Winter's darkness

(Switchblade shall be skipped due to late postys)

"Uggg... I'm not bleeding so, I guess im fine. Evgerypony else ok?" Grizz asked standing to look at the rest of the group, before running to a trash bin away from the rest. He proceeded to vomit on up all he had eatin recently.

Being sprawled on the ground was never a thing Ebony desired to happen; nevertheless, it occurred more often than she would like, which, she supposed, was part of the job. Tall and skinny had its advantages, but it just made it all the more ungraceful when she was caught unawares... such as in this case.

She scowled at the swinging chandelier before rolling and springing to her hooves in a practiced motion. She eyed the dirt and grunge splattered over her (expensive) coat before sighing and patting the worst of it away with a cloth levitated from behind the bar. There was definitely going to be a bruise on her flank and the leg she had landed upon, but nothing worse than that.

"I'm fine," she said curtly in response to the question in an off-hoof manner. Her focus was upon the previous thirty seconds, flitting around her memories and examining what she had seen.

There was no doubt at all that something big, something powerful, had caused the inn to move so drastically. She reemerged into the world of the living and flitted to the window, getting only a glimpse of the unfamiliar scenery before whirling around and rather abruptly invading Crystal's face.

"How did you do that?" she asked sharply, her eyes taking on a steely hue as they cut into the pegasus.

Crystal Belle stumbled back landing on her tail as she gulps and waves her hooves in front of her "It wasn't me! I'm no unicorn so there was no way I could have done a Teleportation spell, you know as well as I pegasi have magic but for the control of weather and clouds!" She then noticed something "H-Hey were is everypony?" Besides them four the regulars and the bartender himself was missing.

" I'll take a wild guess and say theyre back at the inn's original location." grizz spoke. He was pained and uttely annoyed at the situation.

Ebony let out an exasperated sigh.

"Clearly," she muttered. "Ms. Belle, I'm not blind. I'm as far from blind as anypony could be. You're clearly exhausted from the effort of teleporting such a large source of energy, as shown by the tremors in your hooves and the beads of sweat forming here and here." She pointed. "I'm a unicorn; I know what it feels like. But that shouldn't have been possible."

She glared at the pegasus. "You're hiding something. Please don't make me resort to professional means to extract the truth from you; that just means more paperwork for me." At that, she looked a little apologetic, but only for a moment.

"And you," she continued, turning to the earth pony. "I'd appreciate if you could scout out the area while I take care of this. We need to know exactly where we are, and as quickly as possible."

" Alright ." Grizz made his way out, but not before muttering. "I have a name you know."

Crystal sat with her ears flat against her head wishing nothing more to be away from her she felt this was her fault in some way...and she was right.

Outside the snow gently fell it was clear the inn was not in its normal place all that could be seen was a clear blanket of snow on the ground. All but for patch of flowers that seemed to be made out of pure crystal and glowed blue and pink in the soft moonlight.

Once you approached them close enough the nearest one would open an release a ball of lit that would show different scenes of winter, one of two fillies building a snow pony, another of some colts ice skating and of an out couple sitting in front of a fire drinking hot coco. after each one the flower would close again.

(grizz you skipped me ^.^')

(sorry just do one turn without me and ill wait till its my turn again)

Ebony sighed in annoyance at Crystal's feelings before trudging through the mix of dirt, sweat, and spilled cider adorning the floor of the inn with more grace than anyone trudging through that should have. Her horn lit in a shade of azure that seemed uncannily close to the scarf tied about her neck as she pushed the wreckage away from the door and wrenched it open. A careful spark separated one of the crystal flowers from its roots, which the unicorn brought within a hair's width of her nose as she sniffed at it and the magic it contained. She pulled a bag easily recognizable as an evidence bag from within the folds of her coat before dropping the flower inside and zipping it shut.

"Is it coincidence that these flowers are crystal, as well as your name?"

The answer to that was already answered in her mind. The universe was rarely so lazy to allow coincidences.

*Crystal belle looked around and spotted her saddle bags digging out a book and flipping through it "they are Lantern Blossoms they grow in cold places they change color in the morning at sunset and at night, they grow mostly in and around the Crystal Empire....But...they don't have magic so they shouldn't be producing those images..."

(Evel you can go)

Grizz finally cuaght up with Crystal and Ebony. He sounded confused about what he'd found on his search. " I can't make heads or tails of where we are. It's still snowing, but for some reason it keeps getting darker and darker. I don't think it'll stop this desent into darkness either."

A rare smile flitted across Ebony's face. It quickly morphed into a self-righteous smirk as her horn ignited and sent a flurry of star-like lights floating about them.

As way of explanation, she tilted her head towards one in fondness. "It's always handy to have a couple of lights when investigating a dark room. Makes the lives of my semi-competent forensics team that much easier, and its more effective than torches. Can't have a true crime scene without the floodlights, and these are just a little less expensive, methinks." Her expression settled back into one of slight annoyance. "I haven't introduced myself properly. My name is Detective Inspector Ebony LeBrun, but Ms. LeBrun, Detective, or Ebony is fine. I don't worry about semantics. I cannot possibly hope to live up to my occupation or my talent if this little mystery isn't resolved successfully."

A fascinated expression spread on her face as the dim light of the snowstorm darkened further. "And what a mystery it is, my dears..."

Seriousness permeated her blue-grey face again. She uprooted the remaining patch of flowers, soil and all, and led the way back to the inn. The trail of fairy lights followed meekly. With more care than was usually expected from somepony who could barely remember to eat, Ebony placed the patch of dirt on the table and pulled out her magnifier to examine them again. The world was lost around her as she began her work and sunk into the recesses of her mind.

Far off into the distance a figure watched as the lights of the plants seemed to home before vanishing, it narrowed its glowing white eyes and gave a snot of anger and vanishing in a gust of icy wind and snow.

Meanwhile inside the inn Crystal Belle sat back and watched as Ebony worked, she watched as the flowers grew from light blues and pinks to dark blues and purples as the night grew darker.

She watched as the flowers opened and closed each winter images, but her eyes locked onto a flower that was much smaller then the others, its image was of a pair of unicorns sitting in a hospital the female of the two holding a little white bundle as outside it looked like the first snows were falling.

Grizz bassically took look out duty making sure to alter the others if anything was spoted. Out in the distance, Grizz spotted a pony. It appeared to be a mare by the body shape, but was taller than a royal. " Ladies I dont mean to bother you, but there is a very angry looking over sized mare staring at our direction." Grizz looked back to see that the mare was getting closer, showing no sign of stoping."And now she moving towards us."

Ebony's head snapped around so quickly it might have been possible she had snapped it. Eyes narrowed, she focused on an incapacitating spell, like that one that acted like a taser, and stood her ground to prepare for the new threat. Being yanked out of her mind like that was dizzying, but she would be damned as a police guard if she couldn't protect ponies in serious trouble. That's why she was in Homicide: Not just to investigate murder, but to prevent it as well.

"Either of you know basic self defence?" she demanded, looking back at them out of the corner of her eye.

"Some what but not very much... "Crystal said as she watched from as the figure neared closer, it appeared to be a mare with coal black eyes and a coat as white as snow...in fact it appeared to be made out of snow. She simply stopped at the front door, raised a hoof and...gently knocked on the door her eyes flicked towards the windows looking for movement.

"Well...what now?"Crystal whispers to them as she sneaks a peek out the window while the mare wasn't looking.

((Sorry about my replying for awhile . Band camp just started))
"I know hoof to hoof combat if that counts toward anything." Grizz was getting more uneasy by the moment.

(Apologies for the late post, but I just got my computer and may resume my roleplaying.)

Ebony squinted at the creature for a moment before letting out an exultant "Oh!" With little regard for personal safety, the mare strode closer, head held high and eyes wide as she circled around the intruder in a little graceful dance.

"My my," she exclaimed. "You are made completely of snow and magic. How fascinating! This is a rarity, indeed. What are you, a deity? Vengeful spirit? Unlucky mare caught in a spell? The possibilities are endless, indeed!"

"A deity? Oh my no! But thank you very much for the thought" She says waving a hoof her cheeks turning a light blue as if she was blushing. Then she seemed to remember something and snapped out of it. "Oh yes I was sent here to retrieve you and this weeks harvest!" She says motioning to the flowers on the table and then to a wagon full of glass bottles. "My name is Frostbite by the way....not the nicest name I know...It's very nice to meet you!" she says smiling wide.

'Hmm,' was all Ebony said in response at first. Then her head snapped up as she turned to look Frostbite in the eyes with steel irises.

'Retrieve us?' she inquired, her gaze hard. 'Who sent you? What purpose do we serve for your master? You seem to know a bit more than we do about this place, and I can say that I'd like to be getting home. Crime waits for nopony.'

She shifted the collar of her coat and straightened her neck, and though she was definitely a bit shorter than this strange pony, the illusion of height and mystery often worked to her advantage.

Frostbite stumbled back a bit landing on her flanks with the sound of crunching snow. She looked almost puzzled by the question before the realization hit. "Oh! yes yes right, well you see you would already know his Majesty's name although he looks a bit...different in your world, you see we in a completely different dimension then your own...or something like that..." She said "As for your purpose you have none really, he saw you were in trouble and brought you here..though it seems you had a bit of a rough landing." She says with a light chuckle.

"Now then just let me collect these and we'll be on our way~" She says getting up and pulling the small cart through the door way, put the first jar by the flower and with a steady hoof picked up one of the glowing orbs that came out. With a gentle breath she blew onto it covering it in a thin layer of frost before placing it into the jar.

"Any other questions? I will try to answer them if possible." She says moving onto the next flower. Behind them Crystal Belle had stepped outside trying to take deep breaths, she was having a bit of a panic attack from not only the large group of ponies but because of the magic being used.

Of course Ebony had questions. She had a million questions in that big head of hers, chasing each other 'round and 'round the halls of her mind as she stumbled with all of the new information. Rationally, she knew that there was no way she could ask them all at once, so she settled for a, 'Why do you need the flowers?' as a first question.

The unicorn noticed her companion falling into a panic attack, but social niceties were lost on the noblemare and she floundered for a moment, not really knowing what to do. Instead of trying to help Crystal, she turned her attentions away from the pegasus and back to the mystical being who was inexplicably real and standing in front of them.

"Well its not really the flowers we need its whats in, the memories we want the flowers just act as a sort or protection like the how a turtles shell protects the turtle itself." She says holding up the lights "We collect the memories of every living creature in and around winter its our way to monitor your world...among other things"

She said that last bit under her breath a bit as she placed the last jar into the cart "alright gang carts loaded up lets get moving " She says squeezing back out the door almost scaring Crystal half to death.

As Frostbite looked over the landscape a light snow starting to fall. "Come on its a bit of a walk but we need to leave before the storm hits." She says leading the way