and carefully wrapped the cloth around Prince Astrello's forehead.

"It makes sense, but..." Starsong broke off, a worried look in her dark blue eyes.
"I'd say it's better to make this guy stronger now with the magic than wait for it to fade into nothingness." Supercell said, hovering above the group.
Starsong slowly looked up at the others. "What do you guys think?"

"I'm not sure if the trains have been destroyed or not." Starsong said. "If they have, we'll just walk along the train tracks."

"I think the best place to absorb the magic left here in the castle would be the throne room." Flash Photography spoke up and walked over to Arlon. "I can take you there, if you want." She looked back at the others. "Once Arlon has absorbed the magic, the nightmare mist will invade the castle. You guys have to get to the large entrance door and activate the shield before the mist touches you. And then when Arlon and I return from the throne room, we can jump into the shield and then we can all get away before the mist notices."

"Sounds like a good enough plan." Supercell said.
Starsong slowly nodded.

"I can try use a light spell to blast the nightmare mist away for a few seconds when you close the shield back up." Flash Photography said.
"Should we head to the door now?" Starsong asked.

"Let's go." Flash Photography glanced at Arlon briefly before padding out of the room, not sure if the older kirin would rather walk or run to the throne room.

Supercell landed next to Starsong so she wouldn't be outside of the shield when it was activated.

OOC: Okay.

Flash Photography nodded. "Okay. I'll stay by the door and be quiet." She soon reached the throne room. Earlier, there had been three tables laid out with food, and ponies all around it, but now they were gone, and it was very quiet. The white unicorn looked up, seeing large tree roots descend from the ceiling, black strings with shining gem like objects hanging from each root.
"This room would most likely contain most of the magic in the whole castle." Flash Photography said. She stayed by the door, waiting for Arlon to begin transferring the magic from the castle to himself.

Flash Photography gasped as Arlon was thrown into the wall of the throne room. She was about to call out his name, but then stopped, remembered he had told her to keep quiet. The white unicorn flicked her black and purple tail, staying on the sidelines, even though she wanted to help him.

Three more loud booms echoed around the castle, fighting against Arlon. The rather large shockwaves from the loud booms were sent to every corner of the castle, knocking over bookcases and ponies themselves.

"We need to get to the main door now!" Starsong cried to the others after a shockwave had passed over them.

Flash Photography watched from the corner of the room, her turquoise eyes widening at the new appearance of Arlon. She pricked her ears when she heard him speak and titled her head a little, trying to catch sight of something sticking out from his forehead. It looked like a broken horn. "He's...an...alicorn?" she murmured, watching him walk back over to the table to attempt taking the castle's magic again.

Another loud boom echoed around the castle, followed by a shockwave, as Arlon began to tap into the castle's magic. Flash Photography stumbled sideways into the large crystals situated by the door. Ignoring the slight pain in her left shoulder, she blew her mane away from her face and watched the scene in front of her intently, having never seen anything like this before in her life.

Outside Twilight Sparkle's castle, the nightmare mists were edging closer to the castle, feeling the magic around it slowly weaken.