Silent Hill

Arc helped Cuppa on all four. Looking her over, the wounds seemed to be closing fast and... well... the thing that caused them was gone. Arc let out a sigh of relief.

Now that everyone was still relatively alive and sane, or at least what Arc would call that, the group started to move to the police station. Hopefully there would at least some answers, or at least means of obtaining them.

Arc nodded to Silver to cover him, light his horn and entered the police station first.

The door creaks open. All that deem to go in, go in. Inside is a big room. On the far wall is a large circular desk. The ends meet the wall with it arching into the room. There is a filing cabinet behind it, also a powered up terminal. By the door is some chairs. There are three hallways leading away from the reception/waiting area. Hanging above the door is the symbol from the church.

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Dawn un jam's the gun.

Cuppa followed the others into the police station, somewhat resentfully due to the thing that had come from there. "Ah'm none too sure 'bout this, didn't that big nasty come outta here?" She asked as she saw that there were three passages to go down, but she looked towards Bakewell as she remembered something. "Doesn't somepony here have that map o' the station?"

Bakewell nervously looked around the room. The place wasn’t particularly pretty, but little in this town was. At least nothing had popped out to gut them. Maybe if they didn't split up, everything would still be okay.

“The map?" Bake muttered in response to Cuppa's question. The earth pony mare had held the map earlier before passing it to a unicorn, but upon trying to get the thing back he had put Ember…has…it…uh, Where is Ember?”

The mare froze and looked at the gathered ponies; she had promised to protect the unicorn but had completely lost track of him in all the confusion.

Dawn's ear twitched at the sound of Bakewell's voice, "wait, wait what?" Dawn looked over the current amount of ponies that were present, noticing that there was indeed one pony missing....... Dawn drove his hoof to his face, the comotion around him made him forget that a comrade was missing....... Well he was awfully quite. "Last time I saw him was........ Back at the........ Town Hall?" Dawn began to recollected his memories of what just happened.

" You really are useless....... How many more ponies are going to die by your hoof" Dawn's teeth clenched at the sound of his father's voice, sharply inhaling, Dawn let out a deep breath. "Anybody really fast mind going to check there for him, i'll go with you........ But im not exactly the fastest pony out there." Dawn internaly cursed his incompetence at flight, though he had to admit it did have its uses.

Hearing a click from his weapon, signifying that it was finally unjamed, Dawn equipted it, a deep emptiness in his eyes, as he readied himself for what was to come.

Ember walked slowly and nervously down the road from the town hall... He hoped he was going the right direction. The others had gone this way, at least he thought they had... He had gone back into the town hall to get the picture he had woken with, even knowing it was there plagued his mind so he decided he would take it with him and burn it at the first opportunity.

When he got to the room he stood at the doorway for a while... Hesitant to even be in he same room as that picture. I have to do this... I can do this... Ember had rushed into the room, grabbed the picture, dumped it into his saddlebags, and then left. Though when he had got back outside the others had gone. He looked around, hoping to get a glimpse of where they were. "Wh-what... N-no!"

This had led to where Ember was now, alone in perhaps one of the scariest places he had ever been. He tried to think as rationally as he could, but the fear inside him was overwhelming. Ember was visibly shaking as he slowly walked down the road. He had his 9mm pistol floating alongside him, incase something tried to kill him, whether or not he would use it or just freeze up he didn't know, but it was a slight comfort at least. As he walked he looked down every side path, behind anything that could conceal something, all the while talking quietly to himself, trying to keep himself re-assured. "Th-they wont get me... There n-nothing even h-here... Just a g-ghost town, with... An old p-pony ghost... But h-he wont h-hurt me... He h-helped us..."

Embers mumblings were interrupted as he thought he heard something, he looked around, floating his gun to point every direction he looked. He was unable to stifle a whimper as a feeling of utter helplessness fell on him. After a moment Ember dared to start walking again, making for the police station, he didn't even know if he was going the right way, but he needed to get there, it was what he had a map for, so at the very least he would know where he was going in there.

“The town hall? Surely we didn’t leave him at the town hall…” The mare whispered as her heart sank within her chest.

“I… I promised him I would protect him. I broke my promise! I abandoned him!” the realization hit her like a fully-loaded carriage. She had completely forgotten about the scared red unicorn, and for what? The eagerness to help Cee by carrying saddlebags the mare was perfectly fine with holding? Yeah, way to help Bakewell, you monster. It wasn’t even the skull doing the chiding, this time. It simply sat in smug silence as the beige cook realized how badly she had messed up. She was just as selfish and clumsy a pony as ever, and now her horrible ways had gotten yet another nice innocent pony killed.

“I’m going back for him.” She declared to the group. Maybe he had locked himself into a closet or something and was still safe. Maybe it wasn’t too late.

“If you want to come with me Dawn, you can. But don’t feel like you have to. It’s my fault and looking after him was my responsibility. If something happens to me, so be it.” She sighed before walking back out the door and making for the town hall without waiting for an answer. She debated whether to try calling Ember’s name or not. On one hoof it could prevent her from easily missing the buck should he have travelled out. On the other hoof… Ember hadn’t really seemed to be the type of pony to move out in the open on his own, meaning calling until getting to the town hall would be useless and just draw attention to the mare.

Hopefully the two wouldn’t completely pass each other without noticing.

Silver paled when Dawn and Bakewell talked of heading out to find Ember. Those creatures. Those spitters. It's better to cut our losses. Especially with Ember. The only way he can even hurt one of them is to make them hurt themselves laughing at his cowardice. "I don't think it's a good idea to split up guys. And for all we know, it could be to late. Ember's scared of his own shadow for Celestia's sake! He probably died of fright from the siren, let alone the horrors afterwords. I don't really think we need a map. It's not that big a building. It's actually kinda small considering it's a police station." Silver looks at Arc. "Hey Arc, you're good with tech right? Think you can hack the computer?"

Bakewell turned in the doorframe and looked at Silver with an expression of shock.

“Leave him for dead? No. I can’t. Not after I promised… I just can’t. Besides, what if it was you out there instead of him? I bet you wouldn’t be so comfortable with the rest of the group leaving you to die. And you just split up a few moments ago when you tried to leave!” She said, leaving out the part where their reuniting had been a coincidence brought about by running away. She looked back out into the abandoned town and gave a small shiver. She felt responsible, but also scared. Stupid selfish Bakewell didn’t want to die. The mare was moving away from the station still, but it was at a ridiculously slow pace, almost dejectedly. She was torn between wanting to find Ember and not wanting to wander off alone; one result would make her unable to live with her guilt, the other could very well flat out make her unable to live period.

She watched and waited, if anypony else wanted to go to, she would. If not she would probably just slink back after the group, hating herself the whole while.

Sky woke herself up from a very weird nap she had just taken, only to be ontop of a roof in the town and she frowned as she woke up, for now Sky had been off alone for a reason she could not understand but looked around as she was in the middle of the road for some reason and saw a familiar pony who walked the road, It was the pony from the group and he seemed like the only one. Sky quickly flew down on over to him and nudged his side, "Hey....Ember, did I got your name right?" Sky said as she was now next to him, he looked completely terrified.

Ember had been cautiosly checking every direction as he walked slowly down the street. But it only took him looking the other way for a couple of seconds, and suddenly something nudged his side, the shock of it causing him to jump and almost fall over, letting out a paniced yelp as he did so. "Sk-sky? Is is r-really you? Your not a gh-ghost or anything?" Ember backed away a bit, not knowing if he was really safe, or if it was some trick meant to get him killed.

Sky looked over to Ember and nodded, "yeah its really me, just fell asleep during...i dont remember what happened so..im here with you now." Sky said as best she could, only to look at him back away. "Im the real deal Ember."

As Sky flies through the air, a dragon swoops down and almost eats Sky. It's above the cloud cover before anypony can get a good look at it.

Sky freaked out at the what she thought she saw when she felt something flap above her only for Sky to look up and see nothing, she looked to Ember and gulped a bit. "Did you see that Ember?" Sky asked as she thought something nearly grabbed her and in this place, she wasnt taking any chances.

Ember was frozen in fear, all he had seen was some large shadowy thing nearly eat the pegasus infront of him... His mouth occasionally moved as though he were trying to say something, but the only other movement was his body shaking in fear. Ember didn't know what he had just seen, and he certainly didn't want to find out.

Sky gets her bearing and sighs, "Alright, lets just forget anything ever happened and lets just go...and are you going to say something?" Sky saw how he was shaking in fear and she sighed, slowly she gave Ember a hug. She wanted to calm him down and maybe a sympathetic Sky would work, she wanted him to get back to normal, and him shaking and scared wasn't helping.

As Sky hugged Ember it seemed to bring him back a little, enough that he wasn't frozen in fear at least. "W-we need to get to the p-police station. It's wh-where the others headed... And at the v-very l-least it's indoors, where th-that... Thing... Can't g-get us." Ember looked up nervously, as though whatever was in the sky might be about to eat them both right now. "Th-the map I have... It s-says something in the police s-station will help w-with the fear... I d-don't know how though..."

Sky nodded to Ember as she let go of him and nodded, "Well then lets move." Sky said as she looked to him with out a sense of direction, "Um you lead, you have the map and ill just follow you." Sky rubbed the back of her head as she looked to the unicorn, he did look afraid but probably not enough for him to not lead.

Dawn shrugged his shoulder, "he's my comrade too you know, I'll do all I can to help you find him." Dawn looked over at the rest of the group, "unless anyone else wants to come with us, I think we should get going, if we move quickly, we should get back here pretty quickly." Shooting a small glare at Silver, Dawn began to move towards the door..... Until a strange feeling shivered through his feathers."Thats wierd"Dawn looked up noticing the area did turn a little more shodowy than before, he then refocused himself and waited for a response.

Ember wasn't expecting to be asked to lead... "M-me?" He looked at the road ahead and hesitated for a moment. Thoughts of what could be waiting rushing through his head, but then he thought that if he stayed where he was, the thing in the sky might come back for another go. "O-okay... It's this w-way, I think." Ember starting walking slowly in the direction he had been going before Sky found him, he occasionally looked back to make sure Sky was still there, part of him expecting her to disappear if he looked away to long.

“Thank you, Dawn.” Bakewell smiled shakily. Turning and walking out into the town. “You’re right; let’s move quickly. Silver had the right idea when he said that the less time we spend split up the better. He just got the ‘Leave no ponies behind’ bit wrong."

Bakewell, figuring that if nopony else had volunteered yet then they weren't going to and so her time was better spent making this as quickly as possible, took off rushing into the deserted town, eyes scanning the roads and buildings as she rushed back towards the town hall, trusting Dawn to follow her.

Sky nodded to Ember as she followed him through the streets as she thought about this place, it was a weird place after all and Sky really wanted to know what to do and Sky just couldnt think about anything and She sighed as she followed the pony. "Alright." Sky said said a while as she followed him. "Hope we find the others if or if they find us." Sky said as she looked over to Ember and sighed, this place was going to drive them insane.

Arc looked from one of the group members to the other, staying silent and thinking about what to do next.

"No pint in all of us running around and looking for them. The police station is a good orientation point. We'll secure it here and get ready in case Ember is injured. Good plan?"

Arc looked on the ones still left with him.

"And yes, Silver, I can deal with computers. Give me a moment."

Arc broke from the group, went to the computer and tried to see what secrets it hid.

(Science 82: Hacking the computer.)

day dream stayed at the door looking out as his mind wandered to dark ideas 'leave them all, there all just in the way... they are gunna drag you down...' dream closed his eyes and pushed the ideas away.

Ember continued walking towards the police station, any other pony probably would have been there by now, but Embers fear had him walking very slow, and looking in every direction to make sure nothing was about to attack him. Though he figured he must be close at least. "I-i'm sure we m-must be close... The p-police station wasn't th-that f-far away, was it?" Ember picked up the pace a little bit, though he was still moving quite slow, but now it was less of a crawl and more of a slow walk. He figured if he was close, he could afford to move a little quicker. He thought he heard hoofsteps up ahead. And stopped and looked "H-hello? Is s-someone th-there?" Ember made sure he floated his gun to point in the direction of the noise, just incase it wasn't friendly.