Back for More? (Scrappy, Shade, Sil)

Scrapper wasn't in the greatest mood, waking up early and all. He hated waking up early, even if it was nearly night time. His routine became different since he met Shade. But they'd been slow for the past couple of days, both of them had a day out together but that's about the most of it. Now's the day he gets a chance to get rid of the 'Sodding pile of dog dump' as he liked to call it from time to time. The headache.
He was all ready regardless, set and armed. Although what he'd probably have to go through wouldn't be helped with weapons. Unless Sil knew exactly what to do but the hopes of that were slim as should be expected.
Shade was awake as well, he couldn't tell if she was in a better mood than him or not. Getting up early and all. She was cool-headed most of the time, but was he pretty much the same? If not even better at keeping his cool than Shade was. She had a reason to, he realized quickly.

"So uhh, As much reason as I have to not go... When are we leaving?" He said, a little bit of concern would be heard in his voice. What if it didn't work? What if it got worse? all those questions, honestly worried him. Because they were all negative! Think something good up you fool!
Other than that, there was the hope that it would work today, and be done with forever. (Better, thank you)

But hell, he really was 'Back for More'. More pain, and annoyance from his memories.

The last days had been quite useless, apart from the tour they did the night after the meeting with Silvern Gleam. Shade had a new pair of black saddlebags (though "new" only meant that somepony else had them before), and her equipment was back up to standard. Also they found out what kind of talk was there about Shade in the Undermarket and among the griffon guards. The nickname "The Shadow" was simple, but fitting. The guards seemed to know of her control over the shadows, but they hadn't heard that once from a pony. Overall, it was what had to be expected: Some pony was hunting griffons, that's basically what the rumors said.

Unfortunately, the other two nights have been quite useless. At the very least Shade had something to read now, a random scifi-novel she had simply taken with her when she had seen it behind the counter of the shop they had been checking out at the time. The book wasn't great, and Shade would have preferred a more productive activity, but it was something to do.

Waking up early however didn't bother her. What did bother her however was her thought's drifting off to her old friends again when she lay awake for some time. Shadowfang was floating before her, her eyes looking sadly at Quicksteels cutie mark engraved in it. When Scrapper called her out of her thought's she put the weapon back to its sheath and pulled herself together. Well, I have nothing to do here, and she would probably appreciate it if we didn't how up late at night, Shade answered the spoken question first as she stood up and walked to Scrapper, and then put up a confident smile to address his concerns. Don't worry, if it gets too bad I'm still there to help you, she said and gave him a kiss, as if to support the argument.

"Thanks Las" he said after he returned the kiss. He checked if he had everything he needed before finally heading out of the hideout, on route to Sil's shop.

Once they were a few meters out of their hideout, Scrapper finally made fun of himself, "Bloody hell, I'm like a colt who has to go to the dentist right now!"

I'll try to get you a lolly afterwards, Shade answered smilingly and entangled their tails as they walked next to each other. Might be a metaphorical one.

"If I can get it in Shade flavor that'd be great!" He said sarcastically, continuing in simple conversation as they traveled through the maze of tunnels that seemed like nothing now.

It's because the maze had become so easy to remember for him that it didn't take them long to reach Sil's shop, but because Scrapper was having a colt moment he didn't really want to knock on the door. Really, who wouldn't be worried when somepony is going to be raking around in your head? It could be worse.
He nudged Shade a little, "Uhm, Ladies first."
Not that it was really necessary, last he checked Sil could see through walls or something. It would just speed things up.

The door opened before Shade could answer, Silvern Gleam standing in the corridor behind it, looking rather serious. She had worked on Scrapper's problem when the proximity sensors went off, and though she had some things to test out, she didn't expect to achieve much just yet. That the only way to really find something out was to cause Scrapper pain... she didn't like it. Welcome back, she said and motioned them to come in. Scrapper's artifact was already lying on the table in the selling room. I suppose it makes more sense to speak about your artifact while you still have a clear head. That would be 120 bits for everything I found out, or I buy it for 400.

He was prepared for this at least, he reached into his bag and took out a money bag(Or Bit-Bag in this case) filled with Sil's payment for the information. The bag was visibly too small to hold 400 bits anyhow, so words wouldn't have been needed to say what he was wanting. Buuut, just in case, "Information Las, If I don't find much use for it later then I'll probably reconsider."

Silvern nodded and took the back as she started her report. That's quite an item you found there. As you already know it leaves behind a glowing line when moved over a rough surface strongly enough, and it produces heat. It can be used to simply mark something or leave short messages, but that's most certainly not the original purpose. That could be done much simpler, and with much less heat.

The trace left behind consists of particles from the crystal, and has quite interesting properties. It functions as magic channel, maintained by the dust. To say it as simple as I can say it: It's most likely meant to assist in spellcasting, but it requires good magical knowledge to use it properly.

The channels are unstable and collapse when energy is running out. Without using the channels this takes about two days, much shorter otherwise. Most likely a one-time use before everything has to be "redrawn". That's because the dust practically consumes itself to provide the required energy.

The heat comes from breaking the bonds of the dust particles to the rest of the crystal, I've found no hint that it's intentional. I could probably reduce the heat development with some modifications.

That was everything she knew about the artifact at the moment. Well, apart from exact values and formulas, which she hadn't bothered to bring to paper. It probably would have been useless anyway, the earth pony wouldn't understand the numbers. Which also let her come back to the selling option Scrapper had. My offer still stands, 400 bits. For an item you can probably only use as fancy marker that's quite a lot.

"I... didn't go to Unicorn school y'know. Well, at least you made it understandable!" Scrapper said happily, trying to distract himself from what was to come. Although, he couldn't hide from it. He couldn't fight it alone either, but could this Unicorn kill it? Hopefully. He would appreciate it even if she managed to make it less frequent.
"Your not kidding, that is worth it." He said, thinking it over. It may not be at its most useful with him, but it would be very handy. It run out though, 2 days... He ran these things through his mind, situations and such that it would be useful. It took him a couple of minutes, but he eventually decided that it'd probably be more use to Sil than him, if he needed a marker he'd do it another way.
"Ok Las, you can have it for that. Thinking it over, I can't think of many situations where it'd be more useful than what I normally do."

Silvern was almost about to raise her offer when Scrapper finally agreed. This will get useful in training Scintillance. One moment please, she said smilingly and went into the back rooms to get the money. She didn't take long and came back with two bags, both filled with 200 bits. Thank you for selling, she said as artifact and money switched owners. Afterwards, her expression grew much more serious. Now, what you've really come here for...
I've read up about as much as I could, but as I feared I have to take a closer look at the spell. I have some things to test out and not all of them necessarily require activating it. Of course we'll start with those, but with what little I currently know an accidental activation is likely, and those first experiments most likely won't tell me enough. If it at any point gets too much for you, signal to stop and I'll stop.
Then I hope you'll be able to pull him out of it, she added, directed at the unicorn who's name she still didn't know. But for now, she also didn't care. Now, follow me please. She lead them into the enchanting room, a small chamber with metal walls, a table the only piece of furniture. From the ceiling hung a lantern, a clear difference to the light crystals that were used everywhere else in the shop. On the table were different kinds of gems and lesser crystals, most of them small stones, except for a white, slim one that matched an average pony's leg in length.

After her guests had taken seats on the pillows that were placed around the table, Silvern went away for another short moment and came back with water for all of them and then took a seat herself.

It will work, Shade said confidently, not as much out of trust on the magical abilities of her kisses, but simply because Scrapper couldn't need anything else than confidence right now. She followed Silvern Gleam into the enchanting room, worriedly watching Scrappy. You're alright?, she asked when Sil left for water.

"Nope" He replied quietly, so that Shade would even find it hard to hear.
"You'd think I'd be a little bit more prepared for somepony going into my head, but I hardly think you can prepare for that." With a long breath in, he spoke as he exhaled, "Let's just get this over with." He finished exhaling just as Silvern came back into the room, sitting down where he thought he was mean't to. He did feel better thanks to Shade's confident tone of voice, but even then. He was still ready to have ab epileptic fit from breathing. Just shows how much he's worrying right now.

Shade never really knew what to say in such situations, and she wasn't sure if there even was anything she could say. And so she stayed silent, simply sitting down next to Scrapper, their sides touching. She wouldn't let him forget her presence.

Before Silvern began she turned to Shade. While I'm working, please don't use magic at any time. The less interference, the better, she said before her own horn started glowing faintly, as well as a gem on the table. She then stayed silent for several minutes, but was obviously concentrating. Finally she broke the silence again. Scrapper, from now there's the possibility that I trigger it. If I do, tell me as soon as you notice, then I'll try to stop it. If I can't, I'll try to make the best of it and get as many information as possible. As said before, signal if you want to stop.

The gem stopped glowing, but at the same time another picked it up. The glow's intensity around Sil's horn increases a bit, but was still relatively faint compared to what other unicorns produced. So far she had only "looked" at Scrapper's magical signature, now she began manipulating it. The troublesome thing about mind magic: There was no structure whatsoever. A sentient being's signature was a large chaotic mess that followed hardly any rules. Or at least, Sil didn't know the rules. Only with difficulty she found some parts that seemed to lie dormant and which didn't seem to be the spell itself. Her guess that those had something to do with blocked memory, but she wasn't sure, she would need to find out. One after another she gave those inactive parts a mental nudge, sending a soft magical pulse through them. If Scrapper didn't say anything, she would go on to the next one.

After sitting there for a while, he felt nothing more than a bit unnerved. But once Sil started doing her thing, he saw quick flashes of imagery. To Shade, his eye's simply glowed for a second every time he saw an image. Every time she nudged at the spell he saw a random image, the headache hadn't been woken up yet, thankfully. He simply guessed he was doing well, but didn't get his hopes up that it would be completely painless. And the thoughts of Shade kept him relatively calm for the time being.

After prodding around for a bit with no sign from Scrapper that something was happening, Sil stopped. I must say, that surprises me, I did expect something, she said thoughtfully. They had said that the spell was connected to blocked memories, she had been on the lookout for any unusual activity, but nothing was there. Nothing she noticed as unusual. Did anything happen? , she asked, hoping that there was at least something, even if it wasn't directly the spell.

"Images, quick flashes every so often." He replied, "I'm keeping my thoughts on you." He said to Shade before pulling his face-mask down to give her a quick kiss.
"Yeah, just images of things I don't recall seeing before.. I kinda went colorblind for a few seconds after each flash of imagery, I think I did at least."  

So I've identified some of the memories at least, Sil muttered silently, before continuing louder. If the spell is connected to those memories, I'll most likely trigger it now. The flashes will get stronger, and I expect the spell to get active. With the warning she picked several of the sleeping parts and stimulated them all at once, then continuing with a greater number until she noticed something or Scrapper told her that the pain began.

After the warning, Scrapper readied himself again. The flashes came back, far more frequent. After a minute, the images started becoming redder. This continued over another 2 minutes until it finally surged and his vision, plus the images, were obscured by pulsing red mist.
Along with the surge, came the pain. Scrapper gritted his teeth and held out against the pain, but was visibly fighting it. The same symptoms as before, high body temperature, heart-rate and brightly glowing eyes. As well as minor groans from him, probably just loud enough for Sil to hear.

Silvern didn't need to hear him, the spell's activity was already clear to her. As soon as she noticed she stopped prodding the old memories to avoid making it worse than it had to be. As she had assumed, the spell was mostly weaved into the so far dormant parts of Scrapper's signature, and once there had been enough magical energy to go around it started trying to spread. With some ideas what to look for, it was easier to understand what was going on than the first time. But she still didn't know what the spell was supposed to do, except infecting him further.

Sil was not so foolish to spend large amounts of not available power on reducing the pain momentarily again. Instead she tried to find out where exactly the pain was coming from, a difficult job since she was not really medically inclined. She had read up on head aches and high body temperature in the last few days as well, but that hardly helped. But eventually she noticed that most of the energy that was spread throughout the body rooted in the "battle zones" were the spell was trying to spread, and was hindered by all means by Scrapper's innate magic. If that was cause of the high temperature...

By then, the spell was active for almost two minutes. Scrapper, you can still go on? I'll do something that will probably increase the pain she asked before she interfered.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah" He said quickly and painfully, not really being able to think of anything else than that to acknowledge Sil's warning.

Shade could only watch with discomfort. By now she had laid a hoof around Scrapper's shoulder and held him tighly, but apart from that... Scrapper didn't yet seem to stop it, and so she had to hold herself back from pulling him out.

Sil was already sure that she would make it worse with what she was planning, but she had to get confirmation, and so she through herself into the battle between the spell and Scrapper. On Scrapper's side of course, and though she didn't have much power at her side, she managed to drive the spell back a bit. Causing the energy spread out from this area to rise and most likely causing a surge of pain.

--Within Scrapper's mind--

The Spell felt change, It was no longer just fighting it's host. Something else, that had magical capabilities, had intervened. Since the spell was placed in the Hosts mind it has tried to break free of the cage that it's host has maintained but the Host doesn't realize that it mean't him no harm.
The Intruder was able to beat it back by helping the Host, it changed the odds in the battle for the Host. It could do the same for It as well, the Intruder had made a link, and it saw a chance to make progress. Forcing it's way on to the Intruder link, it made a connection with the Intruder and Itself. And implanted a small copy of Itself and what it needed.

It needed to send a message, it copied various parts of it's Hosts memories in order to achieve that.
First, it took a memory from sometime after the war. Sil would see things from Scrapper's point of view.

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

Scrapper was scavenging in a small town library, suddenly a voice called out revealing that it was not abandoned, and that he was in trouble. He looked to the caller just as they spoke, "Hey! Stop that! That's not-"

The Spell cut to another memory.

Scrapper was next to a recently stabbed to death Stallion, Himself wielding a bloody combat knife. Crying could be heard behind him, as he turned to look at nameless mare and her two fillies, the mare was holding a small knife and was fearfully approaching him. He spoke, "I didn't want to hurt him, Las. He gave me no choice, don't force me to do it again. For their sake."

The Spell cut again.

Scrapper was aiming a crossbow out of a window, at a Earth Pony with bodyguards. A Pegasus, who was his partner for the job he was on, started talking when Scrapper hesitated to pull the trigger in fear of hitting an innocent pony who was being beaten. "You have a chance! You can't let him win this time! If he wins now things will only get worse, shoot!" Scrapper then fired the crossbow bolt, as he feared it hit the innocent and his target, he made a loud sigh in anger and looked at his partner.

The Spell cut one more time, but to a memory that has been forced away.

Scrapper was restrained to a table. An angry, but fairly calm voice was heard, "Why is it not working? I set up the channels correctly... Stop resisting it! It's for your own good, Scrapper"

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

The Spell had no more memories to use, but it had made it as clear as it could. It was also stuck in the Intruders mind, a mere copy of the full thing. But even the copy would have proven hard to erase, allowing the images through to the Intruder.

It was a mix of slight inattentiveness and simply not expecting such an attack. But the spell found a way. It actually found a way into Sil's mind. It had her feedback channel forced open when she noticed, and then it was already too late. What followed was a sensory overload from her horn. Her magic sight distorted, her environment was replaced by a nonsensical blur before... something happened.

In the physical world Sil's face was frozen in a shocked expression, her eyes starting to glow dimly as well. Inside her mind, memories were playing, memories she couldn't understand. She did understand what was spoken, but... what was the rest? She didn't know how to explain it, she didn't know what the spell was doing. And she wasn't able to actively do something against the intrusion because her magic perception was jammed. Fear was rising quickly, but as quickly as it had come, it was gone again.

Sil jolted out of her frozen state in a reaction of panic. Get him out of it, now! she called to Shade, definitely louder than necessary, before concentrating on her magic again. This time she focused on herself, try to find any trace of the spell. It got in, it might still be there, and she had to find it, quickly! It was clear to see how nervous she was.

Shade was able to stay calm enough while Sil still looked normal, concentrated on her work, even when Scrapper obviously had to experience a stronger jolt of pain. When Sil suddenly went into shock directly afterwards however, Shade really grew nervous. Silvern! HEY!, she shouted, but got no reaction. Was that planned to happen? The next time she would try to find out whatever might happen before it actually did. She considered stopping this when Sil came back into the world of the waking again, with a command Shade gladly followed.

She turned Scrapper's head a bit so that he would look at her. Scrapper! It's over for now, she said comfortingly, before she did what she was meant to do: Catch his full attention with a kiss.

Scrapper followed the plan, he felt like crap through everything that involved his head. He heard Shade through it all and she flooded his thoughts again. He beat it back once again, for her.
Once he was back in the real world, and after realizing that something was wrong, he slowly broke the kiss and looked towards Sil, "What happened? What's wrong, Las? What the bloody hell did I miss?"

The spell attacked me somehow, Silvern said frantically, fear forcing peals of sweat to appear. It broke through my defenses as if they weren't even there! And it left too quickly, it's probably still there!

What the spell had done was difficult even for a real intelligence. Sil wasn't an expert in mind magic, but a successful intrusion into Silvern's mind was... more than difficult. It certainly wouldn't have worked had Sil been prepared. But she hadn't expected this kind of attack capability from a spell. Mind magic was complicated on itself, but this was a horribly complex spell that Sil might not be able to recreate outside of a living being's signature. She had every reason to be worried, the tricks the spell had up its sleeve might be a long list, and she already knew that it was good in hiding.

"Ok, ok. Just chill out, nothing bad happening right? Maybe its was like... some sort of defense mechanism, Damn, I'm just throwing things out my head right now... Uh, was there anything else?" He said frantically, not truly sure if it attacking Sil was a bad thing. It probably was, but if it only did it to get her away then maybe she'd be ok. It really depends on what else happened if anything.

That spell broke into my mind and implanted something, that IS bad! Sil shouted in panic. She still hadn't found a trace yet. Only difficultly she managed to calm herself down enough to think properly. Which still meant that she was speaking frantically. I heard voices and there was something else... I don't even know how to describe it! The voices could have been...
...memories...
Suddenly she slowed down as realization dawned on her. This something she hadn't understood, if that was information from Scrappers mind...
With the realization most of her panic was replaced by bafflement.
I think it sent over some memories. Memories from a pony who can see...

With Scrapper back to normal, Shade felt way more comfortable again, but now Sil was the one having trouble, and from Shade got, Sil had every reason to be worried. Still, she overreacted, panic never helped with difficult problems. But okay, not every pony could have Shade's discipline. When Silvern eventually explained a bit, the assassin didn't bother thinking about how the foreign memories must appear to the blind unicorn, but jumped on a question that was of actual importance: Why would it transfer memories? If the spell wanted to infect you it wouldn't need to send memories over. That's pure information, nothing else. There was a strange possibility Shade considered, but she wanted to hear it from somepony else. What memories are they?

Sil shook her head, trying to figure out the memories was confusing at best. I don't know, I don't understand this. That was only partly true. The visual memories were impossible for her to interpret, she couldn't make any sense of it, but the sound she understood perfectly. However, it was hard to recall everything, she hadn't really been concentrating when those memories flashed by. But one stood out. I think one of the memories was of the unicorn who created this spell. Somepony was talking about having done a spell correctly and that Scrapper should stop resisting. Calmer than before, she began searching her own head for the spell again. It seems like some form of communication, but that's so advanced... The spell would need to be able to determine meaning from memories! Maybe some kind of recorded message.

"Stop resisting? Are you serious? How do I know this thing won't turn me into a damn monster?" He said, with a slightly angry tone of voice. But calmed down for the second sentence, "Hell, It's not like I actually know how to stop resisting. But I don't like the idea!"

I don't think she meant you should actually do that, Shade said, looking back at Sil to get a confirmation. I don't expect anything good from this.

Unfortunately, from all Silvern knew, letting the spell get control would actually help. I have no idea what it is supposed to do, but the pain is not intentional. It is caused by Scrapper fighting the spell when it is active, so... the pain would probably go if the spell gets to do what it wants, but without knowing what that is, I don't think we should test it.

I was able to push it back before it attacked me. Since I now know what I have to expect, it won't be able to break through again, so I suppose I can drive it out with some effort. However, I don't have enough power left, and the pain would be even more intense while I'm removing it. Also I have to find what the spell has left behind in my own head. I suggest that we stop for today.

"Well, at least there was progress." He said as he got up, pulling his mask back up and stretching a little. "Thanks for your time and help with this, Las. I truly hope that it hasn't cost you." Scrapper began heading for the door, ahead of Shade. He was going to wait for her if he had to but its in case she had her own questions.

There was indeed one thing Shade wanted to ask, an idea that would let the pain from fighting the spell be a very small cost. What about a narkosis spell?

Silvern gave a heavy sigh, she obviously wasn't happy with the answer. I considered that, but it would hinder me in the analysis of the spell if there was another one, and I don't know how the two spells would interfere with each other. Something unexpected could happen. Also, and that's the reason why a conventional narcotic won't do either, it would weaken Scrapper's own defenses. I need him conscious, sorry, she explained as she walked with them to the front door while checking her schedule for a time when she could allow herself to spend her magic. Please come back in three days, in the morning. I might need Scintillance' help for this.

Shade nodded to show she accepted the answer, but when Scintillance was mentioned she clearly frowned. Catching herself she turned back to neutral expression. Then I already apologize for the case I get moody, she said. Thanks for your efforts. Should you have trouble with somebody at some point, I'd be glad if I could repay the favor. Scintillance knows where to find me. Shade showed a dangerous grin as she made the offer before she pulled her hood up and left the shop.

The grin was lost to Sil, but the words were enough to make her uncomfortable. She didn't have much reason to worry about it, this probably only meant that she was pretty safe from the assassin. But the thought that she would only have to say a few words and somebody at her wish would die didn't feel good. I'm not sure if I'll come back to that, she muttered when they were out of earshot and went back into her shop. She had her mind to scan.