We All Float Down Here

We All Float Down Here
Date of Scene:	14 July 2014
Location:	Divided Equestria
Synopsis:	The Cult of Laughter has been skulking around the underbelly of Star Harbor and Twilight needs them ousted. But to do so means delving into the depths of things that should not be...
Cast of Characters:	Staren, 44, 108, 239, 470, 475

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Pinkie (470) has posed:
The port city of Star Harbor is exactly what one would expect of a city by the sea with the name 'harbor' in it. It has boats; a lot of them, and that makes it a pretty active zone for trade of goods incoming and outgoing from terriroties firmly held by House Moon and Star means that this is right on Twilight Sparkle's doorstep.
In fact, Twilight with her resources and Inquisitors would already know about this, but someone else seems to have intercepted some pretty sketchy messages.
His name's Gum Shoe, by the way.
Though the beleagured and overworked Manehattan detective is stationed further south, and this isn't even his beat; with the factional change in hands now putting Rarity at the head of things in Manehattan, it's still something the gritty old detective wants to see through to the end.
That might be why he's reached out to the Syndicate again to get someone to check out these... Reports...
The truth is, there's oddly a lot more smiling in Star Harbor than normal. Not that the place was down in the dumps, but there is a noticeable presence of brightly dressed, clown-like figures flitting about by night.
How creepy.
Reports that put them as seen entering the sewers from one specific manhole on the corner of Posey Avenue and Glory Street.

Magister Twilight (475) has posed:
It is typical for Twilight to take some action when the Cult of Laughter is involved. It is unusual for her to show up in person, with some strangers. Still, she has a number of marching, armored unicorn guards, trooping along and breaking off in pairs to take care of pacifying the citizens.
This actually isn't as bad as it could sound, as it mostly consists of 'move along' and the like, keeping the area clear for everyone to come in. Hopefully it also minimizes any alert given, by keeping the lookouts if any from signalling.
Twilight is of course finding herself at the manhole now, wearing her jaunty hat and robes, in human form. The arrival of those who aren't Confederate does not necessarily concern her... yet.

Winnowill (108) has posed:
A strange pony-woman is here.

A unicorn, by the look of her... one with long, flowing black hair and a dark gown, her ears and tail equally black, but her skin pale as snow. She's lithe and slender, almost unusually so, but still looks like any other unicorn girl would in human form.

She's also standing near enough to Twilight to be someone that Twilight must know, right? One would assume.

Staren has posed:
Star Harbor. Alas, Staren only gets a few brief looks of various places in the city before he arrives. "How did smiles become harbingers...?" he wonders. The reason he gets only a few brief looks is, between going to a /sewer/ and expecting a possible fight, he's wearing his powered combat armor. He doesn't want to be seen with it in a populated area, so he's arriving at the designated location by teleportation.

His combat armor looks the same as in his WMAT match with Alicia -- similar in style to Reploid armor, but a bit bulkier since it's worn rather than built in. Curved plating, consisting of white helmet, breastplate, gauntlets, codpiece, and tall boots, with slightly thinner, sea-green armor on the upper arms, upper legs, and belly to allow mobility. Five small crystal discs on the front of the chestplate serve as forcefield emitters, and a noticeable but not quite bulky enough to interfere with movement 'backpack' unit holds the armor's power source and has clips that hold some kind of scoped rifle. A pistol and a slim cylindrical device are holstered in clips on the side of the armor. The helmet has a transparent, pale blue visor. Pointed protrusions in the helmet allow room for his ears, and his tail is covered in armored segments. And of course, hanging at Staren's side is his trusty messenger bag of holding -- for combat, it's inside an armored cover and secured to his side by clips on the armor. Unnoticeably, it's also encased in a sealed smart material bag inside the armored cover. It wouldn't do to get his extradimensional space full of sewage!

Friends get nods of greeting. Mojo gets a "What are /you/ doing here?". And Twilight... once Staren sees her face, he gasps. He looks like... he's not sure /what/ to think of her. "...So you're investigating this personally, then? Do you know something we don't?" His cold, weirded-out expression softens shortly though. "Err, I mean... we finally meet. I'm Staren. Pleased to meet you, Archmagister." He extends a hand to shake.

Polite Words (239) has posed:
One of Polite Words' quirks are going to come back to haunt her as she approaches where Twilight is standing, the Sidereal moving through the crowd without really seeming to draw any attention, certainly not smiling but not looking terribly stern or forbidding or anything. She's not even a known confederate, exactly, so she won't spoil Twilight's cover in that area!

Still, as she looks at the manhole, she's starting to really wish she'd worn shoes. She's in a moderately tattered skirt which is in perfectly fine shape from the knees up, along with a suit jacket.

"You called for help?" She'll ask Twilight, her red-speckled eyes shooting a quick glance at the unrecognized Staren.

Mojo Jojo (44) has posed:
This is the first time the Simian Supreme has visited a world of ponies... No, this is a lie, he's been to the other Equestria in order to 'Steal' five crates of apples. This time around he's on a more businessy trip. Since the local populace is more humanoid here, Mojo Jojo doesn't have to deal with the stigma of not appearing to be equine, but there's still that Monkey thing though. He settles that issue by simply wearing a trenchcoat and a fedora over his head. Or is it a Trilby?

Still, Mojo Jojo is following not far behind Twilight, and when Staren SOMEHOW recognises him in his CUNNING DISGUISE (tm), Mojo just shrugs. "Scientific support." That's all.

Pinkie (470) has posed:
With the citizens nudged away from the scene by unicorn guards and the exploration party gathered to investigate the sewers below and their purported laughing contents. All it takes is sliding the manhole aside with some telekinesis, and climbing down the ladder. But already something is wrong. There's a shuffling skutter of something much larger than a rat off in the distance down the tunnel to the north and it slides around the corner as fast as can be, when people start descending.
In fact, the first person down is potentially in for a shock. One of the ladder steps is rigged to fall out on the slightest touch and fall to the floor and be loud. This may be a moot point entirely if Polite Words simply catches it, or even spots the trip for what it is and avoids it.
A trip, not a trap. Because that's all it is.
Needless to say the sewers under the city are lit by grungy lighting and the smell is pretty rank, and the tunnel goes off in two directions; north and south.

Polite Words (239) has posed:
The Sidereal is careful as she steps down the ladder, testing as she goes, which doesn't stop her from tripping the trip, exactly. What it does do, though, is leave her in a position to wildly swing her feet together, hanging by just her hands from the ladder, slamming into it and making a fair bit of noise in her attempt to stop from making noise.

"Oh.. Ah. Little help?" She asks as she dangles down, looking up at the others who are presumably following her down into the sewer.

Avoidance Kata would have been so much easier, she realizes as she hangs there. Maybe next time.

Magister Twilight (475) has posed:
Sigh. Awkardly, Twilight takes Staren's hand, though she's eying him warily as well. "What? Why are you staring at me like that?" She shakes her head, "I don't often investigate these personally, but with the increased activity I thought to take a look myself. After preparing guards."
She glances at Mojo, then reassures, "I asked him as well. His quirks aside, he has a brilliant mind, does he not?" She will be careful in climbing down, though, and give herself a moment of pause to telekinetically lift Polite up and set her down lower on. "Watch your step."

Staren has posed:
Staren blinks at Mojo. Scientific support? Huh. He tilts his head to the side at Twilight's question. "You really don't know yet? I mean... The other you created a spell to turn into a human... and the /other/ other you was human with purple skin and a horn, so..." he shrugs a little. Then he looks at Mojo. Mojo, a brilliant mind? Man, the other day he almost made an interuniversal incident out of /grocery shopping/ when he showed up in his own giant robot--

His own giant robot.

Staren's eyes widen slightly... and then he turns to watch the Sidereal descend. "You okay?" Twilight's got it, though. Staren activates his armor's internal air supply so he doesn't have to deal with the smell, and climbs down, careful of the broken step. He pauses, briefly, to check if it looks like it broke from wear or was intentionally sabotaged.

Winnowill (108) has posed:
Winnowill - or 'Black Snake' as she briefly introduces herself as - will wait until everyone is down, or nearly so, before descending with a delicate and careful step downward. She sighs faintly, "I was hoping for something less... smelly, but I suppose I can just enjoy a long and luxurious bath after this."

Mojo Jojo (44) has posed:
Mojo Jojo can't help but smirk as he recognizes the baffled look on Staren's face. It was either the dawning realization that he actually BUILDS his own robots and was smarter than one thought, or sheer bafflement that he'd go about in said giant robots to do mundane thigns. Possibly both? There was something to be enjoyed from that.

Mojo steps over the 'trip' thing, and comments, "So this 'Cult of Laughter'...? Seems to be an odd thing surround your belief around... Then again the Joker exists, and that whacko loves making a joke out of everything..."

Pinkie (470) has posed:
With the ladder step making a big racket and SPLOOSH, it looks like whoever's hiding out in the sewers knows someone is going to be coming for them. In fact as soon as the group gets moving... Something else seems to be set in motion as well... Something large.
In fact large enough to make dust fall from the ceiling as a much louder skittering and scrape on stone makes the floor, walls, and ceiling- and no doubt the city above shake. But whatever it is is, thankfully behind thick stone walling, right?
If that's not enough to set people on edge, there's a sudden CLICK. One of the floor tiles just slid down, absolutely BATHING Polite Words and Mojo Jojo in a different kind of dust. Dropped from a bucket on a rafter above a whole hell of a lot falls and it's sparkly and glittery and it is probably EXTREMELY UNPLEASANT.
Because it's sneezing powder mixed with itching powder.
Now this is where things get tough because as the group progresses, it's only natural that a sewer system spanning a whole city would get labyrinthine, and the paths spread in three more directions, presenting a conundrum in which way to go. Thankfully there are once again only two choices, north and west now, as the eastern path is gated off by rusted bars.
Probably a good thing considering how as the group hits the juncute, whatever was making the tunnels quake... Is right there.
A gigantic pair of red eyes open up in the darkness beyond. And then so does its mouth, splitting into a leer of fanged teeth as big as swords, glinting yellow in the light, and the thing takes up the whole path. But it doesn't stick around. Curling back on itself like some kind of monstrous smiling insect it turns right around and rumbles away with a low "HEH HEH HEH HEH..."

Polite Words (239) has posed:
Polite Words is honestly having a bad day at this point, given that she is barefoot in a sewer while covered in sneezing and itching powder and also somewhat lost. She'll try to wipe some of it off, but realistically, that's really not going to be happening and so she's simply going to be miserable for a while.

Given that on her GOOD days she's somewhat prone to shooting at people, it's probably not really a surprise that the moment she sees all those teeth and the intimidating stance that she's going for one of her pistols. Luckily for the insectile monster, the Sidereal catches more of the dust that is now stuck to her clothing, sneezing and so being delayed in trying to shoot long enough for it to start to flee.

That may also be lucky for everyone else, since shooting wildly may not be helpful.

Mojo Jojo (44) has posed:
Fortunately for Mojo Jojo, he's wearing a hat and trenchcoat as a CUNNING DISGUISE! So a lot of the sneetching power... or is it Izing powder? It doesn't quite cover him entirely, though it definitely gets in on his face and the back of his neck a little. There's a bit of coughing to start with, as he growls, "Curses! Someone set up a tr--Traaa---AAAACHOO!" So begins his sneezing! "Wha-aaaachoo!" As his hand reflexively goes to itch at his face. "What is this... Itch---ACHOO! Itching powder!?"

He blinks when the monster in the sewer shows up, and growls, taking this moment to throw his CUNNING DISGUISE away, revealing his SUPER VILLAIN uniform, which is not so covered in dust, pullng out a laser rifle of his own, and pointing... While scratching and sneezing!

Magister Twilight (475) has posed:
Twilight actually winces, some of her cold exterior /briefly/ cracking at the trap triggered. Well, at least that's something she can /try/ to do something about. Whatever powder fell on the two, she concentrates with a glow of her horn, purple light surrounding the two. "Hold still one moment." She's going to attempt to transmute it into something more harmless, like glitter or regular dust. Annoying, but it should make it faster to stop the itching and sneezing if it workds. Unfortunately she can't reverse what's already started.
Well, maybe she could, but that might not be a good idea to try.
The red eyes and fanged teeth are of more immediate concern, but Twilight hisses angrily, "A Grinning Worm? HERE? That means we're close, there's definitely Cult activity here." She waves dismissively at the attempts to shoot it, though. "Killing it here would just cause a blockage. Better to trace it back to its master."

Staren has posed:
Through the sewers they go. Trudge trudge. Staren doesn't have to deal with smell, and his enhanced strength helps him trudge through the water if need be. Sometimes, it's great to have 25th-century adventuring gear. At the CLICK Staren looks around warily and then Mojo gets dusted. "What is it? A bioweapon?" He edges back. "...Itching powder? Really? What is /with/ these clowns?" At the rusted grate, he stops and actually checks if it's firmly in place, since if it's removable man would that be an easy way to hide your secret entrance.

And then... quaking, and... EYES. Staren raises his right hand to aim at it... but it curls and crawls away. "What the hell was /that/?!" He looks to Twilight for explanation, because of course /she'll/ know. And she does! He nods at the advice, and starts chasing after it!

Winnowill (108) has posed:
Black Snake will do NOTHING for those doused in powder unless they ask! She's just not that kind of person. Instead she will let Twilight handle that and all of her attention will be on the Grinning Worm.

"What LOVELY beasts you have in your sewers, Archmagister!" She says this without a hint of sarcasm, a smile of delight on her lips. "I really must find one of those for my own..." She lifts up her skirts and starts picking her way down the hallway more delicately than Staren, at least.

Pinkie (470) has posed:
It's not long after the worm slides into the blackness that the rumbling stops, which says it either cleared a lot of ground fast, or found some place to nest. Nevertheless, once the powder situation is handled all that's left is to press on. Though the worm went to the east and following it is possible if anyone has the means to handle the grating, there's something else in the tunnels. It's distant... Echoing. Hard to place at first but... Singing.
To Twilight and Staren the voice might be familiar. A voice heard long ago in Ponyville. Sweet and melodic, singing gently. But the song is pained and melancholic as it filters softly over the burbling flow of sewage.

o/` ~ "When you're rife with devastation, there's a simple explanation: You're a toymaker's creation ... Trapped inside a crystal ball... And whichever way he tilts it, know that we must be resilient, we won't let them break our spirits, as we sing this silly song." ~ o/`

Staren has posed:
Grating? No problem. Although: "...How did that massive worm /possibly/ squeeze through these bars?" Still, between beam sabers and power armor that gives him strongman-level strength, the bars are dealt with. And then... "That's! That's..." He blinks. "Why does it sound familiar...?"

Polite Words (239) has posed:
At least there's some assistance getting the powders to be less impactful; Polite won't complain too much about that, though she's all kinds of ready to kill someone over her evening thus far. She'll allow Staren to take the lead, though, just about tired of walking into the traps.

She is not likely to recognize the voice, doesn't seem to recognize it, and listening to the song, well... "...I don't suppose anyone can pin down quite where that's coming from?" She asks, quietly, of those of both factions nearby.

Magister Twilight (475) has posed:
Twilight flicks an ear at the singing, then answers absently, "The Grinning Worm is an extradimensional creature. They've been known to slide into Astral Space... which means it's unlikely to be a good time to use that to explore, if anyone was thinking of it. Probably long gone by now, Staren."

She stops to listen a little more. "That singing... it isn't just you. That is not Pinkie Pie, but I recognize it. Where have I heard that...? Someone pinpoint that. Black Snake, what do you think?"

Mojo Jojo (44) has posed:
Mojo growls as he itches his neck some, having difficulty aiming his laser rifle at the Worm, and mutters, "Great, guess we can't destroy the worm and be done with that.... ACHOO!" At least the Powder removal on Twilight's part is something he appreciates, "Thank you, Magister... That was... ACHOO!" SNiif... "Getting annoying..."

Mojo takes a moment to glare at Staren's obtuse question of, "It's also a worm. Squishy body? Pretty sure even if it didn't slide into another dimension, it could just squeeze through easy."

Press on Mojo does, along with the rest, keeping his rifle handy, considering his options for its settings, when he hears the distant sound, "Is that... Is that singing? Who would be singing all the way down here?" He does eye Twilight's explaination, "Well, if this is the cause of all your problems, let's be done with it then..."

Winnowill (108) has posed:
It's true that Black Snake is still listening. She too is trying to pinpoint it... but she also adds a brief telepathic 'ping' to feel out any telepathic presences... or astral ones. Actually, if she senses anything astral she's going to just try to seize the spirit and interrogate it, but for now she's just attempting that telepathic radar. It isn't a Black Sending, just a feeler.

"I suspect you may be getting more visitations from the dead, Archmagister," she adds.

Pinkie (470) has posed:
Black Snake locates the source of the singing, and with the Grinning Worm pointedly Somewhere Else, that seems to be the path to choose. All it takes is a hop to the other side of the sewage canal and a trip down that way. As the party approaches, the voice grows louder thanks to the growing proximity, and thankfully aside. And it's a relatively safe trip until there's a snap.
This time it is a trap.
An honest to god, merciless, violent, bloody trap that will aim to kill.
It's a heavy bar suspended from chains, COVERED in bloody and rusted spikes, and it swings down on course for Staren and Black Snake!
Once that's out of the way though, the path opens up into a wider chamber, free of the sewage smell and flowing sludge. More hospitable and liveable, aside from the fact that it was made from a segment of the city's old catacombs where they were used to connect into the sewer systems.
There are people here. A slew of them. Eight or nine perhaps. All dressed in bright clown colors, wearing masks of bronze.
Pinkamena Diane Pie is here, the white-masked assassin is laid back on a seat, two smaller far younger masked jesters in her arms. It looks like the group came upon the murderous clown singing the twins to sleep.

o/` ~ "When I was a little filly, a frolicking flood overtook my city. So they shipped me off to the orphanage. Said, 'ditch those roots if you wanna fit in'. So I dug one thousand holes and cut a rug with orphan foals. Memories are blurred, and their faces are obscured, but I still, know the words to this song..." ~ o/`

But she stops, voice returning to the assassin's normal, low, whispering, creak. She has a knife in her hand, and from the way she eyes the entryway while twirling it in her fingers, she knew the group was coming.
"Wow you all make a lot of noise. I just finally got the twins to sleep too. Do we have to wake them up?"

Winnowill (108) has posed:
The 'unicorn' known as Black Snake looks alarmed and startled as that bar swings RIGHT TOWARD HER! Arms come up just a little too late, and with a wet, cracking THUD the bar slams into her, sending her tumbling into the filthy water with horrid tears on her gown and through her arms and chest, blood coughing up from her mouth!

Sputtering, she pushes herself up in obvious pain, with an angry glare... then taking a deep, rattling breath as a faint glow surrounds her chest and arms, the flesh knitting back together, bent and broken fingers snapping back into place to leave her bloodied, but perfectly capable of moving on. "Unfriendly sorts despite their smiles, hmm~?"

Staren has posed:
A TRAP! Staren hears a snap and looks around, and this time the spiked bar swings RIGHT into him! "Oof!" he stumbles back, armor scratched and maybe dented some if an auric being set that trap. His environment suit and his battle armor are one and the same and Staren is /glad/ for that. Black Snake's not so lucky, though! "Shit! Are you alright? Your wounds are gonna get infected! Hang on, we need antibiotic and healing spells... Twilight, do you know any healing spells?"

But then:

"The assassin! What do you want?! Why did you kill those ponies?!" Subconsciously, Staren stands a bit ahead of Twilight, and when he gestures as he speaks, he ends with holding an arm out in front of her protectively.

Mojo Jojo (44) has posed:
This time around Mojo Jojo has the good sense and awareness to DIVE to the ground when the swinging bar trap, and grumbles a bit as he watches it fly by, cringing when it hits Black Snake and Staren, only to comment, "Ow... Seriously, that looked painful. You sure you don't need help?"

Without waiting for a confirmation, he reaches to his belt and pulls a healing spray from it and tossing it to Black Snake, "Here, spray yourself with that. It'll at least disinefect the wound."

When they get to the room full of the cult, he is ready to raise up his rifle, "Alright, Magister, I've got stun settings and not stun settings. Which would you prefer?"

Magister Twilight (475) has posed:
Staren asks Twilight about healing spells, but the unicorn just adjusts her hat. "I do not think Black Snake needs any such spells from me. As you can see, she is already healing. She is probably better at that than I am."

Polite Words (239) has posed:
Polite Words is made quite happy to not be so close to the front anymore by not having gotten hit by the trap. This has improved her day a bit, especially given that this one looks a lot worse than the previous ones.

When she gets into the room with the clowns, she's going to POINT accusingly in the direction of the assassin. This is more of a threat than it would actually imply, given that she hasn't picked up any of her actual guns. "You. I think I remember you. Are you planning to run again..?" In spite of having been right there at her last attempt on Twilight's life, there's a good chance Pinkie may or may not remember Polite, though.

Winnowill (108) has posed:
Taking the can, Black Snake sprays it over herself without complaint. Her healing powers are a little more difficult with diseases, though at her skill level it's not a problem more than an annoyance. "You panic a lot, don't you?" She notes to Staren before tossing the can back to the monkey. She's outright ignoring the assassin's comments, at least it seems so. In reality, she's considering how best to attack.

Magister Twilight (475) has posed:
Mojo is asking about stun or not stun. Polite is threatening them. Twilight... adjusts her hat and glares. "You. To think you are hiding here under my own city, in another nest of Cultists. More dangerous than I thought at first. I should never have concentrated on Dash so much."

So there are a couple teenagers and some assassins with Masks and the mysterious assassin. "Don't bother with stunning, they never renounce the Cult," she says to Mojo Jojo. "It was a mistake to let you live the first time, it seems."

And with a glow of her horn and a gesture, a plume of flame roars into the room to foreshadow the oncoming fight.

Pinkie (470) has posed:
"You know, I can't tell if it's some joke or not why you still aren't wearing any shoes." The masked assassin replies to Polite Words. From the looks of things though, it seems like no one here's really sleeping. The Twins' eyes are open, that much can be seen through their own bronze masks, but they don't move from the killer clown's arms as she balances that knife on a fingertip. The tension in the chamber is palpable as the other masked Jesters slowly open their eyes. It's all a matter of who draws first. "I wanted to sleep." She replies to Staren tiredly.
And then the extremely fragile 'peace' is broken.
As soon as Twilight callously flings the blazing inferno, the jester is UP. Wheeling around to put her back to the blaze and cover the twins, the other assassins snap up, juggling knives and shivs, eager to protect their prophet, they fling into a melee giggling like madmen. Unicorns and Earth-ponies make up this crew, which means magic and fierce brute strength as they throw themselves at Staren and Mojo, kicking and wildly slashing knives with the precise strokes of practiced knife fighters.
Winnowill and the Sidereal are set upon by cackling pegasi, insane enough to fly in these tight quarters, faces tugged into manic grins and eyes dulled frighteningly as they try to hack at them.
But the 'prophet' slouches. Burned badly- it would be fatal in fact for a lesser pony. She steams and smokes, flesh blistered and angry red. And then she's wreathed in shadow, black licking plumes of darkness wafting off her body as she slides INTO the nearby wall. And then appears from Twilight's own shadow below her to try and slide that black dagger into the ArchMagister from behind.
"Now now Twilight... Attacking a little filly and colt? You really -have- become a worse monster than I have...~ That's /hilarious/!"

Mojo Jojo (44) has posed:
Mojo just grins, "Lethal it is." He doesn't normally go the lethal route, but this isn't his city, so who is he going to argue? The mad monkey flips a switch on his rifle, causing it to light up with red lights, before smacking its side to turn off the safety.

And so come the jesters. What many fail to remember is that a chimpanzee is quite physically storng for their size. So as soon as the JEsters approach, he starts firing into the fray, shooting down anyone unlucky enough to have been struck by the laser fire. The ones that get closer are welcomed by a whallop of a fist, all while he makes pot-shots for Pinkie and the Twins.

Winnowill (108) has posed:
Black Snake is much stronger than she seems, being... well, basically the villain of her world for the last twenty thousand years. Yet she isn't really one to fight face to face very often! So the pegasi leaping at her, one of them manages to sink a blade into her shoulder, pinning her back against the wall with a THUNK!

That one is close. And mad or not, it doesn't matter, because Black Snake's fingers latch onto the arm firmly and the aura of 'healing' repeats. She isn't healing herself though. Instead the pegasus just /melts/ with a shriek, hissing and bubbling as flesh dissolves and bones sag and disintegrate, leaving a bloody sludge to fall to the ground.

The other one attacking her gets a casual gesture, this attack invisible. Any psychics in the room can feel the sudden surge of power, though, and the reaction of the second pegasus is quite visible, unlike the attack. The entire body spasms in agony, muscles contracting so violently that limbs and wings snap and twist in unnatural ways, leaving this one to collaps on the ground, immobile but alive, with an utterly ruined skeleton. "Hmn. Fanatical."

Staren has posed:
"Sleep? What does that have to do with--" FIREBALL! Staren steps back, ready to fight... and a fight he gets! Ponies leap in, stabbing... "Hey! She's getting away... through the WALL?! Come on, HOW?" fortunately, his armor is sealed, and has no places you can just /stab/ through... at least, not right away. Their knives start to cut into the plating and leave small cracks. This... is not good. Staren suddenly has beam sabers out, but knife fighters might be quicker than him... although the gulf in weapons and armor means he needs one good hit, and they need several. (Non-lethal? What? Hey, these ponies have been /killing/ people!) If they keep dodging, though, out come the missiles: Staren made sure to pack the armor-piercing ones with the fairly tight blast radius (about three feet) for the sewer adventure... but yeah, he'll try detonating one right in front of him if there's no other good way to hurt them, even if it means getting caught in the blast himself. /He's/ in super body armor, /they're/ not, and though the armor-piercing quality is wasted in an airburst, the /explosives/ are like super-powerful future rockets. That's... that's probably not good for soft targets caught in the blast.

He's oblivious to the threat to Twilight, and no longer focused on protecting her. He knows she can take care of herself in a fight.

Polite Words (239) has posed:
Polite looks very slightly surprised at that comment - she isn't used to being recognized, and especially not having a minor detail like that being thrown back at her. Still, she doesn't get an opportunity to strike at Pinkie directly; there are pegasi trying to peck at her eyes and such, while the gunslinging Sidereal makes a shooting gesture at the first, she's going to really wish she had heavier weapons as she's pushed back away from her position...

Also, Winnowill is horrifying, even to the Sidereal.

Magister Twilight (475) has posed:
Last time Pinkie leapt at Twilight, the guards were there to stop her and take the hit. Not so this time, and not so from behind! Twilight detects SOMETHING at the last moment, so what could have been a fatal strike is not. Also, she wears some sort of leather under her robe, at least, to deflect the strike somewhat.

Either way the knife sinks true into flesh, biting into her side and causing blood to well up. The Archmagister staggers with a short gasp of pain, and reflexively lashes out, horn glowing to release a concussive beam toward Pinkie. "AH!"

Her own attack was fairly powerful, but less lethal than the fireball was intended to be. Mostly because it's her basic go to spell, rather than any desire to keep Pinkie alive. With any luck it will knock her away, leaving Twilight with an angry scowl, clutching a bloodied side.

Pinkie (470) has posed:
Despite the horrid battle taking place in their hideout the cultists take to the battle as fanatically as expected. They are laughing. Even as they DIE HORRIBLY they are laughing. As Polite Words pewpews several pegasi giggling right out of the air, crash-landing and smiling even as they bleed out. Staren strikes true, blades and missiles felling other cackling clowns. They ALL LAUGH.
Except for Euphorie that goes for Black Snake, she screams horridly enough to make them all pause briefly while getting reduced to a bubbling sludge.
As Mojo fires, several of the Jesters crumple. But when it comes to the twins, they're not entirely inactive. With almost inhuman reflexes that can only come with a long time of training, one- the slightly larger one- throws himself in front of his sibling. Both gasp as he soaks the shot and crumples back into her arms with a pained whinny.
And that sets the prophet off.
She should be focusing on Twilight. She knows that stab didn't finish the job. But Pinkamena's attention swerves violently towards Mojo Jojo, a flick of her wrist suddenly MACHINEGUNNING a slew of black knives, razor sharp playing cards, deadly pointed jacks (You know the kind you play with the little bouncy ball) and other murderous miscellany.
"Leave them out of thi-"
The concussive blast cuts her off, launching her back and into a wall HARD with a sick crunch of ribs and a CRACK of porcelain. "Hngh!" But she shows no care for her wounds, one hand snaps up to cover her face where half her mask crumbles. Fighting is a lost cause at this point, and the sudden BEAT of wings from another path heralds a new voice.
"Prophet! Prophet! I have the WORST NEWS!"
It's a pegasus. Slate grey coat, blonde mane, and... Her eyes are crossed as she blitzes in, spilling muffins from her messenger bag.
"The Archmagister is on her way HERE!"
Immediately Pinkamena grabs onto her hoof, and snatches up the twins in the process.
"I -KNOW-, Derpy, get us out of here!" Hissed back in reply as the killer clown coughs. "I've waited fifteen years to kill you, Twilight... I can wait a little longer. It'll only make the last laugh sweeter..."
"... Oh. ... OH! PROPHET SHE'S HERE! THE ARCHMAGISTER IS HE-"
With the Jesters all left dead or groaning on the floor, the only choice left is to...
Herp derp on out.

Mojo Jojo (44) has posed:
Mojo goes wide eyed, and hits the dirt when all the sharp objects come flying at him, before looking back up and raising his laser rifle one more time to take another pot shot at the pink one.

Then the cross eyed grey one shows up and sort of gets in the way, and Mojo Jojo blinks a little, arching an eyebrow as he tries to aim around her. HOWEVER, they get away, and with that, Mojo Jojo mutters, "Curses..."

Magister Twilight (475) has posed:
It's here that Twilight displays her ruthlessness. Despite the protectiveness toward the twins, she's glaring daggers toward the masked one. One hand clutches her side as the other lifts to prepare to fling a more deadly spell... only to have another barge into the chaos.

"I WILL find out who you are!" Twilight calls out, flinging another concussive blast toward one of the remaining assassins. Either through providence or because she's actually trying to help, she aims it at the one harrying Polite Words.

Winnowill (108) has posed:
With her own attackers taken care of, Winnowill sends a frantic pain-bolt after the ones fleeing, but it's not as potent as she could throw if she were concentrating. More like a random lashing. As things start to settle down, she'll move in and actually display her healing abilities, though.

Mostly to Twilight, as the Archmagister is bleeding out, but that should reassure anyone else who wants a non-fleshmelting fix. "This 'cult' is rather well-organized for what they seem like."

Staren has posed:
Staren fights brutally. /Why are they laughing?!/ This is some messed up... He's so busy fighting clowns, he doesn't notice that The Assassin is getting away (what, /again/? Didn't she already leave, he thinks?) by pegasus. "Hey! You can't just--" But there are more assassins. Beam saber strikes true, eventually, and then Staren starts down the tunnel, but there's probably a fork, or traps, or they're just a really long way away, and he trudges back to the others. He looks at the aftermath of the battle. "What is /with/ these /clowns/? Seriously, why clowns? Why is she trying to kill you, and other ponies? Sleep? What is /going on/?"

Pinkie (470) has posed:
With the last of the jesters dealt with, the catacomb chamber quiets down. Save for the beat of wings in the distance, growing quieter and quieter as Derpy blazes down the tunnels.

o/` ~ "When you've bungled all your bangles... And your loved ones have been mangled... Listen to the jingle jangle of my gypsy tambourine." ~ o/`

And that singing...

o/` ~ "'Cause these chords are hypnotizing, and the whole world's harmonizing.So please children stop your crying and just sing along with me..." ~ o/`

And like that they're gone, cold silence stifling the chill sewer chambers. Long seconds of utter quiet pass... And then... From very far off:

"Nooooo youuuu wooooon't...!"