EcstaticWind

@@~Chaotic Eddie~, "Yeah. Can't wait." Dash said, following behind Spitfire. "So, uh, how many ponies do we have, anyway? There's you, me and Wrench, but how many others?" Dash had a good reason for asking and Spitfire probably knew what it was. The quality of a soldier wasn't always the only thing that made up a fight. The quantity also played a part in how a fight goes, and even elite pilots can be taken down with enough bodies are thrown at them.

@@~Chaotic Eddie~, Dash blushed. "Yeah, I guess that's true. So, uh, yeah. Let's go meet them. We've probably kept them waiting a while. Which I don't regret because you're my gorgeous marefriend and I love you lots." She said, nuzzling Spitfire. While Dash still felt a little nervous, it was very much toned down compared to how it was before. After all, Spitfire believed in her, and so did her friends. The least she could do was have a little faith in herself as well.

@@~Chaotic Eddie~, Dash wasn't normally one for crying, but this was the exception. She wasn't sad, rather the opposite. She was unbelievably happy and overcome with emotion. She dried her eyes and looked straight into Spitfire's eyes. "I didn't think of you as my enemy, Sweets. More like a rival. Somepony who could give me a challenge and make me feel more alive." She grinned a little at the thought of their moment the previous night as her tears started to slow. "And you sure know how to make a mare feel alive. Doncha, Sweets?" She wiped away her tears and winked at Spitfire.

@@Hypn0ticD, "Hey." Aegis replied, still in a more relaxed and confident state of mind compared to the previous night. He sat down on the bed with the tray containing Shawn's breakfast. "I made you an onion and pepper omelette with a glass of milk. It's not really complicated or fancy, but it's the thought that counts." Aegis brushed some of his hair back and smiled at Shawn. Though he felt nervous. Would Shawn like it? Everyone else seemed to, yet Shawn's opinion seemed to matter more. Perhaps it was due to the attraction he felt for the human, which seemed to be mutual based on how Aegis had been treated since meeting Shawn. --- Chrysalis was not so happy. The food Aegis made for her was untouched as she sat back down on the couch, fuming. Who in Equestria did Stephen think he was? Talking to her like that? If it wasn't for the fact that she needed him, Aegis and Shawn, she'd figure out some way to be rid of him. Quickly if possible. But his attitude was grating on her nerves. But for the sake of Cicada and any changelings lost in this world, she had to be strong. And when she got back to Equestria, she'd find a way to rid her people of the geis and reclaim her lost honour. But with her horrible night and a morning that wasn't much better, the weight of these burdens was too heavy and she broke down in silent tears.

@@Miss Reaper, @@Astral Legend, @@~The Snowy Wolf~, Alex wandered back into the kitchen, taking the still whistling kettle off the active hotplate and turning off the stove. It would be a little while before it cooled down enough to make tea with and he needed something to help him relax and think about this rationally before he gave himself a stress-induced heart attack. So, Corsica wasn't one of Fluttershy and Spike's friends. That was kind of a pity because having another of her friends around would help Fluttershy's confidence. And he had enough to worry about without adding their quirks to it. He just wanted to go and calm down with a few games, but that wouldn't make him a good host. He came back out to the living room and sat down in the seat in front of the laptop, looking incredibly stressed by now. To think he'd been playing Titanfall not long ago and now all this... (It's kinda crappy, but that is honestly all I got right now.)

Aaren Grey @, @@SilverHeart, @, Just before Aaren decided to apply force, he thought better of it. The man had suffered enough at the hands of Witch Hunters, and Aaren wasn't going to prolong it. He reminded himself that he was not his master and would do things his own way. "My sincerest apologies, sir. Thank you for your co-operation and assistance." After that, he left to rejoin Silne and Alice. "I can't argue with you results, but let's try a different approach next time. Sometimes it's better to show some mercy than to create more enemies." Aaren said. His suggestion was guided by his nature, a kind and benevolent person. He refused to change that so far.

Poppy Seed @, "Feel better soon, Dove." Poppy said, though given how quickly Dove left, it was debatable if she'd even heard Poppy's well wishes. Poppy simply shrugged and poured some tea for herself, taking one of the scones. So far, it was a decent start to her holiday. The location seemed nice, some of the ponies seemed nice, and she didn't have to pay for anything except for art. Other things could easily be chalked up to everypony just needing to get used to each other and the locale. Tomorrow, once she was better settled, she could start to get to know everypony better.

@@~Chaotic Eddie~, "Yep. Princess Twilight gave me that pistol. She said it was special in some way, but I never figured out how or why. But it works wonders." Dash said, getting a fond look in her eye as she remembered her friends. Then Spitfire commented on the armour, snapping Dash out of it and back to the present. "Yeah, it fits pretty good, feels pretty good and actually smells clean. It's lookin' up a little, Sweets." Dash moved forward to embrace her marefriend again. "Thanks for everything you've done for me so far, Sweets. It really means a lot that you took me in, even though I was technically an enemy. And..." Dash trailed off, tears of joy starting to flow down her cheeks. "D-don't tell anypony I c-cried, though."

Aaren Grey @, Aaren decided to try a different approach to it, taking a more casual tone and phrasing. "Well, the information would be useful to us, but I'm sure a businessman like yourself could realize the position you're in. You have a Witch Hunter asking you for information, and I'm more than willing to bargain for it. So, name your price, sir." Aaren really hoped this would work. This information could be useful, but in his current state, bargaining with Deseer could be difficult. That said, Silne had proven that if bargaining didn't work, he can bully it out of him. He'd prefer not to throw threats around right now. It'd bring unwanted attention down on him. But if this attempt at bargaining didn't work, he'd have to be cruel.

@@~Chaotic Eddie~, Dash took off the holster and hoofed it over to Spitfire. "Would you mind holding this? That pistol's got some sentimental value to me. It was a gift from my friends when I joined the military. It saved my life a time or two." With the holster taken off, Dash could try on the armour. As she slid into the sleeves and started fastening the zippers and buckles, she thought to herself that she'd almost forgotten what the actual armour felt like. While it wasn't exactly designed for comfort, it was much better than her old suit and best of all, didn't smell like some kind of rotting corpse or plant matter. "Not bad at all, Sweets. Pretty lucky you had this lyin' around, huh?"

@@Hypn0ticD, Alone with the phone thingy and the big window thingy and some free time while Erick was getting ready. Pinkie's dilemma started instantly. She was curious about what these things did and how they worked, but the last time she went and touched everything hadn't worked out well. But eventually, curiosity won out and she moved over to inspect the phone, turning it over and looking at it from all angles trying to figure out how to turn it on. "Is there an 'on' switch for this? Does it work by voice? Maybe I'll try it. Ahem...turn on." She said, though nothing seemed to happen. So she started pressing buttons to see if that worked. The screen lit up, but Pinkie couldn't figure out the symbols. Naturally, she picked at random, activating the camera function. "Oooh...How does this work?"

Poppy Seed @, She raised an eyebrow at the bits and slid them back. "Uh, you don't have to pay me anything. The tea and scones were free. Y'know, if you were tired from the carriage ride, you could've just said so. I would've understood. Lots of ponies feel awful after a long ride." Poppy said, coming to the closest available explanation with the information provided. Things seemed to be getting weird very quickly. Poppy just chalked it up to everypony trying to adjust to this place. It was a lot better than imagining crazy conspiracy stories about everypony. Or so Poppy thought, anyway.

@@Hypn0ticD, "Looks wonderful, Aegis! I'd say for someone who's using their hands for the first time, you did a damned good job. Thanks!" Aegis smiled at the compliment. "You're welcome, Stephen." --- "What was this favor you're promising Aegis...?" Chrysalis shrugged. "That was for Aegis to decide. In exchange for some of her love, I would owe her a favour. It'd be best if it came from her, since she's smitten with your twin brother. And given the vibes I got from him, he feels similarly attracted to her. And placing myself in her debt seemed preferable to me simply taking it by force. Furthermore, I have to find some way to make it up to you all for my behaviour last night." She said, starting to eat her omelette. If she weren't a changeling, it might be fulfilling, but sadly, it couldn't restore her power or sustain her body. --- Aegis crept over to the desk and set the tray down, before creeping over to the bed beside Shawn. He sat down and whispered sweetly to Shawn. "Breakfast is ready, Shawn. Time to wake up."

@@~Chaotic Eddie~, Dash jumped as Spitfire yelled and the armoury door crashed open. She darted over as Spitfire was getting up. "Hey! Are you ok, Sweets? Are you hurt?" Dash asked, approaching Spitfire and checking her over. Of course, once she reached Spitfire's flanks, she stopped, let go and blushed. "Sorry about that. But seriously, are you ok?"

Poppy Seed @, "Nothing to worry about? You were really cheerful and happy a while ago, now you're acting really sour. That is something to worry about. So what's wrong, Dove?" Poppy asked. She was going to get to the bottom of this somehow, though it was partly for selfish reasons. Dove was Poppy's roommate and thus, Poppy didn't want to share a room with a sourpuss. That would ruin her holiday, and she got so few chances to go on holiday as it was.

When Dash was finished with the steamer, she looked around for her gear. Aside from the pile of mush that used to be Pilot armour, she found some of it. Carbine, pistol and her empty Mag Launcher. She sat down and started to take the carbine apart for cleaning and maintainnence. She'd probably have to ask Spitfire about replacement parts. Then she realized something. She had no idea where the armoury was. She put the carbine back together and set it aside, strapping on her pistol holster and heading out into the hallway. Taking it slow and careful at first, she checked around for sounds of movement.

Poppy Seed @, Poppy looked to Dove as she came and sat down. Poppy was likely going to meet up with Rosewood later, so she could wait for that. In the meantime, Dove didn't seem as cheery as she was earlier. In fact, she seemed like a different pony. One who didn't seem like she was in the mood for talk. 'Well, that's tough. I'm gonna get to the bottom of this and find out exactly what that mare's done to Dove.' "Hey. You ok, Dove? What's eating ya?" Poppy asked, lightly nudging Dove to get her attention.

Aaren Grey @@SilverHeart, @, @, "When they say the item is cursed, it should be treated with utmost caution, regardless of how worthless it may seem. If these are fakes then we were wrong and possibly stopped someone selling fake items as if they were the real deal. If they are cursed, then we have potentially saved people and those items should be destroyed." Aaren said, sounding harsher than he did before. If there was one thing he agreed with almost every other Hunter on, it was that magic had to eliminated. Still, he took a breath and returned to his more relaxed frame of mind and turned to Deseer. "What did you mean by those that came before us? Have other Hunters come here recently?" Aaren asked, sliding a gold piece across to him.

@@Hypn0ticD, Pinkie was in awe of the carriages, but she didn't quite feel as happy about the drab colours. It just didn't seem right to her. Maybe she'd have to do something about that once she found her friends. Twilight could whip up a spell, no problem. But no one really looked happy. At least, not how Pinkie would define it. "Does anypony smile around here? Why are the only colours out here some kind of grey and maybe brown? Does fun exist in this world? Oh, maybe that's it! Maybe we need to bring fun here when we find my friends." Pinkie babbled all the way to Erick's apartment, skipping along beside him. She finally finished her rambling, having reached the topic of watermelons somehow, by the time they reached the building. Pinkie simply skipped inside with a cheery “Thank you!”, hands behind her back and her frilly skirt bouncing merrily. While Erick sorted things out with the man at the front desk, Pinkie's eyes wandered until she heard Erick get flustered, prompting a giggling fit from the pink-haired former party pony. She kept giggling and laughing all the way to the elevator. --- “So, that boxy window thingy you were looking at back at the cafe place...what is that thing? What does it do? Is it just a window thingy to let you look at people you don’t know? And why'd that guy say what he said?” Pinkie asked, bombarding Erick with questions in the elevator. The ride itself was boring, so Pinkie decided to satisfy her curiosity. --- "It's no Canterlot, but it's home!" It did look like a home alright. Pinkie looked around the place, though she looked like she wanted to inspect everything more closely. This meant touching things, some of which she probably wasn’t supposed to touch. Taking the lesson she learned from her little misadventure with Cranky Doodle Donkey, she’d decided against it...for now. Not that she had much choice in the matter, since Erick was leading her somewhere, but the entertainment system caught her eye. “Oooh, another one of those window thingies. Does this one do what the little one does, only bigger?” Of course, she was swiftly led to a bedroom and handed what appeared to be clothes. For some reason, the pants had pictures of her and her friends on it. And the shirt had a silhouette of her. “It’s a picture of me!” She exclaimed happily as she changed clothes, her old ones laying haphazardly on the floor. Once she was done changing, she came out in the shirt, pants and her socks. “These are really comfy. I like the breezy feel.”

@@~Chaotic Eddie~, Dash was a little disappointed that her steam massage had to end, but there was a lot to do and a war to fight. "Yeah. I bet they're just going to love seeing me." Truth be told, she was still a little nervous about meeting them. If she was particularly unlucky, she probably shot at one or two of them once or cost them a Titan. How could they stand to work with somepony they once considered an enemy? She continued to worry about it until she pressed the steamer nozzle to her body. The steam helped her relax and think clearly. She wouldn't have been allowed in if she wasn't a deserter or abandoned by the Solar Empire. Spitfire would've known she was faking and she'd be dead at the doorstep. And even if Spitfire couldn't tell right away, Dash's loyalties would start to conflict and it'd show anyway. She was in no danger here. The real danger was out there on the battlefields.

@@~The Snowy Wolf~, @@Miss Reaper, @@Astral Legend, "First off, you don't have to explain a thing. You're from Equestria, right? Well, you're not the first Equestrian I've found. Why not come and meet the others? Then I've got a call to make and the four of us need to figure out living arrangements while I think of an alibi for you guys being here. If it was just one of you, Dad would just assume I met a girl at work and, like all teenagers do, brought her home while he wasn't here. 2 girls and a kid is not so easy to explain." Alex said, with a strained expression on his face as he unwittingly worked himself into a panic. He led her back down to the living room. "Fluttershy, Spike, we have another guest. Her name is Corsica. Sound familiar at all?" He didn't intend to sound on edge, but he was starting to feel like he couldn't handle this situation and panic was inevitable.

Poppy Seed @@SilverHeart, "Barley tea is fine." Poppy said, though she stopped at Rosewood's question. "So when Prince Blueblood said all expenses paid, he meant it literally? Wow." When Rosewood gestured for another customer to come forward, Poppy shrugged. She was disappointed, but having a similar job herself, she could understand Rosewood's situation. "Guess I'll talk to you some later. Cheers, Ms Rosewood." She turned to see that Dove was busy talking to somepony else, shrugged again and took a seat about halfway between the counter and the door. Far enough away that she couldn't be seen as some kind of stalker, but close enough to admire Rosewood's looks.

Aaren Grey @@SilverHeart, @, Aaren stayed back a bit, appraising the wares and the situation. Of all of them, he'd probably pick the box as the one being the most dangerous, despite it being the one that doesn't fit with the others. Of course, with the way the merchant was acting, he was starting to look suspicious. Not enough evidence to accuse him of being a witch, but he wasn't doing a good job of acting innocent. 'He's into some shady business, and it doesn't take a genius to figure that out. Even if he's not a witch, this isn't exactly right. The items are either stolen or fakes, but it's not easy to tell since the metal isn't one I recognize. If they're real, the box is the least impressive and doesn't fit, so it could likely be the most dangerous. If they're not, then it's the most obvious fake. The other ones are all impressive and eye-catching, so they look dangerous and attractive. Honestly, whether they're real or not doesn't much matter. This guy isn't going to put up much of a resistance, so we could probably scare him into complience.' Aaren ran through the thoughts in his head, just watching to see what will happen. This would prove interesting and a good way to get a better idea of his companion, Silne.

@@Hypn0ticD, Aegis paused to wave back to Stephen before getting back to cooking. He was already getting back to normal...kind of. The form was different, but Aegis was already getting back into his general steady frame of mind. Which was good, considering he was handling a sharp knife. Chrysalis, meanwhile, simply sat and pondered some things. Foremost in her mind was whether she done too much damage to consider asking their forgiveness, a feat that would require her to swallow her pride. It made her feel weak and helpless to consider such a thing, but it would be necessary to get them on her side. --- A little bit later, Aegis tracked down Stephen and Chrysalis, setting plates with omelettes in front of them along with cutlery and a glass of milk each because he didn't know what the coffee machine was. "Onion and pepper omelettes. Not bad for my first attempt at cooking with unfamiliar appendages. Anyway, enjoy." Chrysalis stood up. "Wait a sec. Aegis...I would like to make a request. One kiss to replenish my power, and I promise you a favour in return." "I'll think about it. For now, I've got to take Shawn's breakfast to him." Aegis said, getting back to the kitchen and trying to figure out what Chrysalis wanted. Last night, she'd just forcibly kissed him and now she was trading favours? She was up to something for sure. But he put it out of his mind as he took the tray in to Shawn, checking to see if he was awake before entering the room.

Poppy Seed @@SilverHeart, Poppy grinned and raised an eyebrow at Rosewood, watching where her eyes were going. "Wouldn't dream of telling a soul. If you're free later, we could meet up somewhere and get to know each other a little better. For now, just some tea and scones, please." She said, glancing back at the ponies behind her and starting to count out bits. Rosewood seemed like a nice pony and what she'd said could probably land her in trouble. Not a desirable goal for a holiday unless you're a politician, which Poppy wasn't. Besides, it could be fun to hang around Rosewood and see where this debt/offer takes her. She had a suspicion, but not much to go off of aside from Rosewood's gaze. Not much of a reason to go planning things.