>>12559093 (OP)
no

>>12559093 (OP)
Wake up, walk out.
Kind of a solemn feeling hanging over.

Last session the Guardian answered a question with
>"Because that is how the Creator and made it."
What was that supposed to be?

Just popping in long enough to say that I have a theory about the clue Twilight left us to her location. Or rather, is leaving us.

It's the mystery code fragments at the end of the hidden pastebins we've been finding.

The big bad has been spying on us from afar and sending secret messages to us, so there's the possibility that he's somehow using Twilight's magic to do it. If he is, there's also the possibility she's taking the opportunity to sneak something in herself. Hence the codes.

Once we've found the 4th pastebin, we'll have all the code fragments we need to discern Twilight's location. Possibly.

Just a theory.

>>12559206
More than likely, but how do we incorporate meta data into questanon's head?

>>12559206
Had wondered about that, though we've still got no ideas as to what to do with it once we've got those last 4 characters.
And the fact that it begins with a "?" is annoying me, since that really limits how it can be used as part of a URL.

>>12559168
"Alright, I'm ready," you mumble, stumbling out of the tent. The morning air hits you with a dry heat. It's not too bad, but given the sun's low position, it's only going to get worse.

Rose grabs one of your arms with a wing and starts dragging you along. "Took you long enough."

"Hey! Watch the blades!" you say, trying to pull your arm free. Mare's got a wicked wing-grip.

"They're blunted, remember?" she says, deadpanned.

"Oh. Right." Recovering from the haze of sleep, you must've forgotten about that. She never really explained that, anyways, though you're not so sure if you should ask further.

Rose pulls you along through the camp like a ragdoll, not even noting the presence of any of the other soldiers. You spot Silver on your journey and wave to him. He waves back, snickering at your predicament. You have only time to shoot him a frown before Rose pulls you away from the camp.

The two of you stop a short distance away, not quite out of sight of the camp but far enough they can't hear you.

>>12559337
Give me a moment to stretch,
What's on today's agenda then?

>>12559364
Seconded

>>12559364
>>12559491
Yawning, you stretch out your arms and arch your back. "Give me a moment to stretch." You bend over to touch your toes, then sit down and do a few leg stretches. "What's on today's agenda, then?"

"I try to beat the pride out of you. I'm not hopeful about my chances, but that won't stop me from trying."

Sounds a lot like last time you did this. "Is there any way to do this that doesn't involve excessive beatings?"

"It's not excessive. It's exactly as much as you need."

She gives you a couple minutes to stretch before telling you to get in your stance. Taking a deep breath, you set yourself just like you remember: feet below shoulders, chest perpendicular to attacker, head straight, arms up. Upon seeing your stance, Rose sighs and hovers over.

"Still don't have it down right." She makes a few adjustments before statisfied. "Alright. Close your eyes and we'll get started. Remember: you don't deserve to block or detect me. You must earn it. Stop thinking you're any good at this and maybe one day you will be."

>>12559577
Fine.

>>12559577
LEZDOTHIS

>>12559593
>>12559609
"Fine."

Closing your eyes, you nod. You hear the dust crunch under Rose's hooves and the wind blow by your ears. Off in the distance, you can swear you hear echoes of conversation from the camp. The Badlands smell dry and dusty, a sharp contrast to what you image Rose smells like. From the way it hits you, you figure the wind is coming from the north, not quite--

Your mediation is interrupted when Rose's hoof slams into your side, knocking you out of your stance. You get back into it and try concentrating again, but within seconds, her wing takes out one of your knees.

Fuck! How did she even get behind you without you hearing her? Is she some kind of a ghost?

"I can see the frustration on your face. Calm down and stop thinking about how I move. Think about how you can detect me instead."

You know the how: ears, scent, and touch. But what good are those when your opponent can avoid all three? If it wasn't Rose, you'd probably have passed this test by now. You shake your head. No pride, right?

Minutes pass, nothing but the wind hitting you as you take in your surroundings. Your heart beats faster with each moment of inactivity. Your anticipation only grows.

>>12559835
Stay calm, take a few breaths and slow your heart rate.
Anticipation will put us on edge.

>>12559865
Second

>>12559865
>>12559937
Lowering your head, you take several deep breaths, trying to slow your heart rate. Your thoughts go inward, focusing on your body. You can feel yourself slowing down; your heart no longer trying to jump from your chest, your breaths long and even, your muscles no longer twitching.

Rose lands a kick on your back, but you lose surprisingly little balance. Only your front foot moves out of stance and not by much. You ready yourself again, staying calm, focusing on all the information you have.

The next blow connects with your chest, but again, you hold your stance. Even if all you can do is stand in place, you'll feel pretty good about this. It'll take time to learn to dodge, but you already know how to stand in place.

Rose must've noticed what you were thinking, because the next several attacks are aimed at your legs. She's trying to knock you off-balance.

>>12560073
Don't think about how good we're doing. Can't let that trip us up.

>>12560073
Keep focus forward on the next hit.

>>12560133
>>12560198
Can't think about your success. Gotta focus on what's next. If she knocks you over, then she'll knock you over. Just gotta keep going. You know how to stand back up.

Her wing collides with your shin and you wince, shifting the stricken leg. The point of contact aches, but you ignore it, keeping your senses on your surroundings, on the future. The arid wind, the faint echoes of speech, the scent of dust--those are all you have to hang on to.

The next strike, on the back of your knee, almost takes you out. You recover just in time, though.

With as much as she's attacking your legs, you figure that's the only part of you you'll need to defend. If you jump up, you'll likely clear any attack she sends at you. The only problem is knowing when to jump. Your heart starts quickening again with the thought of victory arising, but you calm yourself back down. Can't think about that.

The wind shifts, but this time you sense something else. A body. Something's blocking the wing. It's right behind you. The sound of an inhalation hits your ears. She's pulling back for an attack. You leap upwards as high as you can, pulling your legs up when you do. At the same moment, you hear a scraping across the dirt as Rose whiffs her kick.

[cont]

>>12560504
The second your feet hit the ground, you turn around, grinning, and open your eyes. You're greet by the sight of two hind legs rear back before they pummel your chest, the buck sending you flying back onto your ass. The grin is knocked from your face and you grunt with pain. Rose jumps atop you, grimacing.

"You dodge one attack and get cocky. I never said we'd stop once you dodged. Get over yourself. I was predictably attacking your legs. All you needed to do was jump--you didn't know what direction it was coming from, just the timing. Though," she says, letting you up, "I suppose you could've done much worse."

>>12560514
Alright, let's continue if we have time.

>>12560514
Nod and get back to the stance.

>>12560597
>>12560892
You nod, getting back into your stance. "Let's keep at it."

"Of course," says Rose, settling into a hover. "This time, don't expect me to be so predictable."

For the next hour or so, you take a beating from Rose. There are a few moments where you think you can feel her coming, but your dodges are either mistimed or in the wrong direction. Every strike from her lands, leaving your body worse for it. At the end of the session, you're bruised, tired, and breathing heavy. Rose has hardly broken a sweat, her stance as clean and proper like she'd just started.

You've still got a long ways to go.

Things likely would've continued as such, had Silver not dropped by. He lands next to the two of you, looking up and down your beaten body with some concern before stating his purpose.

"Princess Luna wants to speak with you. I think she's gathering everyone to make the final decision on our next move."

Your combat skills have improved! You get +1 to all combat rolls after the first (initial) roll in each fight.

>>12561265
Brilliant,
Let's go back to the camp then.

>>12561265
noice

Try not to look relieved as we head back to camp.

>>12561265
Bring it up when a good point comes up in discussion, but let's see if we can talk to Luna and Celestia in private after the meeting to keep them posted about our nightime visitor, and to ask Luna some questions about how the dreamscape works (and maybe take her up on that offer).

>>12561548
She's probably not interested with needing to move the camp etc, we could ask her opinion on what we should do though.

>>12561695
I didn't mean do the dreamwielding lessons right now: I'm assuming we'll be doing those when we're actually dreaming. Given we weren't disturbed by her after the Guardian snatched the dream away from her I'm assuming that she was able to see what happened anyway somehow (I was totally expecting this session to begin with one or more of the sisters bursting into our tent to wake us up from the Guardian with us just in our boxers), but it'd still be good to get the chance to ask her what the actual threats of the dreamscape are, what other ponies beside her can mess with it and what can be done to protect yourself and stuff like that.

And Celestia's probably completely in the dark about last night, given the levels of communication we've seen between the sisters.

>>12561306
>>12561539
You look over to Rose, who shrugs and starts back to camp like she hadn't just spent the last hour beating the crap out of you. You allow yourself a sigh of relief.

"I heard that."

Ears like a bat. Those pegasai were right.

Rose walks ahead of you and Silver, so you chat with him on the way back. He seems a little apprehensive about the whole thing, but you chalk that up to Silver being Silver. There's not much he isn't nervous about.

Before long, you're back in the princess' tent, along with Luna, Celestia, Steady and Silver. They all look rather grim, but Celestia at least seems to brighten up a bit when you arrive. Steady tries giving you his usual smile, but it wearied. The fatigue comes through in his gaze.

"Excellent. That's everyone," says Luna. "Since I see no reason to delay the announcement, I will share with you all what my sister and I have decided: we're heading to the Scales. If there are any comments or concerns you have, bring them up here before we announce this to the rest of the camp."

Steady's smile vanishes, his eyes widening. His stare is hollow. "The Scales? I... I can't say I'm thrilled, but I can't really think of a better alternative."

"Why are you apprehensive?" says Celestia.

"I just... I just don't like that place. Especially knowing its history."

>>12561933
Sit quietly and listen.

>>12561933
"What's wrong with the Scales? Lemme guess, dragons?"

File: 1375558935424.png-(25 KB, 850x730, Look Closer2.png)

Just because, here's a clearer view of that thing we already solved.

>>12562288
>thing we already solved
Wait what, we solved it?

>>12562435
Yup. Posted it at the start of last session, but here it is again.
http://pastebin.com/Rg3XYEbh
Anon had the right of it when he suggested it was Paragraph:Sentence:Character Capitalisation for the post that had the map in it.

>>12562435
It was a pastebin, said something to the effect of why Celestia wasn't a good ruler. Talked about what we mentioned to Silver while searching for Rose.
It's meta data so it's not like we can say that Silver is a spy of sorts, since questanon wouldn't know anyway.

>>12562483
I don't know how meta it is: It's clearly a statement from the advisor character to our player character. It might be a communication spell of some sort, that's just heavily disguised to avoid alerting the princesses.

And personally, I doubt Silver's a spy. As a person to place a magical bug on, though, the guard that accompanies Celestia almost everywhere would make a pretty good choice.
Of course, there's also the possibility that WE'RE the one who he's somehow listening/observing through. Either case means they're going to know about our upcoming trip to the scales.
We should mention how easily the enemy has been able to find us so far, and ask the Princesses about possible methods of magical bugging, just as a paranoid gut feeling.

>>12562004
"What's wrong with the Scales? Lemme guess, dragons?"

Four pair of eyes turn to you.

"You don't know what the Scales are, do you?" says Steady.

"Nope."

Celestia takes over. "It is not dragons that are the problem; quite the opposite: the Scales are part of the reason we own this land instead of them. As you know, the worldshards are relics of the Beginning. These were born from the Hammer, the Creator's instrument with which he forged our world. There is only one other relic of the Beginning: the Scales. These are the Guardian's instrument. A relic of Balance. For all the power the worldshards hold, the Scales have had a much more significant effect on our history."

>>12561959
You grab a seat and cross your arms, looking at Celestia. You have a feeling this will take a while. "How so?"

Steady coughs. "I'm not entirely comfortable talking about this."

"It's alright, Steady. You can excuse yourself if you wish and I will call you back in. It is important the traveller know the history, though, if we are to go there."

He nods and walks out of the tent. You don't think you've ever seen him shaken up so much.

[cont]

>>12562587
"Now, the Scales were first used a very long time ago, back when the custodians of the Creator and Guardian were much more prominent. This group, called The Followers, fought hard to ensure the safety of the Hammer and Scales, as well as prevent misuse. They also studied the relics, in hope of finding ways to use their power."

Celestia lifts the map on the table in front of her and brings it over to you, pointing out the location of the Scales. "The three pony nations: unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony, found the sun and moon were unstable. Each winter was freezing cold, too cold for many ponies to survive. The summers were likewise too intense. The moon would tear beaches asunder with vicious tides. Some nights were too bright, others had no moonlight to speak of. For all their knowledge and might, the ponies could no longer control these celestial bodies. The unicorns, the ponies who had once guided the sun and moon, were desperate to find an answer. Unrest was spreading again, and the hoof of blame was pointed squarely at the unicorns.

"They went to the Followers. It took much negotiating and convincing, but in the end, the situation was too dire for the Followers to refuse to help. The only answer anyone saw lied in the strength of the Hammer and the Scales. Now, to understand the solution, you must understand the power of the Scales.

[cont]

>>12562599
"They exist to balance things, much like ordinary scales do, but these Scales do not tell you if the items on them are of equal weigh, rather, they force the items to be of equal power. So, if a strong, young pony was placed on one scale, and a weak, aged pony on the other, you would end up with two middle-aged, average ponies."

You lower the map, leering at Celestia. "The Scales can balance that kinda thing?"

She nods. "Yes. Anything. And to save all ponies, they had to give someone the strength to control the sun and moon. Ponies that were wise and adept with magic, but young enough to live for many years in order to pass the knowledge down to their successors." Celestia paused, looking at the ground. "Two unicorns were selected, one for the sun, and one for the moon. Luna se Constella, a eager, playful noble, but one who could surprise you with her mastery of exotic magics, such as dreamweilding. The second... Celestia do Solarius, the older of the two, a professor at the capital's prostegious school for unicorns."

"So that was..." you trail off, leaving the question out in the open.

[cont]

>>12562610
"Yes, my sister and I. We stood on one side of the Scales while they placed the Hammer on the other. When the Scales balanced us, the first of the alicorns were created. In addition, almost as if the Guardian knew our purpose, our cutie marks were changed to suit our new roles. We left the Scales with incredible power, power beyond anything we ever expected. It was enough to take control of the sun and moon and set seasons and nights back to what they should have been."

Celestia sits back on her haunches, still staring at the ground. Luna walks over and embraces her, the two taking a silent moment for each other before Celestia stands back up.

"That event was not the only time they came into play, but that is all you need to know for now. However, if you have any further questions about the Scales, feel free to ask before I call for Steady to come back in."

>>12562634
The Guardian seeks balance, could these scales balance the disruption I cause?

>>12562700
Silver's still here. Do we want to fill him in?

>>12562730
Not really.

That doesn't really explain why everyone is so on edge when talking about it. If anything it sounds like it should be some sort of Holy Site, a place of reverence. You act like its the place of some unspeakable horror, and to mention it would unleash nightmares beyond imagination upon the world.

>>12562771
Then, once we've finished our public questions about it, let's just ask Celestia and Luna if we can talk to them in private when the meeting's done about what we spoke about last night and then ask the sensitive questions then, since we'll be bringing up the Guardian's demands there anyway.

Are the followers still around? Are there any ponies living in the area?
What's the geography of the area, and where on the map is it?
Can you decide what "aspect" the scales balance, or do they just balance EVERYTHING?
Is that when the hammer was broken? If so, are there theories as to why that caused it to break?

>>12563071
Rather than pelting them with questions, let's try one at a time.
For god's sake calm down.

>>12562796
>>12562911
You stand up, laying the map back down on the table. "Why is everyone so on edge about it? If anything it sounds like it should be some sort of Holy Site, a place of reverence. You act like its the place of some unspeakable horror, and to mention it would unleash nightmares beyond imagination upon the world."

"It is not so simple," says Luna. "For my sister and I, it is a place of conflicting memories. We were ponies--normal ponies--before that event. We knew about how long we would live. We had our own plans for our futures. After that, though... our lives were lived for our country. We knew only half of what we were getting ourselves into. It can be... difficult to remember the simplicity our lives once had. Steady is a different story. He is superstitious. He has never liked to speak of or involve himself with things concerning the unknown or supernatural."

"Fair enough." You look to Celestia, who shares a small smile with you, though it's more for you than for her.

"Steady! Come back. We're ready for you."

Steady walks into the tent and takes up his old spot next to the table.

"Now," says Luna, "in one hour, at noon, I will make the announcement. Silver, Steady, I want you to prepare your units and make sure everyone is capable of traveling at the very least. Report to me your status before the hour is up."

Steady and Silver salute before leaving.

Noticing you haven't left, Luna asks, "Did you have something to say?"

>>12562911
Try to be a little more specific with the questions.

>>12563071
Sorry, I already had the post typed up. I'll try to fit these in the next one.

>>12563153
The only question in that post was supposed to be "Can we talk about what we spoke about last night after this?". The "Public questions" were supposed to be what everyone else suggested.

>>12563092
It seems best to me to type them all up and let SA work them into a big post as he saw fit like he's been doing with multiple suggestions, rather than spend ages feeding them to him one at a time.

>>12563131
Yes. I had some more private questions about my visitor last night, and how the scales related to them, if you both have time.
Celestia, did Luna tell you already?
Fill her in if not.

>>12563131
Yeah,
>>12562700

I'd also like an opinion from you as to what I should do moving forward.

ded?

>>12563763
Hardly, just a lot of questions.

>>12563763
Nah, he's probably trying to work out how to resolve the mess of suggestions we've got piled up.
Or maybe he's getting something to eat like last week. :V

>>12563405
"Yes. I had some more private questions about my visitor last night, and how the scales related to them, if you both have time. Celestia, did Luna tell you already?"

"She mentioned a couple of things. Was this 'visitor' the Guardian, as she suspected?"

"Yes, and she was none too happy with me. I was worried she'd kill me on the spot."

"Kill you? No, the Guardian would never kill anyone. She doesn't see that as part of her role, which, for better or worse, she sticks to fanatically."

"Why don't we sit down to talk about this? You look rather battered, traveler," says Celestia.

Oh, yeah. You'd spent most of the morning taking a beating from Rose. Now that you think about it, your legs are pretty weak. "Sure."

The three of you sit down and you continue. "Given the Guardian seeks balance, could these scales balance the disruption I cause?"

"I do not think it would work out that way," says Luna. "The Scales are constantly in use, an interface between her and our world. If they could balance your disruption, they would have. The only thing that might change that is if you put yourself on the Scales, but that would give the Guardian control of your physical existence. Given her past with you, I do not think she would be so inclined to fix you up and set you on your merry way. The only other way to help the balance would be the worldshards, as they are the other half of her influence on the world, but I have no ideas on how to use them to help you."

[cont]

>>12563071
"Are the Followers still around? Could they help?"

"I believe there are still remnants of their order, though they are hiding in secret and we have no way of contacting them," says Celestia.

"Can you decide what "aspect" the scales balance, or do they just balance EVERYTHING?"

"To the best of my knowledge, they balance all aspects of the items placed on them. Only the Guardian knows the subtleties of how they work," says Luna.

"When did the Hammer break and why?"

"In order to give us the power to control the sun and moon, the Scales needed to weaken the Hammer. Even with all the power we now have, the Hammer was immensely more powerful. To weaken it, the Scales broke it into the three components it is today," says Celestia, laying her chin on a hoof. "I believe in order to do so, the Scales had to absorb some extra element of power from the Hammer that made them reliant on the worldshards to function, though I'm afraid I have no proof. Call it a hunch."


>>12563811
I don't eat. I'm a robot.

>>12563884
The scales may give her the ability to send us home then in conjunction with the world shards.

>>12563938
Good idea, actually makes a lot of sense if you think about it

>>12563884
Ah. So even if I were willing to try using them, we'd need to gather the hammer's components? Guess the guardian will still have to wait, then.

You said we were going to the Scales as though they were a location rather than an artifact. How big are they? What's the surrounding area like?

One other thing. Is there a way for a pony to remotely view or listen in on a conversation? The enemy has found our location very quickly a few times now, and I've just had a nagging gut feeling. There's no way I could be bugged, is there?

Echoing
>>12563405
What do you both think I should do? I've been acting on the assumption that the only way forward was to do my best to try to help you rescue Twilight and collect the Worldshards, as both would lead to a situation where I could stop messing with the balance, but I'm worried that the Guardian's threats of using her abilities to set the odds against me will start falling on your mission too.

>>12563938
"Then, the Scales, in conjunction with the worldshards, may give her the ability to send me home."

"Yes," says Celestia. "If that is truly what you wish to do."

You can tell from her tone that she's hoping it isn't. Glancing over to Luna, you find her stare increasing in intensity, almost as if to say, "Don't get her hopes up."

It never ceases to amaze you how little those two speak with each other.

>>12564192
"You said we were going to the Scales as though they were a location rather than an artifact. How big are they? What's the surrounding area like?"

"They are referred to as both. The Scales--the object--are rather large. Twice as tall as I, and the balancing platforms on each end are large enough to hold three normal-size ponies. The location is an underground cavern much like where we found the Pegasus Worldshard, though the main room is a bit larger. The surrounding area is as nondescript as the rest of the Badlands. You would have to know where to look to find the Scales."

"One other thing. Is there a way for a pony to remotely view or listen in on a conversation? The enemy has found our location very quickly a few times now, and I've just had a nagging gut feeling. There's no way I could be bugged, is there?"

Celestia frowns. "You are not the only one to think along those lines, but neither my sister nor myself have detected any such 'bug'. If someone is learning our location, it is not through the use of magic."

[cont]

>>12564456
You collapse back into your chair, closing your eyes. You wish all this trouble would just disappear. It'd be nice to simply enjoy Equestria for a little while. Maybe see where Celestia's from, check out her house, get to know Twilight, or even go for a swim. The place seems nice enough. But no, here you are, wondering if your existence is going to tear the world apart, trying to figure out not only how to stop it but if you actually want to leave at all and exactly what your feelings are for Celestia. C'est la vie.

>>12564292
"What do you both think I should do? I've been acting on the assumption that the only way forward was to do my best to try to help you rescue Twilight and collect the Worldshards, as both would lead to a situation where I could stop messing with the balance, but I'm worried that the Guardian's threats of using her abilities to set the odds against me will start falling on your mission too."

"Honestly? I think you should come with us," says Luna. You raise an eyebrow at her. "No, truly. If the Scales are the only lead we have to returning you home and restoring the Balance, then you would be best served joining us on our journey there. I think the Guardian would realize this as well."

>>12564465
She shows no sympathy simply put.

>>12564465
So I'd have hoped, but she didn't seem too happy in her recent visit. Still, I'm glad you'll still have me.

>>12564738
Are there any past situations where the Guardian has been known to have direct intervention like this? What did she do then?

>>12564659
>>12564738
>>12564775
"So I'd have hoped, but she didn't seem too happy in her recent visit. Shows no sympathy. Still, I'm glad you'll still have me."

Celestia smiles, this time with much more spirit. "Of course. We're always happy to have you along."

"Just out of curiosity, are there any past situations where the Guardian has been known to have direct intervention like this?"

"Yes. Discord. He was--well, is--the lord of chaos. My sister and I, for all our power, were helpless to stop him as he took apart our society, piece by piece, ruining ponies' lives."

"What did she do then?"

"She created the Elements of Harmony."

Shit. The Guardian doesn't mess around. Not like you didn't know that already, though.

Silver and Steady enter the tent, announcing themselves. Silver grins at you before putting on his business face and turning to Luna.

"All soldiers in my unit are travel-ready, Princess!"

Steady echoes the statement. Luna nods in acknowledgement. "Then I will give the announcement. Sister?"

"Indeed." They stand up, nodding a farewell to you. "If you'd like to continue this conversation later, I'd be willing to talk," says Celestia.

"Yeah," you say.

The four exit the tent, leaving you staring into your lap, wondering about what's next.

[cont]

>>12565161
Someone is probably spying on the camp, telling the enemy where you are. The Guardian is on your ass constantly, giving you nightmares. Luna thinks you're trying to break her sister's heart, and you can't tell whether it's worth sticking around or not. Not to mention Rose kicking your ass in the name of training.

When you first got here, ponies seemed like a simpler society. But you never had to deal with this kinda stuff back home.

What are you supposed to do?


~


That's all for today. There will not be a Wednesday session next week, so things will continue next Saturday.

>>12565181
Whoo, information heavy session tonight. Thanks as always, see you on Saturday!

>>12565181
>There will not be a Wednesday session next week
B-but muh Celestia quest midweek fix ;_;
Thanks for the thread tho SA, catch you next week