On the Search[private][dated]

Forte stopped in front of the large building known as town hall. She wasn't able to read the sign with her abilities, but the shape of the outline she received from it with her powers screamed that it was important and they were most likely in the right place.

"We have arrived it seems." She said in her usual monotone voice. Falling silent once more, she simply kept her face forward while scanning the area with her senses. "You will have to be the one to find her, dear. I am sorry."

Not believing she needed an explanation for her words, she simply let them linger while keeping a watch out for any auras that may be a familiar shade of color.

"yeah it seems so" Theera said as she stood in front of the building. "i hope we can find some informations here." Theera opened the door and walked in. There were some desks were ponies were working.
She waited till forte entered and walked to one of the tables. "Excuse me?" she said to a small mare with glasses.

"uh..how can i help you" The mare answeared.

Forte slowly stepped into the building after Theera, keeping her usual flat and neutral expression as they approached the desk. Scanning the pony with her senses, she couldn't seem to find anything wrong with her. She remained silent while allowing her marefriend time to speak.

Once the question was asked of them, she opened up her mouth to reply. "Is it possible to obtain aid in finding somepony?"

The mare looked over to the pony with the flight goggles. "Well maybe, it depends if the pony has registed herself, but since war this got very rare... so do you have a name of the pony?" She asked the two.

"Her name is Neferi Dune." Theera said "She lived in Pyrreha, the small desert town behind the zebra kinfdom beefore...if this information helps" Thera said hoping to get some information.

Forte kept her stony expression while listening to the other two converse, this time remaining silent even after the exchange had been made. She wouldn't have had much left to add to the conversation anyway, seeing as Theera obviously knew more about her sister than she did.

"Let me look into the archives" said the mare as she stood up "I have something about those desert ponies, but i don´t know if she was with them..." She walked through a door and disapeared for some minutes.

"Well it seems at leas there were a few survivors who made it to manehatten. i hope my sister registed a living place or soemthing..." theera said while waiting

Forte gave a light nod while keeping her position, shifting her senses over to Theera while she spoke to pay attention to her. "That is a positive sign at the very least." She replied simply, taking a deep breath and silently letting it out while waiting for the receptionist to return with any information she might have found. "We simply need to keep our minds positive. Negative thinking will only harm our mental states."

After a few minutes the mare came out of the door with a small case. "Well i haven´t found something on the name you gave me, but i have an adress of the pony which seemed to be the leader of that desert pony group, who came her. maybe he can help you." She said to Theera.

Theera wondered why her sister wouldn´t have stayed in the group with them, but she just took the adress which were given to her. "Thanks, you helped me very much" Theera said as she took it. "Well lets check this out." She said to forte as she turned to the exit.

Forte offered a nod of thanks to the mare that had helped them out, turning slowly for the door after. "It may not be much, but it is better than nothing at all." She replied simply while slowly cantering towards the door. "Let us be on our way to the home of the group. If we are in luck, your sister may even be there with them. Safety in numbers."

"yeah i´m glad we found some useful informations, but i guess my sister is not with them, she prefered to stay alone most of the time..." Theera said, thinking of the old times in pyreha. "But i guess they´ll have soe useful informatins on her." Theera said as she looked at the paper with the adress. "its not far away, its just a around a mile."

With another small nod, Forte remained close to Theera while scanning the around once more to make sure no one around them seemed to be too hostile. "We should make haste then. It may be the morning hours, but we cannot afford to waste time when we have to be back inside by sundown." She replied simply. "Please, lead the way."

"I will." Theera said and started to walk along the street. "When everything goes fine, and i get rid of those nightmares. we definitly should start to search for a new home. the old one is a bit.... well....its not good enough." Theera said while walking along the street with forte.

Forte began a slow canter after Theera while heading in the direction of the home they had been directed to. "I suppose we can search for a new home if you wish to. I am fine wherever we may be, as long as I have you at my side." She said quietly, keeping her senses primed, despite having no way to differentiate Nefiri from anypony else around her.

Theera stopped. "This is it" She said as she looked at the door. "this is the address she gave us." Theera waled up to the door. "leave the speaking to me" She knocked.

Forte followed Theera up to the door, giving her a nod in response while simply "staring" at the door after falling silent. She stood, completely unmoving except for her breathing; not realizing she was doing so.

The door opened and a young pegasi stallion opened. As he saw Theera he didn´t believe it "Theera?" he said.

Theera recognized him immidietly. "Swift!" She said and walked towards him to hug him. "Swift, i´m glad you made it." She said. happy to see her old friend again.

Swift answered "I´m happy aswell, since we didn´t heared anything from you after you left for you mission." he hugged back.

Forte watched the reunion with interest, simply 'looking' forward while watching the two auras interact with each other. Staying silent like she had been asked to by Theera, she simply observed while remaining more or less motionless.

"yeah" said Theera "i was pretty busy, and then i heared that with the attack...." she lowered her head.

Swift lowered his head aswell "yeah, it was pretty unexpected... but let us not talk about it. " he said and placed a hoof at Theeras chin to raise her head. "lets not talk about. lets just be happy we´re here." he looked over heeras shoulder "and who are you?" he asked the mare with the goggles.

Forte didn't turn her head to look towards the voice that addressed her like others normally would, simply keeping her senses trained on him.

"I am Forte Sun, it is nice to make your acquaintance." She replied simply, giving her head a single slow nod.

Swift looked at forte with curiosity. "nice to meet you" then he turned to Theera "and how is your connection? i mean is she a friend or something?" he asked, he didn´t trusted any unknown since the attack.

"don´t worry." theera said with a smooth voice "shes my marefriend." she said waiting for a reaction.

"ouh..oh okay." swifts said in surprise. "didnß´t thought you.... ah nevermind, wanna come in?"

"sure" theera said and signed forte to follow with a small nod to her side.

Forte silently followed Theera into the doorway once she got the sign to follow, slowly shifting her senses about to scan the surroundings. Remaining quiet, she simply allowed Theera do to the talking for her while making sure everything was indeed safe in the home for everypony inside.

Swift leads them into the living room. "take a seat, and then lets talk about what brought you to me." he said. going into the kitchen which was nearby. "want something to drink?" he asked the two.

Theera sat down at the couch. "nothing for me, but thanks" she said, signing forte to sit next to her.

Forte slowly moved further inside with Theera, setting her rump down onto the floor to sit down next to her. "I do not require any refreshment. Thank you for the gesture, however." She replied simply, keeping her expression as blank as always despite meeting the new pony.

Swift looked to the mares with the goggles, which hasnt shown any emotion. "okay.. you´re a strange mare." he said silently not sure if she has heard it. He took a glass of water for himself and sat down at the small table. "so what did you want from me, i guess you wouldnt have searched for me just for fun."

Theera started to speak. "first of all i wanted to know how you guys made your way away from the attack." she said. not sure if she really wanted to hear it.

swift took a deep breath. "okay. i´ll tell you. after the griffons broke through the walls , which wasnt really dificult with their wings, most of us started to fight them. I knew i had no chance to win a fight with those bog monsters. so i were hiding here and there and sneaked around during the battle. after the fight was over, the griffons, left the city to regroup to made a final crush. i managed to find other survvors and together we flee to the backside of the city, where the griffons wouldn´t see us. somehow we managed to get out of the city into the deserts. on the way we lost many through the desert, but we made it till here somehow."

Theera thought a moment."how many did it?" she asked.

"just a few.... not enough..." swift said and lowered his head.

Forte heard the comment that was made about her, hearing extra sensitive due to the loss of her eyesight. The blind mare chose not to say anything in response to it, however, and simply chose to let the two converse between each other.

Interested in the information herself, she simply took it all in with silence.

Theera lowered her head too. "thats sad." she replied. "so, who are the survivors?" she asked with curiosity.

swift took his hoof at his chin. "let me think. mh the farmer familiy, which lived outside the town. jessie and her son... poorly her husband didn´t made it. jipp and jepp, the twins. her mom died through the desert... but they are tough. uh and i guess someponies i have fotgott the names."

Theera thought for a moment. "and whats with my sister?" she asked.

swift stood up and walked over to Theera, holding a hoo up to her shoulder. "they tried to defend the temple till the end. but they didn´t made it.... I´m sorry."

Forte shifted in her position to a more straightened posture after hearing what had supposedly happened to Theera's family back in the desert. "That does not make any sense. We saw her sister, Nefiri, in the city. She brought the information of your land's fall." She replied calmly despite the confusion of the situation. "Could she had escaped with you?"

Swift looked surprised. "impossible... we saw her dead body..... theres now way she could have survived." he said loud. then held in for a moment. "i have no idea what you guys have seen, but this is strange."

Theera didn´t understood hwo this was possible, and then heard a voice, which she couldn´t classify "hello dear.." Theera looked around, butw asnt able to see someone else in the room. "did you heared that?" she asked the two.

"heard what" swift asked

Forte's expression didn't change as she took in the information that very much contradicted what they had already known to have happened. Shifting her position once more, she scanned the room with her senses, before placing them back onto Theera. "I have not heard anything either, dear. I cannot sense anything out of place, either."

swift looked around. "theres nothing." he simply said.

Theera looked around and spotted a dark pony shaped smoke, which seemed just to be visible for her. it made a high pitched scream, before flying towards Theera. Theera screamed and closed her eyes. in the next moment the smoke disapeard. Theeras heart was beating fast. sweat running down her fur. she wasn´r able to speak.

"whast wrong?" swift said, before holding Theera with a tight grip.

Forte was quick to get to her mare's side, also holding onto Theera with a tight embrace of her own. "Dear? What is wrong? What has you so frightened?" She asked quietly, worried about Theera, even if her expression didn't show it outwardly. "Please dear... What has happened?"

theera felt the boths hoofs. she looked to forte. she was warbling. "the dreams... come true..." she said before falling unconsious.

Swift hold her and slowly laid her down. "what does this mean?" he asked forte.

Forte gently laid Theera down with Swift, her expression only seeming to harden into an even more neutral state after hearing the words that came from the sandy-colored earth pony. "The nightmares are true... I can't let this happen..."

swift didn´t understood what was going on. "what? what nightmares. what are you talking about?" he ran to the kitchen and took a cloth, held it under the tao and then walked back, placing the cloth on Theeras forehead. "tell me what you mean, and my i can help you." he said with a very worried expression.

"For the past few nights, she has been having very bad bouts of nightmares. She woke up sweating or screaming at least twice during the night." Forte replied bluntly while keeping her senses on Theera. "It seems they were correct about something... None of it good."

swift widenet his eyes."i guess i know what it could be. did she said it saw like visions? and did she said something about a special creature or something like a shadow chasing her?" he asked, having some old books in mind.

Forte offered a nod in response to the words that were offered to her. "She has mentioned that they feel much more real than her average dream. That is why it has me so worried." She replied. "I do believe she has mentioned something to that effect as well."

Swifts expression signed forte that stuff got pretty serious. "wait a moment, i think i knew a bit about it..." he waled to a book shelf and took out a pretty old book. "my grandma gave me this before she died. it was the only thing i was able to rescue from the attack." he blew away the sand of it. "if i imagine right, there was something about those nightmare and those creatures. something which isn´t good." he opened the book and turned through the pages. "there it is... narf my knowlwdge of this old language isnt very good anymore, but as i understand, theese visons have to do with an old artifact, which seemed to be placed under the temple. but i don´t see anything about walking dead or ghosts, like you have sawn. may there is more than just an artifact." he said, very worried about the situation.

Theera slowly gained back her senses. she made a small groan, as she tried to stand up.

Forte looked to Theera after feeling her movements with the hoof still placed on the mare. Gently nudging her back down, she kept her senses on Swift. "Please rest for now, dear. I do not wish for you to strain yourself too much." She said quietly while taking in what the stallion had to say.

"Artifacts? What kind of artifacts would these be?"

Theera simply noded, not able to do anything at the moment.

"my knowledge of this language isn´t pretty good, but it seemed there were some sort of enemies, the creators had and those artifacts seem to be related to them. but more i can´t read." Swift said. "to find out more, i guess you guys hae to visit the ruins.... in case you get there alive." he said

theera heard anything swift said, but she did never heard something about dark artifacts. she simply tried to rest after this shock.

"Visit the temple out in the far desert? That trip is months long, is it not?" Forte asked simply while trying to focus on the main points of the information that could help Theera figure out what she needed to know. "It surely does not sound safe in the least."

Wits not month, its about two weeks, if you know the route. i guess Theera knows it." Swift said looking over to Theera. "i guess its the only way to stop those nightmares and visions."

Theera slowly managed to get back on her hoofs "he´s right, i know how to get there in about two weeks. and i guess its really the only way." she managed to ay warbly. "We have to!"

Forte shifted her senses to look towards Theera after she spoke, giving a soft nod while her expression remained unchanged. "Alright dear, I trust you. I will go to the desert with you in search of a way to remove these blasted nightmares from you." She replied. "I do not wish to see you pained any longer."

Theera gave forte a hug. "thanks dear... whats with you swift, will you join us?" she asked him.

"No way i head back to the city. not after what i´ve seen. sorry, but on this mission, you go alone." he said before giving the book to Theera. "may you can need it more. and now better go home and rest before you start your journey". he said, bringing them to the exit.

"Thanks" Theera said and took the book. "i guess i´ll find out many interresting things in it." her body was still warbling, but she felt she could walk home. "hope we see us again." she said before going outside.

Forte offered a nod before rising to her hooves and moving for the door with Theera, staying right next to her in case she needed some support on the walk back to their home. "Do not worry, dear, we will make it there safely and remove these horrible things from you. I swear it."

"thanks" theera replid simply, walking down the street. "i hope it´ll slove my problems, and we can live without any problems anymore. we got enough bad things happen to us. it has to end." she said continueing making her way home.

Forte nodded once more while continuing down the street with Theera, scanning the area with her magic, but keeping her mare as her main focus. "I would do anything for you, dear. No matter the cost, I will always be there."