Flying Dreams Are One Second From Falling Dreams [closed]

[letteropener]

Who: Princess Celestia, Trunks, Mai, Reisi, Chikusa, with appearances from Kairi
When: September 18
Where: The skies.
What: Celestia takes the existence of a dream-twisting ayakashi rather personally, and sets into the sky to see it struck down.



"We shall need to venture into the skies to take on this ayakashi," Celestia said to the group, like a general mustering her troops (or, perhaps, a Princess mustering her guard). "To that extent, I will need to grant flight to those of you who need it. I fear I cannot carry all of you on my back, after all."

She was only one pony.

Comments

[kokuyoyo]

Well, if she's the one saying to hurry.... Hopefully Celestia won't mind if Chikusa just goes straight over to her. He's already announced his attention, after all. Hopefully that means she's expecting the way he's going to try and carefully get onto her back.

Not "careful" because he's being considerate, but careful because he doesn't want to get his legs tangled up in wings. So much wing.

[pure_radiantics]

This is one of the best things to happen to Kairi in her whole memory, as far as she's concerned.

"I know this is important to you and your followers Celestia, but I'm so excited!" She practices fluttering the wings a little directly above Nimbus and then moves forward a little while Nimbus tracks underneath of her. "Come on everyone, last one up there's a rotten egg!"

And she for one is moving onward so as not to be a rotten egg.

[waitingforhope]

Mai had opened her mouth to question if Kairi was still going to be using Nimbus with her wings, when...she watched the young woman take off, Nimbus close at her heels. Ah. Well, that answered that question.

"Right behind you, Trunks." Mai called to her shinki before taking another set of platforms. Her steps were cautious at first until she got used to sensation of walking on them. Once she felt sturdy enough, however, she took off in a light job in order to reach where they needed to go as quickly as possible. All the while, keeping an eye on her footing. Especially the higher up she got.

[letteropener]

Celestia offered Chikusa a little help with her magic, the better to get him situated. Once he was comfortable -- physically, she figured 'emotionally' was a lost cause in this circumstance -- she spread her wings wide, then took to the sky.

[mostsuitable]

Shortly after reminding them of their haste, Reisi himself takes to a path of platforms. Newer platforms appear out of nothing to extend their paths in an orderly fashion and lead them into the sky. Though as they proceed, the platforms from earlier disappear over time.

[light_of_willpower]

The disappearance of the platforms behind them was concerning, even if it made sense. Still, Trunks had committed to this and so had Mai--so had they all really. He'd just have to trust in his fellow shinki and gods.

"So, details or tips to spot the ayakashi?" Called as a general question. Albeit he hoped Celestia would answer, since this was primarily her organizing. "Reisi, if you want to take point since they're your platforms, I can bring up the rear with Mai in the middle." Also thinking strategically, but open to negotiation.

[kokuyoyo]

There's nothing Chikusa can really say right now- partially because he's trying not to choke on all the rainbow hair that Celestia has no shortage of. Instead, as everyone tries to plan things as they take to the skies, he keeps his line hand ready and the other holding onto Celestia.

If anything suddenly comes at them, he'll be prepared to toss up a defensive borderline. It's the best he can do while in midair.

[waitingforhope]

Mai waited until she was pretty far up in the air, pausing long enough to glance behind her. Already, the distance was too high to safely jump down from the remaining platforms. She frowned for a moment at the thought of her return trip no longer being available...but, for the moment, there was little else to do but keep going forward.

Or, in her case, pause long enough to fold her arms across her chest and glance around.

"If it's flying, then wind gusts might be a clue. Something that doesn't feel natural or goes against the current breeze direction."

[pure_radiantics]

"If you've never been around an ayakashi before, it's hard to miss the chill that goes up your spine," Kairi says seriously, butterfly wings still flapping. She doesn't expect that this new shinki Trunks would have the same kind of reaction that she does to ayakashi, but she's heard it's still pretty palpable.

"She has a good idea too - wind gusts and things like that." Kairi starts to look down on the ground. "It could be low to the ground too - hovering near a person it's trying to hurt." Then she looks back up again, spinning around in a slow circle. "If it's in the air though, maybe somewhere birds are flying away from...?"

It's not like they're looking for something as obvious as a vent after all.

[letteropener]

"I do not think it will be difficult to find."

Though Celestia was no Princess of the Night, the time she had spent around her sister left her with a sense for certain things nonetheless. And thought she was no weatherpony, she knew enough to spot a dark patch of clouds nestled above the others that struck her as wrong on more levels than she liked.

The pony set her course for the sky, even as a flash of lightning lit the clouds from the inside, and a distant rumble shivered over them, touching their spirits more than it did their flesh. The ayakashi knew they were coming, and it was not pleased.

[mostsuitable]

"I'm on it." Looks like Reisi and Trunks had the same idea.

Keeping tabs on the others' positions on the platforms, he charges onward to take the lead. As such, a path lays itself out before Mai even as she lingers to glance around. Still, far be it from Reisi to take platforms that are still in use or that remain yet untouched.

It seems that they're headed toward a dark and stormy spot in the clouds. As they draw closer, he may have to increase the platforms' sizes or merge some of them together in order to keep them all safe.

[light_of_willpower]

"Looks like sneaking up on it is out of the question." Trunks had hung back enough to watch Reisi and Mai, as the 3 on the platforms had loosely-coordinated. That rumble through them was a lot stronger than the child ayakashi's mischief he and Mai had encountered before. Trunks moved, heading to the same set of platforms Mai was using, albeit 2 behind her. It consolidated their paths from 3 different ones, but left him still in the rear enough to play spotter and guard.

Hopefully it'd help make it a bit easier for Reisi to manage them. "Should we try and contain it, or go offensive?" Called and asked of the larger group.

[pure_radiantics]

"Up in the air? I don't think we'll be able to contain it," Kairi observes as she flies alongside the others. "I haven't been fighting this style very long - up in the air, on Nimbus I mean - but it seems like it would be really easy for it to escape unless there's enough of us that can form powerful Borderline walls the way you would for an Ablution - and even then we'd need a ceiling and floor, not just three walls."

She shakes her head. "No, as much as I don't like it... I think you're right that we need to go offensive."

[kokuyoyo]

"There's four of us." Chikusa's voice finally rises above the wind, and also Celestia's hair. "We could form a pyramid, if it comes down to it, but we would have to be in the right positions." At least, it's something to consider. Now that he thinks about it, he's never made a horizontal barrier before...

Oh well. There's a first time for everything. Sometimes that first time just happens to be during mortal peril. It's fine.

Either way, he's prepared to be flexible and go with whatever is most needed... assuming that they can get the drop on their enemy.

[letteropener]

"Oh, listen to the little ones," rumbled a low, amused voice from the depths of the cloud.

Lightning cracked abruptly out of the clear blue sky, and in the split-second of blinding light, the sky went dark with clouds that roiled around deep, deadly-green cores.

"It is only an illusion!" Celestia called out, though the ramifications of such an illusion were all the more alarming. This ayakashi must be terribly powerful, to reach out this way.

"Fear is never an illusion." The central cloud, the first one, the real one swirled abruptly, as it began to collapse. "Fear is the most real thing inside you."

The cloud burst away, as if it had been shredded. Surging out of its center came a pony, terribly glorious in her dark majesty, dark opposite to the Princess of the Dat. "Isn't it, sister?"

Beneath Chikusa, Celestia went rigid, her back arched and one hoof lifted in shock and, yes, fear. Few things could discomfit her, but this -- this was as brutally effective as a knife in the back. In that moment of lost guard, the ayakashi-pony struck. A bolt of pure jet shot out of its horn, hammering into Celestia's chest with the force of a cannon. She shot backwards, spinning three full revolutions, before the momentum imparted to her from the blast at last gave way to friction and gravity. Legs and wings spread bonelessly, blight already crawling down her body, she began to fall.

[mostsuitable]

Since encountering Celestia in her moments of distress during the Harvest Moon, it's clear to Reisi that this ayakashi has taken on the form of the pony's sister. So, not only does it fly and hide among the clouds, but...

"It's spotted us." He calls out before the ayakashi unleashes the bolt from its horn, sending Celestia spinning out of control. It's surprising enough to stop Reisi in his tracks, during which he abruptly pauses ever so briefly in creating the platforms. "We can't charge in, it's capable of shifting forms."

[waitingforhope]

One of the downsides to her current mode of transport was that Mai's movements were fairly limited. She could watch the events unfolding before her, but she could not physically react to them. So when Celestia went under the influence of its shifted appearance, she winced in sympathy--not fully understanding, but having a strong notion of what was happening--before steeling herself and looking around. Hoping for any signs of the ayakashi leaving itself open while it attacked.

"Trunks!" she called to her shinki. Not so loudly as to draw too much attention, but at a volume that there would be no mistaking who she was speaking to. Once she captured his gaze, she would look back over to the ayakashi, then to him again. Indicating without words her thoughts, and silently questioning if he believed he was in a position to enact them.

Would a Borderline work from here?

[pure_radiantics]

"You leave Celestia alone!" She's not sure if that form is the actual ayakashi, or maybe there's another one somewhere else and this is just a projection, but she does know that Celestia is a likely primary target since this is her prayer. She couldn't read minds, but she was thinking along the same lines as Mai.

Kairi moves Nimbus so that she's just behind where Celestia is and casts a Borderline with a slice of her hand through the air. "LINE!" She strikes from above her head downwards, all the way past her hip. Her borderline is narrow, but it extends a long way down to the ground. She only hopes it's enough to break eye contact and rattle Celestia a little in spite of what she's seeing, bring her back to the current efforts.

Of course by that time, Celestia was falling. Kairi tries to look and see if anyone else was going to catch her and made a snap decision that she'd try anyway. She grabs what parts of Celestia she can that aren't blighted, trying to push her towards one of Reisi's platforms mid-fall. Kairi didn't want to chance it that Celestia would be able to land on Nimbus without going through it.

[kokuyoyo]

There are a lot of things he's regretting right now, from the lack of enough holy water to not being quicker to find his target.... but right now, fairly high on the list is that he's on top of the main target for this ayakashi. As they go spinning wildly through the air from the attack, he jerks his hand out to try and send a borderline towards the illusion, but it misses completely with the twisting movements.

Digging his knees in tighter, Chikusa grits his teeth. Immediately, the hand that had just sent off a borderline immediately begin smacking her neck. "You can teleport, you can teleport-"

So please wake up before he has to abandon pony.

[letteropener]

The sudden manhandling jolted Celestia back to consciousness, her entire body spasming beneath Chikusa and in Kairi's grip as she shuddered back to painful awareness. And with it, awareness that she didn't have time for pain -- she had to save Chikusa. Kairi's struggles to pull her to one side give her enough guidance to spot the platform the filly wanted to pull her to.

Pushing aside the pain and forcing herself to mental calm, she gathered power in her horn. With a sharp crack, the three of them vanished in a burst of sunlight, reappearing on the platform --

Just in time for Celestia to catch the bolt fired from the ayakashi straight to the face. The force blasted her clean off the platform, and only through reflex and raw grit did she spare the magical might to shove Chikusa off her before she began to tumble downwards again.

It wasn't really all that surprising. Celestia really only had one teleport option if she wished to stay in the fight. This is the assemblage you bring against me, sister? I know your every move already -- you're a liability, worthless, and all your feeble 'friends' can do is struggle to save you and themselves. Worthless creature. Worthless mare!

[mostsuitable]

While Reisi may have a very quick strategic mind, factoring in more moving pieces than earlier makes platform placement that much more challenging. Still, he persists and tries to both generate and dissolve the paths at a steady rate. At the very least, he works on arranging better vantage points for Mai and Trunks' paths. Though whether or not it's successful in practice has yet to be seen.

Seeing Kairi and Kakimoto's plan, Reisi maintains the platform they'd aimed to land on. He even attempts to expand it so there'll be a higher chance of their landing on it, but to no avail. Too much is happening in such a short span of time, and before he knows it, another bolt sends the pony tumbling off the platform and spiraling downward yet again.

"Enough." Reisi addresses the illusion ayakashi. "LINE!"

With that, he sends a cutting borderline directly at the pony-figure in the dark clouds. Immediately afterward, he aims to set another platform beneath Celestia in hopes of breaking her fall.

[light_of_willpower]

Trunks hadn't been sure about how a borderline would work, with a subtle shake of his head in Mai's direction. Things were happening fast then--Celestia falling, teleporting, and falling again... And the ayakashi--if this was it's true form? It looked like 'pony' like Celestia...

Reisi was clearly thinking along the same lines as Trunks though. "LINE!" Also called while sending a cutting-version towards the illusion. Then he's moving, heading towards Mai's platform. If they consolidate it'll be less for Reisi to keep track of.

[waitingforhope]

Her eyes were torn between Reisi and Trunks in that moment, watching the former send a borderline the ayakashi's way and the latter start making his way towards her. Not for the first time, she wished she had on of her old rifles with her. Without a weapon, she could do little more than sit back and wait for an opportune moment to her and Trunks to rend.

But not until the ayakashi was weakened, or else the process would leave them a man down. And with Celestia falling...

She tried to follow the pattern of the platforms. Wanting to meet Trunks halfway, if only to save him a few seconds' time. Unfortunately, the ayakashi either saw what they were doing or saw an opening, because it dove straight down in attempt to avoid all the lines being thrown its way.

It didn't come close to hitting her, but the sheer gust of wind was enough to throw her back. Too far back to fall safely on the platform; she felt herself land on air...and keep falling. A single cry of surprise the only verbal cue of her predicament.

[letteropener]

Celestia hit Reisi's new platform hard, if certainly more gently than she would have hit the ground far below. Still, the way the pony landed in a boneless heap, limbs sprawled every which way and wings limp on the platform, that looked like a meaningless distinction. Blight crawled over the pony in waves, darkening her bright body to a sickly grey.

For the moment, at least, she was not moving.

[pure_radiantics]

Kairi is grateful for the others - like Chikusa and Reisi - focusing on making sure that Celestia won't fall to the earth. All the same, she shouts out: "A line won't do it! We need the Rend on this ayakashi as soon as possible - for Celestia's sake!" She turns a desperate expression towards Mai and Trunks.

She sees the blight moving that quickly and knows it won't take long. A god may not become an ayakashi with that much blight on and her shinki may not feel it, but Kairi knows that only bad things will come from that much blight.