Eternal Entombment

Swift Reaper awoke to a deafening silence. "Sounds like most of the spirits are still asleep..." he thought to himself, looking around his room. This was no ordinary room ,though, mainly because it was 50 feet underground, because Swift lived in the catacombs.

He checked his food cupboard for breakfast, only to find it empty. He decided he had to get up so he could eat. He walked the five flights of stairs and reached the ground floor, plastering a smile onto his face and leaving the massive graveyard slowly.

Snake Eyes chuckled to herself as she set the bomb. she reached into her suit jacket to pull out another wire to set in the mechanism and adjusted her reflective aviator shades to hide her eyes.

A confetti bomb in a graveyard. Who would have thought? Those old timers at home would be so peeved at this Trick. She rounded the corner to hide from the stallion who just walked out of a nearby mausoleum.

"Discord damn it." She muttered to herself, her tail twitching in annoyance, "there's always somepony who gets in the way."

Swift Reaper heard something, and immediately turned, his smile dropping in an instant. He used magic to draw a small kitchen knife from withing his green clothes, and floated it up menacingly. "Who goes there? This is my-" Swift was interrupted as a large explosion went off in the graveyard. A large crater now stood where his parents' graves once were. The worst part:

The explosion was from the ethereal realm, where spirits dwell. Swift Reaper dropper the knife immediately and ran away as fast as he could from the nonexistant crater. Well, nonexistant in the material realm, at least.

"Who's there?" The stallion drew a knife, causing Snake Eyes to instinctively reach into her coat pocket, grabbing the familiar short metal rod with the button on the end.

"This is my-" The stallion winced and cringed as if witnessing some great disaster. A chill ran down Snake's spine and something moved at the edge of her vision. She shrugged the feeling off and continued to watch the stallion. For the moment she forgot all about her confetti bomb

He looked at the general area that Snake Eye's was in and ran in the opposite direction. She frowned and ran after him.



A block or two away, Vassago felt something shake the ground. "What in my Masters..." His curiosity overcame the young colt and he ran towards the local cemetery. It was not a material explosion. It was something else. He could hear a large group of ponies chattering.

Except...

They were no ponies here, only him and two shapes running through the graveyard. But something made the entire cemetery feel crowded. Vassago sat down and stared at the ground, unsure as to what to make of the situation. He looked pleading up at the sky.
"What do you think?"
...
"Really? that one? I suppose that would make sense. We are in a cemetery."
...
"No need for the snark." Vassago scowled at the sky. "I just need to find Ozy or somepony to help me." He started to walk towards the two ponies who were running around.

Swift Reaper was terrified as he ran through the streets, explosions ringing in his ears as hey went off behind him, one by one. Spirits panicked all throughout the city, the dead lying wounded and bleeding on the ground. And, out of the corner of his eye, hey could barely see a pony, its eyeless face peered deep into Swift as the thing faded in and out of the ethereal realm, more than likely into the astral plane. Manehattan was under attack.

Swift sprinted down Mane Street, careening through confused passerby. Summoning his Scythe from his house, he charged dead ahead. Of course, the scythe was in the ethereal realm. All that anyone could tell was that his horn was glowing. Cutting a bloody path through the mounds of dead spirits, he flung himself directly into the astral eyeless pony, only to be knocked unconscious as he passed through the being.

Shocked and befuddled ponies backed away from Swift as his unconscious body seemed to collect wounds on its own, his skin being cut all over from ethereal debris. He would bleed out soon without medical attention.

Snake Eyes burst through the crowd. "Aight aight." She shoe'd the curious and harried ponies away. "Nothing to see here, we got this under control." She frowned back at the strange unicorn and his wounds. "Huh." She picked up the bleeding stallion and started back towards the cemetery.

"Hey." Vassago popped up next to Snake Eyes, the little foal beaming lightly."BY DISCORD'S HORRIBLY ANNOYING LAUGH." the mare screeched in surprise.
"Don't be like that." he frowned, annoyed by her loud screaming. "You still owe me from that thing."
Snake Eyes stared at the foal for a moment, searching her memory trying to remember.
"Oh yeah, your that creepy little kid from before."
Vassago nodded. "Yup yup yup, thats me." he stared curiously at Swift. "I'm going to cash in that favor now."
Snake Eyes sniffed. "Well I'm sort of busy at the moment. This guy needs some help and-" Vassago reached up and nicked her flank with a small pen knife, catching the blood in a small vial. "Ow!" Snake Eyes winced. "What the buck, kid?"
"Done." Vassago grinned as he examined the flask. "Now to get rid of this horrible headache."
He chanted a few words in a language even Snake Eyes didn't understand and chugged the vial.


Snake Eyes watched as 'Vassago' dropped to the floor, his body little more than a empty shell: wide eyed and drooling slightly. "What the buck..." She groaned as she picked up the foal and stuck him on top of the unicorn on her back.

Vassago's mind left his body as he surveyed the scene, discovering four things. One, his new friend Mr. Reaper Dude had a sick looking scythe. Two, there was a series of scary looking craters all around Manehattan. Three, there were a whole lot of scared looking dead ponies running about like a bunch of headless chickens (some being literally headless, but thats not the point). And last but certainly not least, Vassago came face to face with an Eldritch Abomination.

An Eldritch Abomination that Vassago had not met before.

"Hello there." Vassago spoke out to the thing. "What are you?"

She got a hold of a motel room in a inconspicuous neighborhood of Manehattan and got out a first aid kit with thread and needle.

"Alright... alright... alright..." she muttered to herself as she examined the stallion. "cuts all over, bruises too. I dunno how that happened... lets just get them cleaned and stitched. I guess. Sort of. maybe."

Snake Eyes was no medic. She was a gambler, a trickster, and a humble worshiper of Discord ("Its more of a hobby, really"). But she did the best she could of patching the stallion together with nothing more than a bunch of gauze, band-aids, antiseptic wipes, and thread and needle.

Swift Reaper would be okay, for his wounds were not particularly serious (except the bleeding part). It was then that the explosions seemed to stop, as the Astral Demon turned to face the newcomer. "Hoo hoo hoo! You're here too!" It screeched with delight, skipping about with a small crystal dagger floating beside him. The thing looked like a normal pony, only... Without eyes, only empty eye sockets. It grinned, revealing sharp teeth and about 5 barbed tongues.

It hurled two crystalline daggers at the newcomer with deadly precision, aiming for the eyes.

The Astral Plane is one of constructs of thought, concepts, and belief. Vassago may not be too gifted in the travel between the two planes of being, but he was not new to these... things.

Vassago closed his immaterial eyes. "Your daggers do not exist." He said.

He opened his eyes, and the demon's projectiles never existed. The young foal waved his hoof as tendrils of pure existence spewed from the air next to the demon, entangling one of the thing's limbs.

"And neither does that limb." Vassago's tendrils ripped the demon's limb off. "Not so fun now, is it. Funny Boy?"


Snake Eyes watched over the foal's body and that of the stallion. "Hm..." She didn't have anything better to do, so she started to play cards.

The Astral Demon snarled at the mortal pony, feeling no apparent pain. "Hoo. Hoo. HOO! NOW YOU'RE GOING TO DIE TODAY, TOO!" It roared as it charged through the ethereal plane towards the intruder, growing large, sharp horns almost instantly.As he was a mere foot away from the intruder, his spell wore off, and he went back to the astral plane. All was silent.

Swift Reaper awoke, and pulled his scythe out of the ethereal realm. Standing up, his scythe floated at the ready, wickedly sharp. He looked about, only to find his eyes fill with tears. "NOOOOO!" He screamed as he saw the millions of dead souls throughout the city, with craters all over the place. He fell to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably. His scythe dropped to the ground. It sat there, seemingly waiting for a wielder. Its beckoning shine attracted several ponies from around the square,  as the spirit in the solid silver scythe sang a tune only audible to those in the ethereal realm.

Shades of the ones in the tainted deep
Maimed and impaled, in their pain they sleep
Forever throughout the Nameless Keep
Sadly, sadly mourning.

Shades,
Shades,
In the Darkness
Shades,
Shades,
They shall mark us
Shades,
Shades,
Their blades conclude us
Sadly, sadly mourning.

Just as the demon was about to impale Vassago's ethereal form, the foal placed a hoof on his head.
"You do not exist."
He poured all his magic into the being, banishing it from the ethereal plane. Vassago was fine.

His body, on the other hoof, popped a blood vessel. blood steadily started to drip out of his nose.



"NOOOOO!"

Snake Eyes quickly shuffled her cards back into a neat stack and shoved them up her sleeve.

"Woah woah woah!" She grabbed the stallion in what she was sure was a reassuring embrace. "Calm down kid! Its going to be okay!"

She didn't know what the issue was, but whatever it was must be something pretty damn traumatizing.


Vassago looked about the ethereal plane, taking in stock the many dead dead ponies (double dead?).

"Huh... who knew dead ponies could die?" He chuckled at his crude little joke as he felt himself drawn back to his corporeal form. Banishing the demon spent lots of his energy. Just as he left the ethereal plane he could hear some sad song being sung...


Vassago's eyes fluttered open as he gasped for air painfully. "OW! OW! OH BUCK OW! BUCKING BUCK BUCKITY BUCK" He groaned at the massive headache hit him.

Snake Eyes turned to the foal briefly. "Hey calm down kiddo, we already got one stallion freaking out. Don't need another."

"B-but everyone's DEAD!" Swift screamed, still sobbing. Noticing his scythe's song, he stopped crying immediately and grabbed it up again. Glaring at the blade, he said sternly "Darkloom! You know you're not allowed to do that! Bad, bad bad!" as he stammed the blade into the concrete, severely dulling it. "Now, think about what you've done." He said as he put the scythe back into the ethereal realm.

It was just then that he noticed the scene around him: A stranger was hugging him, a foal was swearing incessantly, and tons of passerby were crowded around at a safe distance. The press was crowding around, taking pictures of the scene and asking questions they knew would not get answered. It was almost comical.

Almost.

The dead spirits piled high as the skyscrapers all around the city. Swift looked upon the stranger with harrowed, terrified eyes. "I... I will be fine. You may leave if you wish." He said as he stood up and faced the reporters. They all quieted down.

"We have suffered a great loss this day. The spirits of the dead have been all but wiped out, all through Manehattan. This city is silent. No birds shall sing, no trees will sway, until we have acknowledged our carelessness. We pay no attention to the dead in Manehattan, we pay them no tribute. The time is now to do so, if you wish your city brought back to life as I do. Take to their shrines, lay flowers at their graves. I will be here to guide this struggle, but only if you take action. If you do not, I shall be the unbridled rage of the ancestors, an incarnation of their grief, and I will descent upon this city with haste. Heed my warning, fellow mares and stallions. The time of action is now."

Swift spoke in a menacing tone, with thousands of voices seemingly layered over his. After his speech, he swayed in his step slightly before walking away without a word.

Snake Eyes (as well as all the ponies present) stared at the strange unicorn garbed in green.

He was screaming about a lot of dead ponies, then screaming at somepony called 'Darkloom' that was not there.

Clearly, this stallion was bonkers.

"The BUCK are you talking about." Snake Eyes explained exasperatedly.

Vassago winced as he held a handkerchief to his nose and motioned to Snake. "You, I need you to Pick Me Up And Help Me Follow That Green Stallion." His request reverberated and echoed in Snake Eye's ears.

The strange mare adjusted her Aviators and laughed. "Why the Buck should I? Buck off you creepy-" She was cut off when all the sudden she was overcame with an urge to comply. A weight seemed to press on her chest.

Vassago frowned. "I don't think you understand. Your blood was nice, but far from the proper price for services rendered."

Snake Eyes scooped the foal up and set him on his back. The weight on her chest disappeared. "Right." Vassago said. "I want to ask that Stallion some questions." Snake Eyes sped off in the direction Swift left in.

Swift Reaper, who was walking, was easy to catch up with. He turned and said, with a rather haunted look "Yes? How can I help you?"

He was still walking (With some apparent difficulty) while saying this.

"I don't have all day, that display out there was very taxing. I-"

He stopped as he slammed directly into a young unicorn filly wearing manacles without chains. The cuffs had strange runes on them, which Swift knew to depict a binding spell.

"Oh, hello Eternity! Would you mind helping me walk home?"

"Sure!" She said in a concerned voice, immediately letting the stallion put his weight on her. Her strong ethereal presence comforted him, somewhat. Swift seemed a lot happier.

((P.S. Here is a picture of Eternity Served Cold))

"Taxing for more than one." Vassago said with a hint of grudging exhaustion. Bags formed under his eyes and he sniffed up a little blood from his nose.

Snake Eyes shifted through her jacket until she produced a packet of cigarettes and lit one, taking a good long drag. "Hold on for a sec pally. For the sake of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of this city, I gots to ask ya exactly why you gotta punish us for somethin we don't even know we did." She frowned.

"Ah mean, some shmuck just runs around the middle of th' street and collapses, gets some weird Stigmata or somethin' then threatens to punish all of Manehatt'n and talks to somepony that ISN'T THERE."


Vassago chuckled a little bit. "Exactly, Ethereal Sentient Scythes are saddly, not a commonly known phenomenon."

Snake eyes gave Vassago a confused look. "a scythe?" Vassago waved the mare off. "It would only confuse you."

The three ponies ran into a strange mare with black, white-less eyes and a pair of broken bindings.

"Restraint Clause?" Vassago quipped as he looked at the bands of metal. "What's up with those manacles? And why are your eyes so-"

Snake Eyes cut off her younger companion with a hiss.

Literally.

"Vassssago." Snake Eyes' tongue flicked in and out of her mouth for a moment.

Vassago shut up a moment as Snake Eyes did the talking.
"Well? You gots alota explain, man."

((I had to Change Eternity's character. Her name is Starlight now. No runes on the bindings, no ethereal presence.))

"Oh, these?" She said, "They're something of a fashion statement. As for Swift here, leave him alone. As he said, he's had a very taxing day, and he needs his rest." Swift Reaper was practically falling asleep at that point, so the small filly picked him up and slung him over her back with surprising ease.

"I will answer your questions once I take my friend here home." She looked up and grinned as she heard him snore. "Let's walk together, I'm headed towards the cemetery."

"He's too tired?" Vassago made a face at The mare with funny Eyes. "I just saved this town from an Eldritch Abomination of unknowable terror. He just got his plot handed to him." The foal stuck his nose in the air haughtily. "I don't think he earned the right to be tired."

Snake Eyes regarded the mare in a very calm manner. "All due respect. I really 'ppreciate all ya doin for your friend. I really do. Family's all ya got right?"

Snake Eyes roughly grabbed the exhausted stallion and yanked him away from Starlight. "But we don' have time for no beauty sleep! HA? Wakey wakey Princess!" She slapped the stallion in the face pretty damn hard. She held him by the collar of his green garb and shook violently.

Vassago stared at Snake wordlessly. "Uh... Hey calm down. His friend is right there..." He motioned to Starlight uneasily.

"No! This buckin bassstard thinksss he can threaten my cccity and then go off for Beddy Bye Time withought another word? No diccce. This bassstard'sss lucky I don' kick his bucking teeth in!" She yelled and hissed, quite angry.

She growled  at the unconscious stallion, then snapped at Vassago. "Yo Kid! Wake this sad sack of shit up!"

The foal flinched slightly, unused to being yelled at. "Uh... Yeah... okay... No need to swear so much..." He constructing the mechanics of a Night Owl's Friend (Something to wake up Swift) spell. He started to mutter to himself and stare up at the sky every so often.

"Buckin hell. You talk just like Angel." She briefly glanced at the stallion's mare friend. "Sorry Pal, On behalf of the ponies of Manehattan, this cannot wait." Snake Eyes slapped Swift once more for good measure.

"SO WAKE UP" She screamed in his face.

Extra hard.

Swift kept sleeping through all of this, surprisingly. He was in something of a coma.

"Here we go again..." Muttered starlight as she looked on with tired, annoyed eyes that seemed to say 'I really don't need this right now.' It was then that Darkloom decided that enough was enough.

The scythe popped into the material plane, blade hooked around the neck of the one harassing his master. "You'd best stop that, friend. You wouldn't want anypony to get hurt, would you?"

If a scythe could grin evilly, it would've been right then. The blade morphed to tighten around the mare's neck, encircling it completely.

Meanwhile, starlight looked up at the sky to see night falling. Her horn started glowing as she seemed to get happier and bouncier and less tired almost instantly. "HiHowAreYouMrSnakePersonI'mGreatBecauseIt'sNightAndTheStarsAreOutAndYou'reNotOkaySorryButICan'tHelpYo-"

"Please be quiet, Starlight. I'm conducting an investigation here..." Said Darkloom, almost happily.

Starlight shut right up then.

The only indication of Snake Eye's surprise was her eyebrows rising slightly as the cold steel of the scythe wrapped around her neck.
She shook it off. "Look, Pal. Your friend here's got some explaining to do..."

Vassago watched the scythe, taking it in and analysis it. How in Equestria does a inanimate object gain a mind? The foal turned his attention to the mare as the stars came out.

"HiHowAreYouMrSnakePersonI'mGreatBecauseIt'sNightAndTheStarsAreOutAndYou'reNotOkaySorryButICan'tHelpYo-"

The foal tittered childishly at the hyperactive antics of Starlight.

"Please be quiet, Starlight. I'm conducting an investigation here..." The scythe said.

Snake Eye's raised an eyebrow and frowned angrily. "An Investigation?" a metal rod extended from her jacket pocket and parried the scythe's blade from her neck, giving her room to turn around and face her adversary.

"Listen here Dick Bag! I'm the-" She stared at the empty space where the wielder of the blade should have been.

her head slightly lowered as she turned her attention to the scythe itself. "What the Buck?"

As a worshiper of a demonic personification of Disharmony and Chaos, It takes a lot to phase Snake Eyes.

She just went right back at it. "I'm the one doin the Investigating here! An now we got a Buckin talking pile of scrapmetal here! Your 'friend' here's got a whole buckton to answer for!" She brandished her (stolen) police baton at the scythe vengefully.

Vassago rolled his eyes and stepped off of Snake Eyes. "Don't be a dummy," he said to Snake. "We can't ask a comatose pony questions. I feel like making a spell to wake him up."

"And you." The foal turned around.

Now most ponies would not notice this about Vassago, but Darkloom was not a pony. Darkloom was a magic, intelligent scythe.

When Vassago turned around, the space on the Ethereal plane around the foal seemed to be pulled away. Like a pony sized outline, space and time bent around him.

"You need to calm down before I do something drastic." The foal said very calmly to Darkloom.
"I don't usually get to meet Sentient weapons. It would be a shame if I had to break the first one I ever saw."

"Intelligent Weapon? Hah! Who are you calling inanimate? Darkloom, spirit of Murder and Mirth, at your service, Mr. Vassago." Darkloom said, mockingly. "You see, Astral Slayer, I have something of a binding contract with our sleeping friend here. I become an inanimate object, he lets my kill things. Oh, and how fun it is! A unicorn here, a falcon there. I'm even allowed to gauge eyes out. Do you know how fun it is to gauge eyes out? Do you have any clue whatsoever? Well, let me tell you, it's FUN."

"Also, word spreads quickly in the Planar Continuum. There is now a bounty of 1000 souls on your head, Astral Slayer. Tread carefully."

"Now, as for you, Snake Eyes, worshiper of Discord. Discord is a nice guy, I've met him in a Planar Rift. Such a hilarious fellow, but that's not the point. The point is that Swift here isn't going to punish you. Ever heard of possession? Well, he was possessed by angry spirits. They want to punish you and your worthless city, not my sleepy friend here. Congradulations, you just made yourself look like an idiot in front of a crowd of several hundred demons! I'm sightcasting live!" he then burst into hysterical laughter, the scythe clattering around on the ground.

"Ta-ta, mortals. My acquaintances here need to get home. Meet me in the bottom floor of the crypt if you wish to discuss more." With that, the trio vanished, presumably to the crypt. A resonance trail was visible to Vassago, leading the way to the crypt.

Vassago and Snake Eyes listened to the Psychopathic Trickster God with mixed reactions.

Vassago, for one, was fascinated. A personification of one of the oldest form of myths in known history! Talking to Him! The only thing that would make this day better was to see his Master in the flesh.

Snake Eyes, behind her glasses, channeled all of her hate into glaring at the scythe. Some ponies say that the power of raw emotion can sometimes effect the real world. She hated that damn thing so much, if she could hate it to death she would.

When the trio disappeared, Vassago sighed in content and Snake Eyes groaned in annoyed disgust.

"'Astral Slayer' Huh?" Vassago smirked smugly. "Not too shabby..."

Snake Eyes snorted. "That bucking scythe is going to bite it, I swear."

"Oooh! and I have a price on my head!" Vassago's eyes sparkled with pride as he whispered to himself. "I've never had a price on my head..."

"Uh... yeah... about that. Listen pal, I don't know you, but You should probably head out." She bit her lip in thought. "It sounds like a bunch of... uh... 'Astral Demons' (or some shit I don't even bucking know)... are coming after you."

Vassago groaned, but nodded. "Okay... Although my death at the hooves/tentacles/limbs of a Astral Demon is the LAST thing that is going to happen." Snake Eyes raised an eyebrow. "How d'ya figure that?"

Vassago gave her a knowing wink. "With friends like mine, you don't have to worry about much."

Snake Eyes turned around as she got out another cigarette. "Yeah, you must have some friend in high places. You creepy ass motherbucker."

"I do hope your not talking to me, My Dear." A familiar voice said.

Snake Eyes turned around, Vassago had disappeared, only to be replaced by a much friendlier face.


This unicorn was no foal, he was a stallion. His golden mane was curled all around his head, and his soft blue eyes were framed by his rounded spectacles. His white coat made the ensemble very complete. He wore a tweed jacket of a earthy brown palette and a blue argyle sweatervest with a little red bowtie.

"Angel!" Snake Eyes grinned widely at Seraph Principatus. "No! I was- He was right- Aw buck this!" She grabbed the stallion by his lapel, he squeaked with surprise, and locked lips with him.

After a good ten seconds of... well... physical intimacy, Snake Eyes withdrew and smacked her lips satisfactory. "Damn you taste good!"

Seraph, Taken aback and thoroughly flustered, blushed so brightly his white face turned completely red.

"I-I say! Whatever is the occasion, Old Boy!" He whispered to her conspiratorially "If this is one of your silly 'Pranks' I am going to take you in."

Snake Eyes laughed. "Naw, dude. I just... I dunno. I just remembered why I keep you around."

Seraph adjusted his bow tie and his glasses indignantly. "Well I do hope you got your jollies out. Public Displays of Affection are not illegal, but they can be very... suspicious."

Darkloom reappeared. "What, too rude to accept an invitation? I am offended! As for the newcomer here, who I have not heard of, you should definitely come too! Here, this way!" said Darkloom as he teleported all three of them to a sealed room in a crypt. The whole place was covered in dust, the coffins overflowing with riches. "Well, here's your room. Have fun, you two, I'll catch you later."

With that, Darkloom vanished, and the solid stone door slammed shut behind the two ponies, seemingly merging with the walls. There was a minuscule vent up for air, but there was something... off... about this room.

"Hoo hoo hoo! Who are you?"

"Yeah? UP YOURS PAL." Snake Eyes made an obscene gesture in the direction of the door.

Seraph stared at the scythe for a moment as it disappeared, a worried and frightened expression crossed his face as he looked around for the source of the second, quieter voice. "Goodness Gracious, Old Boy, whatever have you gotten us into!"

Snake Eyes snorted and sat down, frusterated. "I don't bucking know! That little twerp kid knows more about what the buck is bucking happening than I do!" She took a deep breath to calm down. "So you know the Graveyard in Little Hoofton?"

Seraph nodded. "I never really liked that one. T'would always seem rather strange."

"Yeah, well some colt lives there. Looks to be in his twenties maybe, All done up in some weird green ninja getup. So I was...uh... well t'be perfectly frank I was going to 'Prank' the place. So the kid goes nutball, runs around freaking out all the way to the town square. This one Kid, uh Vassago I think his name is pops up, then passes out next to the guy. The green weirdo then starts getting these cuts and wounds all over his body!" Snake Eyes adjusted her lapel, pleased as punch. "So bein the good Samaritan I am, I help the kid out and do what I could. Then he goes all Exorcist , but I guess that was the... the... How th'buck did the glorified wheat cutter put it?"

"He was possessed by angry spirits." Snake Eyes nodded satisfactory at her explanation. Seraph was not so pleased. "What was the scythe." He asked, his normally bright blue eyes now ice cold.

"Uh... apparently the personification of Mirth and Murder."

Seraph let his horn light up the room in a warm light. "Something else is here. Do you feel it?"

"I think I heard whatever it is."

Seraph looked up at the vent. "Here. Try to see if you can pry that grate off the vent."

Seraph hoisted Snake Eyes up to the vent. The mare was slightly shorter than Seraph, but reached it none the less. The mare gave it an experimental probe. "Hey! It's sort of loose! I think I can move it!"