Props Valroa

@Silly Druid The mysterious pony would soon realize that they were being watched, and turned their helmet towards them. The pony would set down the tools they were using and turn the welding device off - then all of a sudden they would jump down and land right in front of Forest Storm and Tree Song with a loud thud. Up and close, their armor had many scratches. Clearly, this pony has been in combat. "Who are you?" the pony would ask, getting right to the point. The pony was a mare, by the sounds of the voice. The line of questioning was laced with accusation and suspicion.

Russian Empire.

@Silly Druid They can see the one who is working on the craft is wearing a full body red and black suit of armor. It definitely isn't Tempest - or anything from Equestria they've seen. The helmet has a red visor for the occupant to look through, and they could see that they seemed to be an Earth Pony. They could hear the cascade of sparks and hammering as the figure is repairing a large gash in the side of the craft. From obvious combat. Unlike other airships, this one had no balloon - and had no discernable source of propulsion.

I have noticed this a lot. Can this button just be removed?

@Catpone Cerberus Sombra would go silent and allow the voice from the orb to explain herself. He hadn't met a being like this before and didn't entirely know what to say. Usually everyone wanted something, unless this dragon was merely lying. Which could be possible, of course. "If it is true, then I do not know what I would be capable of offering you other than my respect. It is obvious I wish to destroy the vile two sisters and their reign over Equestria. I was too stupid and dimwitted to achieve success the first two times." he sighed shamefully, before continuing, "If you truly know what the whole of Equestria had known, do you know what I can use to effectively brainwash the Equestrian guard to serve me? My magic for that is quite...out of date, as well as my means to do so." he would state. "And this enemy empire...who are they?" he asked, awkwardly. Not having used to this sort of conversation.

@Catpone Cerberus Sombra would listen to the voice that had spoken - as he had no choice because he could not easily break the orb like he had thought. "I know more about her than you'd think, and you'd better tell me exactly why you find her so interesting. I will say this - give it a few years, and when I eventually succeed in taking over Equestria, if you help me, I will give you a place at the table..." he would say, his enraged tone vanishing as he would stop trying to destroy the orb, now that he had more of a clue what was going on.

@Silly Druid When they had reached the hilly area and could see the mountains in the distance - they could see something else. There was a large black cigar shaped airship parked on a hill a way's away. It wasn't anything like they've seen before. No Equestrian airship looked similar to it to say the least. They could also see a figure working on the craft, as it seemed to be slightly damaged. They couldn't see much at this distance.

@Blitz Boom Spectra would simply smile to Veil as she would take in the various things that Veil had spoken to her. Veil had been someone who was truly well meaning, and Spectra could almost feel sorry for her. Of course, she would if she had the capacity to care for others on that level. Spectra doesn't - all she sees is potential pawns to be manipulated into doing her bidding, or else they would turn into living batteries for her to sap energy from. She'd just look to Veil, as watching what was happening with her. Spectra truthfully didn't have much else to really say. The fact that other Blue Mages existed, enough to the point to where they were legends is something that truly interested her. Perhaps there were other more similar to her - even down to the goals they had, that was something that interested her. There were so many variables she had to consider for the future. But for now, Spectra would rest. Looking to Veil's sleeping form in the pool - Spectra would wonder to herself quietly about what it is Mindstorm had wanted to do with her. She was unable to come up with any real explanations, other than that Veil's form had not been fully realized to it's original design. The slides of wood in her eyes were a good indication of what that was. Before long though, Spectra would pull herself away and spread her body out a bit - and the pool's soothing features soon overtook her mind, and Spectra promptly went off to sleep.

@Silly Druid The three canisters were exactly the same. They were made of polished aluminum and had various well crafted parts, a gage showing the air pressure contained within them - which was all zero. The blinking lights on them seemed to be red, indicating that there was no air inside of them. The inscriptions on them basically described that they were Oxygen tanks for diving. There were various holes in the canisters, so they were not operable. The holes seemed to be made by firearms discharge, indicating they were damaged in combat.

@Silly Druid "She gave me 3. You can take two of them. I would like to keep one for myself as a souvenir. She was just interested in a general overall map of Equestria, as for the Herbs - natural stuff, for healing." he stated, finding himself satisfied with that explanation. He would sell the 2 of them at a reasonable price to Tree Song and Forest Storm. The stallion said that if they were interested in who came here, they should go further west - as he doesn't know more than what he had told them.

@Illiad Easle @Blitz Boom Both Spiral and Maud would agree with this statement here. "Yes, that is a problem the Equestrians will have to get past. I may be an Equestrian - but this obsession with Alicorns has to stop. It nearly cost the lives of those aboard the Project, and who knows, what would happen - if they found out that she was an alicorn? They'd be all over her, when she doesn't understand the implications of what she is..." Spiral would state and look to Maud. Maud would nod. "We must make sure it doesn't." Maud would speak in an ominous tone, looking back to Spiral, then the others. "The Equestrians must be kept away from all Alicorns in the future or we will possibly risk another event like we just did." she would add, in a neutral manner. Spiral would nod. "That is most definitely possible. I myself do not know how to craft such a thing, but I do know that amulets can be used to give the wearer various abilities - so this is definitely something someone can do. I can provide the spell for it, using my shadow magic to conceal her wings, possibly, but the rest I will need someone else to do. She'd have to be taught to keep said amulet on in public." Spiral would say in reply. "That is a reasonable thing to say. I will have to meet with him directly on this. I am not sure if he knows that I am the one who originally found her." Spiral would speak to him. However, she had a question, "How many Equestrians were removed from the Project? And how much does the combined loss of the Equestrians compare to those who are currently aboard?" she would ask curiously. Spiral would appreciate Last's comments about Light. Light was indeed someone who gave the ultimate sacrifice so they could succeed in their mission. For a bit or so, she would go silent as she would play through the memories she had with Light. He was an odd sort, but, a good sort. Better than her, anyway. Spiral and Maud would read over the document, and they both would sign it. "I am ready for what I have to do." Spiral stated, while Maud would remain with Consul, awaiting whatever his instructions were for her.

@Catpone Cerberus Sombra would move towards the strange object. The last thing the female dragon would hear from the other "end" of the device would be the sounds of Sombra's enraged growling and hissing after he realized what this object was. He was absolutely frustrated and enraged at himself for letting this thing go for so long. On the plus side, he now knew what it was - and he knew how to discover more of these in the future if more of them were to come about. After the object would become visible, he would use his magic to trap it from moving further. He wanted to have this thing torn apart and analyzed for what it was - but for what he would do now, he would aim to capture it in his magic, seeing if he could find a way to make it inert / inactive. Sombra hated being filmed, evidently.

@Silly Druid The stallion looked to Tree Song. "I agreed to the trade because all she wanted was a map. Said she didn't need those canisters. Take them." he said, offering a fairly cheap price for them to buy the canisters, because he wasn't going to do anything with them.

@Silly Druid Eventually, the two of them would come across a middle aged stallion who was the one who traded with the strange metal pony in metal. Upon being asked, he would say - "Well, can't say I've ever seen a pony like that. Wore some kinda metal suit, but was definitely a mare. Came from the West. Said she was looking to trade for some natural herbs, she gave me this." he spoke and went into his wagon and pulled out some large metal canisters of some kind. They had various blinking lights on them. "These seem to be some kind of air canisters, but, that's a pretty strange trade if you ask me." he chuckled.

@Silly Druid The town of Stillwater was a fairly small town. Not that large of a population, so word here would spread rather easily. Tree Song could hear some conversation about something that happened in the town recently, from the conversations she could hear - they had seen a large black cigar shaped aerial vehicle scouting out the area from the West. Not much details were gleamed from it, but it was said that there was a strange pony in metal who came and did a material trade with them. If there was an active trade going on, it was likely that whoever it was may end up returning. Not much was said otherwise, but nothing that seemed to be a threat. Tree Song, could of course go and ask the villagers for more information.

@Catpone Cerberus Sombra failed once, and then realized he could use his magic to cast something non-magical to capture it within an air bubble. Now that he captured it, he would attempt to slam it into the ground repeatedly with his air magic, seeing if that would reveal what it was.

@Blitz Boom We can go ahead with the idea of some sort of hunt soon, as for right now though - I am going to move things along and have the two of them go to sleep, if that is alright with you. Then we'll have the characters wake up 8 or so hours later, and go from there?

@Blitz Boom That was something Spectra had not wanted to be asked. It was a real problem - and she would do her best to explain herself away here. "Operata...let's just say he is in a position that he doesn't like. It's for his own good. He is far too useful to me to warrant me locking him away or turning him over to the authorities. I know it's complicated, but I ask for your complete trust in me." Spectra would speak, smiling in a friendly manner. She hoped that would work in order to convince Veil of her point. It seemed like a good enough lie to pass as truth - it wasn't anything too extravagant and it was something that she believed Operata would be able to come up with, should he be asked that question. Neither of them had the capacity to stand up to Spectra in any meaningful manner. Spectra shook her head to this statement. "That is not at all what I meant. Originally, it seemed like he wanted to improve the lives of ponies themselves through alchemy, of course his original intentions became self serving in the end...until he became what he was, as you knew him." she spoke, sighing somewhat as she thought about that process again. "Maybe one day, we can find someone who can fix you..." she said, trailing off in her words slightly there. Someone who could fix her was more important. She wanted to cast magic normally - blissfully not realizing she already had something that far eclipsed normal pony magic. The way to get it was frustrating, relying on others to increase her own power. If she had been a regular pony - she would have tried conquering Equestria long ago for herself. Without an Elements of Harmony to stop her. All this talk about gods was something about a bad Omen, and so she didn't want to speak of it much further - out of fear of somehow drawing the attention of a high power right to her location. "I don't know how it works, all I can surmise is there the magic was so strong that point in reality was broken. Let us not speak of Gods further. If Gods truly have the power I think they do, I do not want to draw their ire. I may be Paranoid...but rather safe than sorry." she spoke to Veil. In her thought process, taking over Equestria wouldn't - as she wouldn't seek to endanger the powers that be in reality. Merely re-align Equestria's government and overthrow the Alicorns, she'd leave most, if not all alone otherwise. Normal ponies living their lives wouldn't be of her concern - and she wouldn't want to do anything that breaks the very nature of reality anyway. That wasn't her style. Reminds her of what Discord attempted to do - and she knew very well how that ended. Veil would see something unusual from Spectra after she spoke to her. Her eyes widened at that statement. How could Veil possibly know that? That didn't make any sense. Spectra would shake a little bit at Veil's knowledge. "H-how could you possibly know that?" Spectra said, seemingly nervous at the implications of that knowledge - before she would straighten up a bit and take upon her usual passive glare. "I would be what is considered a Blue Mage, yes." she spoke, and then paused. "I was born this way. A long time ago. That's all." she shrugged idly, but didn't find it in her interest to divulge her information further. The reality is, the majority of her magic came from Magloria. The first one she captured. The Stasis Spells and all that, largely came from her. Magloria was a Blue Mage much like herself, although she didn't have the mental inhibiting factor that Spectra did. Spectra wanted to manipulate her because she thought she had finally found someone the same as she was, but that was not the case. Magloria wanted nothing to do with Spectra's power plays. Though, Magloria was the one who also captured ponies in a similar manner to what Spectra had done at some point in the past - just that Spectra was the one who...stole her collection from her, and put her in one of the orbs that she had created. Magloria was far less of an evil than Spectra was...for the most part, that is. Spectra would feel the knowledge of Veil's spells absorb into her when Veil casted the various spells onto her. Very useful magic, for her. She hadn't had this type of magic absorbed into her just yet, but now she had - this would be perfect in the case of combat. Which would come again, eventually. "This will do nicely...it's perfect...Be this as it may, I believe we have reached the point to where it is time to rest. Just lay down, and I'll do the rest. We'll wake up soon." Spectra would speak calmly. If Veil would comply, Spectra could begin. It had been a long time since she had 'slept' after all.

We can probably have her turn up after we go through with the Nightmare Moon helm idea you had?