Personification Life, the Universe, & Everything [IC]

[Northwest Slobovia]

Frozen Rain

There was a table with the medals from before. They were now displayed on the desk. Next to it, in a glass case, was a very realistic looking model of a human heart, entwined and tangled in barbed wire. [...] Something metal gleaned from under a pillow. The desk drawers were also open, with something metal in one of them too.

Ford methodically scanned the room before taking a look at the medals. He rubbed the back of his head as he considered them, then the room, then looked back toward the vent they'd just emerged from. "The whole setup is dreamlike... nightmarish. None of this makes any sense except that, uh, we're being played."

He stepped over to get a better look at the metal objects, but avoided disturbing them. "Like a crime scene," he mumbled. "But... like one of those training doll houses. If there was a struggle, where...?" He trailed off, unsure of his reasoning.

[Holy Lykos]

Frozen Rain

Sterling grimaced as he took in the scene and the heart. "That seems a decent idea as any, Willow. We should look over the room a bit more before we do so. We may be missing something at first blush."

He joined Ford in searching the room for everything. The medals obviously stuck out. Sterling pointed them out to Ford. "Same as before. Medals that denigrate instead of extolling virtue. I wonder why Brit seems so fixated on this, if it might be her worldview guiding this nightmarish scenario."

[Northwest Slobovia]

Frozen Rain

The medals obviously stuck out. Sterling pointed them out to Ford. "Same as before. Medals that denigrate instead of extolling virtue. I wonder why Brit seems so fixated on this, if it might be her worldview guiding this nightmarish scenario."

With a nod, Ford returned to the awards. "It may very well be. This might fit her memory of the killer grass, but that was Kale's doing. Brit was less than helpful afterwards, but--" He turned to face the heart model Willow held. "Her feelings trapped then? But after all this time...?"

There was a long pause as Ford reflected, then he looked up with a nod and spoke just above a whisper. "Like Amanda and Molly." Then realizing the obvious, he added, "My wife."

[Giovenith]

Frozen Rain

"Brit is... sensitive," Willow admitted, bringing the model a little close. "She worries a lot about people and how they relate to her. She wants to be good and help people, but she can be temperamental at times."

Was that the explanation for all this then, guilt over this grass incident? It started to click in place with the medals and all. Willow hadn't been there to experience it, but it didn't matter what actually happened, just what Brit thought happened. She must have been punishing herself for it.

He raised an eyebrow at Ford. "Oh, you mean... Paper-Amanda?" How were these paper-people so fast at coming up with names? "Were they effected too?"

[Northwest Slobovia]

Frozen Rain

"Oh, you mean... Paper-Amanda?" How were these paper-people so fast at coming up with names? "Were they effected too?"

Ford shook his head. "Events before Sandy and Amanda left Earth. She was forced to do things she didn't want to, under circumstances..." He cocked his head back at the vent. "...like we saw. Ask them... when we get back.

"But if Brit is easily upset, then-- Sandy chewed her out afterwards. I don't remember-- I don't remember his memories of it well; it was almost four years ago. If you think I matters, I could, um, try, but no promises."

[Giovenith]

Frozen Rain

"Probably better that you don't," Willow blinked, beginning to look around for other clues. "If you don't remember it yourself, then you won't be able to be as sincere... of course, none of that will matter if we don't find her."

He walked over to the door and tried to lift the bar up with one hand.

[Holy Lykos]

Frozen Rain

"People can hold onto trauma for a very long time. There's no guarantee it is this grass event, but there's nothing saying either way." Sterling thought for a moment. "Willow knows Brit the best. We should go with his intuition on this. Guilt can make people do crazy things, even years later."

"The barbed wire of the heart isn't a good sign, though. If we're seeing Brit's perspective, perhaps she feels constricted by guilt and unable to do anything, and its slowly killing her."

[Monfrox]

Frozen Rain

The bar refused to budge, which was probably a good thing. It was heavy, solid, and actually rusted into the frame it sat in. The metal under the pillow was easy to identify. The stainless steel finish of an M1911A1 gleamed in the light, seemingly untouched by the force that had tore the room apart. It shone almost like a mirror against the light along the flat-sides that had been polished. In the drawer was a more dingy tool in comparison: A pair of old wire cutters.

[Giovenith]

Frozen Rain

Shit, we're trapped! Willow panicked a moment. If they couldn't go through the door, the only way was the vent, and they'd just be back at step one. There had to be a trick, right? If this was a mind? Come on Willow, you've seen enough surrealism to get through this, think, think, think...

He began to pace nervously a bit, thinking, before his eyes caught the cutters that Ford had found. A metaphorical light bulb pinged above his head. Without explanation, he reached over and snatched them, doing his best to grip them in one of his alien hands while holding the heart model in enough. Slowly, carefully, wincing his eyes, he tried to cut the wires wrapping around the model.

[Monfrox]

Frozen Rain

Snip

The first string of barbed wire twanged, having been under some tension for some time. There were red streaks on the heart from where it was holding. There were still a few more around it, but from through the door came a hellish cry that resonated through the halls. Something slammed into the door hard enough that dust flew off of it.

[Giovenith]

Frozen Rain

"Ohshitwe'regonnadie!" Willow reflexively flinched, dropping the model and cutters. Nice going, asshole! Could they escape through the vent? No, that would just make them sitting ducks. Thinking fast, he zipped over to Ford and started tapping his arm insistently. "Trythegun,trythegun!" he insisted.

[Holy Lykos]

"Keep snipping! We need to release the heart, and bring it from this place!" Sterling shouts, running over to push against the metal door and hold down the crossbar. At the very least, Humans were good at holding things in place.

"What would the gun even do?!"

[Giovenith]

Frozen Rain

"I don't know, symbolism or something?!" Willow dove back for the model. On his knees now and trying not to shake, he continued to try to snip away at what was left before the door broke down and they were all... who knew, obliterated from existence probably. "It's here, so it's gotta do something!"

[Northwest Slobovia]

Frozen Rain

"Ohshitwe'regonnadie!" Willow reflexively flinched, dropping the model and cutters. Nice going, asshole! Could they escape through the vent? No, that would just make them sitting ducks. Thinking fast, he zipped over to Ford and started tapping his arm insistently. "Trythegun,trythegun!" he insisted.

Ford jumped at the yell and the crash, then stared at the door. Whatever it was on the other side seemed strong enough, if not very bright.

"The gun?" Ford hesitated; guns were Molly's department, but he at least had an idea how to hold it. "I... The symbolism suggests we're safe enough until... or unless we cut all the wire, but..." He slid it out from under the pillow, looking it over as he would an artifact of a lost culture. "Twenty-th century, American." He checked it for engraving.

[Monfrox]

Frozen Rain

Snip...

WHAM!

Snip...

WHAM!

Snip...

WHAM

Each piece fell off one by one, and the bar on the door started to give and shake. Bolts and nuts flew off and the frame started to fall off. The only engraving along the gun read "MODEL 1911-A1 CAL . 45 SPRINGFIELD ARMORY". But little by little, the barbed wire fell off as the door was battered down. Each twang led to another agonizing roar, and when the last piece finally fell off...the model heart felt different. In fact, it looked different upon closer inspection. The material made it look so real...and then it started beating in his hands. By this time, the bar had fallen and even the hinges of the door had been backed out by the force so much that it creaked and groaned and started to lean forward. With as thick and heavy as it was, it coudln't be kept up anymore.

[Northwest Slobovia]

Frozen Rain

Ford took aim at the door the best he could, a two-handed grip like Molly used. "Willow! You said get the heart outside. Maybe out of this fort?" If that wasn't it, Ford wasn't sure what was. Magic might slow 'it' down, if he had time to cast, but no use casting over spilled milk.

[Holy Lykos]

Frozen Rain

Even Sterling could tell the door couldn't hold up any more, and he was just in the way. The pony danced back, jumping and making sure he wasn't caught under the door as it kept falling.

"What in Tartarus could knock down a door like that?!"

[Giovenith]

Frozen Rain

Willow sweated profusely as the final wires fell away, and then repressed his unease as the model began to feel... actually organ-like. Ew. But he doubted their situation would be helped by dropping it, so he repressed that reaction and held onto it. It wasn't hard when there were so much more pressing things to grab his attention.

"Sterling, get away from it!" he called, standing up. It would mow him down if he stood there! Luckily, the former unicorn heeded him. Hearing Ford, Willow looked between the two. "We should all go-!"

[Monfrox]

Frozen Rain

There was one sound amidst the shouting that seemed to quiet everything: Music. Of course, it was music. But then, something else. A heavy sort of growling and breathing. From the other side of the doorway, that was pitch black. A light behind in the hallway flickered, revealing for but a few instances a shadow of a human form. A step. Another step. In perfect sync with the beat. A low growling that rose to a sort of snarl. The light soon illuminated the figure as it approached the trio in the room. The light was dim at first, revealing only the smallest bits. A uniform. An M1943 jump uniform with the 101st Airborne patches. But, wound in barbed wire. Wound, and entangled. It even pierced it in some places by the show of blood soaked into the cloth from where it had. As the figure stepped fully into the light, it was almost hard to see. The figure was covered in the wire like they had just rolled through it, but the most noticeable parts were the intense amount around the top of the head, almost like a blind fold. That, and the wire all seemed to converge on one small open space right in the center of the body. Blood thoroughly soaked the center of the uniform that had been pulled apart, and ran down from the head.

But, that was all dried. In fact, most of the blood had that dark consistency of dry. And the wire was everywhere, even down around individual fingers. But, from those fingers, and hands, fresh blood ran red and dripped to the floor. The monster stepped fully into the room now. But, something was definitely familiar about that ruffled head of brown hair that had been matted down. A pair of gold bars, tarnished, adorned the collar. Above the left breast pouch on the jump jacket was a white strip of cloth with letters stenciled on it that read: NICHOLSON.

[Northwest Slobovia]

Frozen Rain

"Brit?" Ford relaxed, almost slumped: the figure before him was eerie, but better than a personification of rage or guilt. He didn't lower the gun, though. Unknown things bring unknown dangers. "Uh, Willow? Want to cut her free or try to lead her outside?"

[Giovenith]

Frozen Rain

Oh... shit.

No wonder they couldn't find her before. What had happened, had the enemy done this?

"W-Wait," he told Ford. "It's her..."

Wait for what though? She would kill them if they didn't do something, and he doubted she was going to stand there and wait around while he tried to snip off all those wires. Looking at her closer though, the answer quickly became obvious.

"B-Brit..." Willow said, slowly approaching (and pointedly yanking Sterling behind him towards Ford as he did). He bit his lip and tried not to panic. "It's me. It's Willow. I..." He looked down at the heart, then back at her, and back to right before all of this had occurred. She'd been hurting then, and he hadn't been the nicest to her. Admittedly, he wasn't fully right at the moment either, but that wasn't an excuse. "... Do you... do you remember when we lit those lanterns on New Years...?" he asked, slowly looking back up at the monster again.

It was an old memory, almost like a lifetime ago now even though it couldn't have been that long. He pushed himself through it, wondering if she even understood him in this state.

"We made our resolutions on them, and sent them out to sea," he continued, small and vulnerable. "A-And before that, we talked about our lives, and how we were both so... so sad, growing up. And before that, it was Christmas, and you asked me why I called you Miss Firefly... and, and I said..." He held his breath and slowly held up the heart. "... I said, 'Because fireflies are small, yet they're filled with a fire of their own brew. They're not the fanciest looking bugs on the outside, but it's their inner fire that makes you see them. They often find themselves in the dark. Big, loud, echoing darkness... I'm sure that it can feel overwhelming to be such a small light when faced with a seemingly never-ending night. It's easy for a firefly to feel overpowered, underestimate itself. But for the rest of us who can look at the firefly from the outside, we know it's got nothing to fear. When the firefly is at peace with itself and flies itself in the right direction, it turns fears into whimsy, and guides us through the darkness along the path home...'"

He wasn't sure how the words came back to him exact. Maybe it was the magic of the place, or the desperation of the situation, or the power of friendship. It didn't matter either way.

"... 'You probably find yourself in the darkness a lot too, Brit. Especially with your circumstances. But the fire's still there. Maybe you're not flying so good now, but with practice and recital, you'll learn the dance that crafts nightmares into dreams. I know you can. Because you are Miss Firefly.'" He blinked. "I still believe that. Don't you...?" He squeezed his eyes shut, stood up tall, and, shaking, pushed the heart towards the gap.

[Holy Lykos]

Frozen Rain

"Oh, bother..." Sterling mumbled at the revelation of this person's identity, eyes darting over the barbed wire bound Brit. He accepted being pulled behind his friend, but made sure to hold up his hands as he'd seen humans do to show they mean no harm. "We'd need to get the barbed wire off eventually. But if she's crazy strong this might prove tougher than expected."

He sucked in air past his teeth, dreading his next realization. "And I'm thinking we need to get that heart back inside of her, yeah? That'll be... fun. Good luck with this, Willow. I think you're gonna have to lead this."

[Monfrox]

Frozen Rain

Brit stood there, bloodied and battered, and vaguely regarded Willow. At first she bared her teeth and went to snarl and start towards him, but...something held her back. The words he spoke, whether they reached her or not, kept her at bay. The memories and the fireflies...she stood there. When the heart reached the gap, it almost was sucked in. Brit grabbed Willow's arm and gasped, falling onto her knees. Her other hand clutched her chest as it formed around the heart and took it in. The wire started to recede and fall off, and she cried. She wailed as she went to pull more off herself. Scarring her face and tearing her uniform until all of it was gone. And when it was, she opened her eyes and looked around.

"Willow...? Sterling...? Sandy...?" She observed each of them before looking to Willow as he stood in front of her. "I'm sorry..."

And from that, everything went dark. In the next minutes, the four of them would wake back up in the Building's library. No military uniforms or whatnot. Willow and Sterling both would be returned to their natural form as ponies. And for Brit, it would almost all seem a bit too vivid to be a dream. She would remember it, most definitely along with everyone else.

FROZEN RAIN

Credits

Giovenith as Willow Streaks

Holy Lykos/NA as Sterling Venture

Northwest Slobovia as Paper Sandy "Ford"

Thank you very much for playing

The End

[Holy Lykos]

After the Rain

Sterling took a few minutes to properly parse what just happened. "We... we did it? Oh thank the sun and moon!" Sterling hopped up for joy, grinning as he started to trot around "My magic's back too!" The pony promptly grabs onto just about anything he could within range with his magic, swirling the books and et cetera up into the air and back to proper locations. Irrepressibly a librarian, it seemed.

"Did we all make it, everyone back to normal?"

[Giovenith]

There wasn't much of a transition back into the real world. One second they were all still in the warzone, the next, they were back home. Willow felt himself flex in all different ways, his mind and body settling in a way that told him he was a pony again. He unfurled his wings like a sigh of relief and opened his eyes: they were back in the Building's library. Sterling, Sandy, Brit, everyone. They were safe. He blinked, smiled, and nodded at Sterling.

"Yeah," he sighed, gratefully. "Just fine."

At the moment, at least. But in general? The pegasus wasn't sure. He frowned thoughtfully and looked back at Brit.

This couldn't have been easy for her. They'd been inside her mind, something so personal, almost invasive. But apparently they'd had to in order to stop the pain that had been going on for, oh, it had to have been long by now. Such a long time, keeping it inside, alone. It wasn't a good way to handle things.

Willow tucked his wings tight and sighed stubbornly, but with defeat. Well, might as well do it before the moment passed.

The little grey horse flew over a space before sitting down in front of Brit, solemnly. He folded his ears, cleared his throat, and paused a moment.

"When I went into the caves to come looking for you and Smart Cookie, I was captured by the shadows," he said, finally, keeping his eyes down. "They took the form of somepony I know, and used her to taunt me. I tried for a long time to resist them, but they... showed me memories from my past, which would seem really stupid if I explained them all, but... it hurt me, really bad. They played with my head, and convinced me that no one here really cared about me, and that they would take care of me, if I went with them. So... I agreed." He pulled his ears down lower in shame, and rubbed his wings in front of him anxiously. "They didn't get me though, because one of the ponies from there was with me, and he snapped me out of the spell. I still felt so bad, and hopeless, and I didn't see the signs even though Rache warned me, and..."

He paused, as if stuck. His eyes shone like glass, still pointed at the floor, and he swallowed back his reactive aggression with a stubborn pout. No more burying.

"... and he bit me, and threw me to the ground, and hit me..." Deep breath. "And he cut off my feathers so I couldn't fly away, and, and I wasn't strong enough, I've never been strong enough, I couldn't fight back... I asked him to stop but he just had that giant knife." Feathers brushed over eyes furiously. "I don't know why. I was nice to him! He was nice to me! I didn't see it. I was stupid, stupid, stupid!" He held a hoof to his head, tussling his bangs. Deeper breathing, as he tried to get control back. "I had another friend with me, she came out of nowhere, and saved me. She told me to run while she held him off. If she hadn't..."

Talking about this was like trying to walk a tight rope. He felt himself wobbling, nearly tripping, nearly falling through, yet at the same time, the thread connecting it all felt firm. It was hard. It wasn't as hard as he'd thought it would be.

"I'm not saying this to take attention away from you," Willow said, voice more stable again, subtly wiping his eyes. "Or to make you feel sorry for me now, or to prove I can't support you or something. I can. I just, if I'm going to support you, I can't be a hypocrite. You need to know that you're not alone and that you can always open up to us, and from someone who practices what he preaches. I'm sorry for playing tough. I'm sorry if I made you feel like you were different, or weaker than others. You're not."