open Casual stroll

[Sekel 693]

@Blitz Boom & @Widdershins

DAWN AND AURORA

“Kaltrops?” Dawn asked hesitantly, still unsure if what to feel in her current situation other than shock piled on top of shock. She managed to blink her eyes a few times but that was it, really.

“If those two start fighting again, I ... no,” Aurora shook her head, unable to stand violence if it got too out of hoof. “Spicy, I will be near that river if you want me,” she pointed to the river flowing around a cottage in the distance and trotted over to it as quickly as she could.

@Blitz Boom & @Moonlit & @Seamore Sandwich

TWILIGHT SPARKLE

While Twilight does believe in forgiveness where it counts, and three bad eggs doesn’t necessarily count for their species as a whole, but seeming how terrible the Sirens she’s met were, Twilight is having a hard time believing this particular Siren. She stepped out from behind Last Stand and went to approach the fish, stopping at the bank opposite. She couldn’t help her question from being asked. It just sort of, slipped out. “Are you taking the Pegasus to the hospital because of guilt or because you truly, genuinely want to help?”

Edited November 25, 2017 by Dji

[Moonlit 593]

@Blitz Boom @Seamore Sandwich @Dji Serenade's eyes narrow, "♪Any answer to that question Princess can be taken the wrong way. If I say guilt, you would assume I hurt her. If I say I want to genuinely help her, then why would I want to help.♪" She points at Last with a forehoof, "♪That guard there wants to attack me based on me being a Siren. So to answer your question Princess. She is hurt, Ponies can help her, I cannot. Do you require a Pinkie Promise for me to continue?♪"

Edited November 25, 2017 by Moonlit

[Victoria Sponge 1,017]

@Blitz Boom

"50. For using up my time."

Battenberg frowned at her sister.

"25, ignore her she doesn't seem to appreciate your kindness. In fact I'll give you the lot for 15 just for being so kind and offering to help Victoria, and I'm sure she does actually appreciate it, this is just her way of hiding her emotional struggles."

Red trotted over to Victoria with a stern look on her face and gave her a gentle hoof to the nose.

"Ow! Hey! You are making a mess of my beautiful face!"

"Victoria, I suggest you apologise and then go and get some rest, maybe you can get up on the right side of the bed when you're done."

"I make sure I get the perfect amount of sleep, good sleep is the key to true beauty, I have no need for my bed because I already slept."

"Get some sleep and wake up with a better attitude or I may just reconsider letting you spend the weekend with my little Angel."

This seemed to get the message across to the grumpy mare and her ears perked up in surprise, she lifted one hoof and almost looked offended.

"You wouldn't do that! Angel loves me, you would be punishing him just as much as me. You cannot do that to us!"

"Then behave dearest Vicky, or face this consequence."

Victoria frowned and walked over to Pop.

"Sorry..."

Her apology was so much of a mumble that her lips did not visibly open.

"Victoria! If your pride won't even let the word sorry out of your mouth then you better apologise in a way that actually counts."

"And what exactly do you propose that I do?"

"Walk with our customers and make sure they get to their destination safely, it's the least you can do and maybe on the walk you'll have time to get the word sorry to them properly."

Victoria's ears went back and she frowned at the couple, especially at Pop.

"I..."

"I'm not going to let you walk over me again Victoria, my submissive nature is probably the reason your stubbornness has gotten to this stage. You're going, no excuses."

Victoria wasn't used to Battenberg being stern with her and so was stunned into silence, unable to speak any more, she slouched reluctantly over to the door, tail between her legs and waited for Pop and Benny to be done.

 

[EQ_Theta 459]

@Blitz Boom @Storm Shine

"...Because your rash thinking could've affected the parasitic crystals, maybe making Omen's unresponsive state permanent!"

"You don't know that! I did it because it could turn out worse if we did nothing!"

"Did nothing?! I'm the one going in there because your innate healing factor could be a potential hazard! You nearly trapped me in there!"

The argument between the two became more heated with both sides already at the point of shouting back and forth with each other. It seemed like the two would go on forever aside from the occasional volume toning down until both could only stand there and look to each other with contempt. Whether or not this is justified is not up for debate with either side convinced the other is taking their anger out of proportion. Just as they were about to continue with round 2, they both noticed movement out of the corner of their eyes. A familiar sight that seemed to cool their tempers by a large degree, almost making them forget about their feud. 

Both brother and sister took a step back with a look of surprise on their faces before slowly approaching Omen. Then halfway through, Sen started walking faster until he stopped just short of Omen, still looking like he was examining her just in case the shock might still set in. 

"Omen," Sen quietly said, hesitating to bombard her with more questions. "Are you alright? How are you feeling?" 

[BloodDrops 762]

On 24/11/2017 at 7:56 PM, Blitz Boom said:

Nonononono, not in a million years, no.

That was the thoughts going through Slappy's head as he backed down from her approach and scrambled to keep on his hooves.

"I-I-I will get you a snack, r-right away. There's still s-some fish and... I-I saw different f-fruit earlier. I will be b-back in a few minutes. i s-swear."

With that stammering excuse, he ran off towards Ponyville as quickly as he could, feeling almost as pale as he had when he thought that the sickly mare had killed the shop keeper. Quite the sight for the citizens, but nothing they would remark about to his face so far, as he sped past them, went over to the food stand and bumped into a mare in his haste of grabbing two apples and a banana.

He didn't think of apologizing as he sped off again, back towards Blood before she would follow him into town again. This place was packed about now, and if she went in here, she might end up eating somepony. That was a horrible thought, though a second one about her cannibalistic lips touching him started to come in as a close second. Brrr, just the thought alone made him shiver down to his bones.

Blood Drops blinked at him and frowned as he sped off towards town. She flicked her tail and frowned, why did every pony she tried hitting of either run away or try to beat her with some sort of sharp object. She tilted her head and frowned trying to think of a reason for it, she saw a nearby puddle and trotted over to it before glancing into it, she frowned. She thought she looked rather pretty but maybe that was the problem. Every pony she met was afraid of her, she needed to remove that fear somehow then she could have a chance of bonding with others. 

She frowned and sat down nibbling on a fish thoughtfully. She hadn't been able to come to a solution, she couldn't turn back to a normal pony. That had been tried and had failed. So she was left with one option, she had to turn every pony into her. Then there would be no sort of prejudiced against her. She got up and walked away from the puddle she had seen enough. 

She blinked and raised her ear hearing Slappy's approach, she smiled back at him as he appeared. He was a very good servant. He had brought her new fruit. She blinked at him, she would tell him about her revelation, and the root of it. She could see the fear in his eyes, it wasn't out of loyalty that he was her servant it was out of sheer fear. "I've been thinking Slappy, You don't like me, you fear me. This negative emotion, is not healthy" I add walking towards him. "You see me and you think Monster, but that's simply not the case, your bias, your fear, your.... discrimination against myself is a lie" I growl at him showing my teeth and getting within striking distance.

"You see, most of pony kinds problems.  Rage. Hate. Misery. Envy.  Self-deprecation. Fear. A cacophony of countless selfish wants. As that noise swells, it turns into crime, warfare... All the world’s ills can be traced to individuality. I've wondered long what the problem was with me, but I've found it, it was never me. It was always you, your kind causing the problem." I growl before jumping at Slappy.

I quickly pin him to the ground and bite him injecting some of my virus into him. He wouldn't die, nor would he turn feral. He would simply look like a zombie, that was the right path. Every pony looking the same, removing the selfish wants from every pony. Blood left the twitching Slappy, he would still retain his sentience, Blood didn't need mindless servants. This was her path, the path of now and forever.

I turn my attention to the town below, they would be the next victim of her new doctrine.

[Blitz Boom 4,627]

@genessee

"A little push won't kill me unless it hits the third spinal cord and interferes with the tracker, everypony knows that. And yeah, the mayor set this up with the princesses to make sure the workers helping town was being fed, even though their homes were ruined. I had a shift and a half yesterday, but I was replaced this morning when the Couriers got to town. The forepony thought it was better to let the ones who knew one another work together, and give the locals some time to rest. But who haves time for that, right? That's what coffee is for!"

Berry yawned before going back to her snack. She should probably get some coffee again soon to keep awake. The day wasn't over yet, so she couldn't just slump down and have a rest. Who knew what might happen to her then?

"I thought you knew that. Alonsus said, and I quote, *I Alonsus, ensured that our esteemed coworker have been told what is going on. Surely, nopony could have done so more efficiently*"

She exaggerated some, but she got the boastful tone and grin down to a tee when she had risen her hoof to her chest, just as she were reciting him. She didn't mind him, he was fine enough, but Alonsus was still fun to impersonate like this. Especially if he saw it, as he were sure that it wasn't so bad, even when she underplayed it.

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@Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich @Dji

As Twilight moved, Last did what she could to stay in front of her, and between the royal and the massive Siren , which frankly were larger than she had expected. She had been against larger beasts before, but... Dang.

"I will do whatever it takes to protect the throne, Siren."

A nagging thought came about when she tried to think over why this creature hadn't attacked yet, but she couldn't let doubt enter her mind right now. She had to remain steadfast, and be ready to protect Twilight, otherwise, what would the point of everything be? A life worth of training and fighting, honoring the throne of night, and then what, have her forsake the royals, just because it wasn't Luna? How little was she worth if she would abandon any crown except for hers?

Her duty was done, but Last still desperately tried to cling to it. Defending the town where she been in when it was attacked because the Mane Six were there, and they had helped Luna, volunteering to rebuild the town because the princess of dreams looked for somepony, and now, protecting Twilight, once more because she had an accusation to her majesty.

She didn't know anything else than to follow Luna's will, and it terrified her to not have that anymore. But she couldn't live the idle life of the guards, which left her to either try and remember what were, or to move on, and she didn't know how to take the next step. Was she going to be a mercenary? Try and convince the princesses to let her be in charge of rebuilding the old Castle of the Two Sisters, as a memento to the past? What after that then?

Every time she had thought on this, she had forced the thought away, and excused her with having to think on the here and now, and not on what would come further along, but the truth were that she were clinging to threads, and it wouldn't last. She would be lost, and the thought alone had made her despair in silence a few times already.

At least she didn't have to think about that now. She had something worth doing now, even though as she looked, she noticed two things that made her clench harder down on her sword.

"...Zinger. Doctor in Ponyville. What do you want to me to do, your highness?"

She remembered the weird pegasus hybrid now that she looked. Ziggy had been one of those who helped her get fixed up and kept her alive after the episode yesterday. She owed the doctor a good deal for that, regardless of how much the Zegasus had just brushed it off and said that she would do the same for anypony.

The second thing she noticed as she stood nearly immobile, was that there was a pale aura around the white-flamey blade of her weapon, tugging in it to try and get it out of her grip. She wasn't sure if Siren's had this kind of magic, but she wasn't going to let go of her weapon that easily, and whoever was doing this, seemed to be loosing without much of a fight.

The air flickered close to Serenade, though nothing more went on. She should know well what went on though, and realize that it was Cherish who were trying to get the blade from the earth pony. Apparently, flickering out of sight didn't mean that she had left them, which might work in her favor as a surprise, in case the princess made a bad decision and Serenade needed an extra hoof to help her.

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@Battenberg

Benny opened his mouth to say something whilst the discussion went on, but Pop just put her hoof on it and locked eyes with him, slowly shaking her head. This wasn't something they should get involved in.

The dragon nodded. He had gone at it a little too much recently as it seemed, and perhaps it was time to leave the family feud without getting burned more for now. They wanted to leave here in great standing after all, not as a bunch of nosy, annoying ones who stuck their noses in where they didn't belong. Might be they wouldn't be welcome to return then, and it smelled too good in here to never return.

So, he pulled out the wallet and started to count up the fifteen bits that were asked for, and placed them on the counter in silence, just as the threat against Victoria not being allowed to have Angel around came up. It was a little funny to see how such a little thing could get to her, but then again, it was clear that she adored the little rascal, so who could really blame her? It also provided an effective thing to hold over her head in bad situations, though it did surprise both Benny and Pop when she were send to wander the odd couple to their destination.

Perhaps they should have said that wasn't necessary, but it seemed mostly to be for Victoria's sake, and the mare needed all the help she could get frankly, so they gave eachother another knowing look before nodding and not saying something.

"Well, it have been a pleasure to meet you Battenberg, and thank you again for the cakes. I know the chili one was out of your normal assortment, and I'm happy that you were still able to meet it. And Red, Royal and Angel, it have been nice to meet you as well. You really do have a lovely family and a marriage worth envying."

"I agree, it's been an experience I wouldn't have avoided. And not only because it smells absolutely heavenly in here."

Benny gave Royal a knowing wink and a smirk. It would be interesting when the dragon needed to be fitted, and go that step closer to the big day he had planned for years now.

"We should get going so Victoria can return before too long. Red, Royal, Battenberg, and Angel, it's been an honor."

The dragon saluted to them all in order, ending with Angel, where he gave an overly dramatic one for effect. A little silly, but sometimes you just had to do something, without thinking about how silly you might look doing it. You wouldn't get anywhere if that was the only thing you were concerned about, as far as he were concerned.

"Now then, shall we ma'am?"

He looked at Victoria as he said that, whilst Pop picked up the cakes and placed them gently in Benny's saddlebags. Wouldn't want them crushed after all of this.

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@The Resident Brony

"..."

Vivid didn't answer as the past was brought up, but just kept walking instead. All of the death between them, were just like the Bishop: Not something one should dwell on, and she wanted to move along. As much because the subject was getting to her, as the tearful alicorn.

She had caused a lot of ponies to be hurt, and tears had at one point made her laugh, and with everything meddled up now, she were recalling some of these episodes. Episodes of her life that she were not proud off, and that she would spend the rest of eternity atoning for.

"...We should keep moving. We're soon there."

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@Lloyd

"That's the spirit. Better to live to fight another day, right? But still, we should be prepped to see if we can't do something against the two before they pop into town and make a mess again. I'm tired of being useless against those two, when I know I have to do something. Especially since Athriel is my fault,"

He grimaced as he went over this once more. How the cruel, sadistic blood monster would have been trapped in a bauble away from prying eyes if he hadn't gone stupid and tried to use her. And where had that ended him? He hurt his friends and parents, got exiled, and now were responsible for her being free to help Warlock create havoc. He had done a lot of bad that had led up to this, and he should- No, he had to make this right. If not with Griffinstone, then at least with his part in all of this, and he needed to be able to fight in their league to have a chance.

They shouldn't be far from the home of Astral and Misty now, though if Astral was serious about wanting to slow down, it would add a few more minutes to the trip, and who knew how long they had?

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@Lloyd

Warlock would get the taste of something. An old spell, imprinted into the entire temple, though unless he knew anything about ancient binding spells, it wouldn't do much.

Not that it mattered anyway . When he started to feast on it, it would unravel, and unless he gulped up the hefty amount of magic being released from this over the next few minutes, it would simply go to waste. Considering the cackling laughter that came from somewhere within, he were likely going to need everything he could get his grubby hooves on.

Athriel had just finished cutting enough away to leave them with an entrance when this happened, and she turned to Warlock with irritation in her voice.

"What did you just do?"

A slight amount of worry could also be found in her eyes, but was it any wonder? She knew of a few of the defense systems set up by the Pillar members, and this one had some vague warnings that made it seem even worse, and now Warlock had done something that pleased it. Released it by chance? The thought alone made her tense up, and start to wonder if this was going to end up being a good idea after all.

But she had no time to think about it before something else happened. The door in front of the entrance slid to the side, revealing the hallway leading further in, as torches lit on the wall. Dim lights, but it would be enough to lead them some way towards the center, where the element likely were. Along with the guardian that had kept watch over it for all of this time.

It was too late to turn back now. The path was open, and if they wanted the element, they had to chance it.

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@Lloyd

Zhu didn't even rise his head as the jailor lead him into the cell. He just silently listened in, and accepted his current, brief accommodations.

It had been changed since last he were here. The area were warded against magic, which left his wind too weak to do much else than be a nuisance after all. He had other methods, as he hadn't been searched, but he had a usage for those objects, and wouldn't use them unless absolutely necessary.

As for just magic in general... Zhu was no unicorn. What magic he had beyond the wind, were something he had to learn slowly throughout the years, and it required chanting, forming the magic, and generally speaking, drawing a little magic out of either objects on him, or the world around him. Which with the magic blocking aura in here, would not be possible unless he again, drained directly from one of the objects in his robes. It might be a strong blockage, but it were sufficiently to deal with minor things, and interfere with the old school spell casting that he were able to do.

But it mattered little. Sooner or later, he would be free. There was a usage for him here and there, and for that to happen, they would need him on the other side of the bars.

So, having little better to do, he pulled the hood from his robes, revealing the serpentine, tiger-striped head with the glowing, golden eyes.

"I wonder if you can remain the pillar for him to rely on, rather than the ground crumbling underneath his hooves? I would aim for the first, but his faith in more in your hooves than mine. You are the instrument that either creates, or destroys him."

Zhu moved forward, and stuck his flexible, serpentine head out between the bars, and glanced towards the helmet-clad pony.

"The look you sent me makes me think you remember me. is that so, little one?"

It had been what, ten, twenty years or so since he had seen this one? With everything he had to keep track off before the Forgotten One had entered Ponyville, he had to ignore quite a bit of things after they were done so he could focus on that, but he recalled some of his meeting with this one. A bypasser that had taken notice of him, one of the times when he had been forced to interfere more directly.

The details were slow in coming back, but he recalled another one near this jailer, when he was younger. Somepony that had taken most of the townponies where he came from as prisoners, before Zhu had arrived and cast a spell on him that destroyed the pony's mind. It ended the ritual the pony had prepared, but it also left him a blank state for years, before somepony got through to him. As far as Zhu recalled, the pony was a better being because of that now, but it had been a while since he had checked in to make sure. The last he could recall, were simply that the pony was no longer important in the grand scheme of things.

"No light travels without darkness. Leave before the scale tips, and the trees feast on fish."

It was a weird sentence now, and it was then, but not o much after he had gone up an hour later and broken the a nearby dam, flooding the entire area. A time in which not everypony had heeded his warning and left, but it was the lesser of two evils, even if it balanced the scales.

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@Lloyd

The elderly mare chuckled a little and pinched the changeling's cheek.

"We can look into that young man. But, we need to get back home now."

Both her and her husband yawned at the same time, feeling rather drained after this episode, but in a good way. Like after a long day of satisfying labor.

"She's right, we should go home and have a rest. I'm glad to see that we were able to help though. After what happened, it's the least we could do."

The two said their goodbye's and left the room with smiles on their muzzles, and the Lieutenant thanking them a few times on the way out. It were greatly appreciated that they were able to show up and help, and that nothing bad had happened n the process. Quite honestly, this seemed to have gone about as good as could have been expected.

"Good can come from working together, and protect one another. It is the attitude we are trying to promote now, and this example will help, once the two of them tells their friends how little damage it actually did, and how well it helped with your injuries. I'm glad to see that everything went smoothly.

Anyway, how are you two feeling? Have you become less critical?"

Her eyes went to the doctor, who kept wandering around the queen and looking at where wounds had been before, testing with a few pokes and rearranging bandages to see what went on. It seemed like the outside were fine, but beneath, only the changelings could tell without him opening them up again, and he would wait a little for that.

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@~Phoenix~

Smokey felt unfulfilled when he was snapped out of his thoughts by the words of the real Phoenix. He had just reached a rather pleasant part of their meal in his little fantasy, and having been pulled back to reality like this, was saddening.

Still, at least here he would have real company rather than a daydream that he wasn't entirely sure why he had. Usually he didn't fall into a fantasy world like this when there were others around. Normally that only happened when he were taking a bath, and his mind just drifted off as he laid there in bliss. A peculiar situation, but he would have to think on that later. Right now, he had to answer some questions it seemed, as well as clean his chin for stew, as it seemed like he had been dipping the lower part of his head a little too low when he had his *episode*.

"Yes, the time you are allowed here. Quite honestly, you can stay here for as long as you like. I enjoy your company quite a lot, and it's not like I don't have the space. Though I must tell you that there will be times where I can't be here myself. Such as tomorrow."

He picked up some paper towels and went to work on his chin, though he should likely use some water and soap later to get it out properly later.

"I were approached earlier by a middleman for somepony who wished to speak with me. I will spare you the boring details, but her benefactor tends to have a use for my expertise. it will likely just be a meeting to start with though, it should not take long."

The boring details was the important part in why he would accept to meet Scarcity of all ponies, but he wouldn't share that part if he could help it. The history between him and the antique store owner were complicated, and wouldn't put him in a good light if shared, no matter how he spun it. Too much grave robbery and black/grey market dealings for that.

"Anyway, I do hope that you will stay here Phoenix, at least for a time. Canterlot haves a lot to offer, and if you will excuse my boastfulness for a moment, so do I."

He grinned at her as he said the last part, and began eating his food, though truthfully, he wanted to boast some more if he could. He had quite a lot of things going for him, and the option to share great experiences and sights both at his estate and out in Canterlot, which would make him quite the eligible ba- Companion. In return he would then gain somepony new to talk with, show around, and have some fun with. It had been so dreadfully long since he had any companions, though he had to step carefully with Phoenix. Poor thing seemed as if she would run away like a scared mouse if he did something reckless, such as say... Make advances.

Not that he meant that he would, but it was just as an example.. Right.

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@Storm Shine @EQ_Theta

Omen listened to what Discord said, but didn't understand some of what he was talking about. What was a Refraction? Was it the drake he meant? He pointed that way, but there were also ponies encased in crystal, which just made her more curious.

Then came whatever he talked about with something called *Changeling Emeralds* and a lot of talk about essence, runes and such... Quite honestly, she wasn't sure about what was going on, though she didn't ask anything. She just kept silent.

Even when Sen and Lin noticed her, and approached her in a way that made her curious as to why the were acting like they did. Had she been gone a while? Had something happened that made time act weird? And why were the little thing she remembered carrying around, suddenly larger? She didn't remember it being that size.

She had a flood of questions, but still, she said nothing, just starred between the three of them quietly. She opened her muzzle and lifted her lower jaw up and down a little, with a weird sound like she were gargling escaping her throat, but nothing else happened, and she didn't manage to get further than that.

Something was wrong with her usually projected voice, and sadly, she had no idea how to speak normally. The raspy sounds were the best she could do, which made even the Refraction's attempt at speaking more impressive.

if they wanted to have a conversation with Omen beyond her just starring with her head tilted, and her eyes full of questions, Discord would need to repair the link. It shouldn't be too hard. Just open up her head and rummage around a little to set things right should do the trick. it wasn't the first time, and it likely wouldn't be the last either.

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@Windchime

Benny followed into the office, careful of not saying anything else around the ponies outside, so he wouldn't make any more of a donkey out of himself than he already had. Which is why he made sure to close the door too before saying something, though he wasn't sure if it was going to be enough.

"Well... I told them about the programs and some of what we're planning to do, but I haven't told them about the hive we actually have with us.

I haven't met them myself, but Queen Honeycomb have made contact and shown great interest in having her hive being the first to try the program, even before Thorax and his drones. After what I've been told, the queen haves a fairly small hive of only a couple of dozen individuals or so, and she have volunteered both herself, and all of them to be publicly part of the program, provided that she were given amnesty after her hive was destroyed.

I could tell you about the things I've been told about their hive, and how they wish to integrate if you want to? I mean, if this were Canterlot, I could likely even have you talk with her, but that's a bit of a long travel I think. Besides, there's changelings in your area, yes? I mean, I'm not saying it's a guarantee, but we could also try and find some of them? If there is a queen, it could be a good story for you, and I might be able to get the word about the program out to more of those we want to take part. The more open-minded changelings the better, if they're that type at least."

There were a few options to pick from there for the journalist, though Benny were hoping he wouldn't go for the one that included them having to hunt for local changelings. He felt bad, which were why he had offered that, and it would be good if he could get more to join the project, and figure out why they were making a mess in the area, but it might be dangerous for the pony. The pen being mightier than the sword were just an expression after all, not reality.

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@Dji @Widdershins

Oh great, so now they were alone near the storm. If it wasn't because she didn't want to be the one to light the spark, Spicy would have said something right about now loud enough for everypony to hear. But then the focus would just go on her, the weird couple here might get real angry and focus it all on her, and yada yada. These were good clothes she had on, she wasn't going to let them be ruined by her big muzzle that easily... Again.

As for Pop, she just wished Aurora were still here because she might need some help separating Kaltrops and Dawn relatively safely after all of this were done, and she wasn't sure if the sarcastic pony in the top hat was going to help.

Basically, all of them just stood around, waiting for something to happen that would make everything either become a rally, or end into sloppy makeout sessions, at which point some of the crowd might look away again, rather than just watch on. Might be ponies liked lovely moments, but between races it got a little more complicated for some of the more old fashioned ponies.

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@BloodDrops

He had a small bit of hope when he returned that things would be fine. The mare would be fed, she would do something else that was random, and perhaps then she would leave, and he could return to a simpler life. That was pretty much dashed already at the first paragraph she had said as she started to talk though, as she began ranting on how he looked at her and saw a monster, how he was afraid of her, and then started to sneer- Which made him think that this was the time he was about to die.

His life flashed him by as she tackled him and pinned him down, and before he could even beg of her to forgive him for whatever it was he had done, she bit him, and the world turned black.

The virus wasn't kind to him. He felt how it rolled through his body, storming towards his heart hat was pounding faster and faster in panic, until... Nothing.

A silence spread in his body whilst he twitched and turned under the effects of the contagion that claimed his life. A final breath was taken into healthy lungs, whilst a tear ran from his eye, and then, he lost consciousness. The last thought he had before, was to his family, who were waiting for him in Canterlot. Ponies he cared for and loved more than anything, who would never see their son, their brother, or their nephew again.

There was nothing left for him now...

Blood likely didn't care about what she had taken from him now, but there were others who did. Not just the family who were far away, and didn't know of the loss, but also a dragon, whose shadow fell down upon the area as she descended to find out what had just happened.

Nerzhei had not been close enough to stop this, or to really see what had gone on. The only thing she had seen as she were flying towards town for more provisions, had been the outline of two ponies, were one of them had suddenly gone on top of the other, and then left said pony just lying on the ground. From this far up, she hadn't even seen that it was blood, which gave the zombie about a minute to do something before the dragon would be close enough to be able to see who were there, realize what she had done, and likely go amok over it. She had already not been fond of Blood before, when she had just threatened to harm ponies, so how bad would it be when she discovered what Blood had done?

[BloodDrops 762]

6 hours ago, Blitz Boom said:

He had a small bit of hope when he returned that things would be fine. The mare would be fed, she would do something else that was random, and perhaps then she would leave, and he could return to a simpler life. That was pretty much dashed already at the first paragraph she had said as she started to talk though, as she began ranting on how he looked at her and saw a monster, how he was afraid of her, and then started to sneer- Which made him think that this was the time he was about to die.

His life flashed him by as she tackled him and pinned him down, and before he could even beg of her to forgive him for whatever it was he had done, she bit him, and the world turned black.

The virus wasn't kind to him. He felt how it rolled through his body, storming towards his heart hat was pounding faster and faster in panic, until... Nothing.

A silence spread in his body whilst he twitched and turned under the effects of the contagion that claimed his life. A final breath was taken into healthy lungs, whilst a tear ran from his eye, and then, he lost consciousness. The last thought he had before, was to his family, who were waiting for him in Canterlot. Ponies he cared for and loved more than anything, who would never see their son, their brother, or their nephew again.

There was nothing left for him now...

Blood likely didn't care about what she had taken from him now, but there were others who did. Not just the family who were far away, and didn't know of the loss, but also a dragon, whose shadow fell down upon the area as she descended to find out what had just happened.

Nerzhei had not been close enough to stop this, or to really see what had gone on. The only thing she had seen as she were flying towards town for more provisions, had been the outline of two ponies, were one of them had suddenly gone on top of the other, and then left said pony just lying on the ground. From this far up, she hadn't even seen that it was blood, which gave the zombie about a minute to do something before the dragon would be close enough to be able to see who were there, realize what she had done, and likely go amok over it. She had already not been fond of Blood before, when she had just threatened to harm ponies, so how bad would it be when she discovered what Blood had done?

Blood twitched her ear and then turned back to her servant. She frowned at him, then turned her head continuing to watch him. He still wasn't moving which was odd, most ponies she transformed got up and started moving after the transformation was completed, She moved and gave Slappy a nudge, he still didn't move. She frowned and pondered about this, this hadn't happened before, ponies didn't just die from her virus, she herself had fought the virus..... Oh.

That was the problem, he had just given up. Not fought it like the rest she had zombified "Slappy, fight it don't accept it" She growled at the dead pony, She gave him several more nudges and then gave up. he was definitely dead. She didn't see herself as a murderer, but this, this was a new low for her. She was just that, a murderer. She blinked at that realisation, then tried to justify it to herself. 'It was the virus?' She had passed off everything prior to the virus, though this. This was definitely her, she knew he wouldn't fight it, Knew she could make him sick. Did she know she could kill him?

That was the question, and she came to the bad conclusion that she knew he wasn't a fighter. Knew he couldn't handle the disease and also knew she had attacked him out of her own choice. This was her, not the disease. Not this time. She glanced back at the pile of fish, and then the fishing rods. She frowned, thinking about the past with her servant. Then turned her attention back to Slappy. She snorted, angry at him, though more angry at herself for making it come to this. 

She snorted before rummaging in her bag before pulling out a blood red amulet and holding it in her mouth. She had kept it for quite some time, obtained from one of her journeys and for doing something she would be embarrassed to admit, though that was a tail for another day. She had work to do, she then slowly trotted over to Slappy and looked down at him, still debating what her next move would be next.

Her ear twitched telling her something was close by, and her nose told her it was Nerzhei. She dropped the amulet onto Slappy making her mind up, and then moved away from him before spinning around to wait for the Nerzhei. 

Edited November 26, 2017 by BloodDrops

[Storm Shine 1,196]

@Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta

Discord shook his head slightly, "Well we'll just have to fix that now won't we?" He commented idly, drifting over to Omen. He then proceeded to open the top of her head as if it were a hatch, the top half moving seamlessly away as if on a hinge to reveal... Nothing. Well, seemingly nothing anyways. It was really just too dark to see (Should one attempt to peek inside), but there was none of the blood, skull, or brain that one would expect to see. Whether that was the way Omen was, or Discord's magic making the whole thing more cartoony would be up for debate. "Anyways.." Discord interrupted the poor author of this post in the middle of his explanation Said to himself, "Let's get on with this."

He then proceeded to unceremoniously stick his paw into Omen's head and rummage around inside. Though nopony could see his paw or what he was doing, Discord appeared to be concentrating hard. "A-ha! Here's the problem!" Discord exclaimed triumphantly, pulling a smoking microphone from Omen's head with the word 'Defective' written in red lettering. Tossing it behind him, where it proceeded to turn into a rabbit and hop away, he produced a new microphone and pushed it into Omen's head, producing a sort of 'Ch-Ching!' noise as it disappeared.

"Well, go ahead and try speaking now." The spirit of Chaos suggested, closing up her head with an odd metallic clanging noise and dusting his mismatched frontal appendages off.

[genessee 535]

@Blitz Boom

Lance giggled foalishly at her Alonsus impression.

"Yeah, he probably told me at some point. I must've forgotten, then. Still, can't say no to free food, heh."

He also grabbed an orange and a couple other really sugary fruits-- he would probably stuff his muzzle with them later, but right now he just continued to eat the apple.

[EQ_Theta 459]

@Blitz Boom @Storm Shine

As if there was an entire list that could put the siblings off with its sheer ridiculousness or horror, what Discord did blew it all out of the water. Both Sen and Lin just stood there in bewilderment and shock seeing what he did to "fix" Omen. With jaws hanging and eyes wide open, both had that expression on their faces that simply evoked a thought that could be summarized with: "I don't want to know." 

Still, they didn't see fit to question his methods if it gets results and on Lin's part, she mixed that look with a thought that lacked curiosity. She wouldn't want to experience getting her scalp screwed off and the insides getting touched. It might be strange a strange feeling for Omen but seeing as she couldn't speak at the moment, those would be reserved. She might not even feel it or want to talk about it, an understandable response. 

If Omen would be able to speak, then the two would just be there to listen and provide her answers. Right now, Discord may have just taken away their capability to talk, at the very least with coherent sentences. 

Edited November 27, 2017 by EQ_Theta

[~Phoenix~ 196]

@Blitz Boom

Phoenix continued to eat her stew as Smokey gave her an answer. as long as she wanted? it certainly sounded nice. she could get used to being around Smokey, as well as this lifestyle. after all, this was the best food she had ever eaten, the best bath she had ever taken, and the best bed she had ever slept in. it wasn't going to grow old any time soon

but, there was certainly more motivation in her mind. that little daydream session she had in the shower proved that to her. well, hopefully she would have plenty of time to figure all of that out. 

as she heard that Smokey would be going out somewhere on his own tomorrow, she couldn't help but frown a little bit. she was hoping to be around him a bit more so she can find her answers. she could definitely understand the fact that two Ponies can't really be around each other every moment of the day, but the thought of having to stay here for a few hours while he was away sounded... boring. 

not only did it sound boring, but she would feel awkward in this house all on her own. especially if that other mare were around. Phoenix could definitely tell that there were some tension between them, although she couldn't tell what it was about. 

in any case, Phoenix would do her best to stay by Smokey's side if she could. she didn't like the idea of being left in an unfamiliar place all on her own especially after her anxiety had proved to her that doing so was a bad idea. "l-let me come with" she plead. she wasn't sure why her tone came off as if she were begging. was the idea of being away from Smokey for just a little while really that terrible in her mind? she calmed herself down, and decided to build herself a case "I won't get in the way, i promise. i can just stay behind you the entire time if you'd like" she added. she would go a long way to cooperate if it meant she didn't have to be stuck in this big house without him. 

after all that, she had nervously continued to eat her stew, whilst waiting for a reply. she attempted to distract herself with the stew, so that she didn't have to get nervous about how Smokey might reply. 

[The Resident Brony 60]

@Blitz Boom

"Please, lead the way. I have a general to have a nice, long chat with."

Vic straightens up his attitude and wipes the tears from his face. He begins flying in loops, thinking deeply about the generals

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@Blitz Boom

Astral nodded. "Learning how to fight against an enemy is important, although I've never learned how to fight." She looked about for her new home. Hopefully after this mess she'd be able to use magic publicly, else wise she'd have to retreat into the forest again. Although the main reason for her retreating was committing dark magic feats.

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

Warlock had no idea what he just did, but as soon as he felt that taste of ancient magic, he took it all, he knew well it was a binding spell, just from the pattern of energy, similar to the spell used to bind himself to Sapphire, until she passed away of course, which broke his prison. "No idea what I did but the amount of magic there was a hefty amount." He drew his hoof away as he took the last of the magic for himself. He watched as the door lit open, and made a ball of fire in his hoof to light up the area, looking for the element. "Although from that laughter, I have a feeling what I did will turn out to be, fun." He said with a chuckle.

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

He paused his step and looked to him. "Your face is familiar, yes." He said, not recalling much of their first encounter. "Now you'll have to excuse me, I need to return to my post." He said before walking away to his post, at the entrance of the dungeon.

Iron Wing walked back into the throne room, mostly hoping that Dew and the others staid there, as he was checking on Zhu. As he walked in he'd look around for Dew, ready to speak to him if he spotted him.

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

"Well I certainly feel different, and more intact." Without him really noticing, his wing had gotten some sparkles on it.

As the doctor checked her bandages she'd find a few of her wounds were healed, without much of a scar left over. "Honestly I feel better, luckily that wasn't the worst injury I've received before." Francis looked at her, a little surprised. "So I recovered rather nicely." A few more of her injuries healed, storing away the last bits of love she got from the couple who walked out, her chest seemed to even glow a little, as if storing the love magic there. 

[Foxy Socks 2,599]

@Blitz Boom @Widdershins @~Phoenix~

"Oh, Agni! What are you doing?" Foxy ran to the Phoenix, whose talons were still attached to the unfortunate pony's mane. "Oh, I'm sorry mister, the bird can be a bit... defensive. Let me help..." Foxy grabbed onto Agni, gently but persistently pulling her off the other pony. Foxy placed the bird with temper on her back, before saying, "It won't happen again, I promise. Right Agni? Please don't attack innocent ponies. If you have to, attack me."  

 

While the bird could potentially attack Foxy too if pushed in a bad position, Foxy was used to dealing with temperamental animals. She had been scratched and bitten a fair amount of times, and she didn't mind. Foxy liked Agni, and accepted the responsibility of having her.

Edited November 28, 2017 by Foxy Socks

[Blitz Boom 4,627]

@BloodDrops

Death would have been a merciful fate for Slappy, but alas, his pain wasn't done that easily.

A little by little, he would regain consciousness after the virus had roared through his being, yet he would wish that it wasn't the case by how wrong he felt. It took him a little to figure out why as he opened his eyes, but it became evident quickly enough: His heart wasn't beating anymore.

He wasn't discolored or looked ill like Blood did, yet that had likely more to do with time, and how much more prominent the disease were in her. If you looked at him though, things such as how he had overall gotten more pale, and his eyes had turned milky, did show that something was wrong with the now-crying pony.

Amidst his weeping and repeated stuttering of *What's happening to me?* Nerzhei descended from the sky, and she did not look happy. Frankly, she seemed as if joy had left her being entirely, once she had gotten close enough to see who it was she were dealing with.

A brief stop was made as she deposited Lotus in a tall tree, to make sure the zombie mare wouldn't get a chance at touching her, before the dragoness landed a few meters away from Blood.

"I tried to help you, and this is what you chose to do instead?!"

She took a knee and pounded her hand into the ground, causing a good amount of rumbling as stone rapidly rose from beneath and grasped out towards the Zombie. Blood might be able to dodge a few, but the dragoness had seen her slow reactions before. She would not escape the assault for long, and should soon be locked in. Yet if the zombie did try and get closer, she would rise a block to bar the mare from touching her. She had no interest in getting infected.

There was a chance too, though a small one, that Blood might have better reaction time and knew not to try and attack Nerzhei this time, so she'd be able to run away and into the river, where the dragoness couldn't use the same method against her, giving her a slight bit of time to swim away or something. It seemed unlikely that the dragoness would stop her pursue though.

"Killing innocents, infecting them with your vile illness... I should have crushed you the first time I met you!"

Even if she did get hold of Blood though, she wouldn't crush her yet, though she had to use all of her self control not to. It felt like the very best thing possible to do, without a shadow of a doubt, but she wanted to hear what this creature would defend herself with. What possible reason there could be for her to have seemingly infected the bawling Solar Guard.

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

 

@Storm Shine @EQ_Theta

Omen didn't feel any pain as Discord rummaged through her head.

She always thought that it was a design from his side, in case she would go defective in some way from all of the random chaos everywhere when he ruled. Potentially it would also be so he could have some fun by messing with her settings, but she wasn't aware of any time he had done that, and she likely wouldn't have thought much of it even if she did. It was his world and his rules, and she had found a strange understanding in things being unexplained and confusing after a time, to a point where some of the lesser weird things like having her head opened could just be glossed over as one of the things she didn't have to ask about.

And she had needed the maintenance back then. SHe wasn't sure exactly how many times she had fallen into something or poked the wrong object that would end up messing with her head, and do everything from her loosing her ability to walk to blocking her voice, or even end up more or less catatonic on the side of some road. She may have been sturdy, but that did not mean that she was impossible to do something to.

As it stood now though, she should be fine. A fresh connection had been set in her head, and as she looked up at her master, the whispering voice would be projected into both his, and her friend's head once again.

"Kan I høre mig nu?" (translation: Can you hear me now?)

Omen tilted her head and looked questioning towards Sen and Lin now, without realizing that anything was wrong with the language setting in the fix that Discord had done. It remained to be seen if this was an accident, or if he had felt like having a bit of fun in the moment.

"Hvorfor er der heste statuer udenfor? (translation: Why is there pony statues outside?"

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

 

@genessee

"He might have forgotten. Sometimes he gets caught up in his ego a little and forgets things. Good stallion, but a few screws loose."

She knew that it was more complicated than that, as she had stalked him when he had to go to his parole officer a few months back, and listened in to what was being said from the outside, but she didn't think it was important to say that Alonsus used to be a criminal. By all accounts, it sounded like he were trying to turn his life around, and from what she had found out by rummaging through his trash and checking on information from his old hometown (she had found a letter from his parents) it hadn't been as bad to begin with as she had thouht at first. Not good either, as being the muscle in a gang was pretty bad, but not as bad as she had expected.

Besides, if she warned Lance, he might know that she rummaged through basically everyponys trash, and he would end up hiding his. It wasn't going to help her investigation into whatever or not he was a spy for the conspiracy if he ended up doing that.

"Reminds me, was your place one of those houses hit? Must've been a weird one to arrive to if it were."

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

 

@~Phoenix~

Smokey had another tick at his eye as she offered to join him in his meeting, and his smile seemed to stiffen for a brief moment.

With anypony else than Scarcity, he would have outright said no, and made some sort of excuse as to why she could not join him, but the antique owner was a special case. She rarely spoke directly about their market dealings, and instead referred to everything in the process as simple transaction, acquisition, and so forth. He was never sure if it was because she was expecting to be overheard by somepony else, but unless it was in the lair where she had a good deal of her illegal wares, things were usually kept vague, and he had only been in that place once. And he had been knocked out beforehoof, so he wouldn't be able to figure out how they had gotten there int he first place, in case he got frisky and wanted to mess with her stock or something. Not that he ever would. He wasn't suicidal.

"I uhm... Yes, I'm sure that can be arranged, though it is rather early in the morning. You would need to wake up early to be able to follow. There should be a clock you can set in your room to wake you up if it is, or I could alternatively come around and shake you up. I leave it to you to decide, though we have plenty of time to sort that out.

Ah, but that is tomorrow, and this is now. Do tell me, how do you enjoy the stew? I am aware that it is not the meal I promised you, but I can assure you, when evening falls, I shall make arrangements to get us seats in a restaurant of good standing. After dragging you through things for so long, I owe you at least that much."

He dipped his bread and took a bite, before returning to eat the stew with the spoon. He were around halfway done by now, though Phoenix may have finished up quite a bit earlier, depending on how hungry she had been. If that was the case, he should be ready to fetch her some desert, which would hopefully please the mare. He wished to make her stay here nothing less than excellent, and soothe her previously uneasy mind in whatever way she would wish for him to do so. As long as it did not include physical harm to himself. He was not a circus performer after all.

"We would need to have you fitted with an appropriate attire though if that were... I know a few good tailors and shops in town for that, though perhaps you would prefer if I had some chefs come here and work on something instead? It would not be much of an issue to get hold of what they would need to make something close to what they might serve in the restaurants."

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

 

@The Resident Brony

They would wander for a while in silence after that, before Vivid would stop up, and seemingly look into nowhere with narrow eyes.

"General Dew is still some way from us, but it seems like we've found the general of the Night Guard. Peculiar to see her alone like this, but it does provide an opportunity."

Focusing her magic, she opened a portal between the planes for the two of them, revealing an overgrown slab of rock where the general had flown down to rearrange her Chakrams, as they were starting to feel slightly wobbly, an she couldn't afford to drop one of these things. Considering how sharp they were, things could get ugly if it hit somepony.

She didn't seem too pleased with the arriving company though, and would actively narrow her eyes towards the Alicorn before saying his name in a rather judging manner.

"Invictus. What are you doing here?"

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

 

@Lloyd

Chow looked surprised at Astral as she said she hadn't learned how to fight.

"Really? You did a number on the two at the temple, so I just figured you had everything sorted. Perhaps later I can teach you a few moves? I might not be able to do things your way, but I know how to get physical and dodge stuff. Might come in handy."

They'd see the house after he said that, but unfortunately... Nah, nothing was going on there. It had just seemed like a few guards had caught interest in it, but they were actually just picking up somepony who had seemingly dropped from the sky and gotten himself knocked out. A rare occurrence, but sadly, not entirely off the table for the pegasi kind. The wind could get tricky at times were the most prominent reason he had heard of, but there might be others that covered things better.

"Awh, almost thought that was the welcome committee. Guess the red carpet and trophies are out of the window then, heh."

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

 

@Lloyd

Athriel wasn't so sure, but she followed into the lit corridor regardless, an d tried to look on it like they might have released something bad, but Warlock would be loaded with a lot of magic. That might well end up being what they needed to get through this increasingly worrisome situation.

And she did  mean it when she thought it was increasing, as the door slammed shut behind them as they entered, leaving only one way to wander, and a voice carried on a cold wind to welcome them-

"So what do we have here? A carrier and a Pillar? Oh, this is going to be fun."

A cackling, mad laughter rung through the air, though it got drowned out by the sound of a swarm of small legs clacking over the stones in front of them. Even with the fireball provided, they wouldn't be able to see the swarm of Scarabs running towards them with tiny maws open, ready to chomp down on the *visitors* and make a meal of them.

"This is starting off great."

The bitter sentence would be spoken as Athriel prepared to smash down on the swarm of what seemed like hundreds, or even thousands of Scarabs on the walls, the ceiling, and the floor alike, though her limited magic wouldn't be able to do much.

Warlock's should be able to, though he might also notice something interesting about this. Mainly, that it wasn't real. It was an illusion, though a powerful one at that. If you got convinced this were real, the illusion could actively hurt you as much as the real thing would, but at least he should be able to know better, as proficient with magic as he were.

It weren't all that simple to just drain the source here. Whatever were feeding the illusion were somewhere further in, though he could perhaps disrupt the flow to show that it wasn't real to Athriel, at which point they could just walk through it. The power lied in the belief of the receiving end, so if they both knew it was fake, it wouldn't be an issue.

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

 

@Lloyd

Zhu smirked slightly. The colt recalled who he were, which were a start, but he were focused on his duty for now. A good thing, as that were going to be needed in the times ahead when Iron Wing would rely on him, and it didn't matter to him much that they didn't fall into conversation right away. he had made his presence clear, and fulfilled the two things that brought him to the castle to begin with, for the time being. Now, he might as well simply sit down, and rest his eyes. It had been some time since he last had the option, and if he wouldn't curl up in here whilst he waited, what else was he going to do? Sing? He were rather horrid at that, so that was likely better to not indulge in.

Meanwhile, in the throne room, both Dew and Scorn were basically where the general had left them, and seemed to have been in the last parts of a talk about something when he entered.

"So we have a plan. It's a start."

"Indeed, th- Ah, the general returns. Tell us, what happened?"

The dragon snorted a little smoke from his nostrils in irritation at not seeing the robed figure with the general.

"And where is Zhu?"

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

 

@Lloyd

"It sounds and looks better, sot hat's good. Please examine them further and see if they're healed enough to be safely released. I have to go to the other room and check on the ambassador."

With that, Shimmer would leave, and enter the room on the other side, leaving just the greying doctor to chuckle with a shake of his head as he kept on the examination. He noted down a few things too, such as the queen's glowing chest or the sparkles in Francis' wing. Mainly though, he would check what had been covered, and removing bandages and such where it was no longer needed, though he wasn't going to let them out before he had checked both, and his first priority were the queen, since she had been the one hurt he most coming in.

In the other room, Shimmer would enter to find that the doctors were seemingly done with Golden Sun, though he wasn't conscious, and looked rather pale and harrowed compared to normally. Still, she took solace on knowing that the internal bleeding had seemingly been taken care off, along with what other things might have arisen, and mumbled a small prayer for his recovery.

Iron and Misty would be in the room as well, though they still had some doctors with them. Misty were getting the last parts of a cast set on her broken leg, which they had gotten as patched up as could be, though it now needed to be kept from bending, as it not inhibit the healing process.

As for Iron, there seemed to be a few working on him, and applying different ointments, salves, and so forth to fix his sight. The magical compounds in those remedies would more than likely end up being effective, but even after applying everything correctly, he would still not be able to see for at least three more hours. Nor normally anyway.

He had also been instructed to not move his head whilst they were working, which he would hopefully keep, even though Lieutenant Shimmer looked in his and Misty's direction and asked: "How are your treatments going?"

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

 

@Foxy Socks @Widdershins @~Phoenix~

The pony wouldn't answer, but just grumble and be on his way. He wished to have nothing more to do whatsoever with the Phoenix, who frankly seemed like she didn't care about the scolding she got. Scratch that, she definitely did not care, as she just shrugged as Foxy pleaded  to her better side. There would be a good, long process of taming Agni it seemed, if it would even end up being possible in the first place. Perhaps the best she could hope for, were that the proud bird would heed her words, and not attack ponies to make them do as she wanted them to.

"Miss Rarity, and Miss Dash, I would like to excuse the birds behavior. She have only recently started to follow Foxy, and does have some rather proud and feral traits that becomes a factor at times. I'm hopeful that she will not be more of an issue.

I might suggest keeping her and the feline apart though, Foxy. Just to be on the safe side."

He didn't know what would happen if the two collided, but considering one of them breathed fire, he wouldn't put bits on the cat.

[EQ_Theta 459]

@Blitz Boom @Storm Shine

It worked... or maybe it did? That was the thought the two siblings had when Omen first spoke. In a way, Discord fixed the no speaking problem except now Omen spoke in another language alien to the two. Sen couldn't understand it and Lin tried to decipher what her friend was saying but to no avail. Lin scratched her head at the spoken language. Sen broke the silence between the two but was still unsure how to phrase is words.

"Well... Omen's speaking. That's good? I could hear her just fine but-"

"Whatever she's saying, I can't understand it." Lin wasn't really quite sure how to respond and looked to Discord in confusion. "Uh, you wouldn't happen to know what language Omen is speaking? Could you change it to one we could understand?"

[~Phoenix~ 196]

@Blitz Boom 

Phoenix scraped at the bottom of her stew bowl with her spoon, trying to get at each little puddle of the juices if she could. after all, she were a hungry mare, and she wouldn't let a meal as good as this go to waste. after she was sure she was finished with the bowl of stew, she began taking bites out of her half soggy piece of bread. she didn't really seem to mind it all that much, however. 

she quickly swallowed the last few bites as she attempted to answer Smokey's question, her mouth still somewhat full. it was clear that her attire were not all that needed to be worked on if they were to go to any sort of restaurant. "i can definitely wake up early" she said through a mouth full of bread. waking up at any point of the day had never really bothered her, living the sort of lifestyle that she had for the past decade or so. sometimes she would get stirred in the early hours due to some sort of danger sense, and other times due to her own terrors...

Smokey went on and continued to conversation, as Phoenix tried her best to follow. of course, being done with her meal now afforded her more time to reply to his questions. "the stew was actually really good." she answered a bit sheepishly as she realized she had already finished, and Smokey was still working on his. she didn't have a wealth of knowledge when it came to manners, but she knew that it was somewhat polite to try and pace yourself. 

and truth be told, after Smokey was so kind to her and let her stay here as well as giving her such a great meal, she wouldn't really dream of troubling him so much to take her to a place that was so fancy it required clothing... what would she even wear? if Smokey was insistent on taking her, she would insist on a way to help make it up to him. "well, i wouldn't want to trouble you so much that you feel the need to spend so much money on me..." she refuted. while she already were receiving some special treatment, it would appear as though it wasn't too much trouble for Smokey to have her there. after all, he already had the cook as well as the extra bedrooms, but even with all that she still felt like she was causing Smokey more trouble than he needed. 

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

@Blitz Boom @Foxy Socks @Widdershins

 

"oh yeah, flutters. me and her are pretty tight" she responded rather nonchalantly as she waves a hoof. it was clear that even the shy one had attracted a few fans after becoming one of the elements of harmony. it was certainly nice to be a role-model for young fillies and colts alike. although Fluttershy typically wasn't the social butterfly, Rainbow knew that she always liked making new friends.

"you know, if you'd like i can always introduce you to her", she offered as she gave a shrug, while fluttering a foot or two off the ground. but it looked like that would have to wait, as an intruder suddenly burst in with a rather fiery looking bird. the next moment or two was a bit of a blur to Rainbow, as she had absolutely no clue what was going on, but she backed away a bit as the bird appeared to be friends with Foxy herself. 

Edited November 28, 2017 by ~Phoenix~

[The Resident Brony 60]

@Blitz Boom

"Its been far too long, General. I wish I could say I was here to visit a comrade for a friendly shot of whiskey, but that isn't the case."

Vic holds out a letter that he received from Celestia, which dictated his orders to take control of the Guards

"Explain this, General. I received this from Celestia a few weeks ago. I've just been told that it was a fake, a plot to frame me for treason. Now, as you can imagine, im not pleased, especially considering the identity of who told me. So you have 2 choices, either you tell me who sent the letter, or I beat the truth out of you."

Edited November 28, 2017 by The Resident Brony

[BloodDrops 762]

13 hours ago, Blitz Boom said:

Death would have been a merciful fate for Slappy, but alas, his pain wasn't done that easily.

A little by little, he would regain consciousness after the virus had roared through his being, yet he would wish that it wasn't the case by how wrong he felt. It took him a little to figure out why as he opened his eyes, but it became evident quickly enough: His heart wasn't beating anymore.

He wasn't discolored or looked ill like Blood did, yet that had likely more to do with time, and how much more prominent the disease were in her. If you looked at him though, things such as how he had overall gotten more pale, and his eyes had turned milky, did show that something was wrong with the now-crying pony.

Amidst his weeping and repeated stuttering of *What's happening to me?* Nerzhei descended from the sky, and she did not look happy. Frankly, she seemed as if joy had left her being entirely, once she had gotten close enough to see who it was she were dealing with.

A brief stop was made as she deposited Lotus in a tall tree, to make sure the zombie mare wouldn't get a chance at touching her, before the dragoness landed a few meters away from Blood.

"I tried to help you, and this is what you chose to do instead?!"

She took a knee and pounded her hand into the ground, causing a good amount of rumbling as stone rapidly rose from beneath and grasped out towards the Zombie. Blood might be able to dodge a few, but the dragoness had seen her slow reactions before. She would not escape the assault for long, and should soon be locked in. Yet if the zombie did try and get closer, she would rise a block to bar the mare from touching her. She had no interest in getting infected.

There was a chance too, though a small one, that Blood might have better reaction time and knew not to try and attack Nerzhei this time, so she'd be able to run away and into the river, where the dragoness couldn't use the same method against her, giving her a slight bit of time to swim away or something. It seemed unlikely that the dragoness would stop her pursue though.

"Killing innocents, infecting them with your vile illness... I should have crushed you the first time I met you!"

Even if she did get hold of Blood though, she wouldn't crush her yet, though she had to use all of her self control not to. It felt like the very best thing possible to do, without a shadow of a doubt, but she wanted to hear what this creature would defend herself with. What possible reason there could be for her to have seemingly infected the bawling Solar Guard.

Blood blinked as some stone came out of the ground at her. She backed away from it confused. Stone didn't normally do that, she blinked at the dragon and frowned as she seemed to be attacking her or at least trying to disrupt her. Magic, the second injustice in the land after what she was going to cure or at least try to cure. Blood managed to dodge several stone pillars before managing to jump onto a stone pillar, that didn't go down so well. Stone was not friendly.

She blinked as hoof got trapped in the rock, she snorted and tried to pull free before more stone enclosed around her. She growled and tried to wiggle out for several moments before giving up and blinking at the dragon slightly scared. She didn't like being enclosed in very small spaces ever since she got put into a cage a long time ago. Though that cage was rather small, and she had gotten out of it eventually. This stone trap seemed more sinister. Along with the dragon in charge of it.

She frowned at the dragons accusation, she had actually tried being less harmful by learning how to fish and thus not needing to eat ponies or other sentient animals. "Actually. I'll have you know, I've not killed anyone in a long time, I was learning to fish with Slappy, over there. So that I wouldn't have to eat another pony. He might be scared and maybe mutated slightly. But not killed" I answered truthfully at Nerzhei. "You never got the chance to finish the cure, so I decided to have a go, I was a doctor after all, but I discovered something even better then that, a cure for well pretty much everything" I remarked.

"Common cold, fever, viruses such as my zombie one. You name it, and it can be cured." I add with a smile. "Though no-pony in there right minds would get themselves Ill and Since i'm already fully infected I can't use it on myself. So I needed a sort of test subject. So Slappy here was well kind of forcibly chosen, i'm around 90% certain it should work, so well. If it didn't then I can still take care of him" I remarked frowning. "I didn't really wana be caught though, coz if it didn't work it makes me look really bad, and I'll probably be sent to Tartarus and then that leaves Slappy at a loose end" I add smiling.

"Slappy just needs to wear that amulet I put on him. I was gonna do it since I can't be zombified but well. I'm kind of stuck here now, you could put it on him and wear my spare I made for myself, though that probably about 75% effective. So fine for a cough though, not so sure on my virus." I remarked blinking. "Or you could release me, let me put it on him and then put be back into stone until he either was cured, or not. Though the longer he is infected the less likely that amulet will work on him" I add to the dragon. "Or he could put it oh himself, though he seems to be a bit, dazed currently" I add yawning.

Using that sort of healing magic really took it out of you, even if you were a zombie pony. 

[Foxy Socks 2,599]

@Blitz Boom @~Phoenix~ @Widdershins 

Foxy completely missed what Rainbow had said to her right before she retrieved Agni. After Briar warned of the possible conflict that the feline and avian would bring if introduced, Foxy made sure not to bring them too close. "You're right Briar. Wouldn't want Agni or Opal to be hurt." She gently petted Agni on the head. "And don't worry, Rarity, I'll make sure she doesn't cause any more trouble. I didn't expect her to come here, not that I mind her being with me. I love phoenixes."

"Oh and Rainbow... what did you say before I got Agni? I, um, heard something about Fluttershy."

 

 

[genessee 535]

@Blitz Boom

"Nope, lucky for me my cottage was safe and sound... say, do you know much about the attack? I've heard bits and pieces of the story around town, but I'm still pretty much clueless on the details."

He almost asked about Alonsus, but decided to hold off on that. I'll ask him face-to-face. Kind of rude to ask things about him when he isn't around, you know?

[Seamore Sandwich 471]

 

@Blitz Boom 

 

Like a true gentlecolt, Tock bowed his head and bid her farewell by saying, “Until we meet tomorrow.”  Penny responded with a nod and a nervous smile, she couldn’t think of the words to say goodbye.  As the two of them left, the thought occurred to Penny, “Would you want to use a long distance teleport?  It’ll save us a lot of time, but for some who aren’t used to it, it could cause an upset stomach.  We’d be transported to my parents’ shop, so we would still have some way to go to get to where we’re delivering the item, but at least we’ll be able to skip a long train ride.”

 

@Blitz Boom

@Moonlit

@Dji

 

The glowing stick spoke again,  now that they regained some strength.  It was a voice that wasn’t inherently male or female.  “Hay!  It’s you again!  We seem to keep meeting each other!”  Charlie was talking to Last, but it might not be obvious because a stick can’t really turn its head to face the one it was speaking to. 

 

@Blitz Boom

 

Gaea was enraged at first,  “I...” she yelled, then again she said “I..”  but not as loudly as the first time.  Her thought started as ‘I would never!’ and ‘I can’t believe you would do such a thing!’ but those thoughts died quickly.  Instead, she conceded, “I suppose it’s for the greater good.  We should move out now if we want to find the traps.  There’s a lot of road to search, and they could be anywhere.  There are a few places we should check first, but they might be changing their strategy now that they know I’m not going to be the only one looking for them.  If we start now, maybe we can catch them in the act of setting up one of their traps.  We should probably abandon the idea of trying to find their hideout and just try to capture them.  It’s the one way we can actually put an end to the problem.” 

 

@Blitz Boom

 

“It’s fine.  I’m a bit curious though.  When I was invited, I was told that a great hero had returned, and that he was looking for fighters to join him in battle.  Do you have any idea what that means?”  Hunter didn’t know that he was asking about a mission that had yet to be planned.  Marcus was there, at the other side of the room, talking to a few mares that had been invited, telling them tales of the battles he fought.

[Sekel 693]

@Blitz Boom & @Moonlit & @Seamore Sandwich

TWILIGHT SPARKLE

“The Pegasus is clearly in need of help. Last, can you please help the Siren out in taking him to the general hospital?” Twilight asked after a few moments of thought. Yes, the Sirens she had met were bad, but that didn’t necessarily mean this one was.  She ignored the talking stick for the moment despite it warranting further investigation. First, however, she should apologise to the Siren for acting on instinct. “I’m sorry if I sounded biased. I’ve only met three of your kind before, miss Siren, and they were all, well, evil.”

Edited November 30, 2017 by Dji

[Moonlit 593]

@Blitz Boom @Seamore Sandwich @Dji Serenade rolls her eyes, the stick was...being the stick again. "♪The Three Sisters nor Sirens in general, aren't exactly paragons of Harmony♪". She looks back over at Last, "♪Well Dusk Guard, shall we get a move on?♪"

[Storm Shine 1,196]

@Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta

Discord grinned in amusement, "Whoops, guess I accidentally set it to Haynish" He chuckled before reaching out and tweaking Omen's ear a bit, making a sound like someone trying to tune an old fashioned radio. After a few seconds of this he stopped and gestured for Omen to try again.