A Tear in the Universe

[Azunara]

Villagers
Ravenwood

More fled, getting up. Several fell to their knees, kneeling before Myrrh.

Avira and Ebonira
Near Ravenwood

"Funny, I heard a speech like that when I was with the Wyrmcult. Except instead of Devourer, it was the Destroyer. Still not impressed," She remarked, reaching in her quiver for a bolt wrapped in cloth. "Light me," She said quietly to Ebonira, who spat a ball of flame, lighting the end of the arrow. She aimed it at the creature, and released. She shifted her stance, ready to run if it didn't do much. She wasn't stupid.

[Serendipity82]

Whistlejacket - Ponyville

The pony did several acrobatic somersaults as he took off after delivering his last message. He grinned as he heard some of the girls below giggle at him in admiration. He flew back down and started to approach them. "Hey ladies..." he said in a smooth voice only to trail off when another male pony approached, obviously an older brother to one of his admirers. And bigger than he was. Crap.

In a blink, Whistlejacket was in the air again, winking at the ladies he left behind. "Maybe another time ladies!" he called, doing a couple of aerial backflips before flying out of town.

[Moonlost]

((Thren is now offering Whistle a drink and a thumbs up. XD ))

Skalvhar - By Ravenwood

The arrow sunk into the Monarch's shoulder. Impassively, he moved one of his tentacles to pull it out and toss it to the ground. A shame. The drones approached slowly, their eye shifting colour as they glared at Avira and Ataliou. Some of them cackled, others hissed and roared. A small flying drone, all eyes and skin, darted above Ataliou's head, snapping it's teeth at her ears as it flew past.
"A pity, I saw promise in you." Skalvhar sniffed. "But we can at least make this fun. This world is already mostly devoured, so fun is hard to come by. You run. We chase. If you escape, you get to warn your worlds about us. If we catch you, well, I think you can imagine."

[rubybeam]

Sockie puppet- Outside of ponyville

Sock searched through bushes and trees trying to find the so called 'wool', her precirous socks were on her back so they wouldn't get wrecked


Ataliou- Ravenwood

Ataliou watched as the human, her ears actually focused for once as she conjured a projectile poisonus scarab and sent it flying towards the beast. Her wolf charged at the 'wraith' trying to somehow impale it with its horn, Ataliou just barley avoided the nip at her ears "I would never join a wraith!" she hissed "Wraiths are terrible, terrible things that only cause death and destruction everywhere they go!"

[Azunara]

Avira and Ebonira
Ravenwood

As opposed to shouting back at the creature, the two took the time allotted and made a break for it, skirting the village and running as fast as they could. Ebonira stayed perched on Avi's shoulder, bent low for aerodynamics, while Avira was just thanking Deathwing that running as fast as she could was in no way a new concept.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Myrrh--Ravenwood

A wicked grin lit up the demon's face. Silently she called for drones. Some of the drones ran about to catch the runners while others surrounded Myrrh and those bowing to her, getting ready to take those giving in to the devourer with them so that they might join the drones ((If I'm wrong about how that works, I'll change it)).

"Join us or die!" she called out once more, forming the blood from the mother and child at her feet into bolts and shooting them into the crowd, laughing.

[Serendipity82]

WhistleJacket - Outside Ponyville

Movement below caught the pony's eye. Quickly back pedaling, Whistlejacket flew down to investigate, only to see Sock obviously looking for something. "Hey, whatcha lookin' for?" he asked, more out of curiosity than wanting to help. "And why do you have socks on your back? It makes you look weird."

[Moonlost]

Skalvhar - By Ravenwood

The monarch laughed as the human and her pet bolted for it. At a silent command, a good half a dozen Drones bounded off after her. Skalvhar then turned to glare at the cat-human-thing and her wolf. He lashed out with a foreclaw to bat the wolf away, completely ignoreing the scarab now chewing away at his own chitinous armour. He rumbles a low hiss, opening his maw and letting his long tongue snake out as he stalked towards Ataliou. The drones remaining moved around to watch their Monarch, leaving a path clear for the creature should it decide to escape.

[Magnakilro]

Vice - Sinnoh

Vice sighed, "Only one shot at this...."

He launched himself at the Rhyperior with Waterfall, knocking it over.

"Woah..."

He charged into the treehole.

He felt something like a pull as his surroundings changed.

"What the..."

-----

Buzz and Ophie - Orgrimmar

"Hey Ophie...check out the exit..."

Ophelia tilted her head. Something wasn't right.

[Azunara]

Villagers
Forest

They, unlike Avira, weren't as used to running this hard or this fast, and fear only propelled them for so long. Some dove into hiding places, panting, others just collapsed and prepared to let death take them. Of those that fled, two or three actually stayed running, streaking towards the horizon, hoping to escape the gruesome demise.

---

Avira and Ebonira
Forest

Avira heard screams and shouts all around her, seeing the occasional flash of human flesh or of...things, as she ran. "Behind us," Ebonira said quietly in her ear, and Avira took her word for it instead of wasting time to look. "Get me a trap," She said, and Ebonira shifted, using her teeth to pull out one of the traps stored in Avira's bag. With a hoarse cry, she set the spell that would activate the trap and kept running. When whatever the things were stepped on it, it would go up in a blaze of flames, scorching nearby pursuers.

A glimmer caught Avira's eye and she swerved towards it. She remembered investigating some glimmering thing before coming here, and anywhere was better than her. She leaped for it, panting, letting it draw her and Ebonira in and taking them who knows where else.

[rubybeam]

Ataliou- Ravenwood

Ataliou glanced at all the wraiths around her, her ears flattening agasint her skull, she sharply whistled for Tao and made an escape, her genie shortly following

[Moonlost]

Skalvhar - By Ravenwood

The Monarch opened his mouth and roared in laughter as he watched Ataliou scamper away. The hundred or so drones beside him echoed his merriment, creating a most horrible cacophony of shrill shrieks and rumbling growls.
"Run!" Skalvhar roared, leaping up into the trees to give chase. "Flee for your miserable little life! It will make the kill so much more sweet when you fall!"

[Magnakilro]

Vice - Ponyville (no idea where else to send him XD))

Vice looked around, ".....yup....life hates me....."

[Azunara]

Avira and Ebonira
Outskirts of Ponyville ((Since everyone seems to be heading there, and character integration is nice...))

Everything was too...colorful. Avira blinked, rolling onto her back as she looked up into the too bright blue sky. Ebonira shifted her position, sitting besides Avi's head. "It's too...shiny and pretty," Ebonira remarked, echoing her companion's thoughts. "Where, for Maxnar's sake, have we ended up now?" Avira asked, sitting up. "Away from them," Ebonira said thoughtfully, lighting a nearby flower on fire because it was too pink for her tastes.

[rubybeam]

Sockie puppet- Outside of ponyville

"Oh for the love of the holy princess celestia" Sockie puppet frowned "Steel skulls stupid magic did NOTHING! how am I ever going to make all those sopcks-what the cockatrice is that?" Sockie puppet gasped at the sight of avria and her whelping almost fainting "WHAT THE PRINCESS CELESTIA ARE YOU!" she was awestruck, she truly was

[Azunara]

Avira and Ebonira
Outskirts of Ponyville

Avira leaped to her feet, pulling out another arrow and keeping it focused on Sockie Puppet. "What the?" She asked, and Ebonira hissed, flaring her wings and tenting them around Avi's shoulder, to make her look more threatening. "Are...you like...talbuk, or something?" Avira asked, baffled.

[rubybeam]

Sockie puppet- outside of ponyville

Sockie puppet stared strangely at the creature, flinching back at the sudden hostile feeling in the air "Umm..no im a earth pony" She tried to smile innocently "Never.trust.steel skulls magic again." she whispered to herself trying to take advantage of the situation "Would you have any wool?"

[Serendipity82]

((Hey Ruby, Whistle asked Sockie a question, but it's all good))

Whistlejacket - Ponyvillish

Whistle totally forgot about Sockie's existence as two things - materialized out of nowhere. "Dude!!! How'd you do that? What are you?" he exclaimed flying circles around Avira.

[Saturo]

((Aight, so, the shaking bit before ending up at the strange new planet was the portal between worlds, which Sasha skillfully managed to hit in a spaceship going twice the speed of light. <.<))

Sasha - The Cardinal

The buzz from the shield boosters became louder the very moment the first blasts skimmed the surface of the shields. Instantly the ship's computer started beeping out the warning, shield strength had dropped below 60%. A quick glance at the HUD projected in the windscreen showed that the blast had hit us at the peak of the lower left wing, so I quickly swung the ship into a wide swerve, to throw the battlecruiser's targetlock off. My maneuver was successful, the next two shots flew past to my left, hitting right where I would have been had I not turned.
"Drones six o'clock!", Jakub warned me, powering up the weapons.
"I'll give you a straight shot.", I replied, activating the ship's decelerative thrusters. We wouldn't need to enter any atmospheres soon anyway.

The drones shot by us, and the next few shots missed, while our EM-turrets fired, making quick work of the unmanned fighters. The engines on the ship roared into power again, sending us flying. The move wasn't entirely without cost, a heavy laser blast hit the shield back near the engines, bringing the shields down to 20% and causing power surges from energy seeping through the shield. The fire alarm went off, moments before the fire suppression system kicked in. I could barely get my mask on before the thick cloud of coolant reached the cockpit, and the clock from beside me told me that Jakub had done so too.
"How far until we're out of the jam?", I asked him, breathing quickly. The Amarr ships had almost completely taken down our shields, and firing the weapons had drained our capacitors beyond being able to power the boosters.
"Twelve kilometers.", Jakub's reply was, coming simultaneously with a number of weak shudders. "More drones.", he continued, switching back to the weapon interface. "I'll keep them busy."

A quick glance up at the HUD indicated that our escorts had been completely decimated, the cruisers that had been fighting them moving to intercept us now. With a swear I expended the last power to power our afterburners, prompting a swear from Jakub and a loud warning from the computer, as the last strength in the shields and weapons gave out. Two more blasts skimmed by, one of them dangerously close to the right wing. A roll to the left allowed us another few seconds of life, which was all we needed. With a triumphant beep the computer informed us that the warp drive was operational again, and we expended the last few remnants of power from our batteries to jump a few hundred thousand kilometers straight forward, shaking the primitive Amarr sensors.

"That was too close for me.", Jakub said, getting out of his chair with a grin. "I'll go check on the reactor."
"Bring me a Quafe.", I replied with a grin, leaning back. Honestly, checking on the reactor was pointless, the capacitors were recharging just fine, but Jakub was the kind of person to check everything twice.

A few moments later he returned, handing me a Quafe while taking a sip from his own. "Seems just fine to me.", he said, turning on the shield boosters.
"How did they know we were here?", I asked, him, more curious than anything. "The only ones who knew we were going were the higher-ups, the escorts didn't even know what we were carrying."
"I think it's better not to ask that question.", he replied, leaning back. I nodded in reply, knowing all too well what he was talking about. The rumors of corruption among the shareholders had been numerous lately.
"Looks like we're back in business.", I said, turning back to the console, powering up the engines.
"Good. The sooner we're out of here the better."

The ship was quickly turned the right way again, roaring off into faster-than-light speeds with the warp drive at a mere 20% top velocity, simply because we wanted to be able to check our sensor readings before getting close to the Stargate. The coast turned out to be clear, and less than an hour later we found ourselves in another system.
"Seems they just gave up.", I said with a grin as we were warping to the final destination, at full speed this time. "Unless they just blew up a Sister' station just to spite us."
"Seems almost too calm to me.", Jakub replied, grinning.

THe computer suddenly started beeping at a strange energy signature up ahead, or rather, complete lack of an energy signature, and I leaned over to it, watching. "What the...", I barely had time to say before we went through the strange field, the ship shaking violently.
"Aren't the inertial dampeners online?", Jakub asked, surprised at the shaking, and I nodded in reply.
"They are. Must have been one hell of a shock.", I said, leaning back as the computer stopped about the now missing energy field. "I wonder what's up with the-...", I started before the ship went into an extreme deceleration, throwing us out of warp in what seemed like a fit of panic. Everywhere the monitors were blinking, along with a siren.

"Unexpected gravity field!", Jakub said, barely having time to finish before a planet appeared right in front of us.
"Fuck!", I exclaimed, tugging at the controls and powering up the normal engines. "That is NOT supposed to be there!", I said as the ship roared back into power, flaring the maneuvering jets to try and keep us from crashing right into the planetoid.
"We're going way too fast!", Jakub warned, diverting power from any non-essential systems.
"I'm aware of that!", I snapped back as the last of the warp field dissipated, spitting us back into normal space at roughly one hundred thousand meters per second. The decelerative thrusters kicked in, bring that number down to roughly two thousand, which was still far too fast. The ship started warning of an extreme heat buildup as we started skimming the atmosphere, a layer of ignited atmosphere visible around our shields, which were glowing with a bright blue from the stress.
"Turn us around!", Jakub exclaimed, and I replied by shaking my head.
"The ship will never stand that kind of stress."

I flared up the more or less useless wing flaps and tipped the nose of the ship as far up as I could, intending to make us significantly less aerodynamic. Landing a shuttle like this one was never a very good idea, doing it without decelerative engines was suicide, but this would have to work.
"Parachutes?", Jakub asked, reaching towards the button.
"Not yet!", I exclaimed, panicking slightly. "We're still going too fast!"

The ship was slow enough to be maneuverable now, but there was no way the engines were going to generate enough velocity so soon after a cold boot, so I opted for the second best option instead, a crash landing that hopefully wouldn't kill us. I slammed the button for the parachutes and shuddered as I heard the ship creak with tension-build up. We had food for a few months, and it probably wouldn't be long before anyone noticed a planet right in the middle of a system that shouldn't have one. I opted for a nice seaside area with a long, clear beach, doing my best to try and put the Cardinal down as softly as possible, but I realized that even with inertial dampeners at 200% it would be a bumpy ride. "Strap yourself in!", I exclaimed, reaching for my belts. I could see in the corner of my eye how Jakub did the same, moments before everything went black with a massive crash.

[Saturo]

Returning to consciousness, I opened my eyes, slowly at first but then blinking rapidly. I was alive! I pushed the seatbelt off of me and stumbled out of my chair, looking for Jakub, who wasn't in his seat. "Oh, good.", I thought, making my way over to the bunks. I needed some rest, I reasoned, as I put my hand against my head, groaning as I suddenly realized I had a horrible headache. I turned towards the medkits instead, taking out a painkiller. I noticed that my hand was cowered in blood, but I decided to deal with it later, when I was a little more clearheaded. I fell down in the bed, sleeping for hours.

----------------

I woke up as I rolled out of the bed, shaking. The pain pill had gotten rid of the headache, and I cheerfully realized I could think again. "Jakub?", I croaked, trying to call for him, realizing that I had probably been bleeding more than I thought. A glance over at my bed confirmed this for me, so I moved over to the brig, pouring myself a mug of water, the glasses having all shattered. The liquid felt good, clearing up my throat, and made me feel renewed, so I went back to looking for Jakub.
"Jakub!?", I called again, entering the bridge of the ship. I quickly wished I hadn't. One of the steel pipes used for the ventilation of the ship had apparently gotten' twisted something horrible in the crash, and Jakub had probably been to slow to get strapped in, as he was in the other side of the room, pierced clean through. I stumbled out of the room, repressing the urge to cry. Now wasn't the time. I had only known the man for a month, but he had been a good copilot during that time, and I was sad to realize that he was gone. I decided not to go back to the bridge to check on the sensor readings, instead moving over to the common room, sitting down at one of the terminals there.

The system flickered on, revealing that the reactor had cut out entirely. Damn, that was incredibly bad news. The capacitors only seemed to be charged to thirty procent, which also meant that I wouldn't be able to power an emergency beacon for very long, or even do a full sensor sweep. I calibrated the sensors to take a reading towards the mainland instead, doing a lifesigns sweep first. The computer responded with a basic map, indicating a group of lifesigns rather closely. That was good, at least. With a shrug I downloaded the data into a tablet computer, preparing to go and get some help in powering a distress beacon.

The first thing I did was cower Jakub with a piece of cloth from the brig, before moving to clean myself up. I didn't seem to bleed anymore, at least, but I was still cowered with small cuts and a significant amount of now-dried blood.

A quick shower later, and I was pulling on clean clothes, and a combat vest. I equipped myself with a plasma rifle, a backpack with a week's worth of rations and some other essential items, a helmet and two boxes of ammunition, which I strapped to the belt. I went over to the rear airlock and opened it, pulling at the manual handles as the automatic ones wouldn't engage when not locked to an actual airlock. Realizing something, I walked back to the computer, powering the ship down. No use wasting what little power I had left.

I went back to the airlock, and climbed outside. Mmh, the place was warmer than any place I had ever been before, and the air seemed clearer. How fortuitous. Climbing up over the sandbank caused by the ship I peered over, reaching for my binoculars to try and get a closer look at whoever was running around.