TEST DRIVE MEME - OCTOBER 2018

[phantasmods]

Hello and welcome to Phantasmal Rift's Test Drive Meme!

Test drive threads are assumed to be game canon for accepted characters unless otherwise noted, so don't feel like you'll have to introduce yourself a second time to everyone you meet! As an added bonus, participation in the test drive comes with the chance to earn up to two items of loot for your trouble! Characters who are accepted can earn one item for having a top level, and one for tagging out to someone else's top level! Your SWEET LOOT will be included with your acceptance notice.

Additionally, characters currently in game can earn themselves a piece of bonus loot for the dungeon by tagging people's top-levels on the test drive! Existing characters get their bonus loot along with the rest of their loot at the conclusion of the dungeon.

This test drive takes place in Silvereagle Manor. Once upon a time, this castlelike home was the refuge of a family of magical nobility straddling the line between church and liege. Then, some centuries after the family itself died out or dispersed to the winds, the building was restored and preserved as a historical heritage site, complete with lots of little museum plaques and a ticket counter in the huge entrance hall. Then after that, an apocalypse of sorts happened, and now the building's stood empty for a century, surrounded by magical distortions with quite interesting effects.

SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

One of these effects will be immediately apparent to those who find themselves in the manor or upon the grounds, as it affects near all who enter within, whether they arrive through the shifting of dimensions or more mundane means. It is, after all, quite a sudden change to not be in the body you instinctively recognize as your own.

Though the changes will be significantly greater for some than others, and nearly everyone will be basically recognizable as themselves, they will find that the type of being they are as has shifted. They might be an alien, or a robot, or a fantasy creature - or, if they're not normally human, they might suddenly find themselves to be such. With luck, the experience isn't too disorienting, but...

Well, any new arrivals are likely to be glad of the veterans hanging around to explain that this is surely only temporary, aren't they?

GARDEN OF TRUTH

The forward grounds of the manor, once a well-cared for path up to the building complete with a fountain and carriage loop, are now almost entirely coated in creeping ivy. It climbs the remains of ornamental trees and the scattered lamp posts around the grounds - some of which still attempt to flicker weakly in response to the passage of travellers, magical lights lighting no more than a few feet in a circle around them against the rain.

Did I mention that it's raining? Whether it's a steady drizzle or something more intense, the gardens are constantly under cloud and experiencing the wet weather of autumn more often than not. You may end up wanting to run for the cover of the front stairs of the manor house itself, which provides more than enough cover for those not willing to venture into the ruined building itself.

But whether you're on the stairs or out in the wet, you'll feel a tickle in the back of your throat... All characters in the entry garden will find themselves compelled to tell the truth to whoever they're talking to. Lying is nearly impossible, and even if you manage it, it won't reach the ears of the listener as anything more than mumbling - and attempts to simply omit the truth will cause the itch in your throat to increase to the point that it becomes unbearable. Better get ready to spill your guts.

PUT ON YOUR DANCING SHOES

Inside those doors, beyond the entrance hall and its abandoned ticket counters, you'll be able to follow a thread of music to another set of grand doors, and opening those reveals a beautiful, pristine ballroom. This room is obviously affected by the magic of the building in some kind of way - even if it were not for the music, the unnatural cleanliness of the room compared to the disrepair of the rest of the building, there's the translucent shadows of dancers spinning around the floor. Engaged in waltzes and pavanes to the music, they are largely indistinct to those who are flesh and blood.

If you choose to enter in among the sweeping ballgowns and robes - possibly with your clothes having suddenly manifested into appropriately matching attire themselves by the magic of this place - you're likely to find that one of the specters takes your hands to lead or by led in the dance. No good comes from dancing without a partner, after all! The images, for all their wispiness, are surprisingly forceful in this matter, with unnaturally strong grips and a penchant for steering through the middle of the group, and it might be a while until you can lead your new partner back to the edge of the dance floor in order to beg off. However, those who enter the dancefloor with a partner already in hand will find themselves ignored by the dancers, as are those who enter with the intention of sweeping someone already inside off their feet.

SPOOKY SCARY...

The dancers aren't the only haunted things having fun around the first floor. While there's any number of magically animated brooms and dusters fighting a doomed battle against cobwebs and mildew, they're not the only thing moving about. With the music from the ballroom filtering across the whole floor, you might occasionally hear the clack-clack of something hard hitting the floor.

Where the skeletons come from is a question for another day. Because they're certainly... here... and they've come to dance themselves right into the dust, since they have, apparently, already danced their hearts out.

Unlike the ballroom dancers, the skeletons are performers - many of them have questionable hats, capes made of drapes, or other accessories to dance with, and once they realize they have an audience, they'll do their best to insert themselves into the line of a character's vision as much as possible. They're actually rather friendly and nonviolent, as much as skeletons can be, and rather than fighting over the spotlight, most of them will coordinate their dancing if they wind up sharing someone's attention. If you ever wanted to see how many synchronized cha-cha-ing skeletons you can collect into a single room... Well, now you have a chance to live out that extremely specific fantasy, I guess.

Comments

Sunset Shimmer | My Little Pony: Equestria Girls

[ponyup]

[ A different something ]

[ And upon the mansion's grounds, there's a clopping of hooves as a new figure emerges. Standing upright, like a human, and looking confused - first at her surroundings, then looking down at herself - there seems to be a unicorn here. A small unicorn - barely above three feet tall even standing on her hind hooves like she is, imitating a human's pose. And, even more noticeably, she's got a brilliant orange coat, and a mane of red striped with bright gold.

After taking in her new form, the unbalanced nature of her new form catches up with her. The unicorn waves her - arms? - front hooves around in the air, windmilling them around to try and maintain balance before just falling forward onto her hooves. ]

O... okay. How the heck did I get back to Equestria? [ She glances around once more. ] And where exactly in Equestria am I?


[ Baring you soul in the garden of truth ]

[ It's not like Sunset Shimmer is truth-adverse, but everybody - everypony? - has a couple things they don't want to blurt out to random strangers.

But she can't quite make out the magical compulsions at play here. Still, she's walking through the garden, heading toward the mansion - but only to take shelter from the rain.

She'll call out if she sees somebody else- ] Hey, everything all right over there? Come on, I think I still remember a drying spell - as long as we can get somewhere dry first.


[ Can't dance with four left feet ]

What kind of magic--? [ Sunset Shimmer is surprised to find her, uh, clothing-less form suddenly in a horse-appropriate red dress.... with a black leather jacket over top of it. If she's being honest? Totally her style. But what kind of magic is over this place that--

oh there's a shade of some sort dragging her off for a dance. ]

I'm, uh, I don't - No, please? [ It's not taking no for an answer though. ] How are we even supposed to dance like this!?

A-lso I'm so sorry

[redmeguca]

Equestria? That's not anywhere I've ever heard of.

[The source of the intruding voice trots into view, a russet equine who would be a perfectly normal horse if not for the human torso where it's head would otherwise be. In plainer terms, a centaur steps outside.]

[ponyup]

[ Sunset Shimmer sighs. That would be concerning, but given that she is a pony, and she hears hooves, there's definitely something strange afoot - ahoof.

She turns toward the voice, saying- ] That's ffffffffff---- you're a centaur. [ And guess what she noticed. ]

[redmeguca]

[A flat stare]

You're a unicorn.

[ponyup]

[ SH NO SPEAKY SUNSET IS BUSY TRYING TO MENTALLY FLIP BACK LIKE FIVE YEARS TO CELESTIA'S LESSONS - ]

Okay okay, centaurs, centaurs....

[ She was mostly speaking to herself there, but then suddenly addressing the centaur again- ] This isn't Tartarus, is it? I... I think I'd know if I was in Tartarus.

[ She quiets back down, talking to herself. ] So then this must be the kingdom of.... oh, gosh, did I even learn that kingdom's name?

[liveofftheland]

[Marie is a small fairy right now, trudging along the path with wings too soggy to fly.]

You're a horse. [Wait, the horse asked something.] I'm having a little trouble getting anywhere right now, yeah!

[ponyup]

I'm- I'm not a horse, I'm a unicorn. [ Which sounds a little dumb, when she thinks about it - all the time spent among humans means she knows the distinction isn't really all that great to them. But, you know. ]

Uh- I don't usually offer this, but you look like you could use a.... hoof. Need a ride? [ A normal person? Probably too big for ponies of Sunset's size. But a fairy? That's doable. ]

[liveofftheland]

[Marie wipes a raindrop off her face with her arm and runs towards Sunset.] Sure thing. It's probably safer inside.

B

[sparklingscience]

[ Since befriending the other twilight's friends and the mess with the friendship games and Everfree Forest, Twilight had gotten better at dealing with weird stuff but this was just kind of creeping her out a bit. Especially when one considered that she suddenly had a horn and wings that she was not accustomed to using or being there. Same went with the tail.

It didn't honestly help that she was out in the garden as well, stopping short when she heard that familiar voice calling out to her. She just... wasn't expecting to see Sunset looking like an actual pony but they could worry about that when they weren't somewhere so wet. ]

S-Sunset? I... I think that mansion might be drier than out here s-so if we hurry, we won't have to be out here much longer...

[ Especially considering the poor girl looks pretty damn soaked and a little chilled now. ]

[ponyup]

[ PSSSSH didn't midnight sparkle have all those things twi ]

I still have some questions - like why aren't you a pony, too - but they can wait until we're dry. Come on, Twilight. [ She goes at an easy trot - easy enough to keep up with, especially given Sunset's relative size to a person. ]

[sparklingscience]

[ She prefers to forget that, okay? That was an awful experience for everyone involved. Especially her. ]

Right! We can discuss everything better when we're inside. Neither of us will be much use if we get sick right after getting here... wherever that actually happens to be.

[ Oh she's definitely able to keep up, a pensive look on her face as her wings fold up a bit closer to her than before. Seeming almost to do it without her really thinking much about it. ]

I'm not sure why you got turned into a pony, but at least you're a better acquainted with that and not being really sure how to deal with the whole 'suddenly having wings, a tail and a horn' thing, like i am.

[ Wait. She hadn't really meant to be so... forward. That was a bit much, clasping her hands over her mouth for a moment. ]

Oh no... I didn't mean to say that out loud...

[C]ondolences from me, as well

[plentyfriendly]

<If I figure something out, I'll let you know.>

[The words come to Sunset's head in what is clearly someone else's voice. For her part, Phi is not sure the dramatic improvement to her psychic powers was worth trading away her mouth for... everything else it did to her body.

For one thing, she would prefer having a mouth. For another, she has two too many eyes, and those are on stalks growing out of the top of her forehead and thus through her hair, which is still dyed white even though it's now a kind of desaturated purple like the fur almost everywhere on her body.

Which is now significantly larger since she's on four hooves kind of like a centaur would be, even though the back half of her definitely can't be horse-sized. It's probably closer to a deer or something. Phi hasn't thought about that yet.

Trying to thoughtspeak over to Sunset briefly causes her to lose control of and trip over her long tail, which she is glad she didn't accidentally stab herself with the sharp end of, and collapse to the floor.]

<In the meantime, I want to get out of this room as soon as possible.>

[ponyup]

I- I mean, it'd be easier if my partner was also, you know....

...Are you all right? You, look like you're having quite a bit of trouble there. [ Sunset for her part is kind of, swaying along with her handsy, commanding spectral partner. But her attention is now focused on Phi. ]

[plentyfriendly]

<I'm not, but I'm doing as well as I can, considering.

I'm not usually... whatever this is. I don't actually know.>

A

[justwalkonin]

Have you tried looking for a bus?

[Very helpful wood... thing.]

[ponyup]

I don't think buses run in Equestria, and- whoa what are you supposed to be?

[justwalkonin]

...Do you ask everyone you meet such polite questions?

B

[class_struggle]

[This figure shrugs off the offer, conjuring a relatively cool ball of fire in his hand with a smile.]

Even if there weren't towels deeper in, I've got my own needs well in hand. Thank you for the offer.

A unicorn. That's new for a Namer; the ones from home weren't half as eloquent.

[ponyup]

O...kay. I guess you have magic too? [ WEIRD. ]

But I'm not really a-- well, it's complicated.

[class_struggle]

...I thought out loud again, didn't I? I'm sorry for that.

This place is within a rift between words, bleeding magic. I've not normally such a broad smile, [He says, grinning and pointing to an impressive pair of tusks.] - I tend to be quite human, most of the time.

A cause I gotta

[opensfuturesclosespasts]

Is that what this planet is called? Weird name, unless someone cracked FTL travel and we're orbiting a star in Equus.

[The bipedal felinoid girl here regards Sunset with no small amount of curiosity.]

Better explanation than the one I don't got, I'll take it.

[ponyup]

Usually if I'm in Equestria, it's because of a magic portal to another dimension. Maybe we all got magic portaled in, I don't know. [ Not knowing is... actually a little frustrating! ]

Baring Souls is Good for You!

[bastilashan]

[Bastila walks up to Sunset Shimmer looking a little like this guy. Her voice, however, is soft and feminine.]

So you know spells? Is that like using the Force? Is it like the magic of other beings here? Did you change, too? Are you new here? [Bastila finally takes a breath.]

Sorry, I am just a little disoriented by my new body. You see, I do not usually look like this. Let me start over.

Hello, my name is Bastila.

[ponyup]

UHHHH -

[ This is a lot for Sunset to take in. What even is this? Is this Bigfoot? Is she speaking to Bigfoot? Except Bigfoot is a girl and also not usually Bigfoot? Is that what's happening? ]

Hi. I'm Sunset Shimmer.

[ Good response, Sunset. ]

[bastilashan]

[No worries, she will try again. Let's take it a little at a time. Not too much for her either.]

Hello, Sunset Shimmer. It is nice to meet you. I am a Jedi Knight, we are guardians of the galaxy. I am usually a human female, but I seem to have been turned into a Wookie by this fissure. I take it you do not know what the fissures are?