Illiad Easle

@Blitz Boom Dove was a little taken aback, "Come now, I know Troy isn't perfect, it never was, but it survived. Blackwater, Himillama, Archback, the Æther... they all survived because creatures came together to defend against Discord. Hundreds died to ensure those bastions would stand, and if they did it, why couldn't this one too? Still, I agree, Branch is too optimistic about this trip. I have no doubts that Pegas is not the shining city on the sea she remembers from her foalhood." The guard nodded, "If we can find a forge in the city, I'll be sure to ask you about it. Remind me if I don't." The same guard with the telescope shard was the one she had found, he stood up to follow, "No sense in going alone, wouldn't want you getting ambushed or replaced. I'll watch your back." The guard would not be deterred from accompanying Null, it was a good sign that he didn't seem to doubt her if that counted for anything. If Null did return to the doorway with the other guard in tow he'd be surprised to find it, "Wonder why I didn't see that on my patrol, must have gotten distracted by something to miss a hole like that. You want me to follow you in or keep watch up here?" If Null asked why he didn't offer to go down with Null watching the opening: "Hey now, you were all set to investigate it yourself just a moment ago, I see no need to change that plan." If Null decided to go down she'd find the tunnel rather small, it was large enough that she could get through it comfortably, but anyone larger would have some trouble getting through. It was reminiscent of a diamond dog tunnel or a changeling hive passage, but smaller than normal. Away from the entrance, turning a corner from the opening she'd find the tunnel illuminated by luminescent moss. It didn't give off much light, but it was enough to see where the tunnel went without feeling along the side. After a few more meters she'd come to a fork, to the left was more of the moss, to the right was dark, but had a faint murmuring sound almost like speech.

Magpie looked surprised, "Indeed? That is quite unexpected your grace, but a most welcome development. It would certainly make my job much easier if I don't have to deal with as many complaints from the other nations. Nonetheless, let us head to your room so you can ensure your presentable-ity before the council." The associated guards of course would file in behind the pair as they made their way down the hall to one of the rooms, Magpie stuck her head in first, giving it a quick look before she opened the door for the princess, "Here we are, I hope it pleases you." The room was about similar in layout to Sherem's room if not a bit larger, the bed would more than accommodate the princess's size and the bathroom was fully equipped to take care of any cosmetic need or other she may need. Where there would typically be a window there was a magical projection of the view from the exterior of the mountain, Celestia would be able to understand the enchantment and even adjust it to show any direction of a view from the top of the mountain. Magpie would bow before leaving, "If it pleases you, I will return when the time comes for the meeting such that you are not late." (Library) Moondancer looked thoughtful, "Hmm, the other clans joining Archback. I assume you refer to how Mohotma City and the Fastar Clan work so closely with Archabck? Mohotma itself is most easily understood as both Archback and they share a figurehead in Midnight Star, on our part because of being our father, and on their part because he was instrumental in their liberation from slavery, he gave them the will, the hope to fight back, and so they decided to remain by his side as repayment. The Fastar Clan is a bit more complex, even I don't fully understand why they work with us so openly given most Thestral clans pride themselves on their independence and isolation from other races. We only first encountered them when they built their second city on the edge of the Shimmerwood Forest about two decades ago, so they're a rather recent addition to the Archback Coalition and still mostly operate independently from us, but they are fiercely loyal and as such we agreed to a mutual defensive pact." Moondancer shook herself back to the present moment, "Sorry, I do tend to ramble. Did that answer your question? Or did it just confuse you further?"

@Blitz Boom Dove nodded, "Makes sense, and no offence, but I did wonder why someone so small was put on as a guard. Nonetheless, your file did mention your age being high enough as well as your varied experience in the sort of things you'd want in a guard." She looked out across the ruins of Alphyns, "Discord destroyed so much, was so hard to stop. It's a wonder they survived out there. Most of those who were left alone were those who sided with him. I know the reports say that this new leader of theirs liberated the town from the legionaries who had captured it, I'm just not sure it's as good as it sounds." She gave a slight smile back at Null, "It comforts me a bit to know that you've got friend there, it makes this trip a bit less stressful. I hope you're able to find them when we get there." Dove seemed to pick up that Null wasn't much for conversation, and so got up to move on to her tent. "Be sure to rest up, we wouldn't want you to be tired on your watch." The next section of travel was more of the same, the occasional scorpion and crab to kick off the path or kill, the rarer tar-spawn to dispatch. Early on they passed the remains of the Alphyns Observatory, the sight of the giant telescope sitting in pieces on the sand brought a somber mood to the group, one of the guards collected a piece of a shattered lens to take with them. When asked, either by Null or another guard, he commented, "I'll make a spear or maybe a short sword out of it. It seems just retribution to defend the future of Troy with the remnants of its past." They came to rest once the sun was too hot to continue at an elevated oasis atop a plateau, from which they could barely see the dead oasis to one side and a cluster of clouds which Ambassador Branch proclaimed was New Pegas, she had almost wanted to continue on immediately, but the guards assured her they'd get there just fine waiting for nightfall. On Null's patrol while they rested she'd encounter a doorway hidden in the clay on the far side of the oasis, most likely it had been hidden by some enchantment as none of the other guards had reported it on their patrols, and it was fairly obvious when she stumbled upon it. Would she enter alone? Call for assistance? Ignore it completely?

Of course! Go right ahead!

@Randimaxis While the changelings and assorted guests down below were applauding vigorously, Dax was right to show restraint as the queens and Oracle showed much more formal applause. The unicorn bowed before departing the stage, Sleipnir commented, "A shame, I was hoping to hear more from her. She doesn't come to Manehatten often." Sleipnir's disappointment turned to surprise as the next performers, a changeling of the same colors as the rest in the hive and a light grey pegasus mare, came on stage. "He revealed? Didn't think he had it in him." Permu smiled, "One of the benefits of Troy is their much more open stance on changelings, it isn't nearly so risky here as in Equestria. Still, I was also surprised when he asked my guidance." The changeling played the guitar while the pegasus sang: Given the more emotional nature of these songs the applause was less energetic, but clearly just as appreciative. It would likely be obvious to Dax that these songs had been designed to cultivate an emotional response in the audience, which made sense given the changeling's purpose in having the concert. Oracle would lean in close to Dax, enjoying his physical presence as she swayed to the slow beats of the first song, her head bobbing to the faster beat of the second song. Once the two songs were done she'd turn to face Dax, almost bumping snouts as they were so close, "So... if you want to, I could, maybe, show you around the hive later?"

@Randimaxis Sleipnir chuckled, "Not at all! But I suppose I wasn't actually conscious for it, Permu would be better suited to tell you." Permu looked surprised that the attention was tossed back at her, but snorted and rolled her eyes, "You never tire of my telling this story do you?" She turned to Dax, "There's a bit of background you need to understand for the story to make sense. Most changelings are formed in cocoons filled with about a dozen eggs and gel charged with the dominant emotions of the hive, they don't take long to mature, only spending a few months in the cocoon before becoming foalings. They then mature about twice as fast as a pony at which point they don their first disguise and are full fledged changelings. When a queen is made however they are the only egg in their cocoon, and can spend up to three years in there before being ready to emerge, They then mature about at the same rate as a pony." Sleipnir added, "As you can see, a queen is very costly to make." Permu had a bit of a sad look on her face as she continued, "Our mother was, troubled. It was a different time, over eleven hundred years ago in fact. Our mother was one of the only queens at that time, and so had the task of making new queens in order to spread our race through the world. Near the end she grew... less sane, experimenting on her own children." she shuddered, "One such experiment was Sleipnir, she put two eggs in the same cocoon in an attempt to create two queens at the same time, but the two bodies merged together instead." Sleipnir smiled, "So I ended up not quite twice the changeling as anyone else, unique because no one would ever try it again, but fundamentally the same as any other." Permu seemed lost in thought, "I poisoned her for what she did, I couldn't stand by and wait to see if she'd try again. Once Sleipnir was matured I ensured that Gelatine wouldn't hurt anyone else, her violent hive dying out without her, all of them corrupted by her influence." The conversation had certainly turned dark there, it looked like Permu did not want to elaborate on it. Luckily a much needed distraction arose in that moment, the auditorium lights dimmed as the stage lit up for the first performance, it was a lone unicorn mare with a trio of violins in her magic. She held one to either side of her face, the other directly in front of her as she sat in the middle of the stage, eyes closed she began to play.

@Blitz Boom (Good scene, well written) The desert was hot when the sun was out, luckily their walkers had covers to keep the sun off of them as they traveled, but very cold when the sun went down. They sat one ambassador and one secretary with two guards per walker, the ninth one patrolling either on wing or hoof to ensure no traps lay ahead. This ninth position rotated among the guards hourly so none of them were out in the heat or cold for too long, and they'd have four hours rest between shifts. Outside of a few stops where they had to drive some stone crabs and the odd silt scorpion off the path, their first day of travel was relatively uneventful. The guards had started talking to each other when they weren't on patrol, each sharing about their lives before the event. There were five guards including Null, two of them were younger, having only joined the guard after the event, the other two were older, ones who had stayed behind as the final defense of Troy at the end of the event. The older ones told stories of how the world was before, the younger ones talked of how they hoped the world would be now. Null of course could decide whether she wanted to be a part of their comradery, but if she listened to their discussion she'd learn that after the Summer war Las Pegasus, Appaloosa, and Dodge JCT had all been made Trojan cities as part of the peace treaty, but that they had also practically demanded it themselves while the war was ongoing. They made camp the first time in the ruins of Alphyns, camping by the edge of the nearly depleted oasis. Dove, the less talkative of the ambassadors, came over to Null while they were camped, "So Event, what's your story? You don't seem much like the other guards, and the Consul said you were being added to this trip for special reasons, care to elaborate?" Dove didn't seem aggressive about it, she seemed genuinely curious.

When the dust cleared the changeling moved up to the top of the hill, now having the high ground over the sisters, he found and fired at Solstice, who was almost able to dodge it. Solstice is at 170/220 Eclipse is at 146/200

@Sherem The pair were surprised at Celestia's response, sharing a look before responding, "Well, provided it pleases you, we could present you at the meeting later this evening, it should start in about two hours if you'd like to retire to your quarters to prepare yourself in the mean time." Both Sir and Midnight rose from the table, Midnight leaving the room to make the necessary preparations for the meeting. Sir took a moment to simply look at Celestia, "You've changed since last we met, you're not the prideful mare you used to be. The Celestia I knew would have demanded the nations apologize for their offence. Let us see if this change is as profound as it appears." If Celestia did not stop him, Sir would leave out the door opposite the one Celestia had entered from, leaving her alone in the room. Magpie would be waiting outside for Celestia to exit, and when she did so would say: "I hope the meeting went well, shall I take you to your quarters now? or will you be departing already?" (The Library) Moondancer waved him off, "It's no problem really, I would have been here anyway so I'm glad to have the company and opportunity to share rather than just learn. So, what would you like to learn about first?"

@Randimaxis The larger changelings looked, surprised? happy? it was hard to tell on their faces but they seemed to have had a positive shift by Dax's introduction. Only once the guards had closed the doors behind them, leaving the five of them alone, did they relax and respond. The golden colored one gave a polite laugh, "Nonsense, you're our guest tonight. Did you think money was the only reward? I of all creatures know that no quantity of gold can replace a life, so no amount of gold is sufficient recompense for saving one. Our trust in you is further reward." Despite his mantra to ignore it, the cyan one noticed his initial count even if he didn't look at them again. She waited until Oracle had pulled Dax over to get up and move to the other side of the pair, making a show of moving as if to show off her many legs, she spoke with a kind tone, very motherly, "It's okay, you can admire them as much as you like. I've grown rather fond of them myself." She would lay in such a way that Dax would have full view of all eight of the legs, making it clear that rather than equidistant, like a spider, they were simply doubled, a pair of hind legs from each flank and a pair of forelegs from each whither. "It is good to meet you two, my sister has told me much about you, how you saved my favorite niece from slavery? Very noble of you." She gave a polite nod, "I'm Queen Sleipnir, Queen Polymorph's younger sister and the last of Queen Gelatine. And you," she turned to Illiad who had taken a seat behind Dax and Oracle, "I had assumed Permu was exaggerating when she called you a brilliant light, nonetheless your friend seems to outshine even you tonight." Oracle giggled at Dax's enthusiasm and blushed hotly, "I am, I'm so happy you could be here! Both in the hive, for the concert, and even here in the balcony! Mother never lets anyone up here! No non-changelings at least. But she said you deserved a special reward."

@Blitz Boom The next night, the sun had just touched the horizon when the guard would come to get Null if she weren't already at the Consul's estate or the front gates to bring her to the city gates where the rest of the embassy was gathered. It was a small group, just over half a dozen in total, with a pair of minotaur sand walkers like the ones that had been given to the ROC to get their supplies across the desert to the shoreline. The group included Ambassador Branch, an assistant ambassador Dove, a pair of clerical workers, and a guard for each of them, Null being the ninth in the group. The guards didn't seem too excited, more cautious, but the ambassador was delighted, talking to anyone who would listen about how she had lived in Las Pegasus as a young filly before her family moved to Omarega before the war and how much she wanted to see how it had changed since then. Once they were given the go ahead by the city guard, they all got on the walkers and began their journey across the desert. (I'll let you catch up before I get into the encounters in the desert)

@Blitz Boom Given we've shown the sister's power does not disrupt inner magic, as it still allows pegasi to fly in her vicinity, it won't break the inner magic that keeps changelings from combusting despite the fact that it disrupts their external disguise, so the sisters wouldn't burn them by coming to close if that's what you're after. It's the magic that prevents their burning after all. On the other side, antimagic is very harmful to changelings for that exact reason, if they get contaminated with it they will burn alive, which does add a bit to the terrible nature of the anti-magic bombs. On that note, the only way to preserve a changeling body would be to submerge it in gel before or right after they die, or maintain the inner magic somehow. As such this is very rare. I agree that that is a reasonable action on her part, especially if her hive is on the small end. I'll get the transition post up shortly, do keep in mind that we do still have the full alternate ending to the facility to explore if we ever tire of this side, the ending where they go to the Æther instead of Troy.

The changeling seemed to consider their offer for a moment, looking into his satchel, "Let's see... I do have... This!" He threw a lit stick of dynamite at the sisters as he jumped backward, the changeling clearly wasn't very skilled with explosives given how short he had made the fuse, meaning it didn't get all the way to them before it exploded, nonetheless it still hurt to be as close as they were. Further the explosion kicked up a solid cloud of dust, obscuring vision between the sisters and the changeling, making his subsequent shot miss wildly.

@Randimaxis Carbon nodded, smiling, "Yeah, they say it's a sort of defense mechanism. They have that sort of passive ability when they're too young to disguise that makes any non-changeling who comes close enough think they're irresistibly cute. Keeps them from being targeted if the hive ever got breached, and typically distracts the attacker enough that defenders can subdue them." The more Dax looked the better able he was able to see the slight differences between the individuals. Most obvious were the clearer distinctions of those that looked more masculine or feminine, those with bigger legs, wings, or horns than the others, those predispositions that Swift had mentioned the other day. But deeper than that were the small details that Dax was noticing, while they were all about the same color (Just grayer than black bodies, amber back/wings/tail/mane/eyes) they were each unique in their own ways. As the crowd grew thicker he seemed to be drawing more attention, many waving back to him and talking excitedly to their neighbors, on more than a few occasions Dax could pick out the word Oracle from what they were saying around him. Illiad was visibly surprised by the strength of Dax's hug, letting out an oof as he was squeezed, "You're welcome, this is only possible because you're so willing to accept them, you were tested on a number of occasions both secretly and openly in order for them to allow this. And this is your reward for being such a good pony at heart." It didn't take long for the auditorium to start settling down in preparation for the concert to begin, only there was a bit of a disturbance as a pair of changelings dressed in armor came over to where Dax and Illiad were sat. If Dax had the presence of mind to remember some ancient apparel he'd recognize their short robes and helmets as being the guard armor of Stalliongrad under Lord Stalliongrad's criminal empire. They came over to the pair and spoke quietly, "The Queen has requested your presence on her balcony, if you would kindly follow us." While it was phrased like a question, it certainly was expected that they agree. Illiad was hesitant, or rather surprised by the change, but stood to follow them, shrugging as he looked back at Dax. The guards would lead them back out the way they came, taking a turn up a slanted hallway as soon as they left the auditorium. This hallway was a bit smaller than the others, but still more than two ponies wide and just taller than two ponies. Furthermore the carving grew more intricate, the glowing amber now detailed with rivulets of pure gold. Soon enough they reached an ornate set of gold embossed doors flanked by a double pair of guards, one in the Stalliongrad style, the other were a pair of cyan changelings whose armor was more of the style of old Equestrian. They nodded to the guards accompanying them as they opened the door. On the other side of the door was what looked like an opera balcony, commanding a wonderful view of the auditorium. While it greatly diminished the sound from the crowd they could clearly hear the changelings on the stage setting up the instruments. But that was hardly the center point of the balcony. The whole floor of the balcony was covered in pillows so lavish it'd likely make his own mother jealous, and lying on top of those pillows was a trio of changelings. The most obvious of them was Oracle herself, who seemed very excited that Dax was there, getting up from the pillows to come over to drag him in to lay on the pillows right next to her. The second was obviously a changeling queen, solid pieces of gold and amber filled the holes in her legs, her physique was almost a dead ringer for the princesses, not quite as large as Celestia, but not quite as toned as Luna. Next to her was something new, by her size she looked like she was also a queen, sharing coloration with the cyan changelings outside, but there were a few very noticeable differences between her and the queen next to her. For one, she had two horns coming out of her head, each curving back a bit unlike the straight horns most unicorns had, she also had two sets of wings and perhaps most surprisingly eight legs curled beneath her.

@Crescent Moon The trio paused the scene there as Enigma's memory of herself was practicing shifting. "Very interesting, not like us at all it seems" "We don't have books to learn from, only instinct and example." "Looks like she lacked both." They motioned for Enigma to come closer, "Try and stand right where your image is." "We're going to run the memory forward again, that should help you remember what you read in order to shift, perhaps that will remind you more about what you are?"

@Blitz Boom Sounds good, I'll set up the departure scene so you can write out their last night together and we can begin the journey. I'll keep the changelings in mind, perhaps they could take the place of The Kings in New Vegas, Cheshire having set up a school of performance after becoming public that the remnants of her hive continue to inhabit? Let me know if you see a scene that warrants a changeling cameo, but something you should know about changelings is they don't leave bodies when they die (How else did they go undiscovered for so long?) when they die their natural magic stops, allowing the fire to consume them, so when a changeling dies all that's left is a pile of ash. Changeling tradition dictates collecting the ashes for use in memorial rites.

They didn't have to wonder long before they heard a chuckling behind them. It was the stallion from before, only his whole countenance had changed, gone was the timid and terrified, replaced with smug confidence. "Sorry about the deception, I just needed those geckos cleared out so I could get to that cache there." With a swirl of orange fire the stallion revealed himself to be a changeling wearing reinforced leather armor. He drew out his own gun, a .357 magnum, "So why don't you two put the stuff down and leave me to it then?"

@Blitz Boom There's not much I can add to either scene given how well you fleshed them both out. I suppose we could do a scene at their parent's house, but other than that there's not much on my end until Null leaves for New Pegas.

@Randimaxis Swift chuckled, "Very astute, I was wondering when you'd ask." There was excited chittering among the young changelings when Dax spoke to them before a more adult sized one came along, "Alright little foalings, time to move along. You shouldn;t crowd the guests." There was an exchange of nods between the adult changelings as the young changelings, or foalings as they'd been called, scurried off down another hallway with the larger one in tow. More than a few of them waved back at Dax as they left though. Speaking of the hallway, although it felt and sounded like a cave, the walls and ceiling were intricately carved with simple yet tasteful designs reminiscent of those he had seen in the Goldenrod bank. The hallway itself was almost square, being just a bit taller than it was wide, and the floor perfectly flat and just rough enough that you wouldn't slide down it. Furthermore it was well lit by lines of glowing amber that had been set into the carved lines on the ceiling and floor, casting an even golden light on the whole hallway. Illiad seemed quite pleased by Dax's reaction to the place, chuckling to himself as he got off the cart, he turned to Swift. "Had I not been so preoccupied when I first arrived, I'm sure I would have been similarly amazed." Swift chuckled, "Indeed, I'm just glad you were able to come around." he waved for Dax to join them as the other got off the cart as well, "Come on then, you haven't seen anything yet." Swift would lead the way with Illiad, Carbon and Sax following up behind, as they made their way through a number of spacious hallways, there were a number of changelings in the halls of varying sizes, and most tended to look at Dax and Illiad with kind and curious expressions, many of them were headed the same way. Over time the hallways grew more spacious, yet their progress slowed as more changelings accumulated around them, it was hard to tell exactly why until they passed through an archway, entering a massive auditorium filled with changelings as well as a few scattered ponies and other creatures sitting among them. Nonetheless, there were hundreds of changelings in this room. Swift led the way towards some empty seats where Illiad and Dax could sit next to each other while their changeling companions sat around them. The chairs were framed of stone, but had cushions made of the same amber as the lighting, only rather than being hard it had a consistency similar to molasses, only not sticky, allowing the seat to form up to the body of whoever sat in it. Once they were situated Illiad would explain, "So, like you deduced, this is a sort of preview concert. Given some of the bands are changelings, and the purpose of their concerts is to generate emotional energy for harvesting, they want to ensure a maximum of non changelings attend the concert proper. Therefore they do a preview concert exclusively for the changelings and those like us who are friendly to them so they can all enjoy the concert without diminishing the returns the full concert gets. And this way I only have to pay with emotional energy rather than money. They get energy from us, we get a free concert. Lately even some of the non-changeling performers, after learning that their fellow are changelings, have also agreed to perform at the changeling preview shows, so we may see some of them tonight too."

@Crescent Moon At least until the trio of Changelings tumbled into the scene, the events around them pausing as they approached Enigma in the memory. "Good stable connection here, now we can start working backwards, see if we can't uncover what you've forgotten." In the memory Enigma was in her human form, one of the trio came over to inspect her, "See? She looks almost normal, I mean she's hairless, mostly, like a changeling, but she has more of a pony color." The trio of changelings lit their horns and the scene started to move in reverse, Enigma separating from her memory of her actions to watch herself move in reverse, back through the meeting with Celestia, back to her entering Equestria, then before. (This is where you describe what happened in reverse, having memories of events restored as they go, hopefully back all the way to when she first changed and even before, though the memories should taper off when she gets too young to reasonably remember things.)

Sounds well written, I had never thought to put a name on the queen of the Las Pegasus hive, so I think that'll work fine. I don't know if she'd have survived the attack, but we could definitely have some of her changelings there when Null arrives.

No one responded to Solstice's call, meaning that if the mare was up here, she was probably dead, which would explain why the geckos came for them rather than staying on the mare like they had at the wells. Continuing up the hill to the end of the path they wouldn't find any sign of the mare, nor any blood, instead they would find an armchair which looked out over the road up to Sweetwater, sitting in the chair was a 10mm pistol with some ammo. Nearby was a hooflocker which if they opened they'd find some assorted supplies (food and medicine), some chems (Buffout, Fixer, and Mentats), as well as a cowboy repeater rifle with a full clip.

@Randimaxis With that the group set off, Illiad locking the door to his house behind them, following about the same route they did when they first arrived to the city. When they got outside the gates there was a golem-cart waiting like the one they had ridden in Alphyns to the observatory, sat atop it was a pony Dax hadn't met yet, but the others seemed to recognize as he waved for them to get on the cart, he helped Dax up onto the cart personally, "Hey there! You must be Dax! Very excited to meet you, I'm Tenor Saxaphone, but you can call me Sax, or T-Sax, or whatever. I'll be your guide today." Illiad chuckled at Sax's enthusiasm, "Careful Sax, you don't want to scare him away." Sax didn't seem to pick up on Illiad's humor, immediately turning apologetic, "Oh! So sorry! I didn't mean to be overbearing." Which in turn got Swift chuckling as he tousled Sax's mane, "Calm down, it was a joke. You did fine." Sax seemed relieved at that, giving Dax one last friendly smile before turning to set the cart in motion across the desert, it was a good thing the sun was already setting, otherwise it would be quite the hot trip. Speaking of, where were they going exactly? The city was quickly shrinking into the distance. (There's time here for talking) Once the city was a good ways off Swift turned to Illiad and Dax with a somewhat serious expression, "Alright, it's time. Did you bring one for Dax or...?" Illiad nodded, "Got it right here." He pulled out a pair of blindfolds and gave one to Dax as he affixed his own, "Sorry Dax, but it's part of the surprise that you don't see it coming, even I'm not allowed to see it, so I suppose it's as much a surprise for me as it is for you." Provided Dax complied and put the blindfold on the journey would continue. After a few more minutes of travel there was a distinct shift in the atmosphere, the warm dry air shifting to a much cooler temperature with a hint of humidity. If Dax didn't know better he'd think they had entered a cave, it certainly sounded like they were in a cave. It was then that the cart started to turn, up until this point their journey had been in a mostly straight line, but now the cart was making a number of turns before coming to a stop and lowering. Illiad would remove Dax's blindfold to reveal that they were somehow in a cave, and furthermore surrounded by about a half dozen curious looking changelings besides Swift, Carbon, and Sax who had all dropped their disguises. Illiad had quite the smile, "Well Dax, welcome to Allagipolis."

@Crescent Moon "No no, that won't work." "Too weak to connect." "We need something you can remember clearly, something we can connect to and then work backwards from there." Ra would interject, "What about the necklace Celestia gave you? That sounds like it would have been a potent memory, and it sounds like it came soon after your arrival." The young changelings agreed, "That should work." "Once you picture that, and picture it well, we'll be able to enter and start working backward."

@Blitz Boom Illiad smiled, shaking his head, "Not at all, I enjoy any excuse to get out of the estate. Getting out among the populous is doing wonders for my health. Again, I understand why she'd worry, and I'm glad I could help alleviate the worry. When you find her, remind her that until she finishes her personal vendettas she is not required nor expected to exact vengeance on anyone else." Illiad nodded, "Of course, nor would Mercy require it of you. Part of your parents' repayment is having you around to help. I have no doubt that even if you accepted Mercy's offer you'd be at your mother's side for a good long while." Illiad would let her leave then, exiting the shop as well so she could lock it up before running after her sister. (General) Convoy thought for a moment, "Our queens are our mothers, but also fill a role in our lives much like Celestia did for the Equestrians. Losing them is tantamount to losing ones mother, and Celestia, in the same traumatic moment. Afterwards you are left wanting for their love and guidance, what once brought you a sense of purpose and duty becomes hollow as you remember there is no longer a hive for you to support, no more young to defend, only you." He shook himself out of the hole he was digging for himself, "No matter, can't change the past. As to the Queens, we know that Permu and Oracle survived, Permu on the Æther, and Oracle at Blackwater. There's a few unconfirmed, but they were mostly on the Cervidian continent, like Nirvana and Maripose." (Assuming you mean the crowd ready to depart for South Port?) Outside the city, on the recently cleared roadway headed south, was gathered a few dozen ponies and about two dozen assorted other races who had volunteered to be in the first wave of those going to South Port in preparation for retaking and rebuilding North Port. The vast majority of them had been Equestrian, though there were a few, mostly those of the other races, who had not been from Equestria and even a few who were native Trojans. Troy had graciously donated a half dozen desert caravan carts to the cause, the kind which were eight legged minotaur golems skilled at crossing sand, which were currently being loaded up with their possessions and the supplies they would need to make the trip down to South Port. They would turn to watch the General as she approached, waiting to see what her orders would be.