Giovenith wrote:"Wait, wait," he said. "Get Pegasus back? You mean, she took some of your ability to change into him away from you?"
Giovenith cringed and crossed her arms. "I'm not going to lie Sandy, it might be pretty hard to get him back. Of course we'll help, but..."[...]
[...Starlight] looked directly at Sandy. "You can count on me to help. It's a terrible thing to have your magic taken away from you." [...] Sunburst restrained a sigh but nodded. "Then I'll go too."
Solisian Union wrote:Dom [...] said: "Yeah! If I can handle some paper monsters, and if I can handle being with the beings of the Greek world, I surely can handle seeing the King of the Underworld.
Sandy's face split with huge, delighted smile. "Well, thank you, all of you!" He paused for moment. "Oh! The Metamorphosis..." Uncertain, Sandy looked at each of the faces around him, then stared at the floor.
He decided. He stepped back with one foot to better face Giovenith. "Yes, what the Olympians want, they..." He halted for a moment, head cocked, carefully choosing his words in case any of Them were within earshot. "...have a bad habit of taking. But it sounded-- Morpheus made it sound like Nyx wanted Pegasus for something specific, that he was 'perfect' for 'this sort of thing', in which case, I..." His arms swept a vague gesture. "I should be able to get him back afterwards. I'd like to hope that her, um, whatever it is... with the Princesses doesn't last too long."
"Anyway," Sandy turned back to where he'd started, addressing the Equestrians. "The Metamorphosis still works, it's just that Pegasus isn't all here -- I mean that literally. Here, let me show you." He got down on his knees, explaining, "Less far to fall if I pass out again." To Starlight, he added, "If your telekinesis will bear a ton and a half or so, please catch me if I fall."
He transformed; Pegasus looked the same as before: marred by blackness. If anything, the black marks seemed somehow darker than they were before. Sandy's equine head and neck wandered side to side from wooziness, but he pressed his eyes shut and steadied.
Amanda decided that he looked like he'd fought off whatever had been bothering him, and stopped watching him nervously. Looking to Starlight, she asked, "Do the Princesses ever say anything about their relationships with the other pantheons?" She shifted her gaze to Sunburst. "Ever?
"If Nyx was human, I'd say She's either going to an important business meeting, and putting on Her power suit, or She's going to a fancy social event, and getting out Her finery. Pegasus is a hell of an accessory for either. But since Nyx isn't human, and neither are the Princesses, I'm not sure I'm calling that right."
The ponies wouldn't have had long to answer, because Sandy was suddenly in motion. He swung his head around to look behind him, got to his hooves, and reared up to quickly turn around. As he settled down on all four legs, he almost lost his balance, slipping to one side as though dizzy, but he shifted his wings to right himself.
"Are you OK, dear?" Amanda made ready to hold him, but then she followed his fixed stare and forward-turned ears.
Kottos was holding his hundred arms out in a set of tiered circles around his body, making a rough cone shape, like a stylized Christmas tree. Above each upturned palm, a cloud floated. Most were fluffy cumulus clouds, but some had risen to angry black thunderheads, and more were rising to join them. The sound of rushing winds rose from Kottos's direction as well.
One of Sandy's ears whipped around, facing towards the tunnel to Hades. He shook his head violently, and started to rock, then started to lean to one side. A wingtip flicked: Sandy cancelled his spell, and he stumbled to his now-human feet.
He caught Amanda's outstretched hand as she stepped forward to catch him. Eyes again pressed shut, he said, "Time to leave! Now! Kottos is already drawing about a tenth..." He collapsed against Amanda, then pulled himself upright with great effort. "About a tenth of the Weather Factory, and he just sent--" He shook his head again, hands over his ears like he was trying to hold out some deafening sound.
Blinking rapidly and lowering his hands, he went on. "Kottos sent some spell down the tunnel.
"I'll be fine, but we need to go. Now!" With Amanda's help (and Adonis' help as an assist) Sandy led the way into the tunnel as the first gusts of wind started to blow on the group.
Giovenith belatedly realized she probably Saw the spell head down the tunnel, but she Noticed it solely as a message between the Olympians, this one meant to cross between dimensions.
Without Sandy's explanation of the magic involved, the tunnel could be mistaken for a mundane construction. Careful observation would reveal that it seemed that the color slowly drained out of the stone walls, as did the texture, so that as the group neared the other end, the tunnel walls were simply a smooth, grey arc above them.
Sandy managed the walk down the tunnel reasonably well, though his blinking and headshaking seemed to have been replaced by him staring into the distance ahead, as though trying to see something impossibly far away.
"Wait! Stop!" Amanda's left arm shot out as she waved people to a halt. "I hear something." She reached across her chest for her stunner.
Sandy refocused, glancing around like he was suddenly aware of his surroundings. "Yes, getting louder. Footfalls. I Hear... It's a variation on the Olympians' Theme. Different, but definitely getting closer." Amanda drew her gun, took the grip in both hands, and stepped behind Sandy to hide her gun from whoever was coming.
The Equestrians could now hear the footsteps as well; to their ears, whatever was coming sounded four-footed. They and the Belas started to hear it sniff the air as well.
"The dog, Sandy?" Amanda's whisper was barely audible to humans.
"Must—" He froze: the footfalls became a bounding gait. "Shit!"
Giovenith and Domenica started to hear the fast, paired, heavy thuds: "Bumbum! Bumbum!". Sandy stepped out in front of the group, raising his hands to the first casting gesture of the spell that called Pegasus.
Three immense, black heads poked out from around the corner at the tunnel's end, ten feet above the ground. They turned, caught sight of Sandy, and barked, growled, and bared arm-length teeth at him (respectively). Sandy started into his spell.