Saphire Systrine

Saphire followed along, her eyes flashing periodically as they turned each corner. As they approached the door, Saphire stopped. "Thank you for the directions, as... un-ordinary as they were," she stated politely, "I do not have a 'speech', just some data. If you would like to tag along you may." Before they went on, Saphire pulled out a gem from her saddlebag and tossed it towards Azure Dawn. "For your efforts," she winked. Going through the door, they found themselves directly in front of the throne room doors, the security gates to their sides down the hallway. The passageway must have been some sort of guard passage for certain circumstances. The Throne Room doors towered before them, etched with various solar and lunar symbols, fantastically large gems adorning the face. The center showed the emblem of the two sisters, night and day, dark and light, in perfect harmony. With only the slightest of umphs did Saphire unceremoniously push open the doors... maybe with too much force as they swung full and hit the walls, making the room practically shake with the loud reverberation. "I thought I said no visitors!" came the harsh tone of Celestia, not on her throne, but in the office behind the throne room. She emerged with frustrated clip clops. "Solara..." Saphire greeted, addressing Celestia with a stern face. There was that weird intonation again. Why did she do that with that word alone? And why did she call Celestia "Solara"? Those questions had to be put aside as the two continued conversing. "Ah, Saphire Systrine... what a delight to meet you again. It's been quite a while," Celestia greeted, her attitude immediately changing to the diplomatic mask she always wore "How long has it been? Two hundred, three hundred years maybe?" she reckonded as she tapped her hoof on her chin. She scanned the others with Saphire, but otherwise paid them no attention. "A year. Only a year," Saphire responded, unamused, "What, are you finally getting dementia?" "Am I?" Celestia chucked, "I can't tell anymore. With the gala happening right before important diplomatic proceedings, I've been quite busy." The ponies tagging along with Saphire were confused at what their princess was talking about. Usually those kinds of things were major news. Maybe there was some reason to keep it secret? Maybe it was related to the magic issue? "Yeah well so have I, monitoring your planet," responded the pink and blue pony with seriousness, "Ley levels have significantly decreased within the boarders of Equestria. If you wish to see the data I'll give it to you. But this is important, as you and I both know equestrian infrastructure relies on ley energy to maintain it..." Saphire stopped and glanced at the wall behind Celestia. Without any regard, she pushed past her and examined what looked to be quite the large crack shoddily plastered over. Celestia looked at her with just the slightest hint of nervousness. "Looks like you already know... why haven't you done anything about it," Saphire criticized, turning back to the princess. Now that the two were standing next to each other, it was apparent to the others that Saphire was considerably taller than your average pony, though she still was not as tall as the Princess of the Day. Straightening up, Celestia answered her accusatory tone. "I appreciate your concern but our scientists are still working on a solution. We don't wish to cause a panic, hence our silence on the manner. You know your way around leytech, why don't I take you and your posse for a small tour of the research sector where we're working this out? Maybe you can provide us with useful insight, as you always do." The offer took Saphire by surprise. "Sure." She motioned to the ponies behind her to follow, slowing down to put some distance between Celestia and their group so they could converse.

Yes. Lead us to the princess in her throne room and I'll take it from there c:

"I see," Saphire said, staring intently at the pegasus, "That is quite the job to have. I hope it is rather uneventful, as I know carrying an unconsious pony can be quite the task..." "As for meeting Celestia," she continued, her tone having become much more serious, "Now would be the best time for the meeting. Every moment means more damage to Equestrias leyline network. If you don't mind, that is."

Saphire turned to look at Azure, and it became quickly clear she was not, in fact, a normal pony in the slightest. A faint hint of blue seemed to flash inside her eyes, and then she spoke. "Hello Miss Dawn, we are fine," she said, betraying the state of the two almost-out-of-breath ponies beside her, "I am looking for S-. Celestia, yes." Saphire looked at Azure expectantly for an answer, having stopped in the bustling crowd, much to the dismay of the ponies trying to pass the group. It didn't seem she cared about this in the slightest.

She's in her throne room. How you know and get us there is up to you

more time for me to work on future elements

There we go. @Azure Dawn is ready to join the little herd. Still need to give her a dress. Here are @Silly Druid's and @Skylight Scintillate's OCs in their gala attire. If yall want changes let me know. I can't go too complicated though, clothing is my weakness right now!

I finally have something else to post here: Yes. An All Star remix :] This is a meme song I made many months ago but didnt do much with it until now. Didnt know what to do! I had just cracked it open among my..... many.... unfinished songs... And just worked on it as a joke. I had originally made it because I had watched Thomas and the Magic Railroad with my friend Cupute, and I was like "Hmm, I wonder what that sound effect is for the bellflowers ringing" and so I tracked it down. Figured out the bpm and slapped it in FL Studio. Now, you may ask "Saph, how does this have anything to do with All Star???" Well you see, dear reader, I am AUTISTIC and therefore just had the idea to see if I could put All Star to it. I didnt think about if I SHOULD. Because the answer when it comes to mashing All Star with anything is always "yes" So I tempo-matched All Star to the bpm and used Manipulator by Polyverse to pitch shift the vocals when I wanted. Woah, as of the time of writing this, Manipulator is only $90usd. It usually floats around $150-$200usd, and is worth it with how versatile it is. If you're wondering what that bass melody is and it sounds familiar, it's Lean On Me The thing that took the most time was making those little dancing beans! They're made using Fruity Dance! You have to make them as a sprite-strip rather than a normal gif, which I was able to do. I'll drop those here: Saph's Fruity Dance Pony Collection.zip All you need to do is click the folder icon there and drop the unzipped files into that folder. Might have to give it admin perms to copy since its probably in your program files folder I had initially found out about this thanks to Cantersoft's video on how to do this, in fact, the FlutterDance one is the one Cantersoft distributed! So I went and made my own. The trick is you have to have it be 8 frames, and if you want it to match the beats right, you'll need to, you know, figure out which ones you want to be the up beats and down beats. Credits for each original artist and source are in the credit file in the .zip! Anywho, yeah Love you beans and God bless yall

You're up @Azure Dawn

Saphire pushed through the bustling crowd with speed and poise, the two following behind as well as they could. She moved as if she could see a path through the crowd, cutting into the herd like a knife. As she got close to the opened castle doors, she pulled her ticket out of her saddle bag. Unlike others, whose tickets seemed to magically levitate above them with a faint golden glow, hers did not, and she just held hers in her mouth as she passed the overwhelmed door guards, not giving them a moment to think. Having broken through the crowd, she stuffed her ticket unceremoniously back into her saddle bag and waited for the others to catch up. As they did, she huffed, pointing towards the top of the entrance stairs. "She's not here," Saphire pointed out with annoyance, "She's supposed to be here." She tapped her hoof impatiently as she scanned the room. Without a word, she quickly trotted up to the ballroom, but Celestia was not there either. Nor the dining area, the gardens, the galley, or the restrooms. Yes, she checked there too, much to the dismay of the stallions and mares within. Finally, she slowed down, much to the relief of her party. They followed along with a herd of ponies returning to the ballroom. "Why isn't Celestia here? She's always here, and this is urgent," she vented, her annoyance beginning to melt into worry, "If we don't warn her about this there might be horrible consequences for Equestria," she said with a chilling tone of genuine concern that Stardust and Tinker had not heard until now. To her surprise she heard a voice behind her speak up, saying they knew how to get an audience with the Princess. Saphire turned to see that it was a lavender pegasus with bright golden eyes, who introduced herself as @Azure Dawn.

Sorry friends, I am at my family's for thanksgiving!

@Skylight Scintillate and @Silly Druid Things are about to pick up the pace here. How you respond will be up to you, just remember that Saphire's goal is to get to Celestia as fast as possible, so she's not going to be too keen to conversate. @Azure Dawn You're coming in very soon. Saphire's going to try and have an audience with Princess Celestia, but she's not where she usually is during the gala. You are going to say you know how to get an audience with her and you speak to some guards. They will escort the four to Celestia. If you would, please provide a reference for your character. There can be short conversation on the walk to her, but just letting you know its about to get heavily scripted because this is an important part

"Context that I don't have time to explain right now," she simply said as she stood at the open door to the train station. So maybe she didn't mind talking, just later about it? It was time for the Gala after all! Saphire stepped out of the train car and onto the bustling platform. She scanned the crowd as she waited for the other two. Before their eyes were hundreds of ponies from various places all dressed in fine clothing, all flocking towards the exit and the event center, Canterlot Castle. The three moved with the crowd, flowing their way to the open gates of the castle. The place was practically buzzing with excitement. Gone were the days of posh Galas and here were the days of energy-filled fun with fellow ponies, thanks in part to the efforts of legislation by certain pink pony.

Just as this question was asked, the view outside the window quickly shifted to the inside of the Canterlot Railway Station. They felt the train slow down and come to a stop, and soon they heard the conductor shouting the destination. "Seems like we'll have to talk about that one later," Saphire said as she stood and began to walk towards the door. But couldn't she just say it now? Or on the walk there? Or maybe she didn't want to talk about it in public? It's obvious she holds this info pretty close, given she has a pattern of avoiding saying these things in the earshot of anyone but Tinker and Stardust.

"Yes, Katari is the name of my species," she said with a nod, "but the other word I said was katalili, which is a conjunction of kata meaning 'rock', and lili meaning 'life'. Those creatures would suffocate here." Saphire watched with an appreciative smile as Tinker scribbled down the notes. It was sweet to see another pony so interested in an unknown culture. "And since I know you will ask, ri means 'pain'" she added, curious to know how they would process that information. She reached into her saddlebag and took out her own notebook and writing utensil. After sketching for a while, she turned the notebook around and presented it to them. "Katalili. A simple sketch, it sadly does not capture the refractive qualities of their unique crystalline appearance." The warm light of the train's interior lights cast a gentle hue across the paper. On it was sketch was of an angular creature with four feet that seemed telekinetically attached to smaller crystals to form connecting legs to the body. Around it were blades of grass, giving context to the small stature of the creature. Above it was a written word in what one could only assume was Saphire's language, which probably said "katalili", though there seemed to be more nuance to the lettering that wasn't easily aparant. "Many thousands of years ago, my species used to reside in what your Equestrian maps call the 'Badlands'. We don't live there anymore," she clarified, but didn't seem to want to elaborate on too much. Maybe the subject was touchy? She did say a 'terrible thing' drove them out.

Saphire waved her hoof in a circle between the three of them. "This. This is metux. Collective. Communion," she said, "The way I used it means 'my species', but the actual meaning is the telepathic link between all katari." Another word, katari. The way she used it implied that is possibly the name of their species? And a telepathic link between all ponies like her? This was quite a lot of information dropped as if it were nothing. "Unfortunately the katalili cannot leave the place they live. They are very delicate and rely on the specific atmospheric conditions to stay alive. One would suffocate here in Equestria," she explained rather bluntly.

Thats okay friend. I hope you stay safe and have a blessed day!

"Well maybe after the gala I can show you," she offered, "And I'd like to see your tinkers as well." Saphire thought for a moment, trying to find the best words to describe it. "Safe," she settled on, "It's safe. There isn't a fear of death or danger. And we're all pretty harmonious," she said, but thought more about it. "If you're wanting physical descriptions, imagine a vast field of red flowing grass with children playing in them, spires of rock jutting high into the sky on the horizons, a warm but crisp breeze gently blowing your mane, and little creatures made of rock and crystals that scurry around, refracting beautiful light and communicating in resonating song..." The way she spoke of it was quite endearing, as if talking about a beloved child. She stared out of the window, her thoughts wandering... but it felt like she left some things out. Not bad things, but important things nonetheless. She didn't describe any structures, townships, or even technologies. "But," she broke through Tinker and Stardust's thoughts, "I used to live here..." She pointed outside the train. They were on the Canterlot Mountain Pass Bridge, and below was the beautiful valley where Ponyville was, with its lush greenery and bright pools of sun-reflecting ponds. She swept her hoof across the valley until it was pointed south, near the badlands. "My Metux lived there, long ago, before a terrible thing drove us out. So now we live much further away," she said solemnly. That word, metux. What was that? It didn't sound like any language they had heard before. When she said it, her voice, which only occasionally slipped into multiple slight pitches, fully separated into an almost musical chord, yet promptly returned to its singular state when returning to Ponish, as if those tones were a part of the word itself.

Saphire chuckled heartily. "Darling, Equestria hasn't even confirmed life outside of this blue and green rock to begin with, and the equestrian space programs are just budding. I'm from this planet," she said. Looking wistfully out of the window, she said more softly "Born and raised..." "As for my technology, it is a form of magitech just like anything else in Equestria. In fact, I built the devices myself, something you would appreciate, dear Tinker," she said confidently. Nothing about this seemed to be a lie of any sort, if anything she was being rather genuine, if a little unspecific. With the subject changed back to said devices, Stardust took the opportunity to ask, "Her and I know each other quite well," she said as she tapped her chin with her hoof, "But whether or not she'd listen unknown. I would hope so." Outside the windows, Canterlot Mountain came into view. It would only be about thirty minutes before they arrived. Knowing this, Tinker hopped up and made his necessary preparations in the lavatory. Having finished, Tinker emerged in an elegant dress and bow. "Very pretty," Saphire commented along with Stardust's compliments. "And you look very dashing in that suit," she said to Stardust.

"Interesting," She said again and listened while Tinker and Stardust talked about it. Before Tinker could answer, Saphire took the moment to chime in. "Why don't you just use portal technology?" she stated so matter-of-factly that it seemed to already be a normal thing to her, "Your high-level magic users already use teleportation, and portals have been used in the past to access things like Tartarus, or other alternate realities... Simply modifying those spells and getting them to run on Magitech would make such trains unnecessary for long-distance travel," she paused to think, "Though... portals any bigger than the size of a single pony require significant amounts of energy that I don't think your society is capable of supplying yet, nor will be able to for awhile..." Again with the subtle linguistic inconsistencies like "your high-level magic users" and "your society", as if she was not a part of such society. Then again, neither of them has ever seen or heard of a pony that looks like her, and they do remember her saying, So maybe by 'far' she meant 'outside of Equestria'? "So maybe mag-lev technology is a good way to go," she concluded.

@Skylight Scintillate@Silly Druid I'm gonna let this interaction play out more linearly if y'all don't mind. I know you all put details of what you do after the train conversation, I won't forget about that, but I'd rather get to them more linearly. Trust me, there's no need to rush, there will be plenty of time for the action later

"Thank you, Tinker and Stardust," Saphire responded. "Oh, so Equestria has high-speed electric trains now? Interesting," Saphire remarked, "Are you involved in its development?" The way she said that first sentence sounded like how other species outside of the country's borders referred to Equestria, as an entity they are not a part of. As Tinker explained, Saphire listened intently. Stardust, however, noticed that every few seconds or so, her eyes would ever so slightly illuminate, as if there was a light inside them. At first, Stardust thought this was just the setting sunlight refracting through her eyes, but as they went through a brief tunnel he still noticed it. He didn't want to interrupt Tinker, however.

My apologies if there is a slight delay in imagery. I need to figure out how to model dresses on ponies Here's a picture of Saphire's ornaments though:

It's alright darling! I pray you get better soon !