come on in heeeeere [open]

[crapfully]

Who: Strong Bad and YOU, the folks he doesn't quite hate anymore
What: Cálice lets a jerkface go. He deals with lingering jibblies.
Where: A nice, cool, fast-moving stream outside Ponyville
When: August 22nd, morning
Warnings: Splish-splashes, liberal use of G-rated rude words
Prose or Commentspam: Either!

Down in the meadow, conveniently near a babbling brook, a possibly familiar red earth pony with a blue mane and a bad attitude comes hurtling out of...somewhere. Perhaps intentionally, he's dropped right over the stream, perfectly positioned to make a splash.

He pops back up, sputtering as he flips his mane out of his face---though he doesn't dare to look straight up. Instead, he focuses on the reflection in the stream. "What the crap...? Whoa. It's like everything's in living color."

With that, he tentatively lifts his head and looks around: familiar landmarks wait in the distance, all as sickeningly bright as he remembers them. And when he stops to think about it,he realizes he's shivering from the cold water more than that creepy-crawly feeling that's defined his existence this past little while. Could it be...he's free?

Even so, he's a little too exhausted to jump for joy at the moment. For now, he'll stick to bathing in the stream, doing his best to scrub away that lingering feeling of unsettling darkness. He shakes like a shaggy dog every once in a while, sending water flying all around.

"Ugh. La Diabla totally has it coming...and when I get back to her, it'll be ten times more terrifying than her little shop of horrors could ever be."

Comments

[adandyinspace]

Also by the same babbling brook happens to be one dandy guy who looks like he's, um, fishing? Sure, why not, fishing's cool and it's not like he hasn't done it before. Just as long as no one questions where he got a fishing pole from, everything should be fine. He'll return it later. ...If he remembers.

What isn't fine is getting splashed in the face by incoming sky ponies.

"Hey, you mind? I'm trying to have a convenient reason to be here, thanks."

[crapfully]

Strong Bad spins around, quite possibly sending more water flying at this guy. Not that he cares too much at this point.

"Tell that to the living embodiment of evil that dumped me here. I don't think she cares if I scare the fishes."

[adandyinspace]

...There are fish in here?

"Woah, wait, seriously? You mean the weird eye chick?"

Dandy had forgotten her name by now, despite how often it's said over the scrolls these days. Somehow.

"So what you're saying is, you got first hand experience."

He'd say 'first hoof experience', but Dandy feels he's above dumb horse jokes today.

[crapfully]

"The Pale and Terrifying One? Unfortunately, yes."

Strong Bad has to suppress a shudder at that. That feeling of being locked in her gaze...he doesn't think he'll ever forget it. New top of his bottom 10 for sure.

"She's way more evil in person. None of us even got close to her and we could feel her wrath."

[adandyinspace]

Sounds horrifying, too bad Dandy doesn't care about any of that. This guy got to see her up close and personal, which means he can answer:

"Okay, sure, but was she hot?"

Come on, someone tell him about the booty.

[crapfully]

"Uh...if you're into horses? I'd give her a six---those jibblies kinda ruin the appeal. But I refuse to get involved with the ladies 'til I'm safely on two feet again."

...though there is a flicker of doubt on his face. It's become apparent that he's going to be stuck this way for a while yet, and maybe he could try to get some action.

[adandyinspace]

"Won't lie, there's a definite lack of booty in the area. But every now and then you find one that makes the cut. Barely."

He has a scoring system and everything.

"Point is, I'm trying to save the world by making out with death horse."

[crapfully]

That little plan? Strong Bad cringes in terror when he hears it. If his mane wasn't completely soaked, it would be standing on end. For a moment or two, he just stares---and then he springs forward, glaring at Dandy.

"Have you freakin' lost your mind? She'd be sucking you dry like some kind of fangorious vampire before you even got close! Look, man, no lady, no matter how attractively sick and twisted, is worth losing your soul for."

He shakes his head and almost laughs. "I mean, it'd kind of be be a good plan. If it wasn't gonna get you killed. But it will, so it's unfathomably stupid."

[adandyinspace]

Woah, fangorious? That's some serious vocab going on, get that in a book.

"I'd die a thousand times for booty, baby," and he can't look anymore serious when he says that. Death is the least of his worries, you kind of stop caring about it after the zombie thing.

"Look, I'm obviously not jumping in as soon as I can. We're in the note taking phase, you know, trying to figure out a way to get past the soul sucking. I normally don't plan this far ahead, you should be proud of me."

Dandy, he doesn't even know you.

[controledfreak]

[For a while the edge of the stream is unoccupied. However, when Mr. Bad turns his attention away he would find a young female unicorn staring at him with deep red eyes. She is white as a sheet and may feel uncomfortably similar to the experiences he is trying to wash himself off of.]

[At the moment the girl doesn't say a word, only peers with a look of mild agitation and curiosity. Her eyes close slowly, and she doesn't seem to mind the occasional sprays of water that comes her way from the shaking.]

[Seriously, what's this girl's deal?]

[crapfully]

[He stays a little longer than he otherwise would, now also scrubbing out the image of the poor fool he's just met kissing the Pale Pony to death. He'll have nightmares for weeks at this rate.

When he finally steps away, there's a mare he doesn't recognize staring at him. Ordinarily he'd be happy to meet a lady, but something about her's making his skin crawl all over again. He bobs his head left, then right...and still she doesn't move. Finally, he groans in response.]

Can I help you? Pose for a picture, sign autographs, point you to the nearest fishing hole?

[controledfreak]

[For a while, she doesn't move. The only sign that she's there is that her mane and tail sway gently with the occasional breeze that comes by. She too tilts her head, slowly and quietly.]

You've touched darkness. Or it has touched you, I have not decided yet. I think this bothers you tremendously.

What happened?

[crapfully]

[Oh dear. This one wants to talk about his feelings? And how does she know that, anyway? He certainly hasn't seen her before.]

You look like you're new in town. How much do you know about our evil eye in the sky, the Pale Pony?

[controledfreak]

Too little.

[A straight answer... and proooobably not the one he was looking for.]

[crapfully]

[He sighs. She is not going to make this easy, huh?]

All right, here's the scoop: she's the reason we're all stuck here. She's sucking us into a little nightmare world for her personal amusement, or something like that. Now this side's okay. Except for the having to be horses and other woodland creatures part.

But there's a kind of parallel underworld she also controls. A heart of darkness. A lifeless world where she throws her targets to have their souls sucked away, or something like that.

I had the pleasure of being her guest.

[controledfreak]

[She nods in understanding. In truth she's all too familiar with this sort of plan. It's a bit more advanced than what something "back home" would do, and maybe a bit tedious, but the picking people off must be for her own amusement if not for her nourishment.]

And you were not consumed?

Why?

[Because clearly that was the most important point out of all this.

[crapfully]

Because she's a painfully slow eater. She'd much rather watch us suffer and struggle with no hope of escape, because the torture's part of the fun or something. We run from her, but we know she's just waiting for the right moment to play Horseibal Lecter.

She took too long, so I fell through a hole in her bubble before she could finish me off.

[He shrugs, but the attempt to look casual doesn't entirely work.]

[thepoweroflove]

Ever since learning about the Pale Pony's weakness, Marty decided that he really needs to step up his practicing music. Not that he wasn't though, but hey, he could turn into that guy who goes around playing music at the park.

... Okay, he's going to build up to the park and just going to go to the stream, but still.

However, before he's even able to start playing his guitar, he sees a familiar face splash around in the water.

"...Strong Bad?"

He seems genuinely surprised to see him here now.

[crapfully]

Finally, a familiar voice! He was starting to think that he wasn't quite in the Ponyville he knew anymore.

He violently shook himself off at a safe distance, jumped out of the water, and headed over.

"Oh man. You would not believe what a relief it is to see you right now," he started. "I was starting to think she'd eaten the whole town!"

[thepoweroflove]

Marty gives a waves at Strong Bad as he walks over to him.

"The Pale Pony? No I think some people died but I'm pretty sure no one was eaten,"

That would be really gross and weird anyway.

[crapfully]

"Things must be even worse than I thought"

Strong Bad lowers his head for a moment, then shakes it. "I got out before she could suck me dry, but I can't recommend a stay with her. Some things were not meant to be seen or felt up close."

He shudders.

[thepoweroflove]

"Wait a minute, you're telling me that you met the Pale Pony and that's why you were gone?"

This is the exact opposite of what Marty thought he was doing.

[crapfully]

"It's not like I wanted to! She kept me in her little vampire nightmare bubble. And we couldn't really see her, just...feel her evil sucking the life out of us from her spot in the sky."

Just saying that gives him the shakes. Oh boy, this'll take forever to forget.

[thepoweroflove]

"Christ Strong Bad I thought you just went home or something!" Marty might be freaking out a tiny bit right now "Are... are you okay?"

[crapfully]

"Aside from the major case of the jibblies? Yeah, sure. I mean, all she did was try to eat my soul or whatever. I don't feel any less soul-y than usual, so I guess it got chewed up and regurgitated with all those little gross bits sticking out."

He looks a little paler than usual, but he's fine. Really. "Seriously, though, I'm thinking she's gotten way more powerful."