[center][h1]Cloaks crew[/h1][/center] [hr] [@evanist] The big golem thing kept moving as it listened to them chatter amongst themselves... [color=a36209]"Follow. If. You. Wish... Otherwise... Stay. Out. Of. Way."[/color] His pace picked up a little, still backwards though [color=a36209]"However. Mountain. Near. High. Vantage. Spot. Pods."[/color] He kept his eyes on them for a few moments more as he passed some trees a dozen meters away, which given the thickness of this forest was already enough to nearly lose sight of him. they had a bit of catching up to do since they'd stopped to talk to eachother before following, when the one on his back called out [color=f26522]"Hey! Mud brain! Watch where you're goin!"[/color] There was a clank a moment later and he turned out of view for a moment, before his voice called out a single word [color=a36209]"Oh... Pod."[/color] Almost at the same time the sounds of gun-fire in the distance ceased, the timing almost like the world was conspiring to create an ominous scene. What strange timing... it appeared that something had created a small clearing that he'd wandered back into, and a quick look would reveal something... 'like' an escape pod... it looked like it'd had to have been there a long time though, it was absolutely 'over-grown' by plants, vines and roots alike grew around and through it, panels ripped away through relentless plant-growth... Luckily, it 'was' wide-open, as if someone had left it on purpose, instead of appearing torn open... they of course were nowhere to be seen, though any equipment in the pod remained. [hr] [center][h1][color=39b54a]Changeling Crew[/color] And[color=662d91] Some Shadowbolts[/color][/h1][/center] [hr] [@thedman] The Specialist might learn sooner than expected that they weren't just not savage, but intelligent enough to infer some unusual possibilities... demonstrated as it looked away from the injured crew-men, which the other pair had moved on from and started to investigate the pair that hadn't moved since ariving. It's eyes fell on the specialist sitting against the wall, it's eyes appeared to be solid for a moment, before that solid green retracted, revealing similarly colored slitted irises, not unlike the Queen's, but devoid of the aggression or madness it had displays. The queen's psychic storm had also been intense enough to wipe away any evidence that this creature had a psychic potential of it's own... except of course for the fact it had 'used' that attack at all, something that would've been inefficient at best against anything that had not given 'it' reason to believe he did... so he decided to take a gamble. His eyes flashed for a moment alongside his horn as he stared, and attempted to prod this being as he normally would a hive-mate... it would be a tremendous contrast to the Queen's reaction, as it was far more relaxed, tentative... 'asking' even, and the message was simple <[color=39b54a]Can you understand this?... nod if so.[/color]> The strange bipedal thing had just with-stood a queen's flood, He wouldn't assume he had the strength to actually reply yet even if he 'does' have the ability. [hr] Back outside, the horde of creatures were scattering more and more, some 'literally' scattering on the wing, without a queen to force them onward they simply shut down and faded away, much like the numerous corpses from the weapons fire. Other's continued scrabbling at what little scraps their fallen might have, and other's still tried desperately clawing their way towards the only remaining option for survival, the ship that they knew nothing more about than that it felt like there were healthier changelings on it, and emotion storage. If the marine's thought to finish them off, they might find a momentary, and quite possibly unintentional obstacle in doing so, as the massive griffon lumbered in-between them and the ship, though it was hardly a frightful sight to a bunch of marines, It was 'barely' taller than one marine in his power armor, granted, going through him suddenly might prompt a defensive reaction from him or something else, such as the smaller hoove'd creature with wings that landed ontop of it's head, dressed in identical armor but clearly 'not' a griffon, and barely even 'knee high' on power armor... sounds came from them, the big one moving a bit in line with some deep bassline squawk, and the smaller one something akin to some kind of violin, quickly joined by the flutey sounds of the tiny one that buzzed over to land on the smaller one's head... For many this would easily be seen as a comically silly 'totem' pose, though the exasperated sounding sighs of the larger pair hinted in the universal language of 'tolerating things' that it was not meant that way... Meanwhile, the ship's shields rose once more, just incase these visitors elected to target them... particularly when similar creatures became visible peeking over the edge of the ship's deck-railing... oddly, they also threw something over-board, a small red crystal thing with a dull glow to it, and as soon as it hit the ground the nearest 'survivors' of the massacre swarmed over it like locusts. [hr] [center][h1]Luna's intervention[/h1][/center] [hr] [@lugia][@Double][@Rune_Alchemist] Luna rather suddenly jerked in place, before anything else could be addressed, her attention snapped to the west where... it seemed a storm of energy had manifested from nowhere, it wasn't clear precisely how far, or how much, because it only lasted seconds before vanishing into thin air, taking with it the strange creature she had been interacting with, though a quick check revealed to her that her shadowbolts were still present and intact, leading to a sigh of relief before returning her attention to those nearer. ... The strange alien seemed to have handled it's encounter with the pink one well... She didn't dare consider the possibility of it being 'like' the pink one, the horrors they could reap together... She still didn't understand a bit of what it was trying to say, but the 'physical' communication was obvious, 'follow me', and given the direction matching Astral's own she assumed it was going to lead them back to the ship as well. She glanced back to the shadowbolts present and gave a motion of her head, prompting both to go air-borne, likely keeping watch on the area around them. She began calmly following along, though leaning lower to speak to Astral [color=2e3192]"Did you observe much about them while you were present? Any additional information could be of assistance."[/color]... Interestingly, a glow, matched by her horn, engulfed the sack of ashes she was carrying as well, though it may not seem important to anyone else. [hr] While else-where, a portion of her attention manifested in the dream-realm, finding that indeed the pile of ashes was... 'alive' still, reminding her a bit of ancient pranks that her sister's pet phoenix would play upon her once upon a time... these thoughts irritated her slightly, those were horribly annoying when they were new, but she found ways to get back at the horrid little bird. More importantly, it seemed her observer had quite some information for her... ... Heavens, it was crazy too wasn't it? shouting at shadows in it's dreams? Imagining things staring at him from the darkness? Rambling on and on at nothing without even waiting for a reason to prove he wasn't talking to himself? Though it was interesting that this being had the ability to influence their own dream-scape in such a way, yet possessed no apparent 'power' in the dream-realm as whole... That said, it 'was' an enlightening story, and all but proved that it was from another world, much like she could assume from the crashed vessels and their crews... perhaps more disturbing though, there was some kind of 'marketing advertisement' based on 'them'... it was hardly accurate, but that was irrelevant to her in the scheme of things. Quite suddenly her voice sounded off in his dreamscape and broke the pending silence [color=0054a6]"I am honestly 'most' offended by the insultingly childish portrayal those 'toys' provide, than by electing to greet me with your 'fist'."[/color] She manifested slowly into his sight, anything but 'friendly' though, there was a stark frown somehow visible despite her dark colors, and a certain heat in her eyes. [color=0054a6]"however, none of that excuses a vicious, blinding hatred of some creature you have never met, leading to you flying into a blind murderous rage at the sight of a creature with 'equine shape'... annoyance is not a worthy excuse for brutality, and that feral beast's actions have nothing to do with an entirely different species."[/color] She cleared her throat then and exerted her own power over the dream-space to replay the scene of his arrival at the castle, re-creating the actual scene of the shadowy creature in question actually being 'in' and around the castle, while the implied 'defending robot' was outside. [color=0054a6]'What you 'did' was attack the castle's defender that was attempting to scare off the actual intruders, one of my old pets that had been assigned to it's security while I was away... what you 'did' was see a big shadowy creature and assume it had to be the aggressor."[/color] Something about this particular quality of events caused her to steam a little, perhaps a sore subject? [color=0054a6]"More worrying however, was your reaction both to it's reaction to your attack, and after I pacified you... The fight I can forgive, nonsensical as it is to assume a creature you can't understand wants a fight because it looks aggressive, without actually making an attack first... but you demonstrated first a shameless disregard for attacking ponies simply because you perceived that you weren't harming them, imagine if you had run into another than myself first? But after you defeat? a dream-scape of unparalleled brutality, including a rather offensively pitiful version of myself?"[/color] Her eyes narrowed then [color=0054a6]"I can sympathize with you having 'reasons', I'm sure it's 'completely' normal in your culture to try to kill things with a passing similarity to something you found annoying as a child. But the fact of the matter is, you present a clear and undeniable threat to the well-being of any average pony you may come across, and I cannot allow that threat to go unaddressed. And given your reactions, I cannot simply take your word that you won't 'snap' suddenly, especially with how instantaneous it was upon your arrival... plus, it is simply unhealthy to harbor such a weakness as a berserk trigger tied to a specific species, I shall simply have to ensure you 'get over it'... Being a 'hero', I hope you can appreciate the necessity of actions when 'you' have become the threat yourself."[/color] She was curious how he would react, particularly considering that she had 'not' clarified exactly what she was going to 'do' about that threat... though as an aside, she despised people who called themselves 'heroes', it usually meant they were suicidally bold, tended to assume they were right on a whim without second guessing themselves, and tended to have a bit of a holier than thou opinion of themselves, all of which tended to cause more trouble than they solved.