Saphire Systrine

Chapter 2 - Princesses, Ponies, and Predicaments After the trio split up, they met back at the station. "There you are," Saphire said as Tinker and Stardust approached with their luggage. It seems everyone planned to get dressed on the train ride there, as none of their attire had changed. Saphire pulled a ticket out from her saddlebag and gave it to Stardust, "And here you go. That covers the ride back as well, so make sure to keep that ticket," she instructed him. Tinker, who works for the Canterlot Express, didn't need to pay for a ticket, and with the matter settled the trio entered the railcars with only a few minutes to spare. Taking the lead, Saphire guided them to a car that had no occupants. While this may have seemed unexpected to some, it fell in line with her secretive demeanor. Motioning for the two to take a seat, she didn't. Instead, she headed back to the lavatory. After a few moments, it was as if an entirely different pony emerged. Gone was the dark hood, having been replaced with a sparkling red dress that flowed across her figure. Attached to her horn was a sort of crown-like ornament that wrapped around her forehead made of polished gold with sapphire stones. Similarly, from her ears protruded what looked like needles made of gold, a sapphire stone at the bottom of each ornament. Her hair flowed much more elegantly than the scruffy look it had before. The only thing that remained the same on this pony was her saddlebags, tightly gripping her barrel. Nodding at the two ponies, she sat across from them. "Bathroom's free if you want to change," she said in a casual tone that betrayed her appearance.

@Silly Druid@Skylight Scintillate I have an idea. Instead of me waiting to see if y'all end up deciding or not deciding to respond, what about you reacting to the comment with Party means you're going to make a post to that and for me to wait until you do to move the story forward? That has been part of the delay, I've been waiting to see if you'll both post or not

@Silly Druid @Skylight Scintillate And that marks the end of that chapter, so unless either of you wish to get in a last few words, I'll continue it at the train station.

Aight. unstallions your horse /j. Its not big deal! Simple sliders Done. I'll have to figure out the clothes though

Saphire simply shook her head. "Oh? I'm quite the tinkerer myself," she stated, but then waited to ask more until Stardust finished explaining his Grand Galloping Gala escapades. Turning back to Tinker, she asked him what kinds of things he tinkered with. She listened closely, and told him she'd like to see his works sometime after the gala if he'd let her. When Twinker finished up, Stardust talked about himself as well. "Well, I can assure you, there is never nothing left to be discovered. And even the things you think are figured out have more depth than your fellows may have realized," she told Stardust after he had finished. "We should probably get ready for the Gala," she said after a moment of silence. Turning around, she began to walk towards the residential district of Ponyville, "It will take several hours to get there, and we only have a few hours left. Meet me at the train station in 20?" she asked the two. "I'll pay for your tickets." She stopped. Without turning to face them completely, she uttered in an unsettling tone; "Because it's not just happening in Ponyville, it's everywhere. Ponyville is just the worst..." Saphire turned and continued toward her destination, leaving the two to marinate on that.

Sorry darling, it is a bit full right now.

"I see," She said, completely ignoring Stardust's comment on her knowledge and instead addressing the population answer, "that is mildly concerning. The school is on a different leyline, so it wouldn't affect the town... A hoofful of inconsistant residents shouldn't cause this drastic change, yet the amount of magic being taxed has decreased significantly. There is something possibly draining magic in the area in a serious way..." She stood there for a bit, thinking things through. It couldn't be changelings, they were reformed. Tirik was defeated. The Everfree Forest was forcefully contained as a nature preserve years ago, so no creatures come out of there. After a moment, she looked up and blinked. "My apologies, I completely forgot to answer you, Stardust," She pulled the small device out again. It was tiny, barely the size of a hoof, and had a sort of display on it. It didnt look like a normal magitech device, "This is a simple data gathering device. It has several deployable sensors that can be covertly left in various places to track the data of a large area. This was particularly tracking leyline saturation-" Saphire stopped when she saw his confused expression. "It tracks magic. Magic energy, or 'ley', exists in all ponies and magical creatures, but it also floats around ambiently through leylines. In order to maintain the structural spells used to build these structures," she pointed to the cracked wall before them, "there is a ley tax that is employed in every town. It uses the ambient leylines to draw magic energy out of all magical entities within the town, and then uses that energy to reinforce the spells without constant unicorn intervention." Saphire turned the device towards Stardust, "As you can see here, the leyline saturation levels have been decreasing even within the last few days," she held the device up so Stardust and Tinker could see the display. Sure enough, it showed some sort of graph with a line going downwards, but the language displayed was indecipherable to them. "But tracing the leylines hasn't led to any particular drains or leaks," she continued to ramble, "Something sapping this much energy would surely show up as a very saturated leyline. Now you may see why I am going to bring this up to Celestia..." After thinking for a moment, she stashed the device in her saddlebag again and pulled her hood down to further conceal herself as she began to step out of the alleyway. Just before she hit the end, though, she stopped. Letting out a small sigh, she turned around to face the two. "I'm sorry. I've spoken so much about me and my business here, but haven't asked about either of you. Why don't we talk about it on the way to the Gala? I'd like to learn more about you two."

Well that may be a lot of characters for me to have to account for What if your guest was Tinker? You're a teacher at the school and pretty esteemed, so you might get an invite, and you can have the plus-one be your friend Tinker. That can simplify it

Important info about this post: Post 13 @Skylight Scintillate@Silly Druid You can ask her any question about any topic she mentioned, but be sure to respond to her last question. There hasnt been anypony that moved out or been gone for a long period of time to your knowledge. Also, as I stated, she's going to take the train to the Gala, and you are both attending the Gala too I dont mind how you choose to do this, whether you decide to meet up later at the train station or Gala, but I will note you can open up more conversation if you ride together.

Stepping out into the sunlight, Saphire walked rather briskly toward a building across the square. Rather than enter it, she went behind it, and only then did she start talking again. "I'm not from around here. Well, I used to be, but I live rather far now," she began rather casually as her eyes intently scanned a crack in the back plaster wall of the building. "As for why I'm here," she whipped out a small device from her saddle bag and pointed it at the dirt in the center of the alley. Immediately a small cylinder poked out of the ground and levitated towards the device, neatly inserting itself into a slot on the back. There were eight slots, and it was the last one, "I'm investigating anomalous ley activity. According to these readings, ley saturation levels have significantly decreased within this small town," she looked towards the crack, "I'm sure you've noticed, given the town's ley tax input has dropped, leading to mild infrastructure degradation." She was right. Recently the town had been looking ever so slightly worn, more than usual. They knew the automatic magic tax had something to do with maintaining structural spells across the town, but didn't realize it was that sensitive to changes. Life was too busy these days to worry about those things. "And finally, I am leaving tonight, particularly to head to the Gala to speak with Princess Celestia about the matter," she paused for a minute as she stashed the device back in her saddlebag, "and I've been avoiding Pinkamena because I don't wish to bring attention to the matter until it can be investigated further. I figured two scientists like yourself would be reasonable ponies, which is why I'm even entertaining your questions to begin with." Her having aptly called the two ponies 'scientists' was surprising. They had not even introduced themselves beyond name, yet she knew this information. Was she some sort of secret agent? It would explain her efforts to avoid detection. But then why would she tell them what she was doing? Wouldn't that compromise such a mission? Then again, the cinema did typically dramatize such things. "Oh, may I ask," she started again, interrupting any thoughts either were having, "Have you noticed any significant decrease in population over the last few weeks? Ponies moving out, on extended vacations, or otherwise not present for an abnormal amount of time?" Her questions were curt and to the point, as if a doctor was asking about a patient's symptoms. She stared intently at the two, awaiting a reply.

@Skylight Scintillate@Silly Druid *poke poke* Do post when you get the chance. I'm thankful for the wait so I can prepare more stuff for the RP, but also we need to get past this basic introduction

My bad, shoot me a personal message about what you meant and we can talk there Well I only have a limited number of spots. Again, I do not want this going out of scope. Celestia is one of those spots, but if I'm continuing with Azure, Stancet, Skylight, Silly Druid, and myself, that is 5 characters I have to constantly take into account and that's already pushing my limits. I dont know if you noticed, but I am making 3D scene art of this and plan to continue, and making 5 characters is a lot already. Celestia is a temporary character that shows up for a hoofful of scenes, so she's much more manageable. I can always play her myself, but I figured opening it up would be interesting.

Essentially, and this goes for everyone participating, you'll get to act in your character as reactions to the things going on. There will be times were participation can increase, like in combat, where the characters can bring out their various skills, or in puzzle solving (maybe), but these won't drastically affect the overall plot. This is why I said it's "moderately directed". I can and will dynamically change things more if more is wanted, but not too much, don't want it to blow out of scope If you want, I can DM you specifics. Oh I see! Is she throwing you in the spotlight to play Celestia, or just in general? As for ending, yes, this WILL end eventually, in fact it probably wont go on too long at all. It mainly depends on how long it takes peeps to respond But ultimately how much you respond will depend on you. If you're not saying anything, and unless you say otherwise, I'll just assume you're quietly tagging along with the group If you do take up Celestia though, there are stipulations for playing that character in particular, like how she responds to certain things and what kind of resources she has at her disposal. She's more of a side character, she might not even be around for the entire roleplay, just a small part.

Just a heads up @Stancet and @Azure Dawn, I do have slots for you two in the story mildly tailored to your character descriptions, so if you're still interested do let me know @Azure Dawn you'll come in first by meeting the current ponies at the Gala, so be thinking about how you might like that to go. @Stancet You will come in shortly afterward and be working on a cargo airship docked at Canterlot Air Port. I'll let you know when you come in to play. @Ice Princess Silky <3 May come in as Celestia if she chooses to take up the role, but she'll have to check her discord DMs to see what I sent her

As Stardust was asking these things, Saphire's ear and head pivoted ever so slightly towards the window as if she had heard something outside. She politely focused back and waited until Stardust was finished, but then sighed and stood. "Those are certainly curious questions aren't they," she said to no one in particular, "Unfortunately I'm a busy mare, so if you want them answered you'll have to talk and trot." She reached into a small saddlebag and pulled a gem out with her mouth. She gave them a quick smile as Stardust and Tinker eyed her, and that is when they noticed she had obvious canines, unlike a normal pony. Politely she pushed past them and placed the tip in a jar on the counter on her way to the door. Before she stepped out she pulled up her hood and looked back at the two. "Well? Do you want to talk now, or would you rather wait until the next time I need to eat," something about the way she said that made it sound like the 'next time' wouldn't be for a while.

Thank you @GeneralDirection You are a gouda bean, thank you for all your help and hard work

Hmm, I didnt know that's how that worked. Well I guess I can say some stuff here. @Skylight Scintillate@Silly DruidAfter either of y'all try to continue the conversation, even if it's questions, she's going to get up and begin walking out of the bakery while talking to yall. Might be a little important to follow her, but how you choose is on y'all. Close, from a distance, trying to yapp her ear off or be sneaky, doesnt matter. Is that what you mean @Azure Dawn?

Uhhhhh… could you say that in a different way? For some reason my brain isnt braining very good right now and I dont understand

Totally understandable. Blender is very shortcut-heavy for speed so it can be a learning curve! Neat! I'll take a look when I can! Ponytown is totally fine to use! If you send me a picture of the character I can update the 3d model I made of them! (if ya dont know what I'm talking about, look at the rp thread) Yeah I apologize about that. I've had quite a lot of crunch time in IRL work so I havent been able to pay as much attention as I'd like. I've been 3d modeling characters, sets, and assets for the rp as well, and that takes time.I was initially going to send my most recent post in the morning my time, but 3D modeling all the current RP characters took a lot more time than I expected. I finished it a little after midnight because of other work I had to do I'm also still a little unfamiliar with this format of roleplay and the forum culture, and dont want to make things too wild too fast. I might be overthinking things though… As for the character limit, that took me by surprise as it wasnt explicitly mentioned anywhere before I made the rp. I really prefer things to be shorter because it can allow for 'faster' moments which I need. So I'm probably gonna see if @Ice Princess Silky <3 or mod would be willing to move the thread over to casual just for the smaller character minimum… Either way, I'm sorry for the slowness @Silly Druid @Skylight Scintillate

Fusion 360 by Autodesk is for making things you're going to, like, manufacture irl. And it's expensive ;u; I use Blender, and it's Blender's Eevee render engine, not the raytracing one people commonly use (cycles)

My apologies for the late reply @Skylight Scintillate and @Silly Druid, the image I uploaded with the post took a lot longer than I expected I've yet to add cutie marks to either of them

"Nice to meet you Tinker and Stardust," the pony responded calmly, "To answer your questions-" just barely a hint of flashing blue could be seen in her eyes, as if there was a light inside- "No, I have not been given a welcome party from Pinkamena," she stated matter-of-factly. While it wasnt unusual to know Pinkie Pie's full first name, just about everypony calls her "Pinkie". Yet this pony knew her name possibly without even meeting her, as any first interaction with the pink party pony is practically a promised possibility of pink pastel parties. Then again, who in Equestria didn't know of the Element of Laughter? "As for my name, I'm..." she hesitated, as if contemplating her next words, "Saphire. You can call me Saphire," she finished with a polite nod. "To what do I owe the pleasure of such fine company?" Despite her politeness, something seemed off, but what exactly was not clear...

Okay but which hooves? It is generally seen as a rude gesture to stomp your dominant hind hoof, at least in most equestrian populaces. /j To contribute to the topic: When I was younger I'd stare at the sun with my eyes closed so that my vision would be shifted to a blue hue (opposite of the red eyelids) because I liked seeing the color blue a lot

idk about this. This is a bit too weird for me. You might need to see a doctor about this /j Smart idea. Electronic parts do wear out over time. The first things to go are usually electrolytic capacitors. So if your consoles ever start breaking, check those capacitors to see if they are doing what they're supposed to ---- As for another weird thing about myself: If I'm looking at something embarrassing, either something like my old art, or even second-hand embarrassment, I notice that I don't just cringe physically but also make some sort of stimming sounds, probably in a subconscious effort to distract from the embarrassment. If anyone ever dates me in person they're gonna be in for a weird ride