The Elusive Cinder

Adrass. Genuinely interested in the device, Adrass leaned forward slightly to get a closer look. "It's quite impressive: I'd be interested in seeing how it operates in action. If we have chance..." A sudden gagging sound from across camp caught his attention, eyes flicking up. The traitorous harlot had distracted him while some other worked their vile deeds! Drawn his attention with a piece of technicality that he had no need to pay more than a passing glance to... In a fluid motion, the Witch Hunter was stood upright and marching towards the princess - paying no heed to the world around him as he did. Truthfully, he had no idea what was happening: there were several magics that might cause such an effect, either as a hostile attack or a side effect. It mightn't have been magic at all... but he wasn't going to take that risk. The very fact that it might be magic meant that he had to act. First rule of the order - always suspect. "Move!" He snapped as he neared the choking teenager - hand reaching inside the coat and pulling out one of the runic knives, whirling it menacingly as he did. The sigils emblazoned on the silver blades glowed with a faint blue, otherworldly light. The order would firmly deny that it was anything magical - but doubters had raised suspicions over the years. The negation runes were a hunters signature tool: designed to instil a measure of their ability to deny magic on whatever target they came into contact with. Of course, this was usually meant in an offensive way... but they did have secondary uses, as Adrass was willing to attempt. Second rule of the order - always deny. There was no way to be sure that this threat was actually magical in nature even... or even if it was, that the runes would actually be strong enough to have any type of effect. That was the reason he never disarmed: why each night he ritualistically tended to his weapons... at the very least he would be able to attempt a more visceral approach to ending whatever strange curse this was - by beheading whatever demon had conjured it! Third rule of the order: always prepare. Closing on the princess with the knife grasped firmly in his hand, he didn't even pause to consider how this might look from the outside.

Adrass. @, "Sentimental value." came the irritable response. "Probably the same reason you keep that think up your sleeve, then wave the bolts around for everyone to see." Setting down the bowl, he closed his eyes for a moment before drawing the shorter of the two blades. Selecting a glass vial attached to his belt and a rag from somewhere under the coat, he began to rub down the blade with the silver-flecked liquid. "Sometimes folks don't want to show their entire hand in one go." He said simply, shrugging with a half-smile despite his best attempts. "Sometimes we just have things that we don't want to wave around our in the open." Motioning towards the sleeve that the thief (as she seemed to have described herself rather openly) had been fiddling with, he decided to press further. "What's with that thing anyway? Not seen anything like it before."

Adrass. @, "No reason." Shrugged the walking armoury. Pistols on his chest and swords strapped to his back, a couple of knives would ordinarily have been the least likely thing to try and conceal - little more than a backup weapon: a last resort. These however, served a specific purpose. "Knives just tend to unnerve folks, that's all... weird, I know." He neglected to explain the nullifying runes or the unusual properties of these specific weapons. "Just wondered - you sounded like it, that's all." The hunter noted, changing the subject quickly. "Recognise the accent: apprentice of mine was from there. Good lass - bit too idealistic..." Adrass paused - scanning the skies and the land around them as the wave of magic settled over the land. It happened from time to time: an inescapable, unplesant fact of life. Probably dragons of some kind - it was far too powerful to be a Mage, which put it firmly outside his duty to deal with.

Adrass @, It was probably poisoned: that was his first thought. One didn't expect a gift from a Mage so easily and live for very long. On the other hand... if she was trying to poison him, he would have expected a more extreme attitude towards him. Open hatred or false friendship - not this vague indifference. Eyeing the stew warily, he looked over towards the girl as he finished loading the fifth gun, before nodding with as much appreciation as he could muster towards one of their kind. There was still a slight problem though... but he had to eat sooner or later. Pulling the makeshift bandanna of (possibly once) red cloth down, Adrass breathed the warm air of the fire - still marred by the stench of magic of course, but no longer tainted by the smell of sweat, blood and dirt which had accumulated over the past couple of years. 'And now a bloody Witch has seen your face. Should we throw out the rest of the rules too while we're at it? How about we wander around unarmed, singing and dancing? Ugh...' His face was - for the most part - fairly unmarked. There was no terrible disfigurement or mutation - no missing or miscarriages features. Several scars of varying depths crisscrossed the flesh at irregular intervals, the only thing distinguishing some of them from the others being that they would occasionally sport a blackened colour - a result of wounds that were caused by magical means as opposed to blades and the like. "Thanks." Grunted the hunter reluctantly, picking up the bowl and beginning to eat. And suddenly... nothing happened. No pain. No crippling agony or numbed mind. No spasms , shakes or sudden weakness. He wasn't poisoned - at least as far as he could tell. 'Huh...' He glanced back at the girl... woman... whatever. "Birchwood? Huh." He forced conversation between mouthfuls of food. "You're from Illia?"

Adrass. @, There was that question again: he didn't know why it bothered him... quite the contrary, his profession may have been unconventional but it wasn't something that he tried to keep secret at all. Maybe it was the sheer number of mages, and how they were supposed to trust him. More likely though, was that a cooperative, non-fearful princess was much easier than trying to protect than one who might be terrified of him if she overheard. Fresh gunpowder was removed from a small pouch kept somewhere under his coat, filling the now-empty firearm again. Never mind - it would surface sooner or later no doubt: for now... Well, there were ways to be honest and still avoid the truth. With a subtly movement he pulled at the edge of the greatcoat to ensure the silver knives against his leg were firmly out of sight. "Guess you could call me a mercenary." He shrugged towards the girl: what was it with this caravan? They were barely a handful of folk here fit to be called adults! "Go to places, solve problems and move on. Usually magic stuff... not really a 'living' but y'know - it's what I do." The second gun was returned securely to its place across his chest, before the third was taken out in front of the dire for its routine maintenance. Adrass glanced up as his fingers went to work at the task they had done a thousand times over. A bard was about camp: that brought back memories... curious. Dismissing the thought for the moment and retuning to inspecting the woman that he was speaking with for possibly the first time, he tried to guess at exactly who she was. There was the magic - obviously - but the hood and leather... he might have mistaken her for a particularly radical hunter, if not for her age. "Name's Adrass." He introduced himself - not offering a hand for a number of reasons, not least of all because they were still busy reloading the firearms.

Adrass. The hunter - content with the days march as well as his recent introduction with the young monarch - had taken to his usual duties at the end of the day. A wanderer at the best of times, it was the least he could do to assist with the trivialities: cooking, and so on. From there he would move on to the more personal daily errands of unspeaking his weaponry. The sigils of his knives needed to be checked, his swords sharpened - at the very least oiled... then there was the matter of cycling the powder of the pistols. Keeping one loaded at all times took vigilant maintenance to ensure it wouldn't misfire, but keeping six meant almost ritualistic inspection at the end of each day. And still, the overwhelming stench of magic made it impossible to focus properly on anything: to smell anything out of the ordinary. The cloth remained firmly wrapped around his mouth and nose - the coat buckled in place even as he sat by the fire. His hood came down again - straw coloured hair glinting the the orange light - but he knew better than to get complacent around mages.

Adrass. @@RunsWithSquirlz, Adrass shivered slightly as the unpleasant chill of magic warped around him - his body and mind denying it through years of conditioning and abuse. He followed the princesses gaze and scowled towards the warlock who was so brazenly flaunting his dark ways for all to see. Quickly averting his eyes and forcing a neutral expression into his face, he returned his sight to the princess before him. She was young - that was the first thing that he noticed. No doubt idealistic and naive, at least to her own way of thinking. Even to him she looked... innocent... but thinking in such a way was a deadly trap that he wasn't going to allow himself to fall into. "More? Oh no... I'm just the best of a bad situation." He shrugged. "Or the worst of a good one - depends on your point of view. Either way, I'm here to make sure you get to Illia unharmed." '... and I still think its a terrible choice of work...' His mind added silently in the refuge of his head. He paused - never really being much of a talker. It came with his line of work. Casting around for a line of conversation so that he might at least learn something about his charge, he settled on the closest thing to common-ground that the two of the had. "Heard your friend saying you should get outside and I figured you might want to get some air while we're still in your own kingdom, that's all." He shrugged offhandedly. "Just say if you need anything, I guess."

Adrass. @@RunsWithSquirlz, "Mardrak." Stated the hunter, maintaining his pace beside the carriage as he glanced suspiciously about into the distance for no real reason than to ease his paranoia. The mages were squabbling amongst themselves it seemed - that was a good sign. "Adrass Mardrak, I'm a..." He paused. What was he to these people? Not a hunter, certainly. Nor a guide or (woe betide anyone chance the idea) a diplomat... he was little more than a hired sword who just happened to have the right kind of qualification. He shrugged, a pretty pointless gesture considering the princess was still hidden away behind the door. "... a guard. Sort of. Dont fret, it's quite safe." Well, that was probably the best description that didn't involve explaining that his regular duties would involve tracking down and exterminating her kind. Somehow, he suspected that she wouldn't take that minor fact particually well.

Rainbow Dash! "Heh... heh, yeah!" Dash allowed herself to be hurried away to (relative) solitude. "Sorry, I don't know what came over me! I mean, it was fine when it was just the crusaders, even when all of Ponyville or Cloudsdale was watching me... but it's kinda... I dunno, there guys know who I am, and I've never even seen them before! It's cool I guess, but..." She shook her head. "I'm fine. It's cool. Just a bit overwhelming, that's all!" Glancing back at the small horde of fans that had began to form, she grinned and gave a short, jaunty wave in their direction. "It's hard being so awesome that everyone wants to know you, guess that's my curse!" --------------- Fluttershy... "I don't like it." Mumbled Fluttershy - firmly refusing to look back at the strangers behind her... how many had there been? Ten? A hundred? A million? It felt like a million anyway - maybe more! "Aweh, c'mon 'Shy, its not so bad!" Dash interjected. Fluttershy shook her head. "I don't like being famous, I just want to be me." She said firmly. "Nice, safe, quiet, safe, not famous, safe Fluttershy." ---------------

Adrass. Glancing aside at the disruption, Adrass felt his left hand whip to his back and his right balled into a fist around the handle of the flintlock. Of course he was right - mages everywhere. It took a good deal of self restraint to keep his weapons sheathed once the girl had vanished into nothingness.... Not vanished - he could still smell her. Slowly lowering his sword arm, the hunter shook his head again: mostly in disbelief over how he had let himself get into this situation. @@RunsWithSquirlz, With a heavy sigh, he wandered alongside the enclosed carriage that supposedly contained the witch-princess, closed his eyes to silently admonish his own foolishness and spoke up. "You know, we'll be coming close to the border soon - it would probably be a good idea to get some fresh air while we're still safe in your homeland." Once more, the cloth around his mouth obscured the words. He didn't even know if she could hear him: certainly, he hadn't heard any response when the tamer beside the carriage had addressed it - perhaps this was a trap of some kind. Perhaps the princess had been taken away at some stage, or perhaps she had been an imposter all along! Of course, it was unlikely that any attempt on his life would be made on this side of the border... 'Or perhaps she's just nervous about having a bloody mage-slayer escorting her...' He cast that particular dangerous thought aside before it could do any more harm. "Once we cross the border we'll have to be on our guard. You might not get another chance like this. What's wrong, you allergic to sunlight, or wildflowers or something?" ... so it wasn't the customary way to speak to royalty! He had her best interests in mind (much to his own distaste) and was already on edge: and by his usual standard level of conversation this would probably be considered eloquent by those who knew him better.

Adrass shook his head in contempt. This was a foolish venture: it went against everything that he stood for - protecting a Witch as she crossed the border, not only allow her passage unscathed but to actively seek to preserve her life? Political implications be damned, this was unheard of. What was more, there were other mages among the caravan, if the stench of the arcane was anything to judge by. Grumbling under his breath, the hunter glanced aside at the party under his charge as he pulled the hood of his greatcoat down to his shoulders, feeling the roughly-hewn hair brush against his neck as he did. True, they looked anything but evil practitioners or masterminds: a princess and her royal guard, travellers, wanderers and peasants... but that was the danger of course: the deceivers could be anywhere. It was the hidden motivations that unnerved him. He sniffed loudly from behind the cloth that covered the lower section of his face. How was he supposed to find the accursed mages with so much interference, so many of the practitioners so nearby - it was ludicrous... "Think its clear, 'least as far as I can tell through this stench." He finally announced - voice muffled slightly by the cloth, but still clear and loud. His voice dropped to a muttered growl again. "The order would have me burned and salt the ashes if they knew about this... this is way beyond radical... It's bleeding stupid." ... For all of his complaining though, the hunter kept his eyes open. He was well aware of the Princess, her abilities and more to the point, the fact that there were likely far worse Witches willing to do harm to her. It was this which he was counting on - that she might draw something more foul that he might wipe from the earth. The hunter brushed a hand against the handle of the longer of the two blades slung across his back, before resting it against one of the pistols strapped to his chest. He could feel the nullifying knives bound tightly in their place by his right thigh - there was no need for reassurance of their presence. "I'm starting to feel like this is a huge waste of my time, there's been sight nor sound of a Mage since we left. Probably because they're all here..."

Scarlet. @@Gloomfury, However strange the pony was, Scarlet got to work. Various bottles, cups and jugs spun as she flicked them around in what was more reminiscent of a bartenders performance than someone making coffee - milk here, cream there... chocolate and caramel syrups all measured 'by eye' until she was apparently content with her impromptu creation. And of course, if it looked like she was enjoying herself in her enthusiasm... well then, that was just coincidence. She lived having the chance to create - and to show off as well for that matter - but she firmly believed that her facade was flawless. "One... uh... well, it doesn't really have a name." She shrugged, setting down a tall glass on the counter beside the small mountain of bits, seeing the money for the first time. "Uh... y'know, I'm good yeah, but there's... more than double here." It wasn't the first time she had been overpaid. Some folks thought that they were being impressive - others just weren't too good with numbers, or had overlooked something completely. What had left her somewhat taken aback this time was the amount, and how easily the strange pony was willing to part with it. Reaching out, she slid six bits across the counter, followed by a seventh that she dropped into a glass jar. She could have taken the lot, but that would have felt wrong. She could have chastised the colt for his carelessness with money... almost did in fact... but he was a customer after all. Besides, he looked like one good scare would finish him off. "That okay?" She asked tentatively. "I mean, thanks for the tip and everything, but its just a drink, y'know?"

Rainbow Dash! and Fluttershy... "I want to protect my friends..." Muttered Dash, as she begrudgingly took the spray, looked it over and slipped it into a pocket. "I've taken on Manticores and Dragons, and now I'm here and can't even do anything against..." She grinned and shrugged. ""Hey, you're cool and everything, but you've hardly got massive claws or teeth, do you? You don't even have hooves! ... It was to be expected really... she was pretty awesome after all. Still, with the three back home Dash at least had the benefit of actually knowing them. She hadn't factored in strangers. Or the fact that they were in public. Or how many there might be... In short, she hadn't given it much thought at all. "Oh, hey!" She stated blankly, taken aback be how quickly they had been noticed. "Uh, yeah! I'm... me!" "... uhm... hi..." "So..." Dash tried again: voice recovering some of its cocky tone as she glanced quickly about - stepping protectively in front of Fluttershy: why did this place have to be so big? "Yeah, uh... Great to see you! Whoever you are..." "... hi..." Fluttershy in turn stood stock still. She wasn't as bad with crowds as she had been in the paste - far from it! It was just that... these people knew her, and she didn't knew them! it was like that time she had worked with Photo Finish all over again... "... Rarity is... over there..." She said in a barely audible voice - hoping to direct some attention onto one of her friends who would appreciate it. --------------- Twilight Sparkle. "Right." Nodded the princess - grasping the hand and using it to heave herself to her feet: pausing to nod at the human before stepping out of the helicopter. She looked around carefully - doing everything in her power to at least look like she had control of the situation. Things were already far beyond anything that she had dealt with before - she needed to stay calm and see things to the end. With a bit of luck, logic and reasoning would prove to be the only weapons they needed. And failing that... well, she was the element of magic. If anyone could bring magic here, surely it was her? ---------------

Nethlatia. "Hey, it was pidgeon-girl here who started with the whole 'cast the first stone' thing - if looks could kill... well, she'd almost be a threat. Face like that could make me want to cry!" Tia smirked at her own snide remark, turning instead to gesture towards the mortal with the high oppion of himself... 'forgetting' that she was still holding - and by extension pointing the firearm wherever she indicated. "What about him?" She suggested with a vindictive grin that might or might not have indicated that she was joking. "Can we just hold him out of the window or something? Might be in less of a demanding mood then."

Rainbow Dash! "First one of you that tried to touch me with your prissy mani-whatsits is going to find out what the bottom of my shoe looks like. Really close up..." Dash grumbled loudly as she listened in on the plans to ruin her perfectly functional hands by sticking on some stupid beads or glitter... or whatever it was that they were planning to do! "No way, not happening. Nope. No chance. Don't even think about it. ... Try as she might though, even the sleepless and groggy Rainbow Dash couldn't deny that the car was... pretty damn impressive. If they couldn't fly them at least they had style - real style that was: not the 'fluffy pink gunk' that Rarity would have called style. "You know..." She mused, climbing in and pausing to motion towards the gun which had just been handed to Cat. "We'd be a lot safer if we had some of those things. I mean, if they're after us anyway..." --------------- Fluttershy... "Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy squeaked in response to the suggestion - closing her eyes and shaking her head firmly. "No! I don't want to be anywhere near one of those! I wish that there weren't any at all!" She stood, frozen just outside of the vehicle (which she had withheld comment on). "How could you? Those things are... they're.... bad things!" Dash looked at Fluttershy - mouth hanging open slightly at the sudden outburst. "Geez... I'm sorry 'Shy, okay?" She said, shocked. "No! I want you to promise not to ever touch one! They frighten me Rainbow Dash, I don't want you to get hurt..." "Okay already! I promise! Damn... just get in the car already!" The shy pegasus smiled weakly as she did what she was asked. "... thank you." She mumbled as she sidled up beside her lifelong friend with a little trepidation. "Sorry, I just don't like them..."

Scarlet. Scarlet had been listening in: as she always did. It was part of her job to know the customers, whether it was officially noted or not. Good business meant knowing who you did business with after all. "Why would you even... this is a coffee place. Coffee is kind of... you know, what we do?" She stated incredulously, eyeing the customer with mild confusion. "Ugh, give me a minute, and I can mix up something... still beats me why you'd come to a place like this if you don't like coffee. Guess I can mix up something with chocolate instead? Maybe with caramel and cinnamon... or the strawberries go pretty nicely... Oh, and it's six bits for a regular, eight for a large." As she spoke, the sour-faced mare went about snatching up various glasses and utensils that would be needed - eager to try her hoof at something that wasn't just 'coffee' for a change... despite her tone. Still listening, she overheard something that made her snort in amusement: a mare just a few steps further along, rapping on the counter demanding service. Not that she would have laughed at this normally - it was actually rather rude - but the demands of 'ale' and the medieval weapon that she seemed to be carrying around seemed to lend to the idea that this girl must by quite mad... at least the pony that Scarlet was serving actually seemed to recognise that he wasn't in some archaic tavern.

Rainbow Dash! "Yeah, thanks a lot for that!" Came the irritable groan of Rainbow Dash as the house suddenly seemed to explode with nouse and activity. "Because, you know, I wasn't trying to sleep or anything!" It took several minutes, but she eventually made her way out of bed and to the table alongside the others - albeit while muttering something about 'the crack of bloody dawn' under her breath between ample yawns. "Any actual reason for all the shouting, or did you just not think that Pinkie was loud enough for us all?" She grumbled, helping herself to some food. --------------- Fluttershy... Creeping into the room and sitting down, Fluttershy quickly claimed her food without a sound - deciding that between the banging and the shouting and Dash's grumbling...there was already quite enough noise without her adding to it. She hadn't been asleep - the birdsong had woken her up a little while earlier: but it had stil come as a surprise when Colette had started shouting. --------------- Twilight Sparkle. Pleased (or at least, content) with the results of her speech, Twilight looked out into the distance for a while as the sound of the whirling blades above her and the relative silence of her companions filled her ears. They had stopped arguing, for the most part. Hopefully it would at least last long enough to make a difference. "How long will until we get there?" She asked loudly: wondering if this was even possible after all. If they were traveling for too long it was likely that the group would start to break down again. Harmony - that was what they lacked. For all the strengths that they had between them, the various races had no synergy: they were barely tolerating each other and she was just as guilty as any of the others. The one thing that had always set her and her friends apart from others was something that they simply didn't have... and it frightened her a little. Not enough for her to show it: she coukdnt let it show... couldn't appear weak... but the doubt was there. ---------------

Nethlatia. Glaring at the not-quite-forced company, Nethlatia stood in the doorway of the carriage: hand snapping to her side where it came to rest on the holster. "You didn't tell me that you'd brought one of the Girl Scouts along." She muttered dismissively, flashing a dark glare at death, before rolling her eyes and pushing past the angel without any form of remorse or apology - seating herself with a look on her face that was somewhere between repulsion and amusement at the divine guest. "Don't flatter yourself darling, I'm not here for you - you're nothing special." She smirked back at Zeph before looking over the rest. A couple of humans - as far as she could tell anyway: ignorant as ever to everything going on around them no doubt... typical. They probably hadn't even noticed the boy-scout for what he was yet... or her for that matter. There was a spirit though - he probably had, but even if that was the case, they tended to seem amiable enough once they had come to terms with their fate as this one seemed to have done. She was tempted to flick open the pocket watch again, as if timing the unseen passage of time as she watched death from the corner of her eye. Instead, she settled for inspecting her own hands. "What have they done, and how do you expect me to fix it?" The daemon was queried in a presumptuous tone - making a display of checking her fingernails for imperfections, followed by her pistol. "... and can we hurry this up? I really don't have all day."

Nethlatia. "Right now? Not say... in a few minutes?" She mused, one hand resting on the handle of the oversized gun that hung by her side, while the other was brought to to her face, where she bit gently on a finger in a manner than might have been thoughtful, but was more likely a playfully sultry display. She paused for a moment before sighing, rolling her eyes and shrugging: her smirk slipping away to a look of annoyance. It wasn't worth arguing or just killing him - that wouldn't help her find out how he knew who she was. "Not too hot with words, are you?" The daemonette noted, tilting her head and fluttering her eyes. "Go on then - take me to this party of yours: got nothing better do do on this pile of junk."

Nethlatia. "Heard it all befo..." Nethlatia eyed the figure in front of her for a few seconds. It clearly wasn't human. The disguise was good - flawless, in fact... but no ordinary creature would approach her so casually armed and dressed how she was. As for knowing her true name... The daemon glanced around - her name was't just something to be casually thrown around after all. Not like this - in public. Names were dangerous: perhaps not as much as some more superstitious mortals theorized, but dangerous all the same. "Guess that's new after all. What do you want? Who are you?" Her eyes narrowed as she smirked slightly. "What are you?"

Nethlatia. The daemons eyes watched as the train pulled into the station with all of the grace (or rather, lack of) that she would have expected from such a contraption. Pausing as the rabble massed around the doors, she stood purposefully and began the walk through the small crowd. It wasn't difficult to clear a path: if her imposing presence and sheer force of will didn't do it, the weapons carried in plain sight were usually enough to avoid any unruly behaviour... after all, how was one supposed to react to what was apparently a heavily armed eccentric? Certainly not with the same repulsive offers of 'company', or brutish threats that they might have thrown at her were she mortal. Stepping into the train, Nethlatia began to wander aimlessly down the centre - followed occasionally by whispers or an unfaithful eye. Anywhere would do: whichever seat she chose was of no importance. No, she just enjoyed the attention, and the chaos that followed it. A more subtle daemon might have blended in effortlessly, but where was the fun in that?

Scarlet Rose. Scarlets made a point of celebrating as little as was acceptable, given current company. It was a lot tougher than one might have thought: outwardly displaying a level of excitement best described as 'feigned indifference' when she was inwardly almost as enthusiastic as the rest of the staff. 'Faux-feigned indifference?' She pondered briefly, before setting her assumed 'work demeanour' in place - consisting of an efficient-yet-seemingly-reluctant poise and a smile which was just as fake as it appeared, but for different reasons. Indeed, she was quite fond of her work: and even though a good number of the staff had figured this out, most still at least humoured her and her attitude. Now, Scarlet wasn't an expert when it came to coffee - she only drunk the stuff on occasion and if asked about it outside of work would tend to respond with a sullen shrug. She had an excellent memory though: both mentally and muscular. Once shown, she remembered with almost perfect accuracy... not that she always strictly stuck to what she knew, on the rare occasion that a customer gave her reason to throw together something out of the ordinary. On the very rare occasion. She took her position, waiting to see just how busy this anniversary turned out to be.

Nethlatia. Pulling an old, golden pocket watch out of one of the many pockets of her blackened longcoat, the girl glared at it with bored eyes. It didn't work: at least, not properly. It never had, as far as she knew - just one of those curious trinkets that people were drawn to for no real reason. Still, it gave her something to do - something better than sitting in silent boredom. The hands still moved - sometimes they went the wrong way and sometimes they didn't. Sometimes the wrong hand moved, or they skipped large amounts of time. She liked it. Flicking her collar up around her neck, the demon inspected her appearance in the reflection of the glass. She was quite pleased with the appearance that she had crafted over the years - one designed to play on every human emotion possible. Her face thin, with light, smooth skin, Eyes of green sparkled out from the shade that fell from a combination of poor lighting and the thick red hair framing her features Ffear and lust were naturally the easiest emotions to exploit... and the most commonly found at that. Ruby lips and shadowed eyes marked that her look was no accident: to a more learned outsider, it was clear she knew exactly how she wanted to be seen by others. The outfit she wore was no exception: the charcoal longcoat offering subtlty - the secrecy and mystery that drew the attention of those that might consider themselves more 'refined' - for one reason or another. The blood-red leather carapace beneath it told a differant story: this piece designed to catch the eyes of those that gave way to their more primal instincts. As for the golden studs, buckles and borders? Well... she just liked how they looked. A little pride never hurt anyone. The pistol hung by her right hand side - oversized and lavishly decorated, she chose to forgo subtlty completely, leather straps holding the holster in place on the outside of the greatcoat while her extravagant blade rested heavily across her back - its weight comfortably pressing down comfortably. Yes... she was proud of her carefully crafted appearance. As she looked at her reflection in the cracked glass though, she considered once more, the question that she could never truly answer. Would horns be going too far? They weren't compulsory - they were cliche and somewhat frowned upon as a general rule. Making oneself fit with cartoon-stereotypes wasnt viewed as helping break the discrimination... but they could probably add to her look, if done tastefully... 'Huh. I'm pretty much perfect anyway.' She snapped the watch closed and flattened the heavy collar of the coat down around her neck - flicking her hair out of her face as she did. And waited. Impatiently.

Rainbow Dash! "I want to fly again!" Dash snapped - not aggressively, but as if she had been doing her very best to not say anything. "But y'know - it's not the same here so... yeah, can you show me that book?" She grinned halfheartedly - she didn't want them thinking that she was weak. She was Rainbow Dash after all! "I guess that I'll just have to settle for reading about other people doing their cool stuff." Hopping to her feet, the ex-pegasus shrugged, looking back at Dennis with a somewhat more genuine grin. "C'mon, I just need to do something - show me this thing then... I bet that I'm cooler than this Ulysses guy." She stopped suddenly. "You know..." She said, reaching an arm around to the back of her neck as she looked at the ground nervously. "I don't suppose we could... fine it in a book, could we? I bet Twilight would want to read it too..." --------------- Fluttershy... Suddenly, Fluttershy was in her element. Okay, perhaps not quite: she was still perpetually afraid that she was going to go under the water and drown at any moment, or that there might be nasty, dangerous creatures hiding somewhere in the completely enclosed pool... but mimicking the motions that Colette made and feeling the control that she had - it was something that she had never really felt before other than when around animals. A feeling like she was in charge of herself: like she wasn't just a fallen leaf in the wind. It was... She gave a panicked squeak as her head submerged for a brief moment. Thrashing to the surface, Fluttershy felt her heart beating hard against the inside of her chest. She gasped at the air and caught her breath - tasting the chlorinated water at the back if her throat. "That... I... It..." She stumbled through words. "That... wasn't so bad. Until the end. But it was okay." She smiled - trying the (much safer) forward swimming again to return to her friends partners proximity. As soon as she was within range, her arms shot out and wrapped themselves affectionately around Colette, as the reclusive pegasus rested her head on the girls shoulder. "Thank you so much!" --------------- Twilight Sparkle. Twilight watched in amazement for a second: somewhat stunned that her orders had even been heard - never mind followed. Allowing for a few seconds of silent celebration in her mind, she forced a stern look at returned to the task at hand. "Hey, uhm..." She said quietly, approaching Cicada again. "When I said to get along with each other, I meant all of us." She shrugged. "Sorry for... well, you know. I could have been a little more... accommodating." Just as the unicorn had been about to hold out a hand (a human concept that she still didn't fully understand) it seemed that everyone had sprung into action. As she was into the helicopter, she hoped that a hurried "Thanks!" would suffice in showing the Changeling that she was at least trying to put aside their differences. ... Twilight winced at the explosion - recoiling slightly away from the sudden burst of light and heat. She hoped that nobody had still been inside - even if they were enemies, it was still hard to distance herself from the simple fact that killing was wrong. Admittedly, the reaction necessary for such a scale explosion, and the very fact that it had been delivered on demand with such pinpoint accuracy - at a distance to boot - was at least half impressive. 'These humans have amazing minds...' She thought sadly. 'But only seem to harness them to find new ways of hurting each other...' ---------------