The Unicorn looked up with a start when she heard a voice and looked over Scootaloo's way, though she was quick to smother her initial reaction.  The knee-jerk response was to scowl at the sight of a child, of all things... she hated children.  Noisy little brats.  Still, if there was a kid wandering around in the woods, then they couldn't be far from civilization at all.

"You are on the other side." she called back in an unamused tone as she trotted over to just across the gap from the little filly.  Otherwise she ignored the rest of what she felt to be totally inane ramblings.  "My name is Greenwood.  Look, I've been lost in these woods all week.  Please tell me there's a town nearby..."
This message was last updated by the GM at 01:15, Tue 11 Sept 2012.

Scoot's mouth worked soundlessly for a couple of seconds before she started laughing. When the newly dubbed Greenwood was across from her she settled down and listened to the rest of what she had to say. "Sure is! Ponyville is that way!" She said, pointing a hoof back in the direction the small town was in. "You've been lost? That doesn't sound like fun." She craned her head around to get a look at the other pony, spotting her Cutie Mark in the process. "Hey that's a pretty cool Cutie Mark. What'd you get it for? What does it mean? What's your special talent? Do you know how to get from this side of the gorge to that side? Why were you in the Everfree forest in the first place?"

Greenwood was severely tempted to give the annoying Pegasus a very personal demonstration of what her Special Talent was like she'd done to that blasted Camahueto earlier that week, but she knew better than to go do something so rash.  The kid was a local and the last thing she needed was to get run out of town.  Or worse, arrested.

Instead she answered several of Scootaloo's questions at once as she spied a solid tree that grew out halfway across the gorge.  The Unicorn reared back as her horn lit with an angry red gleam and she tossed her head, lashing out once more with a length of energy that remained linked to her horn.  The end whirled out around one of the thick branches and tethered itself about with a snap, holding solid as the Unicorn took a charging leap and dove across the canyon, swinging from the magical 'rope'.  At the height of the swing she dispelled her hold, tucked into a neat backflip, and landed deftly right before Scootaloo.

"The Cutie Mark is for Monster Hunting." she announced once all four hooves were firmly on the ground once again.  "But look, kid, you don't want to go that way.  All that's over there is more forest and a whole lot of angry Timber Wolves I left tied to a tree.  How's about you show me back to Ponyville, hmm?"

Scoots watched in awe as Greenwood used magic to launch herself over, doing a back flip and landing right in front of her. Her jaw dropped and she was speechless for several seconds before she exploded into motion. "That was soooo cool! You were all magicky and then all whoosh and then flip!" She rushed around her, looking at her Cutie Mark in depth. "Monster hunting?! That is so awesome! You must be really good to get a Cutie Mark hunting monsters! My friends and I came across a Cockatrice one night when we were out here looking for a lost chicken. You tied up a pack of Timber Wolves to a tree?!" She looked back the way the other pony had come, as though she would be able to spot the tree. "I was out exploring, I wasn't planning on heading back into Ponyville until later tonight but I guess since you've been out here lost all week you probably don't want to spend any more time here than you already have, huh?"

Scoots said, turning back from looking at the forest and standing next to Greenwood, smiling up at her. "Come on, I'll take ya there. You can tell me about all your adventures on the way!" She said, hopping up and down eagerly as she started leading Greenwood back towards town. Or, at least the direction she thought town was in. She was seventy percent sure that she was going in the right direction. Squirrelicus had gotten her a little lost when she fled from him and his army.

As much as Greenwood normally enjoyed having her ego stroked by the abject adoration of her lessers, she wasn't in much a mood for it just then.  Also, she still hated children.  At least the kid was easily impressed -- that would make her easier to tolerate in the long run.  The Unicorn rolled her eyes as Scootaloo chattered away so noisily once more and held back a long-suffering sigh... was Celestia punishing her for her sins already?

"Alright, alright.  You walk, I'll talk." she urged the filly to start leading the way back to civilization.  The sooner they got out of the forest the better.  She was dying for some real food and a bath!  Hopefully some little podunk town like Ponyville would at least have an inn somewhere.  Yet... why did that name keep ringing a bell to her?  She couldn't place it, but somehow it seemed like she'd heard about Ponyville before...

"So, last year I was touring through the volcanic labyrinths carved into the mountains of the Gryphon Archipelago.  The Gryphons say it's perfectly safe, but the truth of it is, there are actually vicious Salamanders living deep in the magma caves..." she began a tale that even she recalled as being particularly thrilling when it had happened, though she carefully left out the fact that she'd been there to capture Salamanders for a wealthy buyer.

It took a couple of tries and several stories before Scoots managed to find the right trail that would lead them back to Ponyville. She had listened with rapt attention to every word Greenwood had to say, enthralled with the stories of daring and heroism. "You are so cool! I wish my life was that exciting." She said, a look of longing on her face as she thought of all the adventures she could do if she was a monster hunter. "Well, here's the trail. Won't be much longer now. Just hope that Squirrelicus doesn't show up again. But I bet you could take him easily!" She stood up on her hind legs and pantomimed striking the squirrel several times. "What else have you done?"

To Ponyville Town Square--->

"Yeah, well, give it a try sometime.  Maybe you've got a Cutie Mark for wrangling Hydras in your future." Greenwood deadpanned as she continued along in Scootaloo's wake.  Maybe if she was lucky the kid would get herself eaten.  At least they were almost to town -- the sooner she could get away from the filly, the better.  Yet she found herself with another demand for story time and heaved a sigh over being so put-upon.  "Well... there was this one time I was campaigning out in the frozen northlands and ended up having to take refuge in a deep ice cave..."

--> To Ponyville Town Square

In from White Tail Woods

Soaring high above the trees, safe from the dangers below the canopy, Luna and her companions soared. In a light response to Starcrasher, Luna gave a bemused and kind smile. "If you'd like, I do not mind. However, both of you. Regardless what we find, I ask you respect my instructions here..." She said gently, her expression turning soft, and forward toward the canopy below. Present company aside, it reminded her of the days whens he would fly over this forest long ago... For all the forest was feared for being an unknown, unpredictable land...  it felt no different to Luna.

--> From: The Whitetail Woods -->

After they had stopped gaining altitude, Starcrasher opened one eye carefully, feeling a little uneasy as she tried to look anywhere but down. Instead, she looked up, finding the clouds to be much closer to her than what she was used to. They flew through a smaller cloud, and Starcrasher wiped the white beard it had left on her away before replying. This flying thing was fun, kinda.

- "Those ruins used to be yours, Princess? I mean... They looked like they'd been abandoned for a long while, and i know you've been around a while, but... What happened down there, anyway? That fog's nothing like i've ever read about before."

The princess frowned gently. It wasn't a tale for fillies, let along one Luna felt comfortable sharing. "I'd rather we not discuss it..." She said curtly, tucking her wings gently to fly lower, as they got closer.

From The White Tail Woods

As he'd specified before, the good captain flew a fair deal lower in altitude than Princess Luna and Starcrasher did, readily drifting from side to side in her majesty's shadow.  With as high and fast as they were flying, it was unlikely any real threat could come from above, especially on such a clear day.  The warm sun on his leathery wings made him feel as though Celestia was also keeping an eye on them all... though he did wish she wouldn't encourage her little sister's mimicry of her own disappearing acts.

"We're approaching the center of the forest, your highness.  Please stay aloft while I scout the area." Captain Equinox asked dutifully.  He soon peeled away from Luna to leave her circling overhead while he dove down, drifting over the tree tops and the remains of the destroyed castle nestled deep within the woods.  He made a few passes overhead before signalling Luna that it was all clear and safe for her to come land down in the largest open area -- the courtyard.

From The White Tail Woods

Meanwhile, Natra Condu was still streaking through the wood. The Everfree forest was a confusing place, even to one as attuned with nature as herself and paths that had been clearly marked just a week before by wild game could easily be entirely non-existent now. Regardless, Natra had been living in these woods, which was more than could be said of many ponies. Natra knew this Forest like the bottom of her hoof; Familiar yet inclined to find something new every so often.

She spied from the trees the ruins and bolted toward them. She'd taken notice of Luna before, though she'd felt the very presence of such an entity was a message, of sorts. A "better hurry up" in a language Nature could say to her clearly. Camahueto had their own Alicorn myths, obviously, though they didn't know them as royalty and Natra Condu viewed such a thing as the Elders bid the Camahueto to; They were gods. Anypony with wings and horn was obviously a solid manifestation of Nature, placed for guidance or Aid and, more often than not, should be embraced but not held in place. as she crested a hilltop to near the ruins she thought about what she would do if she were to meet that deity of a Pony again.

And, as she looked up she had to answer the question herself. Luna's form circled above as one of her guards came down and waved upward. Natra allowed herself to come out of her hiding, her body almost fading in from the foliage, as though she'd been truly a part of it before but had chosen to separate herself from being the woods.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:21, Thu 18 Oct 2012.

Smoothly, the princess tucked her wings and swept down, alighting carefully upon her hooves in the courtyard, opening her wings again to help ensure Starcrasher didn't slip.  Once they were down, she shuffled the mare to her feet, and then turned, focusing her magic outward the push away the mists, so they might have a look about the ruin...

When Starcrasher had used her magic prior, a simple levitation spell flew out of control with enough force to briefly push back the fog a large radius around her.  But Luna, with both greater strength and experience in the area, had a far greater impact -- with a flare of her horn and wings the mists seemed to flee away in an instant, forced back beyond the old stone walls.  The air was still thick with magic, but the group would have no trouble picking their way through the ruins.

Those ancient halls had been left untouched for so long that it was obvious where traces of activity had been otherwise.  In one corner of the courtyard was a place where there had been a camp -- there were stones organized into makeshift seats around a fire pit, and the climbing ivy of the forest had been cleaved away to make space.  A few rough canvas bags lay in shreds and one was partially burned away for some reason.  All around the yard were large scorch marks on both the floor and far, collapsed walls; Starcrasher would remember the crackles of lightning that had leaped from the Thunderbird's body just by proximity alone.  The cages that the poachers had used to contain their captured prey were still there but barely held together at all.  When Natra had freed the beasts, they'd all gone wild and rampaged around, so many of the cages had been destroyed in the havoc while the rest were quickly degraded by the forest itself.  There were still portions left though, and the heavy deadbolt locks used to brace their bars shut.

For Luna though... she could see a whole other layer of the surroundings that was invisible to the rest.  She'd known those halls when they were still whole and glorious, filled with busy Ponies rushing about their duties.  The long-decimated fountain in the center of the courtyard had once been covered in roses and flowing with clear waters that sparkled equally bright in the sunny afternoon or in the depths of midnight.  Images would come to her mind unbidden; the court suddenly back in its full, pristine form as it was so many years ago.

~Sister... hurry thy heavy hooves, or I shall eat all the cake before thou arrives!~ Luna could practically hear the laughing voice of her sister ringing in her ears and the phantom image of the pink-maned Alicorn resting by the fountain.  They used to have meals together there in the twilight hours of dusk and dawn, just as the two traded control of the skies...
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:19, Mon 22 Oct 2012.

The Princess took in the disturbed ruins with a scowl. "It seems there's certainly been an encampment here... Captain, go through the scene with Starcrasher, and what she remembers having seen. I will have a glance about, myself." she said lightly, and turned, walking along to the edge of the cracked and ruined fountain. She put one hoof gently on the remains of the crumbled edge, and jumped slightly as it gave, crumbling further with the light weight of her hoof. Luna frowned, casting her attention from the fountain and back toward the towers - or what was left of them. Her sisters was gone entirely, while her own stood, jagged and broken.

Starcrasher looked around as the fog parted, not knowing what kind of spell Luna had used to do it. In her case, she had just chanced upon a spell that did the same trick, though she supposed with mastery and a bit more strength -- okay, mastery and a LOT more strength -- she would be able to mimic the effects as well to the point where she wouldn't have to continually recast the spell every ten seconds or so.

Upon instructed to, Starcrasher took the Captain for a tour of the grounds, or at least following her own movements in chronological order. It was a bit different while looking at the actual surroundings instead of focusing on Equestrian being spoken just on the verge of understanding what was being said, so she figured retracing her steps would be the best way to handle things. The main encampment was quickly found due to her having been there twice, the cages mostly ruined in a baby animal stampede and the natural wear and tear that came with a forest climate, but she paused anyway to give the guardsman some time to go through the wreckage for any clues.

Should that not suffice -- or it would be more accurate to state regardless of whether it sufficed -- Starcrasher then led him to where she had met the Thunderbird. The reason being that those cages had been removed from the Poacher's pack directly, and with her having opened the cage and the Thunderbird having flown off with the Reptans after having retrieved its young, the cages in that area should still be pretty much in one piece. After all, if the Poacher would have taken the cages she had unfastened after her flash attack into Ponyville, Ponies wouldn't have rallied against Natra in the first place, so they would either still be there, or hidden. Supposedly still there though, she didn't think the Poacher would have wanted to stay around for long in case the Thunderbird would come back.

The Camahueto arrived soon after the others, having taken off on her own,a little impressed for them having arrived first but... The tribal struggled in her own mind to fathom if Nature was constricted by travel times. The presence of Starcracher didn't help to keep things from getting complicated so she shook it from her mind. Nature's presence represented urgency and lesson learning. She didn't have time for thinking of things that didn't rightly matter. What mattered now was the cages.

"Salmu looni, Siki Taka Muna." She said, stepping into the Ruin area, "Condu fight here thief." She said, walking through the ruins like she owned them... or rather that they didn't have a point in being owned, like ownership simply wasn't. She stood at the place where she'd been bound, then stepped a few pony lengths away to where she'd pinned the poacher down, "Natra free here." She told the Alicorn, meaning that it was both where she started freeing the baby animals and where she came after freeing herself. Seriousness took her face.

Captain Equinox saluted Luna sharply as she gave her order and turned to accompany Starcrasher where she would guide him, taking in the surrounding ruins with a keen eye.  There were few with sharper senses than Bat Ponies.  There were clues to be found and he took some scraps with him, tucking the evidence away into his saddle bags while they searched.  But it was when they got to where the conflict with the Thunderbird had taken place that he seemed suddenly more cautious.  His helmeted head turned about from side to side and those long, nimble ears of his pivoted about at the slightest sounds of the forest around them.

"Hold..." he said to Starcrasher and flexed his wing out to bid her to stay still.  There were no sounds of wildlife that near to the ruins -- animals and monsters alike were driven away by the over-saturation of magic in the air and earth.  The quiet itself was almost deafening in its own way.  But then, with a jerk of his head, he would hear it.  In that exact same instant Natra would become aware of it too as the vines at her hooves spoke to her, carrying a message along like the vibrations of a web to its spider.

There was someone else there...

The Captain suddenly leaped to the side, taking Starcrasher with him in a tumble as a set of bolas went whistling through the air out of nowhere.  His swift reaction spared them any pain and the weapon skittered uselessly along the ground.  He quickly rounded back up to his hooves and stood before the filly in her defense, wings flared out to their full intimidating spread.  There was no enemy to face though... whatever had attacked them was well-hidden amid the forest and stones.

Meanwhile, back with Natra and Luna, the Camahueto could sense that there were others about the ruins as well.  Three, she felt, but they were skilled at lurking about undetected.  Before she could raise her voice in warning a sudden hiss sounded out -- something sharp struck Luna's flank and ricocheted off uselessly, plunking itself down into the ground instead.  A blow dart?  Its tip dripped with liquid, meaning it had a poison of some sort on it... Luna's hide was too strong to be pierced by such a thing, but Natra wasn't quite as durable and would still need to take caution.

The Camahueto had done only a bit to jar Luna from her thoughts - it was truly the dart that struck her that attracted her attention over her shoulder, to her own flank. Glaring in the direction it must have come, Luna roared in  the Regal tones she now rarely used.  "Who dares assail the Princess of Night? Show thyselves!" She bellowed, her sheer presence blasting leaves from the brush as she Shouted.

Thu'umm-one was going to feel that one!

As the dart flitted from the cover Natra was about three instants from leaping into the bush herself and tackling whatever was there. She guessed the dart would be poisoned but standing around wouldn't leave the assailant with a lack of darts. However, half way through a backflip with a twist to reorient, Luna's Canterlot Voice exploded around her, catching the Camahueto in midair and surprising the latent acrobatics out of her.

And this, she knew to be true, was a small taste of the power of Luna. The dart had struck her, and was poisoned. however, the Alicorn's flank remained unharmed. And this was just Nature showing her its ultimate force in the smallest of ways.. at least to her tribal form of thinking. Shrugging off a dart, calling out with the force to move people and deafen them. So far all Natra saw from her was small things, comparatively. She instinctively slid behind the Alicorn, opposite the direction from the dart, still very cautious so as to get out of the way of another were it to come flying, "Three..." she muttered to Luna.

- "And over here's where thwAUGH!"

Starcrasher was cut off from what she had wanted to say by the captain barreling into her and sending her crashing into the ground. She was about to ask what he was doing something like that for when the sound of bolas scraping across what remained of the stone floor caught her attention, and she took a deep breath as she got up, safely behind the Captain's cover though her horn lit up in an attempt to be useful in the coming fight.

- "Oh man, i hope it isn't those Reptans again..."

"Reptans?!" the Captain gawked at the very idea of such beings coming into Equestria.

When Starcrasher, Silva, and Natra had first encountered the band of poachers in the ruins, there had been five Reptans working as Greenwood's hired goons.  Two of them had been spirited off by the Thunderbird and there was no telling what fate had befallen them, but three had been left unaccounted for.  That trio had chased after Starcrasher but abandoned the pursuit after she'd given them the slip and things really began to get noisy.  As it turned out, they hadn't gone far at all.  Their boss hadn't made a reappearance all week and, for the time being, they had kept themselves secluded in the forest ruins while they planned for their next course of action.  So naturally when Ponies suddenly showed up out of nowhere, they had good reason to be on their guard.

With a shrill shriek one of the Reptans clambered over a heap of rubble it had been hiding behind and leaped down, glaring maliciously at Starcrasher and Captain Equinox.  Despite its intimidating size and is sharp claws, the Bat Pony didn't so much as blink in the face of danger.  He just stood fast and planted himself between Starcrasher and the Reptan, ready to face down the threat without hesitation.  "Keep behind me.  I can handle this thug." the Captain said over his shoulder.

Meanwhile, over the all in another part of the ruins, Luna's bellow blasted away a lot of the neighboring foliage and ended up revealing the two Reptan hunters hidden away within.  One of them was significantly larger than his partner and the banding he wore had some shiny looking trinkets on it... supposedly an indication of rank, meaning that was the leader of the bunch.  But even so, both looked equally startled over the force the Alicorn put out and seemed reluctant to move from their spot as they tried to figure out what to do.  The Reptans quickly raised their hands and shook them to a three count, at which point the leader held out two fingers while the other Reptan held out his palm flat.  Cursing his bad luck, the smaller Reptan stepped out first, hopping down from amid the trees down into the courtyard.

While the Reptans had properly identified Luna and Natra as being the larger threat (thus earning two attackers instead of just one), they didn't seem to understand just what they were up against.  No being who was familiar with the nature of the Princesses would dare draw a weapon on one.  Yet the smaller Reptan loaded up another dart into his blow gun while the leader, hanging back a safe distance behind his cohort, drew out a long, jagged sword from a sheath at his hip.

Luna cast a brief glance at Natra's alert that there would be three of them. Nodding once, she turned her gaze back upon the two who had been revealed to her, and took them in. Reptans... one with a blade, and a smaller, with a blowgun - which had already failed to penetrate her hide - still, she'd take no chances.

As an obviously hostile (if not particularly threatening) pair, Luna still regarded them with a focused calm. Heedless of the smaller one approaching, she spoke again, clear and loud. "DISCARD THY WEAPONS AND EXPLAIN THYSELVES, LEST YOU FACE THE WRATH OF THE MOON!" Luna coughed rather lightly, and raised a hoof to her lips, then added in her usual, softer, sweeter voice. "Ahem... if you please."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:04, Wed 31 Oct 2012.

- "...Reptans."

Starcrasher repeated herself at the surprised look on the Captain's face, unintentionally announcing the arrival of the one Reptan that was threatening them. Though the Captain stood ready to defend her, her horn still glowed with prepared magics, both willing and -- thanks to Twilight's efforts -- capable of helping the Bat-pony to fend off the Reptan's attacks. And she had the flash attack as well, provided of course their opponent hadn't been one of those that had ended up witnessing it personally. But even then, it'd work as a distraction so it could not bring its full power to bear against the Captain.

The two Reptans did indeed speak, but only to each other and in a low, hissing tongue that none of the Ponies would comprehend.  The beings weren't native to Equestria -- Reptans came from a desert region beyond the borders of the equine kingdom, so it was very strange to see them so far outside their territories.  Their intent was obvious though.  In a sudden dash the two split apart to either side, swiftly dashing about to try and flank the Ponies and force them back-to-back or to split up.  Either way, their attention would be divided -- the one with the blow gun kept at range and fired a quick barrage of poisoned darts at Natra while the leader squared off at Luna, swinging its sword broadly for the base of her horn.

Across the ruins, Captain Equinox kept his sharp eyes on the approaching Reptan and lowered himself closer to the ground like a cat about to pounce.  With a sudden flap of his wings he seemed to vanish, taking off in a sudden blur of motion far faster than his armored form belied.  It caught the Reptan totally off guard, not expecting such swiftness from the Bat Pony -- all at once the Captain struck the creature with his full force square in the chest, bowling it head over heels as the two went tumbling away amid the rocks.