Blitz Boom

@@Lonk Chase,

There's a time and a place for everything. Perhaps soon, Lonk's place will just come to you.

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@@Seamore Sandwich,

Gonna be fun.

@@silvermoon15000,

If it wasn't for the glasses, the two of them would see Vinyl getting a look in her eyes as if she thought they were pulling her leg with this story. Yeah, he were a talking star wolf, but there had to be a limit somewhere, right?

But, few things around here were really explainable or normal at times, such as whatever Pinkie usually ran around doing, or the times when Discord came around town. She had seen the latter replace the sun with a giant, glowing cheese wheel until he were caught, so was it really that far off to think that you could make a wolf like this? Well, not if you were some kind of freak, if local history were an indication, and right now, she were starting to get on the fence about this fellah being that or not.

"Yeah, but Octavia and I each got our own side. Frankly I think we'd drive eachother crazy if we hadn't split the place in half and taken a side each to do with as we wanted. But how'd you know I were thinking about playing music into the late hours? One of them mind readers?"

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@@Seamore Sandwich,

@@GingerLightning,

@@Quinch,

@@Lonk Chase,

@@Melke,

@@Denim&Venom,

@@Mentis Soliloquy,

"For a long time, I was hateful. I didn't understand why I was alone, and why I was cursed to see everything. Even after she saved me from my captors and gave me the beginning of a life, I was angry. At first I didn't know where to direct it, until I finally met others of my kind that told me of you, Creator."

Zhu saw through the tear in time that were present in the air, and what happened beyond it, but he didn't rush to do anything or seemed to worry as he turned fully towards the clock tower. Briefly his eyes went on the pony stood up there, but he could see that it was not his place to interfere here. Another would do that soon, and it was better that he only interfered in things when it was necessary. It would only disrupt what could be the foundation of a strong friendship, or connection that would otherwise echo through time, and that was not his role. Not now at least.

"But I came to let go of my anger through the years, and I only sought answers. What you say have given clarity to most, and leaves me only with finding out how I were damaged as I were, and what happened to my parents. Though I assume the same attack that harmed my egg killed them."

It might sound cold, but with what he did, the neutral look on everything were inevitably going to hit himself too, and made him see the harsh reality in his egg getting damaged and there being no parents of siblings when he hatched as being connected. Besides, he never had a parental figure as such, so he didn't know what he should be mourning, or even who, so why should he show sadness over this? Because of their presumed death?

"In a way, I wonder what could have been, but from what I can hear, my other lives would have ended pointlessly. Or down a dark path, using what I assume a bleak future, likely sprung from my loathing of the world at large."

He wasn't sure if that couldn't still happen actually, though perhaps the day would come and it would be grief that guided him to do so rather than anger. The Creator likely knew, but as for himself, he could not see what future was in front of himself. Others he could mostly see, and if he were in parts of their lives down the line, he could see himself present, but there were no spying on what he'd end up doing in the future by starring at himself.

As such, he couldn't know if one day, he would be the result in a darkness falling over the world, but he didn't think he would. The possibility were there, granted, yet it would take much to rattle him enough to think the world were better of having ended. Even more than loosing her.

"I never much thought of how it could have been, as much as how it might be after the last of the 37 threats were gone. For centuries, this is what I have had to look forward too, and soon, the last one will be gone. A strange thing to think about really, that it will be over."

It wasn't completely over after this though. There would still be a need for him to even the scales now and again around the world, and even if you did not consider that, regaining a life he had abandoned so very, very long ago would be dificult. He had changed a lot in that time, even if his cause had not, and he were sure that she had as well. Back then, he had thought her to be sure to understand what he had to do, and that he did so for her, but after all of these years... Could she still forgive him for leaving, and make them all think him dead of old age long ago, rather than kept alive by the waters? Were there a chance that she had any forgiveness for the things he had sometimes needed to do, even if the big picture, as well as her life, ahd depended on it?

Many questions, yet for once he had no answers. All he could do were to proceed and do what needed to be done, and then see what she would say when he showed himself again. Might be the gates to Canterlot would forever be closed for him then, and she would shun him, but he would manage. Long as he knew that Celestia were safe, it would all still be worth it.

Meanwhile, in the spirit plane, Last looked through the hole in the sky with big eyes. Not because of the destroyed tower, or the even more monstrous looking Nemo, but because she saw Charlie there, and finally understood who the poor sap were that this creature had taken over.

It drove a dagger of guilt around her stomach to think about who likely had been screaming every time she had gotten a deep cut into Nemo, but as she finally pulled her sword out of the ground again where it had gotten stuck after her missed attack, she knew that she had more important things to be worried about than this. Namely, that it seemed like soon, Charlie and Nemo would be separated in some way, and she'd need to be ready for a real fight rather than what had happened thus far. Because whatever had split them off, had also made Nemo seem like an even greater issue than he were thus far.

As for Ko and Ashta, they were still clinging to the best of their abilities to the Forgotten One and did theirs in the battle against the being of cutting into the being with as much of the poison as possible, in as wide an area as possible. The gust of wind had helped them up close, but they still had a hard time with trying to grip unto things as basically the only thing they could grab for certain were the dagger Ko rammed into the being to add more charges of poison. Meaning they'd be simple enough to toss off if the thing really wanted to.

They had taken notice of the tear, and that their two companions had gone through it, but it were not as important as the work right now. That a few potentially died in the field were to be expected sometimes. It couldn't stop them from doing their jobs, and especially not with a thing as dangerous as this being.

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@@Seamore Sandwich,

@@Rapid Wind,

"Just tell me what to do ma'am, and I'll do it as fast as possible. It's better if you take charge and I assist in that way."

He gave the pony a smile and walked with her, and most others towards the outside where'd they'd need to get to work on the town. Last were ready to get things started pronto at least, so whoever would show up wouldn't be left long without a purpose. Including Rapid, who she'd put on assisting with one of the houses that had half the roof missing, whilst a good deal of the rest of them started on one of the more damaged houses that needed some work on the base - such as a few support pillars needing to be replaced - before any roofing could get started. It would keep them all in motion, doing something whilst the supplies would be sent for.

She'd have the fliers on debris removal too if it were, but between the ones working with the scavengable material that Last green-lighted as still being as sturdy and usable as a new part on the roof that could be easily fixed, and the others being sent off to help get more supplies here, it were down the the earth ponies and unicorns. Well, except for one unicorn that she had singled out for being a watchmaker. She had put him on rebuilding the clock in the ruined clock-tower, and overall oversee that there would be the exact space needed for it in the end.

The debris should be split up into the trash pile in the middle of the square and the piles of sorted, reusable parts near the first few houses when the first supplies would show up. As for the ones she had assigned as foreponies for the different tasks in rebuilding properly, they better hope they were ready, or she'd make them. Failure was not an option here, and the more focused on their task she could make everypony be, the faster the townsponies that lived in this area have a home to return to again.

Considering the amount of work, the random ponies showing now and again to volunteer for helping were a good help. The more they had, the better.

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@@Seamore Sandwich,

@@Denim&Venom,

@@Mentis Soliloquy,

Brittle had stayed silent as near Seamore ever since the others had left, which frankly wasn't long, but felt like that for her at least considering the many, dangerous ones here.

Then, suddenly a strange changeling jumped out from a bag and over towards Xeno, and her nervous stare went towards it over the several normal changelings that were around.

She had no idea what this being were, but it looked wrong. A mixture of changeling and the fox she had seen before perhaps? Well, regardless, this was still likely a freak of nature then. A description that she understood all too well, and were one of the reasons why she were so fixated on this tiny, little thing.

Up until now, she had thought that no other changelings had been messed up in some way. They all looked so even and perfect that she had just seemed like even more of an outsider, and yet, here were this little thing that also looked misplaced. Not as bad as the mixture of colour that she had, but... It was a being she could relate more to than the others thus far, at least in the looks.

Though, she wasn't sure what it was over and doing to Xeno. Feed off him?

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@,

Considering that she would have to be within a few hooves of touching them for the magic to be negated - unless Null used her wing, which she hadn't - it was funny to think on how close Astral had actually stood near them for the crystal to not activate before now. Or she just hadn't noticed perhaps. The sisters hadn't taken any notice of the gem, so were possible she hadn't either, but again, she might have just stood too close.

At the mention of them having to follow however, they were sure about something: They weren't going to stick around here. So Null hopped back up on Void's back, and the two of them followed shortly after with just a quick "Understood" said in unison. A bit eerie, but eh, compared to what else was with them, this barely counted as anything.

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@@EQ_Theta,

So Sen had gone angry when they were gone? A pity, though considering everything, it was still better than him being knocked out and in pain. Or at least she thought so, but they'd see when she got over to him.

For now, she just nodded towards the spirit before wandering towards Sen, more or less ignoring the crumbling gate behind her. It wasn't meant to stay open, she had understood that much as she were not supposed to come back there, but wait out here for answers. Not something she had wanted, but something that she hadn't much of a choice in the matter off.

"Sen?"

She approached him slowly, but not cautiously. The thought of him tossing something her way or accidentally scratching her with his claws hadn't even entered her thoughts, so she'd have to live with that if it happened, but any damage to her wasn't going to be that severe more than likely. She were sturdy, though whatever damage Sen could end up cuasing himself from raging like this was another matter entirely. Likely, he could end up doing some real harm to himself if this kept on, though she wasn't sure it would dissipate if he knew what she knew.

@@MistaShifta,

Look, not to rattle your bones. (see what I did there? it... Awh, nevermind.)

Why I welcome new blood around here, I still need to have a little intro talk with you before I start writing with you. Standard protocol, and especially for special characters.

So anyway, there is a bios so I have some base info to go with, and I think I know of an OC of mine that is fit to interact with him (Vivid Loss. Name's in the doc in my siggy) but I just have to ask... Is he an undead sheep? It looks like it, but, could be an undead pony too? A special one for sure, just trying to figure out what he might have been. Though if it's a character thing to have other guessing, or him not knowing himself, then that's fine too. Just asking.

Beyond that... I presume your character is a neutral standing being, so I don't need to think *supervillain* right now or something. So I guess my only real question would be this: What sort of story are you aiming for? We can go randomly and see where it leads, but just in case you have a goal in mind I would need to know before I respond so it doesn't veer off.

And of course, do you have any questions to me, or any particular request for the character I should respond with?

@@Hazard Time,

@@Moonlit,

@@Seamore Sandwich,

"No idea. I just met her yesterday and she decided to hang around. I just call her a mimic."

Whilst Ziggy spoke, Fah'lina let go of the crystal pony's hea dnad used her *wings* to fly over to a nearby tree, where she grabbed hold of a branch with her bushy, but strong tail and dangled downwards whilst keeping the same expression on her face towards Succulent as she had ever since she mentioned her doing tricks. One that spoke of a dislike for being thought of as a pet. Not enough to make her hiss at this one currently, but enough so that you could see the *Tricks? Seriously?* expression going over her, complete with an eye-roll as she had let go before.

As for Ziggy, she turned over towards the suddenly silent Serenade to find her sleeping in the lake. Like literally, sleeping like this was a big bed and not a lake where you could, y'know, drown. Still, Serenade usually slept in a lake, so it was probably okay, even in this form... Buuuut, it was better not to take chances. Besides, leaving her here would just end up all sorts of awkward, especially if she had to explain to the others how a pegasi was able to breathe with her face in water.

So, she swam over and dived down under her, getting up so she carried the sleeping mare on her back and headed for the shore, where she'd extend her large wings sot he water could start to drip off. It wasn't easy to fly with soaked wings, and especially not with two, so she'd wait for her wings to be dry before taking Serenade here home.

In the meantime, she put her down gently on the ground where she could dry a bit too, trying her best not to jingle the necklace around or anything, but honestly not being sure how it went as she got her friend down to a sort of hard surface, but one that were better than her spine at least. The ground was a perfectly acceptable place to nap on for a bit in her own experience with... Well, falling from low hanging clouds mostly, but still.

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@@silvermoon15000,

"Heh, yeah, Octavia got a beat of her own going. A bit too slow on it's own for my taste, but you can hear she puts her all into it for sure."

Vinyl had been to one of Octavia's concerts before, and it was mostly there the two of them had met the first time. A meeting that had... Well, not gone over as well as one could hope, but that was ages ago. Things were going better and better these days, which their duet album showed very well, but they still liked some time apart. No good came from smothering one another too much, and besides, Octavia wasn't all in for the many late nights of Vinyl mixing up tunes in her part of the house. But to be fair, Vinyl wasn't a big fan of four hours or more in a row of cello practise either, so it was better to just try and tune eachother out most of the time, then hang out once in a while and see what kinda mood struck them.

"And I know you ain't one of the crazies. Those kind you can spot a mile away, and you ain't giving off any of the weirdo-vibes."

She looked over towards the celestial wolf and grinned a little more.

"Or well, not about music anyway."

In other towns, his little outburst might have made him stand out more, but honestly... Pinkie. There really wasn't anything more to say to it than that.

"Say Shian, how come you're rocking around with Captain Outburst here anyway? He just conjure up some mojo and press one for a snarky wolf? Seems like an odd partnership you two got going."

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@@Summer Breeze,

@@Frosty Frost,

"Well it wasn't supposed to happen. My hut were almost done and I wanted to celebrate, so I lit a few fireworks... That then sorta flew into a tree, then to another tree, then a bush, then a tree... Was a lot of things engulfed in pretty fire before some ponies from Ponyville came around and put it out.

It was the first time I met another pony after the earthshattering kaboom too, which were fun. Less fun when they started scolding me about *safety* this and *dangerous* that, but I didn't mind. It was still a cool day, and the stay at the orphanage was kinda interesting too. Lots of sad foals there, so I made them a lot of things that went kaboom to cheer them up. Matron didn't like it, but booh to her."

Blitz jumped up and down, giggling like she had told a funny story and not the summary of how she had met the ponies of Ponyville by almost setting off a massive forest fire, and had gotten sent to the orphanage when they didn't find any parents to speak off with her.

"Went back to the forest again cause that's where all the fun stuff is, but I go there with new things for the others sometimes. And I swear, I'm trying reeeeeeally hard not to start forest fires again. I promise, it haven't happened since the nice cat-snake man helped me put up a forge."

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@@EQ_Theta,

Omen slowly took the scale, not knowing what to say for a good while as she just stood silent as a statue and glanced at the special gift she had been given. Then finally, she took it up to her head and carefully put it into the seemingly endless, dark void that was her mouth before closing again. The two berries she had left rolled out as a result, but it mattered not to her. she could always find more of them, but she couldn't always find more gifts like this. It was something special, and far more valuable than those things could ever be, Too valuable to just store in her mouth for too long too, though it were the only place she had for it right now.

"Thank you."

To say she had never gotten a gift before wasn't true. Discord had given her things now and again because he thought she deserved it, or just felt like it, and a few of them she still had somewhere that she supposed she could call her home in Equestria. Though a hole far down in the ground cut off from any air etc. wasn't exactly a dream for most.

This scale however, she wouldn't have stashed somewhere to glance at now and again, even if a few of them could be taken with her technically. The scale were a special thing to give to somepony else from what it sounded like, and it felt like something that she had to... No, wanted to wear. A constant reminder of her friend were something that, regardless of how things went here, she would like to have with her. Around her neck sounded like a possibility, but she would see. Hopefully, Lin could give her some more ideas i- When, she returned.

She looked away from Lin and towards the portal that were to lead her away from this place, not liking the idea, but knowing that it wasn't a choice. Not if Lin were to have a chance to be healed.

"If the wisp doesn't work, I won't be able to feel the new you when you return. We would have to search for you from the start again...

Come back, and find us, okay? If you can't us, then find Mother. She will know how."

Whatever were part of Lin right now that had been gifted by Mother, Omen hadn't an idea about, nor how much, if any, would remain of it when the work of the well were done. But if she did become something of them, even a little, she might be able to get to home. And there, she could get help. Both the words and the slight tone change in Omen's voice at the second sentence showed that were at least something she hoped for.

With that said, she turned to the portal, only stopping briefly to give Lin a long, worried look, before stepping through. For her sake, Omen couldn't linger here anymore, so she set her course to the only other place than this she wanted to go, and towards the only other being she knew that truly needed her. Even if she didn't know if Sen were awake or not.

Back at the well, Chaos and Order fluttered closer, but hesitated and went a little further back instead, fixated on what were happening in front of them now, but knowing not to get in the way of it. Even Chaos knew that nothing good came from messing with things when it came to the well.

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@,

"Well, it ain't like you could get us more lost than we already are, so let's have a go and see where we end."

It was good in Null's mind that the little one had been alllowed to come along after all, though that just made it worse if they actually did manage to just get horribly lost. Now she got her hopes up for going to Canterlot, and having that being dashed by wandering far away from any route towards it were gonna be a double up on bad experiences for the foal.

It was curious what exactly made her so hyper about the capitol though, but it could just be that she liked the idea of a large city like that with all sorts of ponies, shops and things to see. Personally, she'd prefer solitude in some way or another as she and her sister hadn't had good experiences with being in towns and around others, but that was just them. Not everypony got chased away like them after all, though if sompony ended up stopping them going into the city and confiscated the bag they had with them, that wasn't off the table yet.

Oh great, now she would have that rummaging around in her head for the rest of the trip. Just swell.

@@EQ_Theta,

"Perhaps it keeps her,  but without the water, she will be gone anyway."

Omen had been silent as things had progressed, tilting her head slowly from side to side and looking into the eye of the guardian that had spent a good deal of time starring at her during this whole thing. Why she didn't know though, but was it even important? It were a being in a magical place with a big eye, and since Order had said she could see chaos and something unknown in her - a considerably smaller being - perhaps this one did too, and wondered what the unknown parts were. Or were there something else?

Didn't matter right now anyway. It were questions for another time when nothing pressing happened, and right now that idle chatter wasn't an option. Not when Lin were standing in pain, about to go in. Or at least she were sure that she would. Seemed pointless not to when this close to the potential cure for her ailment.

"I'll wait for your return Lin. And if the unthinkable happens..."

Omen turned her gaze away from the strange creature and placed it upon Lin. Her friend that were about to take a journey she might not come back from, but had to for at least the chance to be cured. A few, final steppes where Omen couldn't come with her, and just had to stay here and wait for what would happen after she had entered the waters.

She didn't like that she couldn't be there to the end, but the waters wasn't for her. Though she had come this far to help her friend in what ways she could, the last part - the stretch where she might not come back from - didn't seem like it were a place she could do anything but wait, and hope that she came back from.

Seeing Lin and knowing that she couldn't do anything here at the end made her pause and think about what would happen if she didn't get back. It were not something that felt right to think about, but she still had to since it was a possibility, and if that were... She knew what she had to do.

"...I will take care of Sen."

Perhaps it were morbid to think of what to do if Lin ended up dying, and she felt a strange, painful pressure in her chest the more she thought about it, but for both Lin and Sen's sake, she had to. Sen deserved to know what happened if Lin couldn't tell him, though she hoped that she never had to go back with these news. Although the day would come when her friends died, she didn't want it to be for a long, long time, nor did she want to tell Sen that he had lost his sister after looking for her for so long. Even she, that didn't know much about emotions, knew that would destroy him.

"Though, try to get back. I think it's better if we could both be there."

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@@silvermoon15000,

If she had been another pony, she'd likely have responded to the wolf suddenly talking first, and been pretty in to finding out more. But alas, the curse of being a star and being recognised by adorning fans.

"Yep, that's me, DJ PON3 in the flesh."

Vinyl stepped a little in place to the beat from the headphones. It were a bit low, but she could still hear it, and she liked this part. It wasn't the one these two had spoken about, just one of her older ones, but she liked the beats nevertheless. No good music ever went out of style after all.

"And Octavia's gonna love to hear there's more that likes the new album. She didn't think it'd work, but there's so many that says it's a good mix of tunes. Oh I hope she's up for jamming around more for the next one. Got this sweet little setup I think'll really mix in if we rise the volume on the low cords."

It seemed like she talked to herself halfway too, but she couldn't help it. The album had turned out better than she could've hoped for, and any chance she had of setting up things for another round with Octavia, even if just as an idea, made her a bit hyper from the thought. Granted, Octavia said she wanted to try another direction with it if they were to collab again, but hey, she didn't mind having a little back and forth when it played out so well, and having another album with Octavia's name plastered aside with Vinyl's were gonna be a treat for everypony. Had been with the last one, that were for sure.

"Just need her to have the time for it. I need her to hear it out, and see if she haves some idea for a logo. Ponies are going to want to hear more, and she needs a better mark than the node for the cover. Have to stand out more or the background's just gonna look all bland."

She spun around quickly and bopped her head at the thought before refocussing on the pony and his weird, talking wolf companion. Shian was it? Funny name, but hey, it stood out, that's for sure.

"But hey, how'd you smell I've been around Octavia? What's the sophisticated part she's smashing herself in? is it the perfume? It's the perfume, right?"

Octavia had a certain whiff about her that she didn't think she still had some remnants off on her, but perhaps this little thing could pick up on something she hadn't washed. Her headphones perhaps? Could be something had gotten stuck in there of Octavia's perfume. Not a bad smell that was for sure, but eh, just wasn't her style to wear personally. Matched the classical pony better.

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@@Moonlit,

@@Hazard Time,

@@Seamore Sandwich,

Ziggy swims over next to Serenade. She's not as fast with it, being more of a fast runner and flier than a good swimmer, but she got the short distance done well enough. She had gone down as far as she could whilst still having enough of her head above water so she could talk without getting water in her mouth. Why she wasn't sure, but it was fun to see somepony from down here now and again, so might be she had just wanted to see how it were for most other ponies looking up at her again. It was a weird impulse that happened now and again that she never really had much control over. Or rather, she didn't really have the focus to care most of the times. Thinking over your actions before doing it tended to be boring..

"Are your wings hurting? Not a good thing to overstress them or you could end up with torn muscles or cramps. Not fun to happen halfway through flight."

In her eyes, Serenade looked pretty tired, so she just wanted to know if it were just from the exercise, or if perhaps it were going over into pains from straining too much to try and do as much as she could. It was okay to want to impress somepony - in this case likely Derpy - but she had to think like a doctor now and again and be sure. Especially after Serenade had made the half-blood her doctor a few days ago.

Which reminded her that she really had to read through the rest of the medical journal one of these days. Might be something important in there she really didn't want to miss.

There was another thing that wondered her now that she thought about it: Where'd the biting menace go? Had she went up into a tree to sleep or somethi- Oh, nevermind, there she were. Standing on the head of Succulent and stretching her little arms and legs without having taken much notice of the pony she had landed on yet.

"Her name's Fah'lina, and watch out for her. She's a tricky one."

The mimic looked out in the lake, to Ziggy, then downwards to whoever she was standing on now... The back and forth went a little by little before she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and bend down in front of the face of Succulent to see who this were then.

It wasn't a pony the rodent had seen before, and the smell coming from her she'd certainly remember if it were. A strange one really...

She kept sniffing the pony whose face she were more or less dangling down upon, with her small paws clinging tightly to the side of the head of said pony to keep herself there. It shouldn't hurt too much. Not like she were an owl or something after all. Now That would have hurt.

@@silvermoon15000,

"Whoa, cool. How'd you make it look like that? Some sort of disco ball outfit?"

Vinyl had looked away for a while so she could go get her treats - she had taken a cupcake and a muffin - but as she had glanced back after her purchase, the pony from before suddenly had a wolf next to him. And not just any wolf, one that looked sort of like it was made out of stars.

She knew that couldn't be the case though. That sort of thing didn't make sense as much as it wearing some kind of outfit that made it look like this, or perhaps glowing paint? She could totally see that, but now she just Had to know for sure. Only wolves they tended to see around here were timberwolves, and she had only ever seen a regular wolf in a book when she was a foal, so what the deal with them were she hadn't the foggiest idea about, but she knew this: This wolf were decked out in a pretty sweet look, and she wanted to know what it were. The sort of things she could do in one of her concerts in an outfit or paint-job like that... It could be So rad!

"Or is it paint? No matter what it's looking sweet. How'd you do it?"

She might have thought otherwise if she had heard the wolf speak before, but she hadn't. It was less than a half minute ago that she dropped her headphones to around her neck and before that it had all been beats, no voices.

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@@EQ_Theta,

What a strange-looking creature.

That was the basics of what Omen thought when the stones rose from the well and made the body of... Whatever this thing were.It were strange and spoke loudly, that was all she could really capture of it at first glance. It was odd how it spoke without a mouth, but she didn't speak with hers either, so perhaps this was just something like what she did? Not exactly the same, though the same principle? It was possible, and it was an easy way to think of this. Easier than trying to break her brain upon what it might be otherwise.

It was a guard of sorts, that much she did understand. Even she had enough common sense to put that together, although it didn't hurt the way it spoke to Lin when she approaches, clutching her chest as if the pain she was feeling were getting worse.If it were, she'd need the water right away, instead of having to stand and answer questions, right? Why did it delay her like this?

It just got weirder and more confusing as it turned its large eye towards her, and started to ask about her opinion about Lin. If it were supposed to guard against threats, why did it ask her, who were clearly with Lin? Wouldn't it invalidate things, as she were here to help?

This and many more question stood, but would remain unanswered. Its question however, wouldn't be.

"She speaks the truth. We came here looking for a way to save her, nothing else."

It would not find lie in the whispering voice in its head that Omen projected, not much bias. It was neutral, as so many times, even though it carried a tinge of concern over it as she went from looking at the eye to looking at Lin that looked very pained. Like before she had taken her to see Mother, but with less panic.

Behind them, Chaos and Order had settled down and removed the restraints from eachothers mouths as they fluttered in place and looked at the guardian of the well, curious as to what his judgement in this would be. Though they were polar opposites and tended to get on eachothers nerves at times, they usually got along well and were often united in their curiosity of things. Such as the scene in front of them now, where the longma with the churning magic inside of her would see if she would get the chance to pass the guardian.

All that wanted to go to the well had to go through this, and it were interesting to see how it went almost every time, as well as the aftermath if the ones who did get a pass managed to come back again. Longma, Dragons, the Stranger, etc. it mattered not, every last one who came to the waters had to go through this, and the two of them were watching every time, mostly rooting for the ones who came for help. They weren't malevolent after all.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

@@Frosty Frost,

@@Summer Breeze,

Lyriel raised an eyebrow at what story Frosty offered. Not so much because she didn't want to hear it, but rather, because she were starting to think that ponies were a race that got into trouble a lot. Be it big things like getting tossed into the middle of a transformative valley, setting fire to a forest or getting themselves trapped on the wrong end of tyheir own magic, it seemed like there were just issues following them. Might be it were only these, and not an inidcation of the race as a whole, but it did not look good if you thoughts about the ones she had meet thus far.

Still, they were her new friends, and soon some that she would live nearby in a new forest. Sure, they may have odd stories with some bad implications, but they were good, kind-hearted creatures too. A sharp contrast to the Atazi they had passed in the camp, and to some extend Nerzhei, but honestly that felt like a good thing. She could use these sort of light-hearted individuals in her new life, though she might have to ask what were up with what was hopefully rare accidents.

"I am certainly curious as to how that happened. Do tell, if you would be so kind."

@@Randimaxis,

Ziggy looked around in the office that she hadn't been near since... Well, a while back now. And honestly? It hadn't changed. Like, at all, everything seemed to be in the exact same place that it were then. Efficient, clean, orderly, and with the picture in mind, kind of intimidating.

She remembered looking at that picture the first time she had shown up at the quarry, looking for work and thinking that it captured the pony she were meeting with pretty well, though no way could he be as intimidating as his portrait. Boy had she been wrong.

She hadn't known about the Blackwaters when she had come here for work. Sure, a few words here and there, but she didn't put much hold in stories like that and preferred to make up her own mind about somepony when she met them. It gave a better idea since some ponies just liked to make up things to make somepony sound better or worse. With Luther... Well, she didn't expect a saint exactly, but he hadn't really been a devil either. Just a businesspony.

He hadn't tried to chew her head off or something when it were back then, just been about the cold facts of the matter. Just like he seemed to be today as she took a seat in front of his table and looked down on him. Or well, more eye to eye really. His seating made him gain some height that almost evened it out.

"Well, from a medical point of view, things are positive."

She put down the report she had written up on the table. It contained the medical reports about what were used and the damaged to the workers today, as well as a small bit about her own experience at the mine as she had been rather close to ground zero.

"The wave of water gave a lot of concussions, and some have gotten a few patches of burn on their skin from the boiling water, but even the ones that were battered around in there are not in any critical condition. Only one were, but I got some help with her and she is up and about now. We're looking at a lot of cases of ponies being sore tomorrow, bruising and a broken legs plus some having to have a few bones settled again, but most of the workers here are tough. Except for the one with the broken leg, I expect the rest to be back to work tomorrow or the day after, and I made sure to send him off to a proper hospital that will get him fixed as best they can."

it varied how long it took for somepony to come over a broken leg, especially considering what treatment options were available to magically speed things up, yet she had high hopes for the other pony, especially as it had seemed like a single fracture, and not several. It was something she'd like to handle herself though, if she could, but she didn't have the materials needed to make a proper cast, and this one had definitely needed that in the long run.

"As for the situation itself... I don't know Mr. Blackwater. One moment I hear somepony shouting about fire in the mine, next thing I know they're suddenly screaming about water breaking down when I'm over to pick up my medical bag. I heard somepony talk about there being Fire Opals in the mine, and that might be the reason for the fire, but not sure about who thought it was a good idea to crack the water tower to send towards it."

Usually she sounded more... Aloof and silly in it when she spoke, but this was  serious talk in a serious room to a Very serious boss. Even she wasn't going to goof off in here when the whole atmosphere just screamed at her to keep herself in check. Not yet at least.

"Although, there is one pony I saw who I couldn't find after the damages that might know something? He ran to the fire a little before the water tower went down, What was the name... Ivan I think? He had a funny accent at least. Might be he were close enough to have seen something."

@@Hazard Time,

Not really anything since last. Derpy and Serenade is doing wing swimming to train Serenade up a bit more, and Ziggy is goofing around in the water. Her pet/companion have flown a bit away from her and have landed on Succulent's head though, not awake enough yet to take notice that she doesn't know who or what she have landed on. There's a picture and some descriptions about it on this page https://mlpforums.com/topic/110191-casual-stroll/page-157so you can get a visual to work with.

________________________________________________________________________________

@@Seamore Sandwich,

Cool. Days off are the best.

@@EQ_Theta,

"I'm not supposed to tell you. Every being that comes here have to make their own way and find the well through tests and hardships. Your pain is likely part of your test, just like finding the right place is. I wish I could do more, but I have rules to obey. And without rules everything will just-"

A rubber band suddenly formed around her mouth as Chaos swept by and giggled at her counterpart giving her the stink eye for this prank she played on her, though her meddling wasn't done yet.

"Bah, rules are meant to be broken. Listen uhm... Dragon...Ish one. Queen buzzkill here isn't gonna tell you, but yeah, start with going for the stone, then when you get there you'll-"

Now it was her turn to have her words restricted, though in her case it was a full muzzle of light around her face that stopped her mutterings, before the two began to make gestures at eachother that seemed mostly focused around *What's the big idea?* but without being able to say something as both their mouths were closed. It likely wasn't going to last long, but perhaps long enough for Lin to get to the stone without being interrupted by any sound from them other than their buzzing wings as they followed along for various reasons.

Omen followed along in silence too, though her focus were more on the drake and Lin than the two spirits. Those were magical and therefore hard to understand in her mind, whilst she had some idea about the other two.

For starters, it seemed like Lin had been right earlier about feeding the little thing. Though she could explain why they hadn't rolled out of her mouth before during her test, Omen still carried the berries she had plucked earlier in her dry mouth, and after the little thing had attacked the intruder in it's nest or whatever it considered Omen's mane to be, she had stuck a few up to see if it were of interest to it. Which, after a little sniffing to the things, it seemed to have as it ravaged through them. She still had a few left when it seemed to loose interest, yawn, and go back to sleep, but considering everything, it was likely better to have a few extra, just in case.

As for Lin herself, Omen couldn't help but worry a little about her, after she had heard about her being in pain that were only going to get worse. It was because of something magical, and this time she understood enough of it to get that it was the bad kind that she had with her that caused that pain and it was resisting or something, but she still wished that she knew something else. Namely, how to make it stop, but wasn't that why they were headed for the strange stone that began to feel more like a heart or something similar the closer they got?

Hopefully it'd be that, and not just a dead end. She didn't want to go back to Sen and say that his sister had died because they had gone sightseeing.

_______________________________________________________________________________

@@silvermoon15000,

"You really think so?"

It was the sort of question that hadn't needed to be answered, as the look he sent the pony that had just ruffled his mane were one of being both excited and proud. Not something he had a lot of chance to show as thew pony sadly had to be on his way, but perhaps he'd meet him later on? It wasn't that big a city so one could always hope.

So, when Silver took off, Cover-up would shakingly rise a hoof up and wave him away whilst saying that he hoped Silver would have a good day, before taking his brush to what he had drawn and drain the ink out of the ground again and back to the well. Not everypony liked having random drawings around, so he made sure to clean up after he had drawn something, unless it was supposed to be there. Like something on a house, or a drawing somepony had wanted, or like in his own case, body tattoos to cover things.

The thought made him sink down a little and look more nervous than he had appeared thus far, as he thought about how he had needed that himself once upon a time, and still did. If he didn't have these to cover what was beneath them...

Whilst he stood in his nervous thoughts and cleaned up, at the bakery there was busy as usual. Not *line out of the door* busy, but enough to keep the staff occupied, and the ones in what line that were there to seem anxious to get to the close-by counter. Or well, all but one unicorn mare, who were too busy listening to whatever were playing in her headphones and bopping her head to the rhythm at the back of the line.

Vinyl didn't usually venture out so much in the day, but sometimes she needed to get some chow beyond what she had stored or had to shop, and today she had the craving for something sweet. perhaps a cupcake like the one over there were eating? Looked like a good fit.

She were looking over towards Silver with a grin on her face, though because of her purple glasses, it could be hard to tell if it were at him precisely or just something in the general direction. Though she looked away once in awhile and towards the counter, checking if she could see something akin to the kind of muffin he had rolling. She thought she saw one though, in the corner of the display, and grinned to herself as she kept her eyes on that when the line went on, and talked a little to herself.

"You're mine, muffin."

@@silvermoon15000,

Cover-up looked really giddy for a moment before he fell down again and laughed a little nervously. It was a bit too much with these outbursts for him, but he were just so excited about showing this. He just needed... There, a spot of road not currently used. Would do the trick.

He walked the few steppes over to it before tipping off the top of the inkwell and with his magic, raised the brush from his back and dipped it in. Not much, to avoid spilling of getting too thick a layer out, but enough to give a good amount of liquid going as he put the tip to the ground, and started directing the brush across the uneven surface.

Despite the surface, the pattern fell smoothly and with skill, The colt looked in his ace and happy in the moment as the brush quickly flew over and painted a good sized picture, of Silver with his little bunny. It were completely in black, but the details were still spot on and you could see the texture of them taking out well. It seemed odd he didn't have to dip the brush more than twice though, but not as odd as what happened afterwards.

As the picture were done, he brushed over once again, and the picture almost seemed like it moved. Paint were added, removed, and adjusted rapidly as he tried to keep up and making it seem like they moved as flawlessly as possible. It were not perfect, as he needed time to get things done right, but regardless, he went over a little , choppy scene of how the bunny had reacted until it ended on the painted Silver's shoulder, and the brush finally stopped. When it did, the colt looked up at Silver again, expectingly and sweating a little from the strain. Just painting things wasn't an issue, but adjusting this often took some energy out of him.

"Well? What do you think?"

The question remained what Silver would think, especially since it seemed like Cover-up could use his brush to both write, erase and move some, but hopefully he wasn't gonna start screaming *Witch!* at him. That'd just make things awkward.

___________________________________________________________________________________

@@EQ_Theta,

The little one followed after letting out a sigh. It had been a small hope to begin with, and now... Rules had been broken. Guidelines set for them, and they hadn't followed them. They'd expect it from the other, but her? She failed. Even if it were the other that had taken her out of her stealth with her, it wasn't an excuse for going against the orders. Unless... Perhaps if she thought of them as lesser guides, this would still be within the rules? Long as they didn't help them in any trials, they should be fine perhaps?

"...We're spirits of magic. Small specks compared to the prime, but still. I'm Order, and that over there is Chaos."

Chaos poked her head around and waved before diving into Omen's mane. Something she regretted soon as she flew out with her tail on fire and a small hiss following. Seemed like the little drake were awake, and didn't like the company. Which were even more evident as it rose up and started to spew more, small fires after Chaos, that had gotten her wits about her now and threw random, small things she summoned after them. Like acorns and rocks. Nothing large.

"Why did you push me around?"

Order got a noticeable tick going over her face at the voice projected into her head. Not surprisingly when she were a being literally made of norms, guidelines and order in general, and this wasn't normal.

"Different opinions on what to do with something like you."

Omen tilted her head, clearly not getting what the little thing was trying to say.

"A ball of melted chaos. You're literally inert trouble and something unknown."

She looked at Lin afterwards with somewhat narrowed, searching eyes.

"You got trouble with you too, but it's not inert. I can see it, writhing and churning. It knows what happens to its kind here."

__________________________________________________________________________________

@@Summer Breeze,

@@Frosty Frost,

"Can't take it with me, and I'm not giving it to them without a fight."

She pushed the gates outside open, ignoring the guard asking her what she thought she were doing until the door was fully open and she suddenly had her hand around his throat, pulling the suddenly scared, bulky guard towards her and whispering something that only he could hear, but likely wasn't nice as he seemed like he had seen a ghost when she let go off him and he flew off towards the camp. The other guard were smart enough to keep his distance.

Lyriel looked wearily at Nerzhei. She knew that Atazi could sometimes have quite the temper, at least from what she had seen from a distance, but this dragoness... She concerned her. She had knowledge and control, the ability to be open about things and even seem smiling at times. But she also carried such... Rage. It had seemed contained and not that prevalent until now, but when even others of her kind trembled before her from a few words and a grip... It made her worried, and perhaps a little scared too.

It were not something she would say out loud though. At least not when Nerzhei could hear her words. She did not want to be on the other side of the dragoness and stare into her eyes, gazing upon whatever was beneath the surface, so she'd stay her words for now, until the time would come when she were sure that only her and the ponies were within earshot. Perhaps they could tell her if they shared her concerns then.

Aside from that, it was interesting to see the lands around as they got outside of the camp. It was a little barren, granted, but they were still on a mountain, and if you looked at the rock formations it could be pretty in its own way. She wish she could say the same about the road they were threading on, but it was a dirtroad, so there really wasn't much charm to find in it. Especially not as the rocky dirt weren't much in richness compared to that in the valley.

"It is likely some way to go before we are there. Perhaps we can tell stories as we move along?"

"Oh, I know stories! Wanna hear about the time I set fire to the forest?"

Lyriel took Blitz out in stretched arms and turned her around so she could look the giggling little thing in the eyes.

"Please don't tell me that's something you do."

"It was an accident, I swear. only happened like once... And a few other times, just smaller..."

Lyriel gave Blitz a funny look before kneeling down and setting the foal gently on the ground. She had carried her around too much at this point anyway, and she seemed happy to be able to wander around again.

"Perhaps someone else haves a story with less... Dire implications?"

@@silvermoon15000,

Groovy. :3 Gonna be interesting to see how this'll turn out. ^^

@@silvermoon15000,

The colt's eyes were fixated on the rabbit from it arrived to when it vanished, hearing what were told him, but not answering before there were no more celestial rabbit in sight.

"It looked so detailed. And alive! That's some really impressive stuff... Silver."

He needed a short moment to collect himself and remember the name after the show, but it got to him eventually. It was just that the things he had seen Silver do had been really mesmerizing, and wandered around his head a lot. Fascinating, artistic things like that tended to have that effect on him.

"Anyway, my name's Cover-up. Nice to meet you."

A cheeky grin was sent upwards to Silver from the strange, but seemingly friendly colt.

"And summoning magic? Sweet. Also very artistic. I like art a lot, but I guess you can see that on me... Wanna see something I can make? It's not as impressive as what you did, but then again, what is?"

Cover-up seemed like he really wanted to show what he could do to Silver, but the reason for it wasn't that he wanted to try and show off. No, he wanted to show somepony who seemed to have a lot of artistic talent - the details in the summoning magic was too perfect to make him think otherwise - what he could do, because he sought approval from others about what he did. It mjight not seem like it, but he had a lot of issues with poor self-esteem in his life, and though he had managed to get past the worst of it, the hunger for approval from somepony that would understand it was still very prevalent.

__________________________________________________________________________

@@EQ_Theta,

"Oooh, can we?"

"Hey, you know the rules."

"But rules are boooooring. I wanna play, and you keep pushing them away from me."

"Pout all you want, it's not helping. I'm not bulging. Nuhuh. Nada. Not at all."

Both the voices seemed to be female, though their location were still a mystery. Whatever, or whoever, they were, they kept themselves hidden from sight for now and apparently... Well, discussed whatever or not they could show themselves, or just keep playing around hidden. It sounded like they weren't supposed to from the slightly more stern voice, but the other one didn't really seem to care much for what they and weren't supposed to do. Which became even more evident as the air started to flicker near one of Lin's wings and shortly thereafter, a curious little thing would be seen, blowing to the wings and pulling them etc. like a foal who got a new toy they had to explore. Minus the *shoving it into their mouths* part.

It was a familiar form, if either of them had ever heard of or encountered breezies. It carried the form of the small, fragile beings at least, though this one were constantly changing colour, hues, and even mixing and matching ones to look a bit like a bee or something else. She had a wild mane and tail seemingly not kept under check and she emitted a faintly smoking aura around her of whatever colour she would be at any given time.

She didn't get much chance to examine the large wings more before she were pulled back a little, struggling against seemingly nothing before another flicker happened and another breezie-looking thing showed up, though this one having more of a controlled look gooing over her with not a single hair on her mane or tail going stray away from the straightened, silvery style. She were a base white, and like the other, glowed/smoked with a faint aura, though her colours and such remained the same.

"Oooh, look what you've done. We're gonna get in trouble for this..."

"Booh to that. We're just having fun. Stupid rules if they stop that."

The two struggled against one another before eventually, the light one just gave a sigh and let go of the wild one, who immediatly went over and started to poke Omen around, both in the sense that her tiny hooves literally touched her, and that some sort of magic pushed her closer when Omen tried to take a step back.

As for the orderly one, she looked between them all before settling on Lin, and speaking to her. From a safe distance of course, though you could see fro the look in her eyes that she really wanted to examine this one too. Like when they had been invisible just before.

"...It's too much to hope you're both blind and can't see us, right?"

__________________________________________________________________________________

@@Seamore Sandwich,

@@Rapid Wind,

Last saluted the princess as she announced the meeting to be over, and her duty in town were to begin. Something that she wasn't going to waste any time with, starting with Penny.

"Time to get going then. You, if you're used to fixing your roof, you can help asses what needs to be fixed with the ones that are damaged now. I'm sending you off with the Night Guard to get that evaluated, then start to bring the supplies needed. We'll start at the north end of the disaster site, then work clockwise around so the debris removal can stay active along with us.

Everypony who's on debris removal starts there while we get supplies ready. I'll oversee it, and make sure the parts that can be reused are. The rest will be gathered in the middle of the square so we can remove it all at once when we're done."

She kept on like this as she went down the line of volunteers, talking about how she wanted who to do what in the most time efficient way that wasn't going to cost them a ton on supplies. No need to waste perfectly good stone if it could be helped, as long as they lived up to her quality requirements of course. That was a recurring theme with this through it all really, that she wanted to make sure that things were not done halfway, so she'd keep watch on things and direct it as needed.

A few ponies got pointed out as foreponies in debris removal, supplies, and builders, depending on what skills they had as she asked around briefly. She needed some that knew how to direct others to action, as she wouldn't always be able to be there, as even when focused in one area at a time, there'd be several areas to attend to, and always something going wrong at least one place. Plan for disaster, hope for perfection basically.

Penny and Stargazer were quickly put on control of the roof part of the builders, as she were certain that a Night Guard - and especially one his size - would be able to get others to listen, and Penny for what sounded like expertise until further notice. She might have been able to get one pony for all of the builder management, but it felt safer to have some directed on the roof, and some on the walls.

When she were done with everything, she went straight out and towards the town, not thinking about lingering when she had work to get on with, even if she hadn't specifically addressed all the volunteers. Such as Rapid, which she had apparently just lumped in along with the workers and breezed over it. He'd likely do well on the roof duty without having to fly, so if he were willing to listen, there'd be something for him there.

As for Stargazer, he let out a small sigh and began to go towards the exit as well. Much as he wanted to see how his friend were doing, this was important for the town, and as he had been appointed into a few, important jobs, he had to get on with them. Starting with taking contact to his companion, which made him stop up and aim towards Penny on his path.

"Excuse me ma'am. Name's Stargazer, and I guess we're in the same boat, huh? Would you be ready if we start now?"

@@PonyOfWar,

@@Wolves,

Alright, so War was, essentially, an easy target then if things went down. His morals and what he said made it clearer that he wanted to protect rather than flat out attack, and needed to be sure he wouldn't just hurt an innocent. For a changeling, this were an easy target as they could menace a few to create a distraction leading into a trap, or if it were a more stealthy attack, hide well enough amongst the populace so he'd never really be sure who were an enemy and who were friend. A changeling speciality that last one, and one that worked even better on the ones who didn't want to take chances.

It eased his mind a bit. Sure, he wasn't currently planning on attacking the town, but you never knew if he got on the highway of misfortune and end up facing Queen Chrysalis, and if so, he really needed a bargaining chip. Stuff like there being a manipulative target like this that had some muscle to him, along with the town he were in, might sweeten the pot enough to let him save his own exoskeleton. Bad mojo for the locals, but eh, not his problem.

"Could also go bounty hunting for some animal that've made a lot of trouble. Particular nasty timberwolves or something like that can also be a thing that needs to be cleared out or chased off sometimes, though it sounds like you'd ask about that too before taking on the job. Regardless, rock solid morals like that can end up doing you a world of good lad, so it's grand to hear the ol' compass is turning the right way.."

It could also bring him a world of pain, but he'd keep that part to himself and just keep on smiling. Had to keep up appearance here after all.

"Mind me asking though, why're your family asked to stay here? No, no, scratch that, a bit too intrusive that one, 'specially when it's a royal request. Tends to be hush hush and all.

Let's try something a bit less intrusive like... How are your family? Kinda curious about who they are and how you're all doing."

Slightly awkward stance, back-peddling away from a question that was too invasive and going down to something that seemed more reasonable, and carried a feel of Happy being really curious if War were the odd one out or if they all were a bit special in it, but trying to avoid being rude about it. Seemed like he got the basics of this theatre down, except for the last part which would be to change focus to somepony else, along with eye-contact, to not be faced with how it started to sound to himself when he began to dig into War's family. It was a small thing, but when it came to keeping up the charade, it really were all the small things that mattered.

Anyway, time to switch the focus.

"*coff* so about the town... Shouldn't the princess be doing something about it? I mean, I heard a little about the royals before coming to the country, and it sounded like they could solve all sort of issues, and there is a castle in sight that says there's a local one of 'em. Even if there wouldn't be anypony regular that could handle it, wouldn't she be? Or have I overestimated her a bit?"

_____________________________________________________________________________

@@EQ_Theta,

Omen looked around at it all, perplexed and not knowing at first what she were supposed to say.

Like Lin had said, it shouldn't be possible for all of this to be here, as Omen had seen Canterlot and even she knew that there wasn't this much space beneath unless they had gone through the world and come out the other end, which didn't make sense to her either. Then there were the floating mountains, odd stairs, the beating stone and so forth.... it were a very strange place.

Not the mention the feeling of magic in this place. She should have been able to feel this from miles away, and yet, it wasn't until she literally stood in it that she had any idea, and it were as confusing as the place itself why she, or somepony else, hadn't a long time ago. How seriously were this place warded or kept contained in some form for that to be true? Pretty heavily she'd think, though that brought the question: Who maintained that, and this whole place in general? Were it perhaps an answer they'd get at the stone the stairs led them to?

"...We should go and find out. Hopefully it is not another test though."

Before she had the chance to take another step though, Omen were lifted into the air and violently yanked around like a rag doll before crashing back into the ground like she had been dunked. Compared to the small yanks here and there earlier, this were a rapid step up in force used, though Omen seemed fine at least as she got up and shook herself to get some dust off before looking towards the beating stone again, waiting for them to get moving.

Somethig that Omen hadn't taken notice of though, that Lin might, were that this time around, there had been some small, barely audible voices briefly around her whilst it went on. It wasn't possible to say exactly where they came from, but it were two voices, each of them going "Mine!" over and over again before they suddenly vanished again.

Hopefully this were just something that would befall Omen. Nothing good would come from Lin suddenly having the same experience with her chest pains. A little too much chest-burster over that scenario to be right in any sort of way.

___________________________________________________________________________

@@silvermoon15000,

"Awh cool. Never seen any magic do that before."

The excited voice came from behind Silvermoon, and if he's turn around he'd meet a rather strange pony looking up at him.

He couldn't be more than like, 16 at most, was a bit scrawny in it, and looked at Silvermoon with fascinated eyes. One of his eyes were black like ink, whilst the other were a hazel-red colour, and his horn bent upwards like a mixture between Sombra and a regular unicorn Though, there were more odd things about him that didn't paint this a regular unicorn.

For one, he had a huge paintbrush on his back, and a big inkwell (with a cork in) on the right side of his body. Not enough so that it seemed like he shouldn't be able to lift it, but the brush at least seemed a bit unwieldy as it were only a little shorter than the pony himself and about as thick at the widest point as his his hoof. The brush also had markings going up the wood that, on closer inspections, looked like doodles made by a small foal. Stick figures and badly drawn suns etc.

His coat were a base, warm yellow, but there were pretty, swirly patterns in black going over him that looked like an artful tattoo. Not so much that he were more black than yellow, but it went on every part of his body, including his face, where it went over his black eye.

His mane and tail were white and tied up with some string near the end of each, so that it looked like he had a brush both down the left side of his head and his flank. Basically, the paint theme were strong in this one, though what he actually did weren't exactly obvious. And his cutie mark didn't help, as it looked like a splatter of ink, which didn't exactly rule out much.

"I thought only Princess Luna knew how to make things with stars. Are you in her family? Oh, that'd be So awesome!"

@@Seamore Sandwich,

Yey ^^ Looking forward to it.

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@@silvermoon15000,

I'll respond now. I do one, big post a day because I don't usually have the time for being here several times for anything other than the OOC chat (and honestly, sometimes I forget to look that often) but hopefully you'll like what I manage to make up on the spot. ^^

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@@Hazard Time,

Just to let you know, we're waiting on you in the RP mate.

@@EQ_Theta,

So That were her test then? And here she had begun to think it was something about fear.

Still, the reason for Lin's test made more sense when she thought about it, though she did wonder why they were being put through these strange tests. Didn't seem like the things that were supposed to mean much except for themselves, and though she supposed it could be something about intentions, she did wonder if that were all there was to it. Then again, *Sen* had been pretty cryptic about whatever or not it was actually over before he vanished, so you never knew if more might be tossed in eventually that tried to test other sides of it.

But, for now it, or they, were gone and the world around them flashed back into the moving cage they had been in before, now with less pulsating, red light. There were still the blue one, and it seemed to be stronger, but it didn't change shapes or anything no matter how long she looked at them this time. They just were.

She kept looking at them until she were asked the question by Lin and slowly turned around, head tilted to the right as she thought about how to answer the question. She didn't lie, but she did wonder how Lin would take it if she heard it all. Poorly likely, but still...

"...It tested if I really wanted to help you, and saw you as friends, or just stand ins for Master Discord I would betray if given a better option. It wore your face, taken by Malvernis, and ended with it making me chose between saving Sen or live. Chose him.

Do you think there will be more tests? Other times when it want to make sure we belong here?"

Lin were still her friend however, and she deserved the truth, no matter how unpleasant it might be. Sure, she did not mention the part about Sen being broken by her and the pained expression in his eyes, but avoiding details wasn't the same as lying to her. Just simplifying.

_________________________________________________________________________________

@@LeagueOfDisaster,

"*sigh* What am I going to do about all of this?"

Florence were speaking to herself as she wandered in circles outside the doors to the hospital, getting strange looks, but not caring about that as much as what she were going to do about her errand here. What that was wasn't immediately obvious, but it likely had something to do about the big sack she held in her talon that seemed mostly empty, but had something weighing it down at the bottom at least.

And yes, talon was the correct word to use as Florence were not a pony, but a griffin. Her feathers were mostly white, but had small, almost freckle-like greay dots here and there in patterns, mainly on her wings. She had a little tuft of feathers on the top of her head looking like she had some short hair going backwards, but beyond this she were pretty much textbook griffin. Well, except for the tail, which were the more unusual three, pure feathers rather than the lion tail, and rainbow coloured instead of following the norm.

She also wore some minor armor, covering her torso, kneecaps, and a little of the base of her tall-feathers, but it were not a guard uniform from any country, and had a lot of open room to make sure she stayed mobile and not too weighted down. Frankly, it looked to be mostly there to protect some of the more vital parts, and to make her tail-feathers stand out less as they too were coloured in a rainbow style, fitting the many-coloured ones down in pattern and hue almost exactly. a little off from wear and tear though, but nothing serious.

Regardless, it seemed like something were on her mind, and it had potentially something to do with a number of things, though really, what were a griffin doing here in the first place? It wasn't exactly a normal occurrence to see their kind here, and this one looked demonstratively less intimidating than the one who had ben here most: Gilda. More nervous and kind looking than manipulative and trying to stay cool.

Might be one there to create trouble and just played a part, but who could know for sure, unless they tried to talk with her and find out? Might be somepony nearby that had the want to not just side-step and give her funny looks, but actually confront her. If not for standing here, then from when she had wandered through town towards the hospital, mumbling to herself. Some might find that suspicious, depending on how paranoid they were.

@@silvermoon15000,

Well, opposite day aside then, I'll say there some info that can be used regardless. I'll give it an *Accepted* mark and then see where things will go, however, I will ask that the RP with you will be with you, and a character of mine, just so that we can start to get a feel of how the character is, if that's okay? Easier to get into things too like this.

If he is the chill sort who still tries to help others... I have a few options to chose from in characters. They should be able to get along with him nicely, Though, mind if I ask if you're more comfortable setting up a scene yourself, or should I start something and then you can respond to that?

@@LeagueOfDisaster,

It's all grand. ^^ Well, except for perhaps an inflated ego, but that's a hard medical condition to cure. hehe.

As for a thing, I can set up something random with ease and see how you wing it, but will be tomorrow. Bit busy still. (one of those days) Will be interesting to see what ends up shaking outta the scalp.

@@Frosty Frost,

@@Summer Breeze,

Nerzhei looked at Summer and Blitz after the notion of playing jenga with the magical items came into place, and internally gave off a sigh. She might be getting away from a bunch of thick-headed brutes at this point, but what she saw here would be the trade-off: Beings having no idea what they were dealing with, but thinking it was surely something to play with.

Still, at least Frosty seemed concerned about not playing with this, so perhaps it wouldn't all devolve into chaos. For now she wasn't all that optimistic, but it wasn't like she had a choice in the matter as it were anyway, so it was just to bite in and hope the apple wasn't sour.

Or well, she Could state her case to the dragon lord and hope to have the decision terminated, but at this point she really didn't care anymore. Even if - and that was a big if - the dragon lord would hear her out and actually do something about this, she'd still be stuck around these... brutes. Pony-kin were annoying to her in other ways from her personal experiences the last hour, but at least they didn't shun knowledge as much. She'd have an uphill battle trying to get to anything without incident more than likely, but really, how was that different from here?

"They're not dangerous unless you smash them, and I don't make things from brittle glass. Though I'd walk away from them anyway if I were you."

She put down the crate some way from the tent and cracked her knuckles on the now-free hand. Not in a threatening way, but it might come off that way regardless as she were a dragon, and ponies didn't have the best of views on them. Not all of it unjustified really, but in this case, it wasn't a threat, just her getting ready for something whilst waving the others a little away from the pile of baubles and other random trinkets.

"Took me years to make these, and replicating them will be near impossible for the others unless they have listened, and I know they haven't. So they need to handle these carefully, or their defences will falter a little. Something Krahvus for sure won't allow them."

When the ponies and Lyriel were far enough from the stack of things, Nerzei would take the three crystals in her right hand and gently... or okay, nothing gnetle about what she did really.

Clecnhing them together in a fist, a black aura went across her hand, along with the sparks associated with her using her earth magic. At the same time, the earth would rumble slightly as spiky, dark rocks started to spout from the ground and engulf the items, spreading them in the growing capsule of stone - that also covered her tent - before getting completely covered as more spikes, twists and turns came on the little, sharp hill she were making.

When it were all done, she looked at the guards starring down at her from their position on the gates with a grin on her face and a challenging look in hr eyes.

"Tell the others that if you want the things, you best have patients. Go too roughly to work, and you'll just end up breaking it."

With that, she took her box up again and looked towards the ponies and Lyriel.

"Time to go. We have someplace to go briefly, and then we're headed for the border."

She opened her hand to show the gems, now slightly blue and see-through instead of dark as before. She wanted to show them what she meant with expending stored magic, and especially to make sure that Frosty saw how the gems he wanted looked like.

"Didn't think I forgot, did you?"

With that, she turned and began to walk towards the outside gate, expecting the others to follow.

Back at the spiky rock, Lyriel stood with Blitz still clutched in her arms like a teddybear, not knowing exactly what to say about this, but getting the idea that they should get going fast before news about what Nerzhei had done started to spread too far. Sure, she had wanted this to be seen, but something told her that it wouldn't be good to linger regardless, just in case.

"This have been... Interesting, but perhaps we should be on our way, and towards Equestria then."

"Yey, back home again."

The dryad walked with the cheering Blitz in her arms, getting more and more the impression that she would have to watch out for this one when settling in the forest. Something about the way she had clapped and giggled at seeing the display of magic didn't make her seem all that... Stable, to her.

______________________________________________________________________________________

@@EQ_Theta,

The hug confused her a little, but she tried to give one back too as Lin embraced her, though it were frankly clunky and awkward. Physical shows of emotion really wasn't her speciality in any sort of way, so mimicking often had to come into play when that happened, yet she hadn't been able to really make it feel smooth and natural at this point.

What she did do well was listen, and considering how much Lin seemed to have to say that came much more into play as the world around them started to fade away.

There were a lot of things there to take in. Mainly that something had impersonated Sen - perhaps the same thing that had gone after her? Or another of the same kind at least? - that the place she had seen where were the siblings came from, something about the being needing an anwer, and her wondering if she'd become a monster if she became anything like Omen. How that were to be she had no idea, but it sounded like Mother had spoken to her about that, and Mother knew best what could happen.

A small comment had also been made about a child, but it had not been finished. Why she didn't know, but perhaps something about it weren't important, or it were personal. Far as she heard, that tended to be the reasons for not elaborating too much on something at least, so she'd suppose one of those as well.

"You don't change from who you are.

Mother tells us that before we get forms, to remind us that even if we learn from our masters, we are still us. We don't forget where we are from, we don't go mad, and we don't knowingly hurt. If this were you, you would have to want to hurt them. Do you?"

Omen tilted her head to the side as she stepped back so she could look Lin in the face. She might not know what Mother had said to her, or what it'd be to be a sort of mixture between longma and ki'nathar - though she'd be less unique than she might think, as Omen's kind had bred with others before, albeit she didn't think there were others than her in Equestria currently - but she did know what she had been told and tried herself, and she had not turned into a monster.

Some would disagree, and say that she indeed were because of who she served, but what they thought didn't change who or what she actually were, just like gaining form hadn't either. Sure, she had changed some from her time in her home, but that was mostly in ways to see things, understanding of other things and such that would come from being a mostly blank state like she were. In the end, she were still a curious, essentially harmless being with all the basic things imprinted into her mind that Mother had told her, and that wasn't going away.

"If you became part of us, you would still have a life and a mind of your own. You're not a blank state like us, and don't need masters to teach you things. You already know who you are, and what you want, so you would have to want to be a monster, and... I don't think you are."

The recent memory of the possessed Lin came to mind as she paused, but she knew that this wasn't her. Heck, it hadn't even been any kind of Lin in that scenario. It had been Malvernis, controlling an empty body, and unless something took over whatever body Lin might get that was a mixture between her normal form and her current, darker form, gifted by Mother, she shouldn't change who she were.

"Being special doesn't make you a monster."

She didn't know what else to say, or how to respond to the part where Lin asked what answer she were supposed to give. Only she would know what she really wanted, right? Well, beyond learning where that last quote Omen gave came from, she'd likely not want to know that, considering it had been imparted to Omen from Discord. Few really took things to them when she started to say what her master had told her.

@@Rapid Wind,

We are. He tends to be busy so a little time can go between things happen.

@@Randimaxis,

Okay, this wasn't so bad as she had thought.

Vylia had stories told about her that made Ziggy expect something bad, but she sounded nice enough, if a little self-centred as they had wandered along and spoken. And dang, could that mare talk. Few had the times been when Ziggy could actually interject something of her own before Vylia would go off on a tangent again, and when it were it tended to be something about what the pegasi had just mentioned.

Like the zebra part for example, which had surprised Ziggy as she figured that the markings on Vylia were just randomly given by blood, and not something that meant she had zebra in her blood. A small part, sure, but it all counted in her mind to be honest, and it meant that Vylia wouldn't be one of those many ponies who, for some reason, believed that zebras couldn't breed with the three regular races of pony. A small bit of her speaking time were actually telling Vylia about how this was a more common idea than you might think, though there were so many other things to cover too that it was hard to get to the bottom of a conversation about only that.

The long chat really made another thing stand out to Ziggy: Vylia was lonely. She might be around servants and her family a lot, but considering the few things she said about connecting with Ziggy and having things in common etc. it really gave off the impression that she needed somepony to talk to at times. Might be that she were wrong, and Vylia just really, Really liked talking, but it did come off to her like the mare of the house could use somepony to talk with once in awhile and didn't have that many options.

"Farewell Mrs. Blackwater, and thank you for the help. Hope you're going to have a good day."

She waved towards the path were Vylia had wandered down whilst trying to checkmark *visit the mansion more often* in her head. She'd likely have to write it down somewhere later to better remember it, but hopefully this would do for now, so that she didn't just end up forgetting about the mare of the house again. Wouldn't be good to do towards somepony that could potentially use a friend... Like Dax...

That awkward thought made her cringe briefly as she turned towards the door to Luther's room and knocked on it a few times in a small rhythm. Perhaps meeting with Mr. Blackwater wasn't going to be the most nerve-wrecking thing today after all.

@@Minty_The_Sweet,

@,

Null and Void looked at one another, then at Butterfly with a more or less identical look of concern on their face. They weren't the sort that stopped down and helped anypony they fell across normally as, y'know, they had enough trouble getting hunted, and changelings weren't high on their list of beings to have gotten near voluntarily since... Nevermind. Point were that though they normally didn't go the soft route, this place were so far pretty safe in it and had some more open-minded sorts, and they weren't monsters - regardless of what they were often told - so what they saw with Butterfly made them worried about what would happen.

They had heard stories about what happened if changelings didn't eat love for long enough, and none of them ended with anything good happening for neither the changeling, nor potential bystanders. It was unliely that all of them were correct, sure, but when all of them agreed on bad things happening one way or another, it started to catch on that this was pretty likely to be a truth.

Yet, as they had said, they couldn't feed her themselves. The anti-magic kept any sort of strange things like this from affecting them, and with no idea how to - if it were even posible that were - to turn it off, that route were a dead end. But still, they could at least try and help her get towards somepony else. She were too small to overwhelm and eat somepony outright, so it were likely safe enough, long as she didn't lurk around a school.

"Alright kid, just try not getting too close to us when we're in town, yeah? Your costume's gonna fall of fast if you're taking that chance."

"A-And it'd be nice if you c-could uhm... Show us the station. Maps are a l-little confusing sometimes. Also, I-I'm sorry that your friend can't c-come Astral. Though, c-can it really be that b-bad?"

They each took one to speak with regarding the things at hoof. Or well, Void took two, as she addressed both the station and questioned why Misty couldn't come even if she might get a little out of control - she were a foal, so it seemed a normal and not that bad thing to happen, for her at least - but they each did their part as they waited for their take-off towards the city that'd get them towards Canterlot, and closer to the only rulers they knew of that might understand and allow them a place in their country rather than on a most wanted list.

_________________________________________________________________________________

@@EQ_Theta,

"I won't. Friend."

The projected words would filter into Lin's mind before Omen were even in sight, but shortly after, she'd show to the right of Lin and the child. No big reveal or magical jazz, just a slight *pop* and there she were. A little anti-climatic, but considering what else were going on in this scenario, perhaps the special effects budget were too strained already to provide anything better.

Whatever it were, Omen weren't sure, but it seemed like there were some kind of strange thing moving towards them that looked oddly like a mutated Lin if she squinted her eyes a little, and that they stood in some strange place with other longma. Or at least she thought she saw that, it were dark were they stood right now and it made things hard to make out. Plus, she weren't sure, but it almost looked like it just got darker. Regardless, considering what she had just gone trough herself, something told her that this were some of Lin's home, or at least a memory of it? She were still not sure exactly what were going on, and if it were illusions, teleportation, dreams, or something else that they were going through to see these things.

"Though, where's here? Looks strange."

What she did know were that she had heard Lin scream about not wanting to be left here alone, and as she wandered closer to the female longma, Omen would hesitantly try to reach out a hoof to put on the shoulder of Lin, as a sort of way to also show that she were here, though she wasn't exactly sure this is what it meant. Could also be that she had just challenged Lin to a game of tag by accident.

@@EQ_Theta,

*Lin* raised a claw and sent Omen to her knees with a magical blast, yet she did still not let go  of the possessed Longma.

"You dare to stand against me, even after all of this, servant?"

Another blast came, this time stronger and brought her all the way to her belly, yet Omen slowly got up again and looked at the being with the same, unblinking gaze full of conflicted thoughts and pain. Not from her somewhat aching body, but from her head, still swirling with voices screaming for and against everything. Logic against emotions, self against others, caught in  maelstrom in her scalp.

"Won't... Let you."

The longma used her tail to wave around, indicating the chaotic lands around them whilst looking very, Very displeased.

"All of this. Everything you wanted and have gone for, and Now you try and go against it. And for what? For them!? "

Another blast smashed against Omen, who just rinsed and repeated what she had done thus far. Everything she really knew how to do as well really, as she wasn't a violent being and didn't know how to fight. Heck, she didn't even know how to begin if she were actually going to do it. She just knew how to protect, and even that were very tame methods that hardly involved any physical alterations.

"You have already betrayed them. The girl is mine, and even if I let him go now, the boy would never walk again. You have nothing to gain from helping these two, and everything to loose. Your home. Your master. Yourself!"

Sickly magic wrapped around Omen and bored into her flesh, spreading their pollution across her being until suddenly, something started to feel very wrong. Not the energy, disgusting as it were, but instead the unmistakable feeling of her body starting to slowly unravel.

It wasn't pain that she felt, even if she would have been able to place the emotion right, but rather the reverse of when Discord had imparted her with parts of his magic to form her. As if something was now being slowly taken away from her form and pulled away, rather than mixing and create something that couldn't stay stable before. A form that she were in the process of being returned to from what it felt like and - from the random dust starting to float off her - looked like.

"I have been patient with you, but this is your last chance: Do you live serving, or die trying to protect?"

"I..."

Her step wavered, unsure on how to walk with her form starting to loose volume.

"Choose..."

It was strange how far it had to get before she could finally see clearly. For all she had said and all she had done, she had never contemplated if she would make a choice that would end with her unformed, or even dead. She had lived for so long that the mere notion had barely crossed her mind, and only passingly, and yet... Here it were. The time when going against what cold logic would suggest was the smartest - in this case, accept the world she had regained, her new master, and accepting that there was nothing she could do for Sen and Lin anyway - would actually end having that consequence.

A wrong choice could spell the end, yet for some reason...

"Them..."

A gate appeared beneath Sen and swallowed him whole, closing and bringing him to safety whilst Omen stood alone with the possessed Lin. A choice that would mean her doom, but oddly enough, she felt at peace about it.

Through all that were said and done in her mind, when the time had come for the final choice, a voice had cut through the rest. One thought, carrying words that started to drown out to others until the only thing that were left were it, along with the image of the smiling Sen in front of her.

"I will help you... Friend."

Perhaps it would spell her end, but what did that mean compared to living the rest of her life knowing that she had failed the one being that actually called her a friend, and tried to understand her? To remember every day that the one, single soul that had ever truly cared outside of her family, and that she had sworn to help, had meant nothing when it came down to it?

*Lin* saw Omen fail imaging a life like that, as well as the other realisations that started to dawn on her, but instead of crushing the little mare as she had been doing, instead the possessed longma smiled.

"That's what I wanted to hear."

Everything around them started to blur out and vanish until the only thing that were left were Omen - completely whole like nothing had ever happened to her - and the being from before, standing in Discord's form. Around them, the only thing were darkness, but it felt like there were something else here, it were just hidden.

Had this all been an illusion?

"Yep, every last bit of it. Not the most nice thing, I know, but we can't just let everypony in here, can we? Have to scrounge through and see who's worth letting in. It's good enough for me to see that you meant what you said, but still-"

*Discord's* paw went on her head faster than the confused Omen could react on it.

"-buckle up, 'cause we're not done travelling down the rabbit hole."

(You can decide if Omen comes to help Lin now, or if this is foreshadowing for another time, and she'll just be back in the cage.)

__________________________________________________________________________________

@@Frosty Frost,

@@Summer Breeze,

"No, what I have in mind will happen while I'm still here. They need to know who it is that's teaching them a lesson."

With that, Nerzhei came over and gently took the big book away from the ponies and put it in a special part of her bag, separate from the others. And with that, it seemed like she were done packing, as she grabbed the box in it's handle and made sure the leather bag hanging down her side stood fine, while the belt holding it stayed firmly over her shoulder.

Yet, she wasn't moving out right now, and instead looked at the rocks turned carrots with the direct opposite kind of stare as Lotus had. Hence, instead of her pets cautious and disturbed look, Nerzhei instead had a glimmer of interest and wonder going over her eyes.

"Transmutation magic? You can actually..."

She reached out a claw, though Lotus jumped up and clutcher her wrist, helping her to snap out of the fascination ans awe that had suddenly gone over her from seeing this kind of thing.

"Sorry, just... The possibilities of something like this is staggering."

She didn't say more, but instead just shook her head, let Lotus jump up her arm, away from the *carrots* to place herself on the dragons left shoulder, and waved everyone inside the tent outside. On the way there, she took up the three gems on the table, but held them apart in her claws, though nothing else went with her as she moved outside and waited for the rest of them to follow her.

Outside, Lyriel would grab hold of Blitz and pull her up from her playtime and into her arms like she were a stuffed animal as she saw the others come out of the tent again. She thought on saying something, but she had so many things she could question about how it looked to be only books and something in a sturdy crate that Nerzei took with her, but not any blankets, pictures or the like, that just didn't feel right to prod into, and to make sure that she didn't step on it and potentially make this a very awkward road ahead of them. she kept her mouth closed for the time being.

Perhaps, she'd learn more about what they were going on soon? One could hope so at least, though for Blitz only one thing counted as she looked at the others with a big grin on her face and pointing towards the small tower of objects on the ground.

"Anypony wanna play Magic Items Jenga?"

@@Seamore Sandwich,

@@Rapid Wind,

Last saluted at the princess as she were given her task.

"Thank you your majesty. I will not fail you."

She looked over towards the large bat pony and the pegasi that she was guessing were some kind of local as their tasks were delivered and Stargazer responded much she had herself. The Night Guard in particular caught her eye as one she'd most likely be able to trust would get deliveries around fast. Sure, he looked overworked and tired, but a strong back as well as wings were going to be good here, and when it came to the stones they'd need to rebuild the chimneys and other parts for the roofs in general he'd come in handy. And as a Royal Guard, he could be trusted to lead things if he got a few pointers more than likely.

She'd have to find somepony to lead the forces getting the stones in for the walls and general structural repairs, but perhaps there were another guard she could seek out for that. She'd like to do so herself, but if she were in charge of this, she had to assess the buildings and see what repairs had to be done, along with reinforcing the local buildings while she were at it if possible, and make plans for what they'd need and how many ponies for each. Getting leaders of the different ground and air teams preparing the materials whilst she did the first stages of this would give her the time to plan things, and have the materials on the ready when the time came to actually begin the work.

Perhaps it were for the best that she had to do the control of things rather than the work really, no matter how much she hated to think about it. After the attack she had barely been able to keep breathing from all the damage, strains, and her stitches nearly exploding on her. It had taken the doctors hours to get her stable again, and when she finally came around, she were told that if she went against the orders to rest at least some until she were healed, she were going to be put in a full body cast to keep her in check.

Stargazer saw the wound too, but it were hard to miss considering it went the length of her belly. What had caused this he didn't know, but perhaps when all of this were said and done, he'd be able to ask and find the story behind it, as well as what Princess Celestia had mentioned about guarding a crystal. Something told him that there were an interesting tale or two about each of them.

Who knew? Perhaps he could even get the chance to find out why she stood rank as a Royal Guard but didn't carry any distinguishing marks that said she were part of any of the castles. Perhaps a former guard gone mercenary, but still willing to lend a hoof? Hard to tell, but all in due time.

Turning his eyes away from the mare and towards Rapid, getting a thought into his head about the task he had been set on that made him move in a little closer so that the pegasi could hear him easier over the other volunteers without disturbing them, or the meeting.

"I know you have your wing problems, but I can help you up on the houses and you can help working on the roofs themselves perhaps? We can use all the help we can get when the walls are done."

______________________________________________________________________________________

@@EQ_Theta,

Omen just stood there, swaying, looking at the broken Sen and the possessed Lin, not knowing what to say.

She didn't think this were true. It couldn't be, not unless she had forgotten a lot of of a sudden, but... Couldn't it be true? Even if this would turn out to not be, who were to say that she wouldn't make it go this far if the chance came?

For so many centuries she had yearned for the world she were brought into, that had been taken away from her along with the only being outside of her home who wanted her anywhere near. A world that were replaced with something she hadn't wanted to see, even when Mother made her go back to find a new place in it, and even know, after getting more used to it, she could still feel the want for what used to be. She could feel it when she had looked around on the way here.

it was the same want that made her look for Discord even after having not heard from him for so long. He were part of what she had once had, and she had told herself so often that if she could just find him, everything would be okay again, that she had forgotten if it was something she actually believed, or if it was the fear about having to face a strange world on her own talking.

She learned things randomly by chance, but she dedicated her every waking moment to find Discord, only stopping briefly at times because she found some that she thought might need her, and want her. Hope that were dashed every time as none wanted her to do more than, at best, do the task they couldn't or wouldn't and then leave them alone.

Until she met him.

A brother looking for somepony he had lost too, dedicated to finding them and sacrificing everything to look for it. In his purpose, she saw something  that she recognised as what she were doing herself, and somepony who needed help. Somepony who might finally need her.

And he did. For the first time in so long she could barely tell anymore, another being needed her that didn't toss her aside like it were nothing when they got what they wanted. He taught her things she hadn't heard of before, put his trust in her, and became the friend she had never thought she'd get.

With him, she learned things about her own search, and through a strange chain of events, they even managed to find the one he had sought for a long time. It were progress for them both, but after they had gotten their part done, they had not tossed her aside. They had kept her there, kept calling her their friend, and she had thought them the same through everything that had happened in their search too.

Yet... Did she really stay with them because she were their friend, or was it because she were desperate for the attention from anypony willing to stay with her? Sen had been the first to accept her, but were she really there because she thought of him as a real friend, or was this just a wishful thought from a servant longing for a master? Could she, if she were to be honest, really say that if a master came that offered her a new purpose and the world she sought in exchange for her loyalty to it instead of the ones she had called friends, that she wouldn't do it? That this wouldn't happen?

She stayed silent, the thoughts feeling like they were about to burst her head apart whilst she tormented herself to find an answer to the question, all the while *Lin* let go of Sen and looked at him with triumph in her eyes.

"Enjoy eternity, *Brother*."

With that, she raised her leg and stomped down towards his neck to end his misery. Yet, her claws never hit.

Wrapped around her leg, having shot forth like a harpoon, were Omen's tongue as she strained to keep this the possessed longma from doing the last hit.

"What is the meaning of this? Why do you betray me now, when you are so close to getting everything you ever really wanted?"

"I... Don't know. But I won't... Let you.. Do this."

The thoughts were feeling like they were trying to tear her apart, and added in why she had taken this action to fuel the fire. A fire she couldn't douse as she didn't know why she did any of this, instead of just accepting it had all ended, and she hadn't been any help for anypony than herself in the end. It felt like she should know, but the pain in her head... It made it too hard for her tofocus on this.

She needed help to open her eyes, but who were left here except herself?

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@@Summer Breeze,

@,

"Let's just say I have a little surprise in mind for the others in the camp."

Nerzhei smiled vaguely to herself as she went on with packing down the few more belongings she were taking with her. From the looks of things, there were nothing personal she took with her beyond a blanke- no, that went into the far corner as well as she stashed another book in the bag.

It seemed that her research were the only thing she cared about in the end. Well, that and Lotus that were currently fixing her hair up again to the backwards, spiky look she wanted it after the pony had ruffled it around a bit. It had felt rather weird to have the hoof petting her as opposed to the normal claws, and she weren't really sure if it were something she liked, but if they were moving anyway she had to be open-minded about ponies she supposed. And it wasn't the worst she had ever been petted before either. At least the pony had let her hoof go the right way on her fur and not pulled her ears.

At the entrance, a small ruckus were heard as Blitz had started to try and stack the random, magical things tossed out by Nerzhei and a few of them had rolled off the pile. It wasn't something bad, and hey, at least they knew what she were doing, right? Besides, worst came to worst, Lyriel were still outside and could keep an eye on her. For some reason, the dryad had not wanted to go inside the tent with most of the others when it were and had resigned herself to watch out for the little one that had shown herself willing to wander off at times if she were given half the chance.

@@EQ_Theta,

"No... Nooo!"

The scream came out of nowhere and made Omen swing around herself, but instead of looking at a section of the cage she had been in before, she instead came face to face with a world more or less swung upside down.

The tres had faces, the clouds rained with chocolate, the sun played banjo whilst moonwalking on the sky, with a whole line of buildings following and making their own moves to that. The earth were in many colours, sometimes swampy, and went in so many directions that it was hard to tell what were happening here.

It, and much more, were the sight that met her eyes. The sight of something that she had not seen in a long, long time. Her home, in the chaotic realm of Equestria. Back when Discord had ruled these lands and made away with any order and stability that might have found way there.

before she had the chance to stand and think about how absurd it were, another scream were heard, and this time it were not alone. There was a chorus os them, and a deep, mad laugther that made the small hair on her back stand for some reason. Which one she didn't know, but she did know one thing as she stormed off towards the screams: Sen had been amongst them.

When he finally arrived, she found him amongst a dozen others, beaten and broken on the ground, sobbing between the deep gasps for air he tried to take. And directly above him, looking to the sky with a cackling laughter, stood Lin, with blood dripping from her claws.

She were wearing an all too familiar cloak as her sight refocused on the oncoming mare, as well as the glow in her eyes that fitted the sick magic that Malvernis held.

"Ah, my servant. i wondered when you'd show to see the fruits of your labour."

Even the voice that rolled of the tongue of the Longma reeked of something wrong, and not just in the sense that it were not just one, but two voices. The one of the vessel and it's new owner, both now being one in this impure fusion between Malvernis and Lin.

No, the magic that rolled from there were too, just as it rolled out of every pore of Lin's body, and pulsated in the cracks of energy showing on her, like she could barely contain all this magic without bursting.

Sen turned his head and looked at Omen too, but not with a sick pleasure like the one in Lin's eyes. No, his were one of disgust and hatred for seeing her.

"Trai...Tor... We... Trusted y-you..."

*Lin* moved forward and took hold in his chin, lifting his face so he could look her directly in the eyes.

"And that was your mistake, fool. You should have known better than to trust someone who only went with you because there were noone else. Soon as she got a better offer, she were bound to let your little *friendship* wither away."

"I didn't do anything... Sen-"

"Of course you did. And just look at what you got for it: The world you missed, as promised, and all for the simple price of these so called friends of yours. Those that you swore that you'd help in whatever way you could, brought to ruin, and all that's left is to remove this little obstacle for you to get everything you deserve."

She turned Sen's face towards Omen and mockingly looked at the mare along with him.

"Come on, beg her for help again. See if she'll really do anything when it comes down to the final stretch."

__________________________________________________________________________________

@@cwhip9,

Zinthar's vision began to finally focus right, and he looked at the kid that was pointed out. Nothing impressive or special in his mind, but the parade looked to say otherwise. But this were just a dream, he knew that, and in dreams those who weren't popular often liked to see themselves as the centre of attention and joy. Somepony to be looked up to, rather than down at.

Why Crescent focused on this instead of the experiments that he mentioned were beyond the feline for now, but perhaps it had something to do with this dream? Were there a clue or a something they had to find in here? There had to be a reason why they were in here after all. Surely, Crescent wouldn't have just taken them out on a stroll through the dreams of others because he could, right? Even if he knew them.

"Ask the focus... Of attention, if you... Want to know. I still... Don't trust this though."

Call him paranoid, but after the day/night he'd had thus far, he weren't trusting anything. For all he knew, they were three seconds away from something historians in the future would refer to as *Foals of the Corn* or something similar.

________________________________________________________________________

@@Seamore Sandwich,

@@GingerLightning,

@@Quinch,

@@Lonk Chase,

@@Melke,

@@Denim&Venom,

@@Mentis Soliloquy,

As Last's attack missed and she pulled the sword up from the ground with curses running off her muzzle, Zhu took a small step forward and began to use some extra focus on the scene before him, where winds started to blow slightly across the ground.

"There is no reason to envy what came from my damaged egg. The puppeteer that made it happen wouldn't at least."

It was more or less implied in the small sentence that Zhu believed the Creator to be responsible for his eyes through the damaged that had been given to his egg before it was abandoned all those years ago. Though it were to be seen if he would pick up on that, as well as what Zhu would feel like if what he suspected were true.

Yet, for now, Zhu's focus were more on the winds in front of him that suddenly caught more speed and sent a focused burst upwards at the arachnids, sending Ko and Ashta - as well as Mistwalker and Carl if he could hit them without disrupting their trap . into the air and towards the ancient one who were still oozing from the poison that had briefly made contact with it.

It should not be in an angle that would mess with the arrow shot, and if so, he'd correct it's path, but it would put the fighters up where it mattered for now, and he needed all the fighters on this as possible for the time being. It were getting close to the finale now after all, and it would be unfortunate to have ti all fail now because of a lack of being able to reach.

He contemplated sending the human too, but Quinch would have his time in this without his help, so there would be little reason.

@@Rapid Wind,

Actually, I've not used him, just his face. If you read the post, something is just using his face, and some random emotions, to speak with her. This is in no way, shape or form how the actual Discord might react if he met her, nor an indication of how you'd play with him in general. The actual Discord, for example, would know her, as he basically used some of his own energy to give her form, and somewhat educated/had her work for him for some years before he got put into stone. This one does not.

I will look forward to a point when there is some actual, Discord and Omen RP, as that will also give you some change to form the story around them a little, as well as how Discord might perceive her now. It have been a long time since last they met, and I have left most of how he were vague in my posts, and in the story. When time comes, I will PM you the few details that is there, and we'll take it from there.

___________________________________________________________________________

@@Brianna Changeling,

It's okay mate, you're not the first, and far as I know, only the powers that be (Admins) can remove posts.

But, let's discuss your OC a bit first instead, shall we? Can you tell me a little about her? Age? Look? Hive? (it is allowed to make up your own hive, long as you remember that the largest one in Equestria is the one Chrysalis controls. From other places or a minor one is more than welcome) and potential power? like, is she best at transformation magic for example? Or other things? Perhaps something special?

Some backstory would be appreciated too, but it doesn't need to be a long thing. A few lines of highlights perhaps, or a general ideas, if you wish to play it out in the RP instead, that is fine too, just lemme know that in advance.

__________________________________________________________________________________

@@LeagueOfDisaster,

Oh cool, one of War's friends. I thought only War, Famine, Pestilence and Death were there, but I suppose, some other horsemen-like creatures could have been made too.

The story seems fine, though I think I need to wake one of my comatose NPC's (things got a little weird with him) to deal with him if it is. He's a tough griffin. Might be someone you'd find interesting to speak with. Though of course, any of my OC's, or new NPC's I can make for the task is free to choose from as well. If you wanna see the choices of OC's, check the doc in my signature.

Anyway, from what I can see, long as you don't start to make everypony's eardrums explode for no reason, you're accepted. Now, is there a particular setting you'd want to start the RP with? I can work with most things, so whatever you think is the best way to start things off, lemme hear it, and we'll see if we can't get the ball rolling.

_________________________________________________________________________

Everypony@

Responds in the RP itself will have to wait until tomorrow I'm afraid. Having some issues I need to get resolved today, so the likelyhood of a post before tomorrow is very slim. As such, it's better that I just say nothing goes and if it does... Well, positive surprise I suppose.