open Casual stroll

Okay, things were not exactly going great.

Chow were managing to still stay clear of the untrained hits, getting some things destroyed and only got a little sizzled now and again for it, but as he had thought, things had eventually gone sour, as Warlock began using magic as well to get some hits in on him. For now just a gust of wind that blew him backwards and blew out some of the fire, but the next time he might not get so lucky. Though considering the sword now headed for him, he might not even last that long.

He barely managed to grab hold of a piece of a still-smoldering log he had almost landed on and put it between them before he'd get hit, but this would still pin him down, and nothing good ever came from that.

Meanwhile, Athriel let out a shriek as she got slashed over the face and felt the blade almost taking her eye with it. If she hadn't jerked her head back a little, this would've gone from a flesh wound to something that would have ended her vessel.

"You are just like her."

Athriel knocked the sword away and got a tighter grip in Astral's leg.

"Speak like a hero, and think you're above everything, whilst using forbidden dark magic and drenching yourself in innocent blood."

She got closer and sneered at Astral, with a talon seemingly raised to cut into her if she tried any more tricks.

"Sapphire dragged me into forbidden magic. Taught me how to sacrifice and take power from others, and until the day she left, we spread evil and disaster. Right up until she met Him, and tried to change.

But I saw it. From a distance and then as we fought. She still used her dark powers, gained and perfected from hurting so many, and then she had the gall to say that I was the one in the wrong? If it were not for that hypocrite, I wouldn't be here today!"

Athriel hit the wall next to Astra so bricks crumbled and fell, whilst keeping her hateful gaze on the mare. She had really wanted to punch her instead, but she couldn't. She needed her to get what she wanted, and with that ward of hers, trying to hit her would not have ended well for her.

"Tell me child, how close are you to her? Great great grand foal? Great great great grand foal? Further back perhaps? How thick does the blood of the traitor who corrupted and imprisoned her own sister run in you?"

At this point, Athriel didn't care about the blood going down her face from her head wound. It could be mended later, and it served a purpose in showing Astral what she meant about the blood of the innocent she were spreading. In this case, the innocent griffon that Athriel were possessing.

==================

It was a bit weird for the guards to work with the changelings, considering their history prior to this, but they had their orders and kept the complaining to a minimum, and mostly just grumbling occasionally.

===================

@Twilight-Shimmer @Widdershins @Foxy Socks

Golden loudly cleared his throat to get attention before this sprung further out of order.

"We have a lot of things to go through and little time, though i woukd like to cement that I do not have an Element of Disharmony. The necklace is a creation by other forces, and not part of the balance. Everypony would be able to bear it."

"What necklace?"

"An old artifact that feast on magic. Any sort of magic nearby will get devoured by it, and had we more time, I would spend time explaining a bit about its backstory, yet we don't have that kind of time right now."

"I agree, it's time to act. Like General Wings said, finding the other elements and potentially the fated bearers is going to be important. If we have either, we can lure our enemies into a trap. We will need access to the teleportation network to send scrolls out fast about this Ambassador, as well as a direct transport to meet with Tidal Wave. We're going to need all hooves on deck for this."

"Agreed. I will have your form signed as soon as we have set a plan to go forward."

The sound of the door creaking caught Golden's attention, but it seemed yo just be Dew popping his head out and ordering one of tge soldiers to go to the assemble room and bring him back his armor.

"You're retired Dew. You're not going to visit Tidal Wave in an official capacity."

"I'm not planning to. I want to find our enemies, and then strike at them before they go at us. Ambassador, give me the necklace, and keep talking plans."

Golden opened his muzzle to protest, but a look from the former general silenced him whilst he reluctantly reached the necklace towards him.

"I think General Wings have laid out a good plan for now. We will need to find a way to learn more on Warlock though, and try to find where they are. If we can, I could teleport a few there to try and handle him, likely lead by Dew since he now holds the Amulet of Gluttony.

As for you two, you seem to know some things and have a vested interest in this considering Astral is likely with them. Please, if you have any information or idea about how we can find them, that would be of immense help."

===================

@Dji @Seamore Sandwich

She hadn't planned to go inside, but as Dawn left the door open before wandering on with the invitation hanging in the air, it seemed like she more or less had to, even if the air had gotten sort of icy after the talk fell on Dawn's mother.

Still, if she just left now it would be immensely rude since she hadn't had the chance to say goodbye, and she didn't want to have her newest friend to think she were both cavorting with what she likely thought of as monsters, as well as being really rude. She'd rather have the accidental insensitivity happen again compared to that, even though that wasn't something good either. She had to watch her tongue and not take chances.

Wandering in and following after Dawn, Pop soon found the resident of the house, and looked at her with a somewhat cautious look in her eyes.

"You got a lovely home Dawn."

===================

"You kinda met her. When I first popped up, I was like her, but we can't keep all these brains connected. Too many things to remember and see. So I am slightly my own. If she took my memories though, you'd still end up with me, just in real me instead of this."

Slightly confusing, but it made sense enough if you didn't think too hard about how it would go. Standard approach to anything draconequui-related really.

"And I can sort of communicate. Long as I'm her avatar, we share some power, so I can write letters, eat them, and then she gets the message."

Whilst she were talking, Anomaly looked as the collision of phoenix and foxy were aboit to hapoen, and sort of expected that she had to take a hit of fire for her since ponies normally didn't like to be set on fire, but for some reason, Agni acted somewhat civil.

Sure, she still raised her wings in a sort of warning, but she put them down again, then looked between Foxy and the metallic homunculus she had caught, pecking it with her beak. She seemed to want recognition of some kind, so Foxy might have an opening here and be allowed to touch Agni if she praised her catch, but if she didn't, Agni would likely spew some embers at the pony. Nothing major, but a warning were a warning.

No matter what happened though, Anomaly wouldn't be allowed to touch her catch, her or Stardust. Agni didn't like the metallic monstrosity.

===================

@Midnight_Aurora

"Interesting physique. What race is your true self considering that? I know breezies, and they stay small, plus you didn't describe yourself as one, but simply as being like one. Another race of semi-insectoid equines perhaps?"

Breezies were a near constant where she had grown up, depending on how much they trusted you, and Belladonna had been one of the lucky few that had both been trusted by them, as well as being considered curious by the small ones, so she had been near them often.

To think that Cosmic here carried some resemblance to them then, were a kind of joyful thing to hear, though she'd reserve showing any emotions on this until she knew more. The last kind of insectoid equines she had been near had not left her in a good state afterwards, and as such, she were hesitant to think well of things here until she were more informed.

Edited June 22, 2017 by Blitz Boom
Added colors.

Moonlit · June 22, 2017

@Blitz Boom @Seamore Sandwich "Don't let Mother hear you talk like that, she'd given us her life savings and shot-put us halfway across Equestria if there was even a sliver of a chance!" Serenade's eyes are as wide as saucers, "Mothers know" she hisses, looking over her shoulders.

EQ_Theta · June 22, 2017

@Blitz Boom

"Omen, mother wants Solasan so she can punish him for what he did. She told us that just before we went back to the cave."

Sen repeated Lin's last statement while suspecting the amount of energy Omen used to restore them must have done some damage to her memory. "Do you remember what happened the past few days? We went to the cave the first time to investigate the focal orb but we didn't get far. Legion took over me and Lin and you sent us back home. We got that problem sorted out but we had to go back."

"You sent brother away when we returned because going back into the cave was risky. Brother would've been possessed again. Omen, what you did saved the village, saved us." Lin worryingly said before turning her attention to her brother. "We need to bring her home. Mother might know what to do."

Sen nodded and Lin opened a gate back to mother's realm but not without some straining herself. Her powers have not completely returned to her and she still felt weak after the orb restored her mind to her body. Sen grabbed an unconscious Solasan and the orb and prepared to step on through when Ghilan let out a sharp cough and wondered if the siblings would leave him in unfamiliar land. Sen stopped for a second and thought this through before gesturing the elder to come with them.

"Alright, you can come along. I'll take the blame for this one if mother gets angry at us about letting strangers into her home."

Ghilan quickly hopped across and the gate closed behind them, opening to a place in mother's realm where they could find out how best to proceed.

Storm Shine · June 22, 2017

@Blitz Boom @Summer Breeze

Pinkie giggled and patted Blitz on the head, "Don't worry Blitzy, just got a little sleepies from the sciency stuffs, maybe if it was more exciting and less techy termy big word stuffs then I.. Umm... Ooo~, cupcakes!" Pinkie began explaining herself to the explosives filly, but was quickly distracted by some cupcakes that she found... somehow. "Yummy! You want some Blitzy?" She offered, holding out a plate full of cupcake. "They're really really good!"

"Oh, well there might not be sock-exclusive inter-dimensional travel, but I do know there's this living portal that likes to eat hats and send them to a random dimension." Storm responded with a shrug, "Nice guy actually, assuming that it has a gender anyways... never thought to ask that... But it was willing to answer some questions in exchange for a few of my old hats, usually it just tries to eat one or two when nopony is looking, so to have somepony willing to offer it hats was some kind of treat I guess, or at least a novelty, heh." He chuckled, "Not like I ever really wore them anyways, I'm not much of a hat pony. but they went to a good cause, at least. I think..."

Holiday Agnaktor · June 22, 2017

After Nerzhei had opened up the opening with her magic, which looked really impressive, Frosty dove into the cave, eager to see what was inside. He would have gasped in surprise, if he wasn't wearing a weird air-mask. Instead, he quickly started ripping gems out of the walls, going for the biggest ones first. Size more than likely meant power.

After a bit of gathering he had a nice bunch of crystals held tight in his telekinesis. He had gathered about as many as he could hold at the same time, because this was likely his only chance of getting these without having to pay a fortune.

Meanwhile, back at the camp, Blue jumped a bit when Summer tapped her shoulder. Blue greeted her.

"H-hey, Summer. Slept well?"

She was a little bit spooked, since Summer could have sneaked up on them and listened in on her little conversation with Lyriel without her knowing. That could have been bad. Luckily, Summer didn't seem like the type to listen in on ponies.

Before she could think much more about it, Lyriel offered them breakfast.

"Oh. That would be nice."

Blue didn't really need material food, but it did taste nice at times, so she was willing to try. This also reminded her that she had to stock back up on love sometime soon. It wasn't necessary right now, but she preferred having some reserves to fall back on.

"Oh, and Summer? This might sound a bit out of the blue, but can you give me a hug?"

From her previous experience, Summer was a near-endless source of love, which she could easily tap into. That, and absorbing Lyriel's love after she had just trusted her just seemed rude.

Foxy Socks · June 22, 2017

@Twilight-Shimmer @Widdershins @Twilight-Shimmer

Foxy had decent experience in handling and being around animals, however, she had never been this close to a phoenix. This was something Foxy had dreamed of though, but she had to be cautious, as the encounter can easily become disastrous if the avian decided to act in defense. It reminded her in a way of dealing with venomous snakes. They were to be respected and understood, and one must act very cautious lest it becomes too frightened and bites, though Foxy believed it was the fault of the one approaching for being reckless. Nevertheless, it was vital not to underestimate the animals.

"Hey, what's your name again? Agni?" Foxy asked them. She slowly approached, trying not to look threatening at all.

"I'm not going to touch what you're holding, I promise." Foxy was well withing "striking" distance, at only about three feet, but she remained calm. Though she could be dangerous, Foxy put her complete trust in Agni not to harm her. The only one she attacked much at all was Anomaly, who couldn't be harmed majorly by her anyway. Carefully, Foxy lifted her right hoof, colored black like the rest of her hooves and legs accurate to her namesake, and inched close enough to touch her.

"Is it all right if I touch you? I've only seen a phoenix once before, and even then it was only for a few seconds before flying off." Foxy hoped if Agni rejected her hoof it wouldn't involve flames, Foxy had to trust her not to harm.

Will Guide · June 22, 2017

After Alonsus mentioned how the Princess of Friendship "hardly goes anywhere without a book or a scroll" as well as the apparent fact that she has a little dragon for an assistant, Will found himself falling back into silence. After Alonsus snapped him out of it, Will revealed he had a daydream. Alonsus asked what it was about.

Will dreamt he was some kind of shape-shifting bug who met a young snake-like pony-dragon hybrid and both decided to put on a private performance of the Disney tale, Beauty and the Beast. Hearing that the Princess seems to be a bookworm is what lead to dreaming about that particular story due to the main heroine being a lover of books and stories too.

"Sorry, Alonsus," Will said. "For getting a little off-topic. Let's see if anyone's home." He said as he knocked on the front door of the castle.

Midnight_Aurora · June 22, 2017

11 hours ago, Blitz Boom said:

@Midnight_Aurora

"Interesting physique. What race is your true self considering that? I know breezies, and they stay small, plus you didn't describe yourself as one, but simply as being like one. Another race of semi-insectoid equines perhaps?"

Breezies were a near constant where she had grown up, depending on how much they trusted you, and Belladonna had been one of the lucky few that had both been trusted by them, as well as being considered curious by the small ones, so she had been near them often.

To think that Cosmic here carried some resemblance to them then, were a kind of joyful thing to hear, though she'd reserve showing any emotions on this until she knew more. The last kind of insectoid equines she had been near had not left her in a good state afterwards, and as such, she were hesitant to think well of things here until she were more informed.

*Cosmic takes a breath and steady's his heart for the explanation to come. He then lays is out in a low voice so only Belladonna can hear him.* "My true self isn't even Equine. It's one of the abilities I gained when I came to your world. my world doesn't normally have magic but my kind are geared to be able to harness such. I think if your kind saw my true form, you would think I am a hairless ape or monkey. to be honest, your the first I have eer told that too. but I think you can understand why. As for the forms thing. it was a spell I gained upon arrival that they didn't know I had. you see Humanoids like myself have a way of using magic similar to the one you call discord but we can't just snap our fingers. we have to weave signs and speak incantations to form spells. much more complicated than your magic and spells." *Cosmic then breaths heavily as he finishes giving Belladonna the full story. he gives only basic descriptions about his world and why it doesn't have magic. he also explains that trains like this one are fully ran on a burnable fuel called diesel. he also explains just a small bit about science being the dominating factor of his world. Science and technology anyways.*

dosey doe · June 23, 2017

Miss Steps clapped her hooves.

"Very good. Class over for today. Everypony have fun, yes?"

"Yes, Miss Steps!" said all the ponies.

"Ja, ja. We dance again next week. Vaarwel!"

Miss Steps held open the door as her class filtered out, thanking everypony for coming and giving out hugs.

Widdershins · June 23, 2017

Oh, don't you worry about it none! May be I've met you in a few other times & spaces. Most mortals don't know how close they've come before to Death, yet still somehow think of it as some threat or something. ...but that's neither here nor there! Well, there's been heres before there has been here, but I digress!

The draconequus finishes patting Smokey through the back rows of the tents & gestures around.

...So, which one of these tents did you two duck into eh? Need to get you back under covers soon to comfort your Lady when she wakes up from our dream sequence!? She's a tough nut he is! They'll need you to stay on top of them, know the old adage! Proper Shipping requires Proper Handling!

Besides... I already have!

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

@ Baka Boom, again!

Having, up until now, not even considered that the pony would have actually talked back to him after his rant & not having really planned for anything after his ranting anyway, the orange-tan drake inadvertently gave the mare more than enough time to go through her whole rigamarole through his mildly offended shock and muttered grumblings under her own speech.

"Not... not big enough? I'm plenty big! I could grab you if I wanted to... which I don't... who even are you-you..."

Finally catching onto her last comment, Kaltrop's cheeks puff out as his face begins to glow in a blush. Getting more fussy as the more excited he gets over having to converse with a pony as much as his lack of practice holding long conversations with others of even his own species, the young drake digs his back claws in somewhat to the roof of the cart and stands up gesture even more with his front claws. The longer he sits on his haunches & gestures the more seemingly apparent it becomes that he was once used to not only walking bipedally but addressing ponies taller than him.

Before wavering both claws at Spicy Rolls in his stuttering, he turns them "palm up" to tap himself in the chest with the outer sides of his claws.

"T-...T-... T-Troll? Wh-what, what do you think I am? Some kind of an mountain oaf? Do I carry some sort of club? Do I wear some critter-skin loincloth? Do I go Boogedy-Boogedy at little foals around campfires?!!?

I-I-I didn't ask to be introduced to you or anything! I didn't come here for you to flourish your hat at me like some flashy pony! I came here to... to..."

His right claw rotating wildly in a dismissive gesture the dragon tosses his head to the left to avert his sight from the red pegasus. Talking through cheeks ballooned up in embarrassment from Rolls's attention, he not so quietly & pointedly returns to grumbling.

" I dunno... make you take the bridge so I could get on with my day... Don't you know you're supposed to run from dragons?

...goat hooves are disgusting anyway."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

@~Phoenix~

Awkwardly scooting his flank around to her front while remaining in a sitting position, the pink-haired dream pony pokes Phoenix about the face once more.

To learn how to love others, you first have to learn how to love yourself. But the trick there too, is to learn how to let others in too, so you can learn to see yourself as they do, not through a huge, shadowy mass of your own doubts & fears.

Others are out there willing to give you a try. Like that pretty stallion out there, eh? Give him a shot, huh? ...well, because if you don't... you know I will!

Cheerfully chuckling outloud to itself, the dream pony smiles back at Phoenix.

So, you ready to wake up now then? Because if we do this my way, I do suppose I have to warn you that there might be a mild side effect of some vicious facial tics that may or may not wear off after a while! Though, suppose the worst part is not knowing why that is when you wake up and forget most of this! But I do digress!

~Phoenix~ · June 23, 2017

Phoenix sat there, and watched as the dream pony awkwardly scooted up to her. her silence and staring may have only added to the level of awkward. she sat there unsure of what to do as the dream pony simply poked at her face. but to her surprise, he followed it up with a statement.

although some may want to believe she is, Phoenix certainly was no numb-skull. she could definitely see the truth behind many of the strange stallions words, and she tried her best to take them all into account. she spent a few moments simmering her thoughts over what has transpired, and she tried to come up with some sort of summary of the lesson here.

the dream stallion was most certainly correct in saying that Phoenix needed to learn to love herself and try to see things from that point of view. she sighed at the thought. "easier said than done", she muttered. "but, other than that, i am ready" she replied. she seemed more than ready to end whatever sort of dream this was, be it a nightmare or not.

FanOfManyShows · June 23, 2017

Astral seemed to shake in fear. Seeing the lashing smoke inside the gem, Astral starting to express her conflicted feelings very visibly. She looked up at Athriel, narrowing her eyes. "Oh we're rather direct, but she's only evil in your eyes, maybe she could talk some sense into you if she was here now." The smoke seemed to express fear, Astral seeing it, starting to piece together what it was.

In the meantime, Warlock was pulling the sword out of the log, growling. "You're just entertainment for me Chow." He lifted a hoof up, holding Chow in place. "I could disintegrate you right now, although that'd just lose me that entertainment." He continued holding Chow in place, walking over to the window, picking up their conversation. "She was evil." He hovered out the window, entering Astral's view. "She just turned good, because your father reformed her, Iron Star." He grinned, knowing Athriel could obviously hear. "One stallion, reformed a villain of her power, what a waste."

"You're both ly-"

"You're just denying it, don't want to know you tried to resurrect a villain." She starting panic breathing. "Maybe we can activate this horcrux, allow you to see the face of a real villain." Astral tried to pull herself out of Athriel's grip, obviously failing, then blasting some dark magic at Warlock, having him float out of the way, seeing the forest in the distance being hit instead, a small explosion occurring as a result. "Oh you're a hypocrite like your parents, using dark magic to defeat dark magic." He floated over to Athriel. "Let her go, we will need her to be around long enough for her mother to make the confession." He said, reaching over and lifting up the gem. "She will only believe her anyways." He let the gem fall, giving Astral a menacing stare. "And I want my revenge too."

======================================

Misty looked at Iron Star. "You should know where they are, right?"

"They are at his old home, which is very far away from here, it would take weeks to reach there on foot, days if you flew there, and I don't even know if teleportation is possible for the distance." He lifted a hoof, creating some smoke in it. "Even if we used magic to get there, we're trap ourselves because the Element of Greed would absorb any magic left." He said then dissipating the smoke.

"Oh right, but wouldn't it do that even if Warlock was closer to us?"

"There's that too. The Element of Greed would be in the way of us using magic in most situations." He pointed to Dew, despite not being able to see where he was. "Even with the amulet of gluttony, assuming it even works against the element of greed."

"How do you know where they are?"

"Oh, I have omnipotence, but I can only use the all hearing part of it without my eyes, but I have been where his home is, so just hearing where they are is enough for me."

"We could make use of this, like for finding the destined bearers of the elements, are you able to find out who they are?"

"I'd have to look, but even then it wouldn't be clear until they actually use their element." He looked ahead. "And simply finding suspected bearers wouldn't be enough." He looked over to Golden. "We also have to think up a way for Warlock to be lured here to even use them against him once we do find them."

Sekel · June 24, 2017

Circle Pop found herself in the living room. It was small and meant for about two ponies at any given time. The two seated sofa was against the wall, facing a dark fireplace that had ashes covering the bottom. Pictures lined the walls of mostly Dawn being alone with a few with an older pony who had a dark red coat, a yellow mane, with pink eyes and a smiling face, and only one or two with some other ponies that looked to be about her age. One of these ponies had a green coat, mint green poofy mane and tail, and a beaming smile. The other young pony was amber coated, had a purple mane, and brown eyes, smiling directly at the camera. The pictures were placed in the few spaces that were between the bookshelves that lined every wall except the kitchen doorway.

"Thanks. It's not much. And small," Dawn called from the kitchen, sounding slightly dour. She was still miffed at the topic of dragons being brought up.

Contrast · June 24, 2017

On 6/16/2017 at 6:10 PM, Blitz Boom said:

"Hello there. Name's Molotov Boom, and this here's my sister, Blitz Boom, and I've come looking for a few things, as well as you actually."

"Sorry 'bout that. Carmen here's usually following along, but you know how artificial intelligence are sometimes. Curious little things, and in this case, the sort who likes to taste things she perceives as food. Sometimes I really think that giving her a stomach might have been a bad idea.

Anyway, as you can see, she's gotten a bit of damage and I need to get her fixed. You wouldn't have to have a stick of grade C titanium and some clock wires, do you?"

Witty raised a hoof underneath her chin, as she thought about the particular items Molotov was asking for. "Well, I have clock wires by the number; however, I believe I'm out of C grade titanium. A lot of it went into..." She cast a narrow glance at Uno and muttered, " 'Other' projects."

Uno gave Witty an agitated beep and stared back at her. It felt like Witty was accusing it of something.

Afterwards, Witty turned towards Molotov with a wide grin, "However, I do have something in stock." She ducked underneath the front desk and started to search for something. "I do have a small amount of titanium somewhere here, although, I believe it's one grade higher than you're asking for." She couldn't help but laugh, before continuing, "It's kind of weird that I even have this in stock, now that I think about it. Normally, I have a regular that buys up my stock of higher grade titanium."

After a moment, Witty emerged with a small box of titanium rods. She placed them on the front desk, next to the set of papers that weren't there before, and said, "Really nice stallion, you'd probably love him. His name was..."

On 6/16/2017 at 6:10 PM, Blitz Boom said:

Reaching back with Carmen, he sat her back on his back with some protest, but she clung in when she was set down and didn't chase the parasprite robot anymore for the time being, which gave him the chance to do the other thing he had meant to do: Take out a stack of papers from his backpack and put them down on the table.

"Our Uncle, Napalm Boom, frequented the store quite a lot. He'd be easy to see. He usually had a vest full of tools, a hard hat and a hovering board to carry his wares on?

In any case, he seems to have been impressed by what work you're getting done here, so according to his wishes, I've come here with his research papers to hoof over to you. He figured that you'd be able to make the most of things in case Center Zero fell, and he went with it... Which he sadly did."

At first, Witty was happy when Molotov spoke about Napalm. She had no idea she was speaking to his nephew or that Napalm thought so highly of her work. It was only when Molotov mentioned 'his wishes' that her expression started to grow somber. "N-no... When did this happen, center zero? I-I..." The look she gave Molotov was filled with both sadness and confusion. This was a lot for her to take in.

~

On 6/16/2017 at 6:10 PM, Blitz Boom said:

"Did you make the small robot? It's pretty. What's it's name? Does it do fun things? Can it explode?"

Witty seemed too distraught to notice or respond to Blitz's questions; however, that did not stop the parasprite contraption from flying over to Blitz and starring at her curiously. After a moment, it made a small beeping noise and did its' equivalent of grinning. It was happy that SOMEONE finally appreciated it.

Edited June 24, 2017 by Contrast
grammar / slight additions

Lil' Lovebug · June 24, 2017

@Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich

Satin nodded and smiled to the mare. "Tis a busy life, being an artist. And please, I will send a formal letter here if I come to the decision that I shan't return here." Satin looked to her companion and smiled softly. "Are you staying much longer, Vivid. I believe I remember you saying something about having somewhere to be tonight and I'd hate to keep you. If you must go, I can set my things up in the room I shall be staying in and explore around the town a bit."

(Oh no, it's back! Kill it with fire!!!!)

Blitz Boom · June 24, 2017

"Hah, your mother and mine would get along. Though she'd lay out a spreadsheet of where to go, what to spend, clothes, and so forth. Drove my sister crazy when she went after her. Not sure if it worked though. I left Las Pegasus a few days after she started this and my sister gets really evasive when I write to her about details. Heh, perhaps I can ask her in person one of these days."

Ziggy patted her chin for a bit, deep in thought, before continuing her talk.

"Perhaps when everything's settled I should take you around and meet 'em. It'd be good excuse for dragging you to Las Pegasus anyway, although... Maybe wait with that town until we can see if we can help you be a bit more collected around changelings. Never really thought about it before, but there's a lot of churches there and that sort might draw them in... I gotta ask dad about that. He tends to see right through ponies so he'd know.

Anyway, I'm rambling. Let's go back to talk about how your mother would want to play matchmaker with you. How long have she been wafting around that she wanted grandchildren?"

She didn't find amusement in misery, but poking her friend a bit about this sort of thing seemed like harmless fun to Ziggy, and if it wasn't, she'd likely be tossed into the lake or something. Cause and effect.

=====================================================================

@EQ_Theta

Omen considered just telling them that she were fine enough, but things moved too fast for her to think about that right now. A wealth of information were given to her, where some of it fit to the fragments of memories that flashed around inside her head, though most of it were news for her.

With a bit of strain it seemed, Lin opened a portal to their home and moved through, whilst Sen took hold of the unconscious Salosan and the orb, and made his way through as well, leaving three of them behind before Ghilan tried to get their attention. It seemed that he wanted to come along for some reason, which he were allowed. They'd see how he'd fare home with Mother, though from the little she had gathered and could remember, Mother would likely not care much about him when Salosan was there. He'd be her primary focus.

Once Ghilan passed the gate, there was just Omen and the drake in her mane left behind, and it seemed the lot of them had been so focused on getting through that they had forgotten the part where Omen could barely move anything beneath her neck at this point, though she could do something perhaps. So she slung her prehensile tongue forth towards them, aiming to grab hold of somepony's ankle and then perhaps get help being dragged in, when the portal closed and she were left looking at empty air, whilst her head slowly tilted to the right, thinking about what she were going to do now.

Meanwhile, in the other realm, the shadows and pale eyes floating in them, gathered around the group much like when Sen had been here the first time. Feeling the magic from the orb and seeing the unfamiliar creatures, they hoped to try and get a master from whoever had this magic in their being - in their eyes, Ghilan - and the group were soon bombarded with a lot of voices of different volumes and tones projected into their heads, pleading in broken Equestrian to gain a master from the magical ones among them. Likely, Omen had brought the words of their realm with her at some point during the last few millennia.

It wasn't as bad as you might think though. Even the loudest of them were not high in their noise and all of the voices said the same line at roughly the same interval, so it shouldn't be confusing.

"Make me whole, and I will serve."

The siblings were not overly complex creatures and had no real experiences to draw from to make a better case for themselves, so they just went with the company line so to speak, until a breeze flowed through the realm that made every voice halt instantly, whilst the tender, but tired voice of Mother flowed towards the group.

"Sen and Lin, you return. But who are these beings? Is one of them Salosan?"

The ground beneath them trembled ever so slightly when Mother said that name. Apparently, Salosan had struck a deep nerve with her.

"I see him, on the floor. The one you must have spoken about, but who is this other one then? Make your case, longma, and make sure to tell me what you are to this worthless creature that harmed my family..

As for the rest of you, my dear children, please leave these be for the time being, and you can make your case to them another time. For now I need to speak with them."

The darkness and the unformed siblings around them melted away like ice under hot water, and soon they had spread around and continued their minor games whilst Mother waited for an answer. Though another wind did blow by, meant mostly for Sen and Lin, and carried with it a note of concern.

"Where are your sister? Did something happen to Omen?"

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@Shineling

Molotov really bit note in how Pinkie acted around Blitz and how she distracted her from things currently. back home, their family had mostly just given her small gears and sometimes an overused bolt or something that shouldn't be able to be used for much, and she'd play around with those things and try to make it work into some kind of creation, which worked better than a pacifier to keep her somewhat quiet and controlled. Around here however, it seemed like baked goods did as well a job of doing that, at least for a short amount of time. Something he'd have to make usage off another time for sure.

He didn't have a chance to say anything before Anomaly forced the camera to go back to her, as she stood with big eyes at the story about the portal.

"Wait wait wait. You know a Portal, that eats Hats?"

This seemed to take the winds out of her sail for a bit, as the sheer random, chaotic nature of such a thing settled in her mind.

"That sounds amazing! Can you show me one of these days? Please? I'll even bring a ton of hats. I got top hats, hockey hats, licorice hats, straw hats, mad hatters, the whole thing. I'll even take some balloon hats along if that works."

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@Holiday Agnaktor @Summer Breeze

Nerzhei looked at Frosty and shook her head at the sight of him with his hooves full of gems, though right now she couldn't say why. Perhaps it was simply because he might have an issue swimming out of here with those things in his hooves? But thena gain, he did have magic to either help carry or swim, so it might not be as simple as that.

Regardless of what was what, Nerzhei had picked her own amount of gems. Most of them no bigger than a regular marble ball and varying in shapes and sizes, though it was clear she could carry far more if she wanted to in the little baggie she had brought along. Yet she signaled them to go towards the exit, though briefly stopped before going out and grabbing hold of a particularly large gem that she could barely get her hand around, poked to it with her claw and after a time, twisted and pulled it right out of the wall before swimming out of the cave with it in her hand - she used mostly her tail to push her forward at this point - and placed herself outside of the cave, waiting for Frosty to get out as well. It seems as if they were done for the time being.

Meanwhile, back in the camp, Lyriel went down on a knee and placed her right hand on the ground, then rose it up slwoly along with the plant that followed.

She would do this a few times, and at the end, a miniature banana tree, a miniature apple tree and a blackberry bush would stand in front of them, ripe with fruit, where all the ponies assembled should be able to reach the bounty of the earth. Besides Blitz that were, who were still snoozing at this point.

"I hope this is satisfactory for the time being my friends. I'm afraid that I don't know what your kind generally eats, so if this does not work, then please, inform me of whatever else your kind may eat."

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@Foxy Socks @Twilight-Shimmer @Widdershins

Agni were a proud little bird. Aggressive when she had to be, overly protective of her pony and the things she caught for him as well, and her instinct at first told her to warn this pony away, rather than allow her to touch her feathers.

Then she glanced briefly over at Anomaly. The strange creature that had tried to mess around with her pony before, and who kept talking back to her like she were better than her. Might be that it was strange to meet somepony who could understand her, but that didn't mean that she liked Anomaly, and right now, a situation presented itself where she realized that she could take a stab at the draconequus.

So Agni lowered her wings, and hopped a little closer to Foxy, at which point she would reach out and touch the pony's incomming hoof with her head, and coo under the feeling of her hoof on her feathery head.

As could be expected, the phoenix would be warm to the touch, but not scalding or anything. More like a warm blanket that had the potential of setting fire to everything. So an electric blanket might be the closest.

And as she had expected, Anomaly's avatar started to get all puffy in the face and look at the bird with narrowed eyes and grumbling on her muzzle. The draconequui seemed just as jealous about Foxy now also being allowed to touch the phoenix as the little devious creature had expected.

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@WiiGuy2014

Alonsus let out a deep laughter at the adventure that Will told him and patted him on the back.

"Your stories are really something Will, that I must give you."

He didn't specify if it was good or bad, but that was because he frankly couldn't tell. He knew not of the tale that Will mentioned, so what he could base it on were the setup he were given, and it sounded so wonderfully bizarre that he simply couldn't stop laughing at it. Hopefully the princess were not on the other side of the door, ready to open up and ask who were making noise. It was somewhat early in the day after all, and with the workers in town going at it through the night too, the town hadn't exactly been quiet yet, which might have impacted the princess' sleep.

Then again, this place seemed to have thick walls, so perhaps it was simply better to wait and see who'd come around to answer, and in what mood. Might be a guard too, though hard to say for Alonsus, as he had only been near the castle once to deliver something from work, but never inside, nor even at the door as it were open. He just gave it to a guard who went on with things.

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@Midnight_Aurora

Belladonna haves a raised eyebrow through most of what Cosmic says, but she doesn't outright look on him like she thinks he's lying, Rather, she analyses his tone of voice as he speaks, looks for nervous ticks or any of the subtle signs that a being is making something up on the spot, or outright lying.

"...I see. So essentially, it is a world mainly deprived of magic, where evolution favored primates rather than equines, and you are reliant on technology to an extended state? I can't imagine your environment takes kindly to that, considering what I have seen lesser things here in Equestria produce when not regulated properly.

There were no signs that you were lying, yet considering the topic, I will disclose that I reserve the right to think that you may simply believe in this tale enough to think it true, but that you are also slightly unhinged. Until I am provided with more evidence to the contrary however, I will tentatively believe you, and then see how things goes as we move along with this errand. If you are from another world, I should be able to observe abnormalities that goes against the regular life forms in Equestria sooner or later."

There were plenty of things that Belladonna believed in, but a traveler from another world, that were one of the fabled humans that were little more than myth here? It seemed like it could simply be a lie, but several things seemed odd about Cosmic to a point where she could not dismiss that he were certainly unusual. As such, she would play it safe and honestly, and go with her attempting to believe him, but needing to collect more data before she could say definitively that she trusted in this.

"I believe the presence of some degree of caution regarding your story is not too much of an issue, no? I prefer to reserve some degree of skepticism just in case things seem to not be as they appear."

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@dosey doe

Sorrow liked the hugs from some of the other participants. What a nice town she had stumbled over.

Once it was done, she giggled a little behind her hoof and looked back at Dosey.

"This was tons of fun! Perhaps I'll fly by Ponyville again next week then, and see if I can get everything right that time. Though I feel like it's been getting better already. You're really good at th- Huh?"

Sorrow looked down at the skull around her neck just as a pair of flickering, wispy orbs flared up in the eye sockets.

"Don't worry about them Dosey, they're harmless. Just enough that got curious to turn them visible, though it sounds like some of them watched the dancing at least. They say you're a good teacher too, but that you shouldn't have tried to improve my disco since I apparently wander around like a broken- Hey! You little rascals."

She poked the skull on the noggin a bit, either not caring or not knowing how bizarre this might look like for Dosey, before rolling her eyes and return her focus on her former dance teacher.

"Sorry about that. They can sometimes be in a real playful mood and joke around with things. Wanna go get muffins? My treat."

=============================================================================

Smokey got a slight red tint on his cheek before clearing his throat and facing the draconequus with a spark of embarrassment in his eyes.

"With the greatest of respects, I think it highly inappropriate for me to disturb her right now. She is sleeping, and she certainly doesn't need to wake up to see that I have pushed my company upon her when she were resting. There have to be some limits to things, even if I li-"

Shutting up like a clam before he finished that sentence, he instead went to a tent next to where Phoenix were sleeping, still with a blush and some sudden unwelcome thoughts going through his head. Foolish colt he were sometimes...

Before entering though, he started to bite note into something that Widdershins had said before, at the end of his sentence that didn't make much sense to him at first, but after thinking about it for a little, started to ring a few alarm clocks in his head.

"Wait, what did you mean when you said you already had done something? Do you mean towards her?"

================================================================================

Spicy grinned at the dragon as he went through his antics, and even let an audible laugh out when he started to go sarcastically at how she had called him a troll from a fairy tale.

"Hah! Good response there mate. At least your brain isn't off the cheap shelf like the dragons that usually have a stab at me.

As to what you're spouting out, lemme baseline it for you a bit: I don't have a reason to run from you, because frankly, I run into far more vicious creatures than you in my line of work. And frankly I don't mind the break from knuckleheads that tries to punch first and hope it solves everything. More fun for me to have a talk and sort things out without having to go on the offensive."

She had a seat next to her cart, took out a deck of cards from one of her pockets, and started to shuffle them as she spoke with the dragon like it wasn't a problem.

"So, what's the deal with the bridge? Running some sort of passage fee there I take it? Kudos to you if you do. You'd be amazed at the amount of suckers out there who wouldn't have the brain to figure out another way, even when there's a larger town not too far away that'd have a train service or something else. I mean come on, they could even take the other road here like I did. Which reminds me, have you considered having a slide ruin this road for a time so you can force a bit more fools towards the bridge?"

It seemed like Spicy didn't have any sort of trouble with shady business practices, and actually looked kind of impressed, though honestly, she did think that he could have thought this through a bit more. You really should block off other roads when trying to force ponies towards a location.

================================================================================

Astral nearly dropped Astral in surprise as Warlock divulged a rather key piece of information about the mare in her talon.

"You're her daughter?"

Much as she hated to admit it, Athriel got a fleeting sense of guilt as she heard this bit of information. Something about doing what she had planned to her own niece seemed wrong, even for her. Yet the emotion were fleeting, and instead she rose Astral up in triumph whilst Warlock kept chastising her.

"Well then, you're going to help your Aunt Athriel to break your mother then, dear filly. And it better be something we get done soon, otherwise, who knows how many innocent beings you might end up killing the next time you send a wave like that away? Next time it could be a city. And if you're going to cause mass-scale destruction like that, at least you should know that sort of evil runs in your blood."

Getting over towards where Warlock had pinned down Chow, who seemed to try and wrestle against his bonds to no avail whatsoever, Athriel let Astral out of her grip and placed herself next to the mare, cooing in her er whilst a talon went lovingly through her mane.

"The Sapphire I knew, would be proud of your destructive nature."

"Get yer filthy mitts off her you overgrown chicken."

Athriel send a glance to Chow that carried some rather cruel ideas with them, but he didn't flinch at it. He just starred back at her defiantly. Amusing in a way, yet ultimately pointless. So instead she just went over towards Warlock, whilst picking up a piece of jagged wood that wasn't on fire anymore on the way. There was still plenty around them, but they were less strong than earlier. Warlock could likely blow the rest away easily.

"Let's make it simple Astral. You try to escape, and I make Chow here into a rug. Until my *dear* sister has a chance to get back and come straight with you, that's the terms you have to live with. Though you can go ahead and prove you're just like her too, and let an innocent pony die because of your selfish needs. Just like your mother would."

She went closer and placed herself next to the trapped stallion, *weapon* raised and prepared to get to work in case she tried something. Quite honestly she had no problem using this, nor using Chow's hide for some years to come, and just to make sure that he wouldn't go and play a hero, she stomped on his face with her paw, blocking his yapping little muzzle from uttering more defiance for the time being.

"You know, I never understood what she saw in him. Honestly, she had so much power, and she could perhaps have even taken over the country for good, and then she tossed it away for somepony like that? Such a waste of both talent and powerful genes, when she could have chosen a far more fitting creature to fall for."

A short glance went towards Warlock, whom she were starting to find a bit more enhancing as time went on. He were a cruel, sadistic being with high wants who shot towards being on top, rather than a servant of some lazy princess on a pillow, and his reformed self were downright delicious to look at, now that she had the time to appreciate it a little more. Perhaps she would reconsider her stance soon about all ponies being too weak and simpleminded to waste your life around, if it kept on like this.

"Oh well, she made her choice, and soon she is going to make another. Warlock, can you extinguish the fire and drain this little mongrel perhaps? I'll go over what we'll need to return Sapphire for this lovely little family reunion after that."

====================================================================================

"Look, I don't know what the lot of you are fussing about, but if you got a location, you show me the way and get me as close as you can. I'll go after the lot of them and try to extract who they got captured. This fancy lil' necklace here is supposed to eat magic, right? Well, then I can't see the issue. Even if I can't drain residual magic from him, it will take care of spells being thrown, and I can beat them physically, correct?"

"It should, but it is hard to say. The amulet and the crown were made to one day be as strong as the elements, and it have thus far not lost according to history, but Greed sounds like a tricky thing. Who knows what might happen if these two forces really meet?"

Golden raised a hoof to his head and closed his eyes, trying to think on what were the sane option to go with here whilst somepony knocked on the door, then entered with Dew's armor in his grasp.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but when I got to the archives things had already passed, and then another said he had to get these things to Dew, so I took them from him and brought them here. I was sort of hoping to understand what were going on, and why they were still calling him general. Nothing happened to Iron Wing, right?"

"No, they're safe for the time being. Help me with my armor Benny, and stay put. I'm going to need you after this."

The dragon - who were decked in his own armor that covered mostly his face, legs, arms and other exposed areas where his scales were less hardened - raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask more as he started to help Dew back into his gear.

"Okay, we will-"

"You will do as they suggested Ambassador. Search out potential wearers, the elements themselves, and try to prepare some kind of trap if you find anything whilst thew generals goes and communicate with Tidal Wave about this. Send scrolls around, stay with Iron Star to get exact updates about what they're speaking about, and send Benny and me as close to their location as you can."

"W-Wait, what?"

"We're going to need to get the hostages away from them, and try to strike a blow before they have time to prepare. If they're incapacitated, you're strong enough to carry the both of them in your arms, and not being able to use magic doesn't concern you as you don't have any. Just your fire, and that's biological from what you've told me."

He put his helmet on after the rest of his gear were placed back properly on his body and wandered over to Iron, looking him straight in the eyes with a look that spoke clearly about him not wanting to waste time, since they didn't have the luxury to wait, according to what he had said in regards to Warlock getting stronger every minute.

"Give me the location. Now."

Golden were somewhat shocked that the general interrupted him like that, but thinking over it, it wasn't a surprise. The ambassador were unfamiliar with acting in times of war, whereas Dew certainly wasn't, and in the current situation they did best in having the experienced ones lead them along.

Which seemed to be something that Screecher agreed on, as she simply nodded and turned her focus on Iron Wing, in case he had something to interject about things.

===============================================================================

@Dji

"All that matters is that it feels like home. And you do seem to have made well with the space you have Dawn."

Pop looked around her, at the walls and decor a little, but mostly at the pictures and what she assumed must be Dawn's family. She couldn't tell which one might be her mother, though a good deal seemed too young to be it, so more likely siblings, or at least friends.

What had happened with all of these ponies in her life though? She seemed so lonely now, and yet here were proof that she had at least at some point, had more with her. Did it perhaps have something to do with what happened with her mother? She were afraid to ask, but it didn't seem like she needed to either. Odds were good that the experience had shattered something in her life, and the pieces had trickled away.

Clarification would be good on this, but there were things one shouldn't step into too soon. No need to pour salt into open wounds.

"Dawn? Does it make you uncomfortable that I'm here? With what went on before, I would understand if you would prefer that I went home for now, so you had the time to think over things."

===========================================================================

@Contrast

Molotov averted his eyes for a bit as he recalled what he had seen at his home when he had returned and found that nopony was left there, but he didn't stay this way. He had things to do that didn't include being depressed over not knowing what had gone on with his town, and this mare deserved some answers, not him bawling like a colt. Besides, he had cried his tears already. He could get through this without breaking down.

"Happened about a month ago. I came home from a check outside of town to find that the whole place had been abandoned. There were signs the others had tried to fight back, but not against who or what, and there were no clues about thir whereabouts.

According to our rules, if calamity strikes, we have to save as many papers as we can and send them to the ponies around the world we think will honor science best by having them. With it just being me, it took a while, but I'm finally getting around and delivering papers like these.

Usually it's just high ranking scientists in the field that gets these things, but uncle Napalm were adamant about you in his papers. Seemed like he respected the work you had done, and could see a lot of promise in your work. Seeing your little parasprite there, I can see where he's coming from. Robotics is still a drastically underappreciated field."

He took down a hoof and ruffled through Blitz's mane a little, making her giggle.

"Until yesterday, I were actually sure that everypony in town were dead, but Blitz here managed to get away, and there were no blood in town after the attack, so I dunno. I'm starting to get a little hopeful about perhaps finding others again. Hopefully Uncle Napalm will be one of them, though I hope he's in a better state than Blitz here is. She lost pretty much all of her memories beyond basic schooling ones. Didn't even know I was her brother before I showed her a photo.

Still, trying to keep my hopes up. Even if they're all a bit empty in the head, it'd still be them back, so trying to keep my chin up for the crew and then trust the officials in looking thoroughly for them."

It got a little quiet for a moment before he let out a sigh, got a smile back on his face, and went forth to examine the titanium rod a little.

"So, class B titanium rod, huh? Better than what Carmen usually haves in her chassis, but hopefully she doesn't let this get to her head. I already had to upgrade her whole frame six times because I added one part and she got annoyingly pestering about wanting to be fully upgraded, instead of just having a part. I swear, artificial intelligence can act like bratty foals sometimes.

Do you have trouble with your own? Or is that one running on more standardized programming, rather than a self-learning AI?"

Meanwhile, Blitz were getting closer to Uno with a big grin of her own as she looked at the beeping little creation.

"You're real pretty and shiny. Pretty lifelike too."

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@Lil' Lovebug

Vivid didn't answer, but instead looked out of the window and at the moon above them.

"Yes, there is somewhere I need to be for a time. I can explain better when I return."

Bubble were about to go and unlock the door, both for Vivid and the ponies in general since it seemed safer outside at this point, but she didn't have the chance as Vivid stepped back, and dissipated into purple smoke that quickly vanished into thin air, which made the mare raise an eyebrow and drop her jaw a little.

"Okay, i have seen a lot of things in this town, but that one was new. Anyway, you mentioned wanting to see your room? Shall I escort you there right away miss?"

The innkeeper figured this was one of those situations where smiling and nodding along were going to help her the best, so she didn't try to ask too much into this. Vivid had been weird enough for her to have a stack of questions from her look alone, and with everything she had done, that pile would end up tipping over and crushing her if she kept at it. Better to just try and put that sort of thing behind her and hope that things wouldn't end up badly around here.

=======================================================================================

Some way from them, up at the tents, a bunch of purple clouds would pop out from out of nowhere, and soon after, Vivid would stand near the odd pair of Smokey and Widdershins, where her focus were mainly on the later, though the first one seemed mostly shocked with her sudden appearance and general look.

"Oh great, more draconequui. Look, whatever you two are doing are none of my business. My contract concerns the evergrown, so leave us be, and you two can keep on with whatever you're doing."

With that being said, she turned and went towards the tent that she felt Briar were in. Not a usual skill of hers to track this way unless the target were dead, but the bandages around his face were of her magic, so she could track her own source right now, to a reasonable extend. If she had been out of town when she started to check around, she wouldn't have been able to feel this out for example.

Edited June 24, 2017 by Blitz Boom
reasons.

Moonlit · June 24, 2017

@Blitz Boom @Seamore Sandwich Serenade shrugs, "I'd say 7 years, ever since I moved to Canterlot. All of her letters would have, SOMEWHERE. when are you gonna find your special somepony and settle down. Um...yeah, Canterlot isn't exactly where I'd send even my mortal enemies to find their special somepony." She rolls her eyes, "And while I must admit Ponyville has some....hunky looking Stallions" She licks her lips, and flutters her wings, "The singular problem is...Siren. My dating pool is shallower then the fountain outside town hall." She stops for a second, "That being said....if I ever had pups, I'd SOO foster them on you" She grins, "Your used to small bitey lifeforms"

EQ_Theta · June 25, 2017

"Sorry mother," Sen replied as he shamefully bowed his head. "We were so worried something happened to Omen after using this orb that we accidentally left her behind. Lin is bringing her back here."

Sen and Lin looked to each other and in their haste forgot Omen back at the castle ruins. The former gave an intimidating glare at the latter and she immediately opened a gate right next to Omen before walking through.

"I'm so sorry, Omen," Lin said to her friend upon reaching the other side and promptly propped her up and slung one of Omen's legs over her neck. She extended one leg for the drake to climb on to her before making her way back. "You can get angry with me later."

Meanwhile, Ghilan covered his ears when the sounds of voices pounding on his eardrums grew louder until they ceased. One more voice, an imposing one asked of him. He hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath and replying:

"I'm Ghilan, village elder, successor to Solasan whom I have no love for. I assisted Sen, Lin, and Omen's investigation on my predecessor and discovered that the original Solasan passed away long ago. The one you see here is a construct of magic he created meant to continue his work but has strayed from his original intentions. Without Omen's help, he would've succeeded."

Just as the new elder finished, a gate opened next to Sen with Lin carrying Omen, slowly walking through before closing the gate behind her, setting Omen down and sitting next to her. She turned to mother to relay some relevant information, at least what the siblings were able to gather. "Omen's memory is hazy after using the focal orb's magic to undo Legion's spell. Whatever happened must've drained more than just her strength."

Edited June 25, 2017 by EQ_Theta

Widdershins · June 25, 2017

@~Phoenix~

Okey-Doki-Loki-Hokey-Pokey!

The mismatched & out-of-place Dream Stallion cheerfully agrees with Phoenix, his head bobbling to each syllable.

...immediately after doing that, in an action seemingly against his control, his head snaps straight back to point upwards with a sickening sound like every joint in a body popping all at the same time. His alabaster-white "chin" (If indeed, ponies have chins.) faces Phoenix squarely, blocking her view of his usually bright face and the glistering dream realm they had been in begins to darken to a smokelike dark void.

The dream unicorn's mouth starts to slowly, forcibly open as if pushed open from the inside, like a mousetrap being desperately pried back by the death throws of the vermin it caught. Small, dark gobs can be seen bulging outside the profile of the unicorn's mouth, not black, but a light violet color if examined more closely. Most would reasonably prefer not to.

These small dark shapes become longer as the mouth is forced open, far wider than most ought be capable of. They extend into loops becoming more recognizable as thick, ropy tentacles of wildly varying sizes & types, each longer than the neck & head they spring from with most bent toward to the edges of the jaws. As the mouth opens further to give more room to the mass forming out, more tentacles are free to flop outward like stuffing from a toy animal or an old ball of yarn. As the mouth splits open into a full, flat, hundred and eighty degrees these "tongues" keep pouring out into a bundled mass forming a veritable bouquet of variety. Each tendril seems to have some quality to set it apart from what squirms next to it: some are pure white with only a thin slime of violet over them as if dipped momentarily in some sort of magic, others are so dark as to not have a discernible border to them and each have a separate end to them like some sort of demented, but handy, utility knife. Some end in claws, stingers, pinchers or drills, others just have absurdly placed shapes like cubes, swirls or decorative spirals. Still others are flat like any regular tongue or pointed like an insect proboscis and a seemingly endless supply of other tounge-"like" variety.

Through this darkening of the area around her & the ever-growing, wriggling mass not more than two feet in front of her with a few tentacles getting close enough to playfully bat at her muzzle while a few dark others rear back like a sinister, venomous snake... the same voice as before, every bit as chipper & giddy as a schoolboy showing off his bug collection, rings out unimpeded:

Oh! And careful with the black ones! They Do NOT play nice!

Sekel · June 25, 2017

2 hours ago, Blitz Boom said:

"All that matters is that it feels like home. And you do seem to have made well with the space you have Dawn."

Pop looked around her, at the walls and decor a little, but mostly at the pictures and what she assumed must be Dawn's family. She couldn't tell which one might be her mother, though a good deal seemed too young to be it, so more likely siblings, or at least friends.

What had happened with all of these ponies in her life though? She seemed so lonely now, and yet here were proof that she had at least at some point, had more with her. Did it perhaps have something to do with what happened with her mother? She were afraid to ask, but it didn't seem like she needed to either. Odds were good that the experience had shattered something in her life, and the pieces had trickled away.

Clarification would be good on this, but there were things one shouldn't step into too soon. No need to pour salt into open wounds.

"Dawn? Does it make you uncomfortable that I'm here? With what went on before, I would understand if you would prefer that I went home for now, so you had the time to think over things."