>>13339183 (OP)
Perhaps a little, I often don't have my clothes removed.

>>13339183 (OP)
Er, it's fine, I'll warm up in a bit. Just need to bask in the sun for a bit. And redress.

(Oh, boy. Well, Luna didn't come find us, so I suppose that's...not the worst sign.))

>>13339183 (OP)
"A bit. Maybe you should just come over and wrap me in those wings again"

Please don't cleave my asshole Miss Moongoddess

>>13339359
You can bet on it, your as will han over her fireplace. Especially if we have to leave.

>>13339293
>>13339359
"Perhaps a little, I often don't have my clothes removed." You grin. "Maybe you should just come over and wrap me in those wings again."

She swoops down, embracing you in legs and wings, kissing you fiercely a moment before breaking away. "It's not often I'm relieving stallions of them."

>>13339308
"Can I get my clothes back? With those and a little sun, I'll be fine."

Her horn glows and your clothes come back from wherever Celestia tossed them. Unfortunately, they're wet with dew, but that's dried up after a short blast of magic. You take the clothes, thanking Celestia, and dress yourself. Much better. After a good stretch, you feel... surprisingly nimble. Last night was rather exhausting, but the sleep charged you right back up.

Those majestic wings fill your vision again, encompassing your body and pulling you into Celestia. You rub your head against her neck and she lays her head on your shoulder from behind.

"As much as I love it out here, we must get back." She kisses your cheek before letting you go. "Shall we head out?"

>>13339183 (OP)
Some playful bravado. I've got our love to keep me warm! Smile with chattering teeth.

>>13339492
Pull her in for a real kiss and draw it out as long as possible. Depending on how bad things go we might not have another chance
"Now we can go."

>>13339492
Yeah, we've got to get a move on.

(...Will it be okay to come back to the camp together, or would it be more prudent to attempt to make like we were in our tent? I don't think Luna would call attention to our activities, but we went past some guards at least, right?)

>>13339594

>>13339594
>>13339612
>>13339764
You step in front of Celestia, taking her cheeks in your hands, and give her a real kiss. She lets out a short moan, letting your mouths and tongues play, both of you closing your eyes while you hold the kiss. When you catch your hands slipping away from her head, you pull away, giving her the dirtiest smile you can muster. She matches it.

"Now we can go."

You know if you stay around here much longer, your desires will get the better of you. Celestia's right, though. There's more hiking to do today, and you don't want to incur any more of a wrath from Luna than necessary.

On the way back, you leave a hand on Celestia's withers and she keeps a wing on your shoulder, never wanting to lose contact. Depending on how things go today, these could be your last hours together. It's quiet in the Badlands, a silence unbroken by words. You and Celestia wear stupidly-large grins, looking back between the landscape and each other.

As you approach the camp, you consider removing your hand, but Celestia never takes her wing away. You take it as a sign that she's alright letting others know... though the only one you're really worried about is Luna. And maybe Rose. And Silver might give you some shit about it.

Just as you suspect, Luna is waiting for Celestia's return. She plays nice around your sister, but doesn't spare you a glare of ice as you approach her.

"I take it you enjoyed the night? I was becoming worried."

[cont]

>>13339997
The statement is directed at her sister.

"Now, sister, this is not the time to be playing such games. The traveler and I are both fine. Is everyone ready to move out?"

Luna nods, losing her severity almost instantly. It'll come back soon enough, you figure. "Our destination is a half-day's march south. Once you are ready, sister, we will depart."

She makes an about-face back into her tent, though her departure hasn't made the sweat on your brow disappear.

>>13340011
"...She's gonna kill me..."

>>13340011
"If the Guardian doesn't get me, your sister will for sure."

>>13340063
>>13340093
These two I guess

>>13340011
She seemed reasonable. Maybe it's my natural charm?

But seriously, I guess we need to make our own final preparations. Clothes- check. Compass- check. Princess- check.

>>13340163
Trusty companions?
...Where's Silver and Rose?

>>13340063
>>13340093
>>13340147
"If the Guardian doesn't get me, your sister will for sure."

Celestia puts a hoof to her chest and laughs, patting you on the back with a wing. "Come now, her bark is much worse than her bite. Besides, she's only looking out for her sister. I'm sure she'll warm up to your in t--well, you've nothing to worry about from her." Celestia takes a deep breath, exhaling slow and loud. "I'm afraid we must part for now. Find me on the march, will you?"

"Of course."

>>13340163
Celestia ducks into her tent, likely to pack and talk with Luna. Shaking your head, you head down to your tent, collapse it, and pack it up. Just as you're finishing, the princesses' tent falls, held by a golden glow and folded up nicely before being slung over a soldier's back.

"Soldiers, move out!" barks Luna, hovering above the camp.

With an array of salutes, the ground shakes with the thunder of soldiers taking their first step in the last leg of the journey. You pull out the compass, watching it hover between Luna and Celestia. The final day is actually here. This is hardly where you imagined yourself that day you were tossed between Celestia and those unicorns. Never even figured out what put you here in the first place.

Looking above the crowd to Celestia, you smile. Glad it happened, though.

>>13340294
Walk with Silver for a bit.

>>13340294
Find Rose and Silver because friendship and all that shit

>>13340294
>I'm sure she'll warm up to your in t--well, you've nothing to worry about from her.
Ouch

Find Silver. Maybe Luna made some plans with the soldiers while we were ... er... occupied with Celestia.

We'll need to keep the compass in the back of our mind in case Ironsides brought Twilight to the scales with their camp.

>>13340294
(Brr. I don't think we have that much to worry about Luna, though. She's sterner but that's how she shows her concern. She was already warming to us the other night. ...If it becomes a challenge with the Guardian and she has to choose between us and the Guardian, though, we might need to be more persuasive.)

Catch up with Silver and Rose, but probably Silver first. He's our pal.

>>13340324
>>13340328
>>13340357
>>13340410
You find Silver and, to your surprise, Rose is walking along side him. You can't help but smile seeing them together, even though they couldn't be more different.

"Hey, you two."

Silver turns around, his face instantly brightening with a smile. Rose offers an "eh." Silver shoots her a grimace before greeting you.

"Hey! How's it going?"

"Pretty good," you say, still feeling energized from your rest. "How are you two doing?"

"Great!" Silver gives an exaggurated frown and nudges Rose. "Though Rose is determined to be a downer."

"I am not a 'downer'. I am realistic. And I feel fine."

"Then why are you following me and telling me how terrible this battle is going to be?"

"Because you are greener than the Haysead Swamps and our enemy is not to be taken lightly. And I've not been following you."

"You totally have been!" Silver's wings burst out from his back.

"Does it matter?" Rose sighs.

"Can't we worry about the battle when, you know, we get to it? Still got several hours of marching ahead."

Rose mumbles something under her breath but concedes. "No use arguing with you when you're like this."

Silver open his mouth to protest, but instead shakes the comment off and turns to you. "Where did you go off to? I was looking for you last night."

>>13340580
"I...needed some time to think."

>>13340580
(He's our bro, and Celestia was already determinedly Okay with plainly coming into the camp with us)

I went looking for Celestia, and I found her. Sorry I wasn't around; what'd you need last night?

>>13340580
"I was trying to find the Princess and make sure nothing happened to her."

>>13340645
Wouldn't lie to Silver to be honest. He doesn't take that all to well and Celestia doesn't try to hide our relationship so he will probably find out in a few hours. I doubt that the soldiers aren't talking about it.

>>13340580
we can tell him where we went
maybe not in graphic detail

>>13340760
>maybe not in graphic detail
"And then I blew my load right into your rulers soft cooch! Shit was so bits."

>>13340801
AND THE GUARDIAN POSSESSED SILVER AND HE STOMPED US INTO A FINE MIST, THE END

>>13340648
>>13340666
"I went looking for Celestia, wanting to make sure nothing happened to her, and I found her. Sorry I wasn't around."

"Oh really? Celestia? That's pretty neat. You two bond at all? I know she's got a thing for you."

"Yes, we certainly bonded. But what'd you need last night?"

"O-oh, it wasn't anything major. Just wanted to, y'know, talk about things."

"Please," Rose butts in, "listening to you two dance around in conversation like lovers is the last thing I want to do today." She turns to you. "You kissed the princess at the very least, yes?" You nod. "And you wanted to talk about Steady leaving because you still don't understand." Silver swallows, but nods nonetheless. "There. Much easier to talk now that you're not shirking the subject."

"Rose, just curious: do you know what 'tact' is?" you ask.

She whacks you in the back of the leg before answering, "Yes. And I ignore it."

Can't argue much with results, you guess.

>>13340880
"So what don't you understand?"

>>13340880
So what did you want to talk about related to Steady.

>>13340880
Ouch. If I'd wanted to evade anything, it'd have been another bruise.

So, Steady. We'll probably be seeing him real soon.

>>13340880
Give Rose the sternest look we can before turning back to Silver and ask him about Steady before he gets any idea to ask more about Celestia

>>13340831
Actually, we might have a problem next time we go to sleep. I mean, we banged one of the Princesses - that surely doesn't sound like something she'd approve of.

Also, the next time we get a chance we should ask if we can take a look at the map again or if Steady left any of his belongings behind. We are still missing the last last secret message and maybe he left it for us before he ran away.

>>13341039
The Steady thing sounds like something we should bring up with Silver and Rose to help redirect the conversation after we try and help answer his dilemma.

>>13341081
I'm not sure if Questanon actually knows about this or if its just meta info for us.

>>13340984
And he's gonna pay for what he's done.

>>13341119
Oh, I meant seeing if maybe Steady left anything else. That's something Questanon could reasonably be curious about, and he wasn't in camp all night, so it's possible (though probably unlikely) that something else was found that he wasn't around for.

>>13340966
>>13340969
>>13340984
>>13340985
Shooting Rose a dirty look, you turn to Silver. "So what don't you understand?"

"Well, as you probably figured, him and I talked a lot while on duty. Even off-duty. A lot of it was normal stuff, like how our day was, or about some cute mare we saw, maybe plans for the night. That kind of thing. But with all the time we spent together, certain subjects, like politics, eventually came up." He scratches the back of his neck. "I always looked up to his opinion. I mean, he was the experienced, old one, and I was the newbie, right? He had to be right. And he was always filled with such patriotism. It was always what's best for the country, for Equestria." He looks down at the ground. "But... he turned out to be bad. Does that... does that mean he's wrong? I want what's best for Equestria, too."

>>13341179
"Everyone's got a different idea of what's best for their country, Silver. His just turned out to be...a bit different from yours."

>>13341179
"What he believes to be the best thing for Equestria and what's actually the best thing for Equestria don't necessarily have to be the same thing. That doesn't mean that he is ill-natured, he just doesn't see the bigger picture or got tricked by Ironside."

>>13341179
Someone is only as correct as the foundation they stand on.
If I may be so bold, what's best for Equestria right now is stability.
Not handing the keys to the kingdom to someone like Ironsides.
Steady was wrong.

>>13341285
He may not have been a bad person, but actions speak louder than words.
The amount of casualties he caused would place him firmly in the "ill-natured" category.

I just remembered that we completely forgot to have Luna teach us dream wielding. In case we survive till next night, we should definitely remember to ask her to show us how it works. Might be quite useful when we encounter the Guardian again.

>>13341447
Sometime in the future, if there is one.
During a war of near-attrition isn't the best time.

>>13341500
Depending on how todays mission works out, the rebellion might be over by tonight.

>>13341179
There's no single way to do what's "best for Equestria." But not all of them are compatible with each other, and sometimes you can get so caught up in looking down a single path that you lose sight of the others, or at least their worth. There's only so much time to try and do what you believe is right, after all. And that doesn't change whether you're a veteran or a greenhorn.

>>13341267
>>13341285
>>13341384
"What he believes to be the best thing for Equestria and what's actually the best thing for Equestria don't necessarily have to be the same thing. That doesn't mean that he is ill-natured, he just doesn't see the bigger picture or got tricked by Ironside."

"Tricked? But even Princess Celestia trusted Ironsides for years. Does that mean she was tricked too?"

You pinch the bridge of your nose. It's easy to forget they used to trust each other. "Everyone's got a different idea of what's best for their country, Silver. His just turned out to be... a bit different from yours." You'd very much like to find out what exactly his idea is, in fact. Celestia hadn't spoken on it and you hadn't really asked.

"I think he lost sight of what the country is for," says Rose. Silver and you both turn to her, but she keeps her eyes forward. "The country as a system exists for its ponies. Sometimes soldiers... or advisers... forget the system itself isn't the important part, but instead what it protects. If the ponies must sacrifice too much for the system, then the system is flawed, not the other way around."

"Someone is only as correct as the foundation they stand on. If I may be so bold, what's best for Equestria right now is stability, not handing the keys to the kingdom to someone like Ironsides. Steady was wrong," you say.

[cont]

>>13341557
"Yeah, that sounds right. I mean, it sounds right that he was wrong." He musters up a smile. "I guess we'll know for sure once this is over, huh?"

You don't answer, instead sticking your hands in your pockets and sharing a glance with Rose. You both know: tomorrow holds bigger things than politics and ideals. There's a revolution that will either burst into flames or die a spark.

>>13341572
And we'll either restore balance or vanish in a puff of smoke.

>>13341572
Silver, Rose, I'll see you around. I still need to take down my tent

>>13341572
Now is the chance to ask if any of them knows if they found something Steady left behind in the camp when he ran away with the world shard.

>>13341657
We already did that.

>>13340294
>Shaking your head, you head down to your tent, collapse it, and pack it up.

Unless I understood something horribly wrong, we are marching towards the scales right now.

>>13341572
>>13341679
Yeah, this is a good idea.

File: 1378347037716.png-(253 KB, 1213x1277, >feels.png)

Been working on something while I waited for the session to begin

>>13341947
Damn son
10/10 would feel to again

>>13341679
>>13341807
"You two know if anyone found anything from what Steady left behind? Celestia and I didn't see anything of note after our encounter."

"Well, you'd know more than me," says Silver.

"I as well," says Rose, "but I would guess our princesses would know one way or the other. In fact, Celestia seems to be waving you over." She pauses, the corner of her mouth curling upward the slightest bit. "Or should I call her Snow White now?"

"Snow Wh--how did you know about that?"

"I'll just say Steady couldn't keep his mouth shut around me."

Yeesh. From what you know, those two hardly talked, but apparently that was enough time for Rose.

"Best not keep the princess waiting. I'll see you two around."

"Yeah! You too!" says Silver.

Weaving through the pack of soldiers between Celestia and yourself, you find your smile getting away from you when you finally make it to her. Her own smile reflects much the same feeling.

"I'm glad you got around to finding me! Did you have a nice talk with Rose and Silver?"

"Yeah. We actually ended on something I wanted to ask you: was there anything of note you recovered from Steady belongings?"

"Ah." Celestia floats a book over to you. "This was it, really. The book that held the flash spell he used to blind me while escaping. I couldn't find anything else in it, but you may look if you wish."

[cont]

>>13342038
Taking the book, you open it to a random page, finding most of them blank. The few that aren't have inscriptions and runes you can't read or don't recognize.

>>13342038
>>13342051
Search it thoroughly. Even the bindings.
Just in case.

>>13341947
>That quote
>That yev-ruu
>Those eyes
Just...
10 out of fucking 10.
Glorious.

>>13342051
Check if maybe something is hidden in the binding.

Also, take a look at the compass - if it reacts to magic maybe we can detect some hidden spell on the book with it.

File: 1378348409145.png-(17 KB, 850x534, Book.png)

>>13342088
>>13342141
You flip through every page, slow enough to see if there's anything stuck inside, but come up empty. Flipping it over, you shake the book, but nothing falls out. Celestia glances at you ever so often, but you're too entralled in your search to notice. Even the bindings hold nothing. In a last-ditch effort, you pull out your compass and hold it over the book, but the needle only continues to point at the princesses. With a sigh, you pocket it.

"Thing's clean as a whistle," you say. "Unless that strange writing means anything?"

Celestia shakes her head.

"Oh well."

"I would not expect Steady to leave anything behind. He's too clever for that."

A sliver of emotion sneaks into her voice, but you don't press her on it. She's had a hard enough time with Steady already.

"Halt!"

The entire procession stops in their tracks, everyone looking up at Luna, the one who'd called out.

"What is it, sister? It should still be hours until we arrive."

Luna lands in front of Celestia. "Indeed. But our forward scout has spotted something." She looks at you, concerned, before turning back to Celestia. "There's another group of soldiers occupying the area ahead."

>>13342464
>image
COMPUTER!
ANALYZE!

>>13342464
"Rebels?"

>>13342527
Couldn't find anything, though I have no idea how hex editors work so I didn't check it with that one.

But yeah, there must be a message in it, I doubt that he'd have given us a picture otherwise

>>13342464
Those blank sections seem rather suspicious to me...

File: 1378348750799.png-(8 KB, 726x729, MHJ4TTo.png)

A link to this one was hidden in the pic

>>13342570
Maybe it's like that old trick for writing hidden messages in lemon juice that only show up under sunli-
>>13342599
Nevermind.

Also, I really suck at puzzles and wasn't here from the beginning and the archive doesn't save pictures so I missed some puzzles, I'll need you guys help

>>13342599
I'd like to buy a vowel please.

>>13342599
what in the hell?
wait...it looks like there's some faint markings in the box at the bottom. you can see it if you tilt your screen a bit.

>>13341987
>>13342107
Thanks, I'll (most likely) have it finished for the next session

>>13342705
Oh, good catch. I can make those visible I think, give me a second

File: 1378349309269.png-(6 KB, 1438x294, New Canvas.png)

>>13342719
It's an E

I have no idea what's that supposed to tell us though since there's only one purple line in the puzzle

>>13342542
"Rebels?"

"I do not know. That is why I am going to investigate."

Your mouth hangs open in silence before you recompose yourself. "Wait, what? Shouldn't you send a scout to do that?"

"In most circumstances, yes. But our number is far too few to risk a scout and we have little time to dally. Going around them would not only delay us but put us at significant risk of discovery."

"If we're too few to risk a scout, isn't risking you a much worse idea?"

"No. Scouts cannot do this."

Luna wavers before you, and with a couple flickers she's invisible.

"Show off," says Celestia.

"Sister, please! This is hardly the time for jokes."

"I think this is the only time for jokes." Celestia lays a hoof on your shoulder. "I assure you, traveler, there is no one more capable of getting a look at these mystery soldiers in secret than my sister. Though your concern is touching. Right, Luna?"

"...yes. Of course."

It's a little strange conversing with someone you can't see. You give Luna an awkward wave.

"Yes, I can can see you," she deadpans back. "I will depart now and return within a half-hour. Tell our soldiers of the situation."

A cloud of red dust kicks up from under Luna, the only hint you have she's gone.


~


That ends this session. Next session is Saturday, same time as always at 12 noon central american time.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, it will be the last, and it will also be very long.

>>13342868
the last

WHAT

OH

OH NO

>>13342868
i-it's so soon ;_;

Thanks for the session, SA.

File: 1378349621181.png-(81 KB, 911x797, puzzle4.png)

That last line doesn't appear in any other .png's I open with the text editor, but I don't know if its important

>>13342868
>The end is near
NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

>>13342801
That could be why it's the only one partially visible.
Let's try filling in the blanks to form words, and see if we end up with anything coherent.

File: 1378349729059.jpg-(90 KB, 694x679, 1351992837308.jpg)

>>13342868
>Barring unforeseen circumstances, it will be the last

>>13342868
okay

fuck

crunch time

we got to figure this puzzle out

>>13342929
>69Boobes

>>13342935
WE HAVE TO KILL HIM SO HE CAN'T END IT!
SUMMON THE BUSES!

>>13342953
I meant in the lines above the box.
We're probably supposed to solve that part first, then plug in the colored letters to their corresponding spot to get...I dunno, another pastebin link or something.

>>13342801
The first blob kind of looks like a G.
And the last one sort of looks like a D.

>>13342981
>look at last pastebin
>3/4
that means... another pastebin would be 4/4! We'd have the whole set! I wonder if that'll give us yet another pastebin...

>>13342599
the third line could be "egregious"

>>13343184
Only one way to find out.

http://www.wordplays.com/crossword-puzzles/crossword-helper

This might help.

>>13343192
Man, I don't even know such fancy words

Also I'd assume that the dotted lines either indicate capitalization or no capitalization - we have 8 characters so it is almost definitely a paste bin link again

>>13342599
>>13343281
Alright, let's see here...

>ETHER / ETWEE / ITHER / OTHER / OTTER / STEED / STEEK / STEEL / STEEP / STEER / STIED / STIES / STREP / STREW / STYED / STYES / UTTER

>BIENNIUM / COENURUS / ELENCHUS / EVENTFUL / FRENULUM (unf)

>AGRAPHIAS / AGRARIANS / AGRYPNIAS / EGREGIOUS

>467 possibilities for the last one
I'm not listing all that!

>>13343496
All of them start with a red line though so all of them should start with the same letter

>>13343515
Well, the only starting letter that appears in the possible words for all four lines is "E"

>>13343549
I kinda doubt that he just chose random words which aren't related to horses or form a sentence though

>>13343579
There's only so many 9-letter words that have g, r and s in those specific spots...

>>13343549
Okay, just picking random words that begin with E leads to this

Red: E
Grey: L or V
Yellow: G
Blue: A or G or M or N or V or W or X or Y
Brown: G or E or I or O or T or U

I'll start building a list of possible urls and just try them out though I really doubt thats it

This can't be right.
There's gotta be something we're missing.

I just realized that we have two blues, a dark one and a light one. But we only get one blue letter from the lines above

>>13343743
Oh, and same for purple. Yeah, we are definitely missing something, I doubt he expects us to check every single character there.

>>13343730
WE FORGOT THE COMB AGAIN!
FUCK!

>>13343793
What comb?

>>13343743
shiiiit I messed up in that case. The dark blue should be the letter before the "u" in the second word. Sorry.

>>13343867
But the purple one wasn't a mistake?

>>13343901
Nope, the purple one is correct.
>>13342801

>>13343968
... okay, 6 AM definitely isn't the best time to solve puzzles

Only tangentially related because of SmutAnon, but I capped that Luna storm thing from last night.

>>13343985 (Cross-thread)

>>13343812
Raisin Quest joke.

>>13344046
Thanks! I'm glad you liked it.

>>13343968
This thing forms actual words, right?

>>13344085
Everything except for the bottom box is a coherent, real, English word.

>>13344136
Alright.
Now, whether or not it forms a coherent sentence...I'm assuming you're leaving that revelation for us to figure out on our own.

File: 1378352972410.png-(8 KB, 411x593, New Canvas2.png)

Guess I'll be going through lots of combinations...