open Casual stroll

[Blitz Boom 4,620]

@Catpone Cerberus

Berry chased after the siren as she floated along past her and went right for the fishing. Thankfully, her way of feeding were pretty harmless, at least the times that she could see it happen. Big gulp of fish down to be digested whole - kinda nasty, but whatever floated her fins - and what wasn't... Well, the waters weren't the cleanest when sand from the bottom and fish bits rummaged around, so it wasn't like she saw all that much. Griffons made more of a mess than this, especially when they went for the eyes. She were never sure if they did that to mess with her head, or if that was just the best part.

When the siren would eventually either be sated, or keep a pause in her feeding frenzy, Berry would be sitting at the banks and looking right at her, still not having run off or shown any kinds of disgust. Just curiosity, and a big grin from knowing that her new friend finally got herself some chow she liked.

"Must've been good to get something you like down, eh? And you know, not everything we talked about before happened way back, just the setup. Tirek getting loose, Nightmare Moon coming back and getting purged, Discord being freed twice and reformed, two new princesses and yada yada, all happened within the last few years. It's been pretty hectic."

She could've sworn she had heard something about this little brat who went all Tirek style too and ended up getting trapped in Tartarus as well, but Berry had been fighting a pretty nasty infection from some glass she had cut herself on during some dumpster diving, and had pretty much just been laying out in the hospital and swinging between sleeping ten hours or more at a time, or praying that the pain killers would soon settle in. She heard it after the fact, but even then, it weren't much, since she thought it sounded ridiculous. Seriously, a foal, imprisoned n Tartarus? Yeah right the princesses would do that.

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@Catpone Cerberus

"Should I go after her?"

Much as they bickered like an old married couple, they weren't blind, and the fact that Ruby suddenly wandered off didn't get past them. They just kept the show going, letting off a few more insults before Marley abruptly stopped and asked the important question.

"Nah. If we hover over her constantly, she'll get spooked and take off. She's too valuable for that. Just fly up, and if you see anything fly away from around the area, snatch it up and see if she's sending off letters. If she ain't, give the gal some privacy."

Marley nodded and flew up into the treecrowns, where he'd then silently fly up enough to get an overview, whilst still being hidden by the trees. he was effective in that way. Big, strong, fast, and surprisingly stealthy regardless of how much he filled in the landscape compared to a normal griffon. It made him a hard bodyguard/enforcer to replace, and he knew it, which gave her a little less of a grip on him then she'd like to, but they got along fine and if needed, she could give him a pay cut if he got too out of line for a little and he'd reign himself in. He didn't want to lose any of his pay, nor the bonus he got from whatever they managed to scrounge up and sell.

It may sound like they were two seconds from beating up one another sometimes, but it was just friendly banter. Another plus point for him, since Spicy liked somepony who could match her wits. It made the day to day interactions far more interesting than a stoic brick wall as a bodyguard, like That mare had. Less bulky in it than Marley, but underestimating the silent pegasus had been a grave mistake for many of his boss's enemies, including Marley at one point. He were lucky it hadn't left him with any permanent scars.

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@FanOfManyShows

"Just a few minutes. Keep focused and we-"

Emerald suddenly yanked her head to the side and starred into seemingly nothing, as she felt a ward activate. Not here though, it was somewhere else, and she were getting a good glance of exactly what was going on. Something which darkened her eyes and made her look as if she wanted to bury somepony alive.

"Grrr, your idiot family and your daughters colt-toy have broken into the basement. They've destroyed the door. And now they're riffling through My books!!!"

She felt the anger bubbling up, and her voice starting to raise above the low volume they had spoken so far. It wouldn't draw the attention of the guards here yet, but Sapphire would have to try and calm Emerald soon if she didn't want that to change. Not that Emerald would be here for much longer without intervention, as she were about to cast a spell to bring her back to the only place left in this world that were sacred to her. If Sapphire cared about her new family, she should probably try and hold her sister back, as otherwise it were going to end poorly for the flock that had dared to break into her sanctum.

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@FanOfManyShows

"Alright, I'll have the guys working on it right away. We'll find you before the ceremony, though it may cut a little close."

"Long as it's ready before he gets on stage, it's good. We'll have to improvise with a robe or something otherwise."

"Don't worry Ge- Adviser. You can count on us."

Benny rose up, his palms now wrapped up nicely again and with the feather between his fingers, headed for the blacksmith.

"With that sorted, we have some things to prepare in the meantime, Wings. I'll explain as we walk."

(The next passage of time can be passed, as they go over location, general procedure, and the details of how to pass along the mantle. You can pick up again at night, an hour to a half hour before the ceremony actually starts, where he's likely worried about where his armor and weapon are.)

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@FanOfManyShows

Sheesh that was quick. chow barely had the chance to finish talking before they were there, which were a pretty rapid change of scenery.

it surprised him how nice this place looked though. He had expected like, skulls and a dismal place in a foggy wood. Not a clean basement where everything stood in order that still looked like a witch's place because of the cauldron and ingredients lining the wall, but could just as well be a relaxation room. He'd give Emerald credit for knowing how to make things cozy, just as he'd give Astral credit for being more destructive than she let on.

"Damn Astral, nice hit. No way they're gonna get that patched up again anytime soon.

I'll grab whatever I can from the shelf, you folks... Sense magic or something. I dunno."

Chow went straight for the bookshelf and began grabbing hold of some random books without seeing what was what. This had been what triggered Emerald's wards to go off, and alert her of them, as well as give her an overview. She couldn't hear them, so their next location may be safe, but this one wouldn't be for much longer, now that they'd been spotted.

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@Dji

"I'm not going to be the only one who notices that something is amiss with you, and other may care more to interject. That you may both perish may not concern them in the slightest."

So they were going to think together for at least a little now, despite them fighting? Fine enough he guessed. If it couldn't be perfect right away, they'd have to find their terms and start to tolerate one another, until they either became so mixed up that they eventually become one entity, or whatever may happen. Symbiotes were tricky to really grasp, and he had barely heard of even a few kinds in his time. It may be that one would just eventually take over and devour the other, or they'd be forever forced to share custody of the body.

Enzo lowered his head and softly laid down fully on the grass below him. The grass tickles his beard, but it wasn't enough of an annoyance for him to really bother doing something about it, other than just getting used to it.

"Try and see within, and ask what it is you both want. Find common ground or whatever."

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@EQ_Theta

"Salosan..."

Omen slowly tilted her head from side to side, trying to remember what she could about him. The name had come up before, she recalled that, but had she ever seen him?

"Was he the one Mother gave to our sibling's masters?"

The memory of the longma that had invoked Mother's ire and were gifted to one of their stranger siblings came to mind. Omen couldn't communicate with that particular sibling, as the language used in that realm were far more complex than equine, but she had seen what went on through the portal whenever Mother spoke to that one, and it were a weird sight involving vast towers of bones and pulsating, twisted flesh, along with residents that looked like something a nightmare would wake up screaming from. Mother said it was a very bad place, and the reason why one of them had gotten a sibling, were that she were afraid of what would happen if she had declined. Yet the one that had went there, apparently did well, though Mother mostly talked with that one in private.

Having asked that, she went on to the topic of whatever Discord could and should make a chaos place for Omen to rest in sometimes.

"I want chaos sometimes. Not sure if it's good though. Mother says this is home now, not chaos world. Don't know if she would like this. I would. Master would. Happy are we, but Mother? Not sure. Need to know first."

omen would love a small place of chaos to go to sometimes, like how ponies enjoyed going to the spa, but she didn't know if Mother would approve, since it might go against Omen getting used to the normal, stable world she were in. She needed to know before she could go and ask her master, right? Or perhaps Lin would say it was best? She was Omen's closest sister, and a friend, so her opinion meant a lot to her as well. If Mother wasn't possible to talk to for some reason, it stood between Lin and Discord for a decision. Discord would always pick chaos, so it may all come down to what Lin would say about it.

Times like this, Omen wished she understood how emotions and reading faces worked. It could really help understanding what Lin's facial expression meant right now, and perhaps make it easier to guess what she meant before the longma even said it.

As for Rosa, he wasn't sleeping yet. Not because he was listening in - though he were - but because every time so far he had closed his eyes, he saw one of those in the swamp starring at him with tears in their eyes, and pain planted all over their faces. It were going to be a long night if he couldn't tire himself out soon.

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@Rising Dusk

The plan that Dusky laid out were simple, yet it made a good deal of logical sense. Start at one point, make some contacts, learn how to properly interact with ponies, and then eventually, once everything was ready and the word had spread about her, she could make her way out and see other ponies and whatever else the world held. Perhaps she could still wander through a forest nearby or something though? Just to see something new now and again.

"𝕐𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕒 𝕚𝕤 𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕠𝕕. 𝕀 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕨𝕒𝕚𝕥 𝕦𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕝 𝕀 𝕒𝕞 𝕘𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕟 𝕚𝕟𝕡𝕦𝕥 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕘𝕠𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕨𝕒𝕪. 𝔸𝕣𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕧𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕥𝕠𝕔𝕠𝕝 𝕟𝕠𝕨."

Felicia would be silent for a moment as she set up a file in her primary memory bank. Until further notice, that would be the plan to follow, though if it dragged on for far too long for Felicia's taste, she may consider simply wandering away regardless and take her chances. A set date of 152 days seemed like an acceptable number to set before that process would have to be reviewed, so she had written that into the document as well.

The next part fascinated Felicia even more though, as she heard about how Dusky's function worked.

It were far more expansive that she had thoughts, and a good deal more intricate than the guard and attack idea she had of how it worked when you followed the law. Dealing with magical objects more than ponies seemed like a strange, but logical way of keeping others safe, considering how even the telekinesis that she had seen Molotov do could have painful outcomes if for example, used to throw things. A way to deal with magic as a whole were likely for the better.

Then came his role in investigating crimes that had already been done. For some reason. Felicia had never considered that a function out here were not to prevent somepony from breaking the law, but rather find those who had done so, and track them down through whatever means were used. less effective, but it made sense that they couldn't be everywhere at once. Some things would happen when they didn't see, and apparently, these *detectives* were the ones who dealt with handling it after the fact. Fascinating. Just like it were to hear that his job entailed more words than physical contact if possible. What a strange concept.

"𝕐𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕪, 𝕀𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕝𝕠𝕡𝕖𝕣. 𝕀 𝕒𝕞 𝕚𝕞𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕕. 𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕘𝕦𝕒𝕣𝕕, 𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕕 𝕡𝕠𝕟𝕚𝕖𝕤, 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕕𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕪 𝕕𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕤 𝕚𝕥𝕖𝕞𝕤, 𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕠 𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕜. ℍ𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕚𝕥 𝕥𝕒𝕜𝕖𝕟 𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕥𝕠 𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕟 𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤?"

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@Seamore Sandwich @BloodDrops @Dji @EQ_Theta @Moonlit @Storm Shine @Lucid_Nightlight

Onache reacted to the party hat falling on her hat by instinctively swatting it off the second she felt it. She did not enjoy hats, and doubly so when it were these thin paper constructions made out of colored paper. It were foolish.

Happy on the other hoof, had mellowed out pretty well after the coffee soothed his upset stomach, and the news that Onache and him would be able to start the new hive in an actual temple, rather than a series of tunnels in the ground, so he just let it sit. What harm did it make really? Besides, it were kind of the time for a celebration considering how everything went.

Of course, a few wasn't able to enjoy it. like Fluttershy and Discord, who were still chumming in their cage, and hadn't been let loose by the sphinx yet. The changeling queen had dropped the chains she were holding once her transformation had begun, and hadn't made a move to grab them again, so the ball was in the large feline's court on that one. Hopefully she'd have a heart and release the trapped folks soon, so they could get on with a more relaxed party. Wasn't really his kind though, considering he lacked his booze, bu- Ouch!

He felt a bottle hit him int he back of the head, and looked over to see Anomaly just keeping on getting snacks in, whilst whistling innocently. Cheeky little thing, wasn't she? Though looking down on the bottle, he could just feel the animosity flow away like water under the stream. It wasn't scotch (sadly) but a bottle of Auntie Mayberry's Finest? He hadn't had this stuff in years, and he remembered it to be absolutely delicious.

So he popped off the cap - which for some reason flew up and exploded like a miniature firework - and took a sip of the syrup-like substance.

"Aaah, that hits the spot."

He cast a glance towards Lucid, who were apparently downing an entire giant bowl of soda, rather than a glass or bottle of something.

"Dang, you're uhm... Sure that stuff ain't gonna cause you to blow up from all the bubbles? Pretty big batch."

In  the meantime, Onache corrected her new hair - it felt pretty weird, but it was easier to style she supposed - and faced the drone who had just addressed her. The eyes that new fell on Aurora were kinder than before, yet you could still see that same hardness lurking behind, that were in the changeling queens eyes before.

"Yes, drone? Speak your m-"

"Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy!"

Her words were interrupted by the joyful squeals of Anomaly, who had jumped into the bouncy castle and were jumping around with not a care in the world. Both Onache and Happy could feel the joyful love the strange creature emitted even from over here, and Aurora could likely taste it seep through the air, with a flavor that were along the same lines as regular love, but with an aftertaste of smoked berries and roasted hazelnuts.

"As I were saying, speak your mind."

None of them seemed to speak with Fluttershy for the time being, but she did get some attention, albeit perhaps not the most useful ones. The dracolisk and Lotus, who had been roaming around for food, had wandered back to the cage and after chewing down another caramel, the bunny attempted to rustle the cage a little here and there to see if there were a spot where it would open. The dracolisk on the other hoof, instead tried to bite into the bars/sides, to see if he could chew through. He were full and had frankly just followed because he were now bored, so his enthusiasm were unsurprisingly low.

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine @Dji @BloodDrops @Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich

A portal opened and a draconequus with the torso and head of a pony emerged. She had wings of both a Pegasus and a bat pony, legs of a tiger, cheetah, panther, and zebra. She also had the tail of a tiger. The portal closed behind her as she ran over to the pumpkin-headed thing, who was Anomaly. By the looks of it, she seemed pretty excited to meet someone with the head of a pumpkin. What's cooler than that!?

"Hey! I'm Novia! Is that one of those weird masks or is that really your head? If that's your head, then you obviously must be a draconequus!"

Seeing that Novia showed up, Lucid decided it'd be a good idea to go see her. Lucid wasn't gonna tell Novia his feelings towards her quite yet, since he didn't feel ready to do so.

"Oh hey Lucid, where's your stick?"

"I ate it. The sticks power has basically become a part of me and has also made me part draconequus. The official name for what I am is Poquus. I think Anomaly came up with it. She's the pumpkin head you've started talking to."

Novia picked up Pringle and fed him a strawberry.

"He kinda bit Anomaly, so he isn't allowed t-"

"Aw, he was probably just hungry. Is that right Pringle?"

She then fed the lizard another strawberry, which Pringle quickly ate. Lucid looked to Anomaly.

"Anyway, this is Novia, but she probably already told you that."

Edited October 4, 2018 by Lucid_Nightlight

[Storm Shine 1,196]

@EQ_Theta @Blitz Boom @Dji @Seamore Sandwich @BloodDrops @Moonlit @Lucid_Nightlight

 

Discord snapped his talons, dispersing the cage in an 'explosion' of butterflies. "Now there's something for the mortals to ponder." He commented, taking a bite out of his teacup and chewing thoughtfully. "How would a fish drown? Without magic or myself being involved, of course."

[EQ_Theta 457]

@Blitz Boom @Storm Shine @Lucid_Nightlight @BloodDrops @Dji @Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich

While waiting for the Sphinx to respond, Fluttershy drank some of the leftover tea she and Discord had. It has gone cold over time but it would be a shame to waste a good beverage. Discord's been gracious and the tea was delicious, probably picked up something from the Ponyville shop. She thought about the question he posed, sipping a little bit of tea while jogging her memory. She knew a thing or two about fish.

"I suppose if a fish were to stop swimming, it would drown. Though why it would stop swimming is anypony's guess."

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@Blitz Boom

"Yes, Solasan was given to one of your sibling's masters. He's gone and he won't go after us again."

Those words gave Lin some measure of comfort. Despite what she told Rosa earlier, it was a sobering thought that one chapter in her life ended on a positive note. Those thoughts about Solasan still haunted her, kept her wondering when someone else is going to try the same thing. It was a weakness already exposed and given how many beings Legion had possessed, it was reasonable for her to expect someone had an idea on how to turn her against Omen. Not a good thing at all but they have to remain vigilant from now on. It seems like they'll never truly be safe, not with Solasan's legacy still looming over them. If it was something, Lin at least just wanted to give Omen one less thing to worry about.

"You're right. I suppose we should talk to Mother first about the matter before I start doing anything. After seeing her angry, I don't want her looking at me like the way he looked at Solasan. She hoped we would stay safe so we wouldn't worry her so much, and I really feel bad about making anyone worry. Oh, and before I forget..."

Lin opened up her saddle bag and pulled out a familiar little object she had worked on back in Mother's realm. It wasn't finished at the time but having one extra night to work on some small changes gave her something to do to pass the time. Now that Omen is here, she could finally show her; it's been keeping her a little giddy ever since they parted ways. 

"Omen, remember that lustrous scale I gave you? I wanted to make you one of these." Lin walked forward and slung the necklace on Omen, around her neck, and the fire's light bounced off the gemstones adorning it. Each one gave it a distinct color and depending on the way one looked, the light bouncing off the scale would show a different color, an iridescent look. 

"A necklace with two scales on it: one from me and one from Sen. We never got a chance to properly thank you for your help but we wanted you to have this. Wherever you go, wherever you'll be, there will always be a piece of us with you, literally speaking." Lin chuckled at that last part but hopefully it got the idea across. Unbeknownst to her, Sen was listening in, sleeping fairly close by in the tent. He didn't doze off yet but just hearing those words from Lin got him cozy enough to drift off to sleep. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

@Blitz Boom
Nada didn't stop until she was fully satisfied, in fact, she might had eaten a bit too much at once, but that was to be expected considering how long it really had been since she had eaten a fish. When she was done, Nada floated next to Berry and landed to lay on the ground with smile on her face as she listened what Berry had to say. "Everything still seems like it happened all at once." "And what about the millennia gap between things happening?" her smile faded "I feel like the world is making sure that I remember how long I have wasted by suddenly stuffing millennia everywhere." "I know it's stupid to think that, but I can't help it." 

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Since Nada wasn't interrupted she quickly finished the rabbit and hid the evidence,  a meal of that size didn't exactly fill her up, but it would be enough until she would have a chance to go for a real hunt without time limit. After she was done with hiding what was left of the rabbit, mostly things that were hard to get down in her current form like fur, she walked to a small puddle she had noticed and cleaned up any blood left in her hoofs and mouth.

She then simply walked back towards Marley and Spicy, her hooves were wet from her cleaning up, but there was nothing she could do about that, not that it was hard to come up with excuse for it.

She arrived to Spicy and noticed Marley wasn't there, it didn't take her long to guess out why "Ah, I assume you have sent your little birdie to spy on me." her tone was calm and nonchalant "He's either very good at that or he never found me since I didn't notice him."

[BloodDrops 762]

On 10/2/2018 at 10:21 PM, Blitz Boom said:

"We're getting a roof over our heads? I dunno who you are miss, but that's mighty kind of ya. Thank you."

Happy was still looking for that drink, but was starting to think that there just wasn't something like that here. And if there were, it were likely going to be some weak cider. You know what? He'd take that right now. The sphinx's offer was really nice, and he responded to it as you should when given a home - minus the jumping up and down whilst screaming - but this were a weird situation, and his stomach was feeling sort of queasy, so yeah, he could really use a drink.

"...We will take the offer, and make the temple our home. Much appreciated."

Onache finally found her tongue and talked to the sphinx, who everything considered, were owed the most right now in her mind. Words were all fine and good, but a temple were something else. A malleable one at that. A fine start point for a miniature nation.

 

The Sphinx smirked and smiled, before nodding, that had sorted that problem out and she no longer had anything to tie her down in this part of Equestria. "Good good, I may pop back this way if I need to do any business this way though i'm doubtful I will have to travel this far again. Though the temple is relatively low maintenance" she remarked letting out a low yawn. 

 

On 10/3/2018 at 2:34 AM, Lucid_Nightlight said:

"You're giving them the temple? Well, I guess that means it'll be less work on us and we can focus on the party."

 "Well I think they will treat it better then someone like yourself. And they need it more" she said pointedly. 

 

On 10/3/2018 at 2:49 AM, Dji said:

Twilight thought about the riddle for a good long while. She knew that swimming away didn't mean leaving the tank where the fish lived and dying and drowning are the same thing which left five instead of one. Still, this didn't necessarily mean that five left was the right answer. "Can I ask a question about the riddle? Where did the four fish that swam away swim to? Because swimming away isn't the same as dying and where can they swim to when all of them are inside a tank?"

 

The Sphinx growled and rolled her eyes, this pony was just rubbish at riddles. "Well if they are in a sealed container, they can't exactly escape from it" she said pointedly. "If they didn't escape they were still in the tank, even those that died were still in the tank. I didn't ask anything about alive ones, just how many were in the tank. So since you can't escape in the tank, that gives you your answer" she purred. 

A large book on riddles dropped down on Twilights bed, that she could read at her leisure. "I delivered you a present at your house, you may read it then return it to myself after doing so" she said with a large grin. 

 

On 10/3/2018 at 8:47 AM, EQ_Theta said:

"So... that crown is looking bright once more," Fluttershy nervously turned to the sphinx. "Does that mean we can get out of these cages now?" 

The cages disappeared leaving the ponies standing on some sand. The Sphinx blinked "yep its glowing, so its time for myself to take my leave. My work here is done, at last" she remarked with a chuckle. 

 

 

[Rising Dusk 27,511]

@Blitz Boom

Pretending to understand the ins and outs of how an artificial mind worked compared to his own seemed rather foolhardy.  It was still rather interesting to think about though.  How much of a pony's mental process was taken for granted and just considered 'the way of things' he wondered.  Felicia's mind though, could really break it down to something a biological creature just considered automatic or instinct.  Dusk could remember things from pretty much every point in his past as if they had just happened.  All the way back to the first time him and his sister were laid in their crib in Canterlot.  An erudite unicorn and very tired, yet beautiful, looking pegasus smiling down at him while his limbs blindly moved about looking for purpose.  His mind probably had a similar filing system Felicia's did, even if he wasn't as actively aware of it.  Something the two shared in common.

A simple nod came from Rising Dusk to respond to his hopefully helpful method of exploring.  He hoped it would help her in the end and the crew of the scrap yard were a good bunch of ponies.  As the afternoon was quickly approaching, the city was starting to come more a live as ponies ventured out to partake of their various lunch routines.  Luckily they were nearly the more deserted East Side of the city, so their bath through the alleys should remain unhindered.

Moving on to her next inquiry brought about an interesting topic consider Felicia might not know the concept of promoting.

"More or less," he started while they rounded into another alley.  "My field is largely unexplored so there is a lot of time I spend learning as I go.  When I was first recruited into the Office of Magical Investigations, I spent most of my time in the basement, disenchanting artifacts that were deemed dangerous.  After a time, I was then sent to also Dispel harm magics that had befallen ponies in the city.  Wanting to do more, I took the officer's examine and became an official officer of the law.  This promoted me out of the basement and I started taking on cases within the city.  Mostly in a supportive role for whichever pony had been put in charge of the case.  Whether from the O.M.I or regular police department.  Even if the case wasn't magical in nature, we still gladly lend a hoof when needed.  A few years learning the ins and outs of investigating and the city itself, I was promoted to Detective.  Now able to take on cases alone, or take the lead of bigger ones if necessary.  And rather recently, within the last year, I've had my cases expanded beyond the city's borders and into all of Equestria.  This all took me about eight years to get to where I am today." 

 

Edited October 6, 2018 by Rising Dusk

[Blitz Boom 4,620]

@Catpone Cerberus

"To be fair, it have been a weird few years, starting around the time when Twilight came down from Canterlot to keep an eye on the old library. It's like weirdness just follows her and her friends around, along with general danger. I'm sure it's part of The Conspiracy, yet how? Why? I haven't figured it out yet, but I'm sure the answer lies somewhere within the secrets to how Twilight became an alicorn. But of course, the princesses keep a close eye on that secret, so that's a dead end. For now."

Berry wasn't sure what she'd do if she actually found the secret. Use it on herself perhaps and see if it worked? Heh, that'd be a fun one. Presenting Berry: The Alicorn of Truth.

...Actually had a nice ring to it. She'd have to think about that some more, though again, a secret to be found before that.Perhaps if she took a trip to Canterlot and looked through Celestia's trash for a month she'd get somewhere? But then she'd need to use her vacation days on that instead of her actual vacation... Decisions decisions, she had to take them later.

"Let's look on the bright side though, right Nada? You're out and about now, and if the Princess of Friendship can hang out with Discord and the changelings, I see no reason why you won't be welcome too. It'd be one hay of a hypocritical thing to do at least.

And hey, you got me to help you out. I ain't leaving my friends behind, short of them trying to get me institutionalized. Friends don't put friends in the psych ward."

Berry would attempt to give the siren a hug again, which may go easier and less stiff now, since the siren had gotten herself a good deal of chow down now. Rest in peace, fishies.

"Anyway, was the fish good? You look like somepony who downed a half dozen cupcakes and fell into bliss."

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

"I consider myself to be very good."

Marley suddenly stood behind Ruby, having flapped down from the trees above without making a sound. In his talons, a small handful of leaves rested. He hadn't wanted them to fall on the pony and give away anything, though as Ruby were actually a dragon, she may have smelled him a few seconds before he talked.

"Heh, showoff. And yeah, I sent him off to keep an eye on the sky. I like you Ruby, but in our world, you gotta be cautious about cops."

"If it helps, I didn't watch whatever you were doing while you were away. I just looked out for potential carrier birds. We're not here to take away your privacy after all."

His voice clearly reeked of the kind of confidence that just screamed *If I wanted to see you, I could, and you would've never spotted me*, but most of the time this arrogance had been warranted. He was rarely seen, only by those with really good senses, and if it came down to a battle he could keep his own in a confrontation handily. He may not have magic, but his former profession had trained him well in doing with what he had. A pity he hadn't taken well to all of their teachings and ideals, or he may have made quite the effective spy, yet that wasn't his want. A little too *cloak and dagger* for his taste. Plus those clothes... Urgh, what a disgrace to fashion.

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

 

@EQ_Theta

Omen looked down on the necklace she had been given now. It reminded her of the one she had left behind, before trying to go and find a way to help Sen live longer, except the pouch of dried fruit wasn't there too. They likely used those to feed Shrimp while she were away, considering the little thing seemed to like that kind of food, but they could have gone old too she guessed. It confused her how some food started to get moldy and weird when you just left them there, but leaving some pieces around and just starring at them for days on end had taught her a little about things. Not why it happened, but at least that it could, and would, for most edible things.

"I remember this. It looks pretty."

The scale that Lin had taken off before she went away to be healed up, and now one from Sen too? It had sounded like a very important gift before, but now... She were pretty sure that this was a very important, heartfelt gift. Something she should keep on her and protect forever, to always remind her of her two best friends.

Times like this she wondered what it would be like if she were able to cry with joy. Probably would have fitted, yes?

"Thank you. Should I do this too now?"

Omen pulled out her tongue and wrapped around some of her hair, ready to pull. Even when not attached to her, it would still keep flowing like the wind went through it, so it might be important too? It left an impact the time she had cut some of it off when trying to find out what a scissor were at least. Not a good one though, so perhaps not? She's have to wait and see what Lin said.

She wanted to do something for her at least. Sen and Lin had done many good things for Omen, and whatever she might have done, she couldn't really remember, as it seemed to have happened in that village Lin were just speaking about. It didn't seem like she had really given anything back, and this necklace seemed important. Lin looked... Happy at least? Emotions were hard, but smiling likely meant that somepony were in a good mood.

It was a shame that she didn't have scales that she could give to make things completely equal, and she couldn't tear her skin off without it getting weird. She had accidentally done so once before, and it had been such a mess that Discord had made her promise not to do something like that again, so all that she could give of her body were hair. Perhaps she could find something else eventually? She didn't own anything, but she had found weird things through the years. She could get some of them and hope it would do? Everypony seemed to like shiny things.

"And why would Mother be angry with you? We're her children. She loves us. Even the bad siblings."

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

 

@Rising Dusk

Felicia listened intensely to everything Dusky was saying, as they passed into yet another of the abandoned alleys they had passed when going here in the first place.

"𝕀𝕥 𝕚𝕤 𝕒 𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕜𝕖𝕖𝕡 𝕗𝕠𝕔𝕦𝕤 𝕠𝕟 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕘𝕠𝕒𝕝, 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕨𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕚𝕥 𝕖𝕟𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙, 𝕤𝕠 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕞𝕒𝕕𝕖 𝕚𝕥 𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕟. 𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕚𝕞𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕤 𝕞𝕖 𝕒𝕘𝕒𝕚𝕟, 𝕀𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕝𝕠𝕡𝕖𝕣."

It was quite an impressive way he had gone from what she could understand. Taking his abilities and building upon them, and climbing the ranks over years to get out of the dusty basement he had been in, and out in the open to expand his workload, and places for his abilities to be useful.

She found herself somewhat in his starting position when first they met. Stuck in her own metaphorical dusty basement, and doing the limited duty that she was assigned. It took him years to do what she had needed a month for, but it did not make her think less of him. Quite the opposite, if he could go from the small starting point he had and follow the light for years on end to become what he now were, he were a well determined being who were frankly inspiring, and only got more with every bit more she learned from him.

Perhaps someday, she could learn him something too. She had a decent library of knowledge from Center Zero that she could share, soon as she got herself a voicebox, which had been downloaded to her files either by accident, or out of another paranoid fit from Molotov about potentially losing everything in a fire or something. She hadn't unlocked all that many of them yet, as he had protected them well, but it was coming along. With some luck, she would eventually crack the code on the genetics files, as she considered Dusky prime for a study in what beneficial traits he might pass on, and if he could do with a lot of them, Felicia would have to see if she could catch him a mate. Pony dating were alien to her, but she knew how to bait prey.

She'd have to decide later on if dangling the officer from somewhere that several mares could see him would be efficient enough, and then question the worth against the backlash she might suffer from him for the action, but one thing at a time. First she had to gain access, then gather more intel, and then eventually, she'd perhaps go hunting with Dusky. Literally.

"𝕄𝕒𝕘𝕚𝕔 𝕚𝕤 𝕒 𝕓𝕚𝕘 𝕕𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣. ℍ𝕒𝕧𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕨𝕙𝕠 𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕝𝕖𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕙𝕚𝕘𝕙 𝕥𝕙𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥 𝕝𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝𝕤 𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕤 𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪 𝕚𝕞𝕡𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕥. 𝔸𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕪 𝕨𝕙𝕠 𝕕𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕪𝕠𝕦, 𝕠𝕣 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕣𝕒𝕣𝕖?"

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

 

@Seamore Sandwich @BloodDrops @Dji @EQ_Theta @Moonlit @Storm Shine @Lucid_Nightlight

Seeing the newcomer gave a big grin to Anomaly's face. Another draconequus? And Novia was the name of Lucid's crush, so it was even better. Now it wasn't just like a convention of draconequui and assorted, but a matchmaking arena too. This was gonna be fun!

Jumping out of the bouncy castle, Anomaly landed belly up, bounced once, then suddenly grew four hairy tarantula legs on each side of her body that rose her up, and skittered herself a little closer to the newcomer. She were still laying upside down though, but that was nothing she couldn't fix by giving herself a smack, which caused her face to spin around and eventually settle on a position so the world were turned the right way.

"Ooooh, hi Novia! I'm Anomaly, and yeah, I'm a draconequui too. Not very big with the chaos, but I get A+ on biology and theatrics. I think I might've lost some juice in the chaos tank when I died that first time, but eh, who cares? I can still make lots of pretty nature and weird animals.

So, what brings you here? Are you here to smack Pringle? That'd be good. He's a little meaniepants, and my sworn arch nemesis! I would've eaten him if he didn't look all yuck and Lucid threatened me with lots of bad things if I tried."

The changelings looked at this encounter taking place, as well as Discord effortlessly dispersing a strong cage into a swarm of butterflies of all things, and both pretty much had the same idea: They'd had to put a *No Draconequui* sign on the temple. It was fine outside, but this was just getting weirder and weirder, and it wasn't gonna help that there were now one more of them, and the sphinx wouldn't be here for much longer to keep any of their antics in check.

"I hate to ask, but what job are you referring to, miss? Kinda new to this setting, and I'm not caught up on everything."

It sounded a little like the sphinx's plan had been to contain Onache and himself's impact on Equestria, by making sure they got converted and put on ground where they had to play nice with others, but that sounded a bit weird. Seriously, it'd be one complex plan to pull off, what with every other creature here, and the many ways they might've impacted things. They might've wanted to throw his queen into a pool of lava instead, as an example. Wasn't like nopony had ever threatened that before.

Hopefully he'd get a response on this from the sphinx before she took off, but if not, he'd just shrug it off and get on with his life. It'd just give him a headache to think this through too much, and they had better things to do. Like hoping the ponies and assorted other creatures that were now completely free from their chains, didn't feel like beating the colorful bugs up for the trouble.

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@BloodDrops @Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine @Dji @Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich

Smack Pringle? Why would Novia do that? She saw Pringle has the sweetest thing ever, despite knowing that the lizard can be aggressive at times.

"He says that you tried to mess with him simply to see how long it would take to get him to snap when you first met him earlier. He doesn't exactly take kindly that. And of course Lucid is gonna do something if you try to eat his pet. He's really protective when it comes to Pringle."

Lucid added something to what Novia said.

"Well, that probably explains why Pringle is so mad at you. Maybe if you apologize to him, he'll be a lot nicer."

Novia turned her attention to Discord. She has never seen anyone with emitting this much chaotic energy before. Lucid has told Novia about a draconequus named Discord, this just had to be him. He matched Lucid's description exactly. She took a quick peek into his mind in which she found much of it confusing, but she relieved to see that this Discord guy seemed to have no bad intentions by the looks of it.

"I'm guessing that you are Discord? Lucid told me about you. He once told me about how ANNOYED he was when he was gonna try to stop you when you sided with Tirek, but Twilight and her friends started handling the situation before he could. Honestly though, he probably would've lost if he went up against you, so it was probably for the best. Seriously, he'd get destroyed many times over if he tried to fight you."

Lucid looked over at Novia and Discord. While what Novia was saying was likely true, he didn't like the idea of losing, it was his least favorite thing to do.

"Yes, yes, we get it, I'd get absolutely destroyed in a direct fight. Besides, I'm more annoyed about them heading out to handle the Storm King before I could do it. I was so ready to go fight that guy, but Twilight and her friends were already on their way, so I just stayed in Canterlot. I was gonna try and let everyone out of the cages, but no! They went on about how they wanted Twilight to let them out. So then I just sat around outside of the cages talking to one of the caged ponies about how the Equestrian military needs a serious upgrade."

That reminded him. He turned to Twilight to tell him something he's been meaning to tell her ALL DAY.

"You should really upgrade your military. Seriously, military related technology is so outdated in this world! You should start making the stuff those humans have, they got some pretty serious military technology. Some better training would be helpful to the guards too."

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@Blitz Boom

Sapphire looked down and sighed to herself. "You shouldn't worry. You remember the way to this plant better than I do, right?" She asked, knowing she could easily prevent them from taking anything from them. "I could go there, and stop them. without hurting them." The way she spoke was sinister, but she knew that they'd listen to her, or even trust her too easily, it was fixing her sister that was more concerning than whether or not her daughter was- 'Wait what am I thinking- No... I should've helped her from the start in this same way, rather than abandon her for a new family.' She thought to herself, already prepared to teleport there, but she awaited Emerald's response.

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

@Blitz Boom

Iron glanced to Chow as he pulled out books. "Wait!" He jumped over, getting Chow out of the way with a push, careful not to knock Chow over as a trap was set off. Sending a blast of magic to further ensure the books protection, but iron easily shielded it off after he got Chow out of the way. "Remember? You said watch out for traps. we need to do that before we grab anything." he said, looking to the bookshelf, casting a spell in front of himself to detect magic. "Most of their books are protected it seems, only they can read it." he sighed, disappointed. "Except you." He pulled out one book, hard leather back, covered in runes on the spine, the front decorated with etchings.

"What is so special about that one?"

"Magic book, literally. Has a mind of its own." He opened it up and read through the pages.

Astral rolled her eyes, hoping this book couldn't talk. "Just keep looking, as long as we get out of here before anypony shows up."

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

@Dji

Zealous turned around swiftly to her, almost startling how quickly he did so. "What company?" He said, raising his head to look behind her. "I don't need any, haven't needed it for ages." He chuckled a bit as he looked back down at her, with his eyes closed. "Well, you have already gotten what you need already, right?" He said, raising his head again as he gave her a somewhat, frustrated expression. "No need to give me company, a stranger essentially."

Crystal sighed to herself, not wanting anything to see something heat up in front of her, getting up from her seat, having left bits for the bill as she made her way over to the two. "Is everything alright here?"

[EQ_Theta 457]

@Blitz Boom

"If you're comfortable with pulling locks of hair from your body, we've got plenty of time before morning. Maybe I can help you out. What do you have in mind?"

Lin brandished her claws and tried wrapping one around some hair to see if it could make a quick cut without taking any unnecessary strands off. "It makes a clean cut."

As for the matter with Mother getting angry, it seemed like this was going to be one of those confusing topics that Omen would probably be stuck thinking about. It was a simple enough idea for Lin to wrap her head around but for Omen's sake, she'd take this one slow. The young ones in the village needed time to absorb some difficult and contradicting ideas; perhaps this was one of those times when Lin needed to take the kind of tone a mother would, and be a patient guide. 

"I won't argue with you; Mother loves her all of her children, and that she loves us, but love isn't exactly simple and straightforward. Sometimes, we do things she might not like. Mother would be angry with us but that doesn't mean she doesn't love us anymore. She still does, and her being angry means she cares about what we do and the consequences of our actions. If she didn't love us, she wouldn't care about what happens to us. Love can be shown in many forms, sometimes it doesn't seem to make sense at first. At the same time, some will try to use that explanation to manipulate you, an excuse to keep hurting you under the guise of love. Not everyone will see things the same way and that means you should be careful. But I trust Mother, and I know Sen does too." 

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

@Blitz Boom @Storm Shine @Lucid_Nightlight @Dji @BloodDrops @Seamore Sandwich @Moonlit 

"Lucid, please understand that Celestia didn't leave Twilight a lot of information before we were run out of Canterlot to search for the Hippogriffs. We ended up having to go to Klugetown for help but we were nearly sold! Why would anypony want to sell ponies?"

That was a terrible memory from her travels. It was already bad enough she and her friends were hungry, thirsty, tired, and desperate to be pointed to another direction, but to be conned by an opportunistic cat and nearly sold twice in one day... she wouldn't want to think of it any further. On the positive side, she did genuinely befriend the con artist from Abyssinia, a sly fellow by the name of Capper. Rarity seemed to hit it off with him before they parted ways, leaving him with a new jewel and gold-encrusted coat with matching top hat. From what he told them, the cat would be traveling the Captain Celeano and the pirates for a while, then who knows where their paths will take them? The pegasus hoped Capper and the pirates would find happiness on their travels. 

Oh, what did you mean by 'they'? Who said they wanted Twilight to let them out of the cages?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

@Blitz Boom
Nada just listened as Berry talked, partly because she didn't want to interrupt, and partly because she still didn't understand part of what she was talking about, not that she really knew what to say to that other than 'I see' anyway.

When Berry mentioned the word friend, it got Nada slightly off guard, Friends? am I your friend? and she didn't expect her to hug her again either, though she still didn't do anything to stop it, nor did she hug back, fearing that she would accidentally hurt Berry due the size difference.

"Yes it was." Nada replied with surprisingly friendly tone "Thank you for bringing me here....no...thank you for everything." "You probably can't imagine how much you have done for me by just talking to me, not to mention you trying to help me."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ruby indeed had sensed Marley before he had made his presence known, but she decided to not mention it since it was something ponies usually weren't able to do. She was glad to hear than Marley hadn't actually managed to see her, not that she really cared for privacy per say, she just liked where this was going and knew that her real nature getting revealed could ruin everything....though even in that case she wouldn't leave empty hoofed...handed....taloned?

"Though I find it slightly insulting that you still think that I could be working with the 'law', I don't blame you for being careful." she grinned a bit "I wouldn't trust myself either if I met myself." "After all, like you said, you can never be too careful."

[Rising Dusk 27,511]

@Blitz Boom

It was impossible to tell what could be going through the mind of the spider bot.  She had no facial expressions or any tells at which to determine what she might be thinking.  Or if anything he was saying got through to her, if she understood or even cared.  Perhaps though, it presented Dusk with an interesting thought.  He might not be all the aware of his own expression when listening to others.  Often times it looked like he wasn't even paying attention to what somepony was saying, but he indeed was.  Most ponies he knew had just gotten use to the fact that Dusk was always listening even if it didn't look like he was.  Something to consider in future conversations mayhaps.

"There are fourteen ponies who work at the O.M.I. currently and we all investigate magic based crimes in different ways.  I have a rare, maybe unique, gift to actually see magic.  A whimsical ethereal weave that is the spell.  With this, I can deconstruct how the spell works, how it is held together and in essence, know where it is weak so I can pull it apart.  Any unicorn is capable of dispelling magic, it just comes to the degree of such ability.  Where most unicorns might take days or weeks to remove an enchantment from an artifact, I can do it in minutes.  Seconds if I'm already familiar with the spell.  Because of such feats, and solving a big case that had been looming over the city for some time, the agency gave me the title 'Spell Breaker'."  It was a rather long explanation, but based on the sheer lack of knowledge exchanged on such things, the art of a career around the dispelling of magic appeared rare in Equestria.

Coming to the end of the alley, Dusk stopped and turned sideways toward Felicia.  Lifting his back leg up slightly to more expose his flank more clearly to the spider bot.  More specially the orange magatama rising over a shining yellow starburst.  "This is my Cutie Mark.  A mark us ponies obtain when we find our calling in life, or a characteristic that makes us unique."  Putting his leg back down he continued along their trek back to the workshop.  "I earned it when I was a young colt in school.  A fellow student had been accidentally hit with a dangerous Hex that threatened her life.  I managed to dispel it before any harm could come to her.  It was the first time I'd managed to perform magic, and it was also the same time my Cutie Mark appeared."

It wasn't must longer before the time for story telling was coming to an end and the pair managed to leave the last of the alleys.  Workshop 05 looming in the distance.

 

Edited October 8, 2018 by Rising Dusk

[Sekel 692]

@Blitz Boom

KARMIC FATE/ATZY

"You sound like you want to study us," Atzy replied in a thoughtful tone. She didn't understand why she thought that, maybe it was Karmic's influence, or maybe it was the fact she could sense it about him. Then again, Atzy could be completely wrong about this.

'Study!? Why study!? We are not an experiment, Atzy!' Karmic cried angrily and thumped against the compartment Atzy had thrust her into.

@FanOfManyShows

WATTS MECHANO

"Oh, hello," Watts waved to Crystal, temporarily ignoring Zealous. "I recognise you from when you talked with that papyrus creature. And no, you're not. I'm accompanying this stallion, Zealous Enigma, to help with whatever he's got going because he's been so helpful to me." She then turned back to Zealous and smiled broadly. "Isn't that right?"

@Blitz Boom

AURORA LIGHTS

Aurora giggled at the festivities that suddenly sprung about them and almost missed Onache's question. She turned to face the changeling in question and cleared her throat. "What's it like in your new form? I wasn't a part of Thorax's hive that changed with him because I was living in Griffonstone."

@Blitz Boom, @EQ_Theta, @BloodDrops, @Storm Shine, @Lucid_Nightlight, @Seamore Sandwich, @Moonlit

TWILIGHT SPARKLE

"Then all of them are still alive," Twilight replied, feeling perturbed at the Sphinx. "All ten of them. That was a trick riddle because it forces the answerer to focus on the number of fish in the tank rather than the entire question."

[Blitz Boom 4,620]

@Catpone Cerberus

"Hehe, don't sweat it. I'm just happy to help. Besides, couldn't just leave you back there. What sorta monster would do that to a friendly being? Okay, somewhat friendly at first, but I've been through worse welcomes. And some parties. You wouldn't believe the sort of weird theme bars and festivities you can run into if you look around the block long enough.

Plus, you've been in that lake for millennia. There's no way you're part of The Conspiracy then, and It's awesome to have a friend who isn't potentially just out to lure you into a trap."

It were pretty fortunate for them both to have met one another frankly. Berry had somepony she could talk to that was untainted by the influence of the evil Conspiracy, and Nada had somepony who wanted to help her get back into life, and who wasn't scared of her. If it had been one of the more zealous types that ran into the siren, this would've gone way worse. Or Celestia forbid, that it was Doctor Whooves who fell over her. That weird guy would be back with a full test kit of something. She had seen him do the same thing to a changeling being caught once, but she hadn't stuck around to look at what happened from there. That guy weirded her out, plus he were already been kept watch over by The Conspiracy, via Derpy. Berry didn't trust that mare further than she could throw her, though she acted nice around the mailmare. Couldn't let the others get a whiff about her knowing that Derpy were one of their agents, who they had played off as having a lazy eye, when it was actually a spy cam. That's why it went all over the place.

"So, what's the plan now, Nada? I got the day off, so I'm game for whatever."

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

"Right on the money. And hey, feel free to do the same if you think we're out to get you. Fair's fair and all that jazz."

"Hmhm, indeed."

Marley looked down on Ruby with an amused look going over his face from her unfazed reaction to his presence. She had known that he were there, but it were more than that, wasn't it?

He walked slowly around and past Ruby, and gave her a glance as he were right at her side, aiming to catch her eye. The look in his were one of amusement still, yet something else played in. An almost... Knowingly glance, before he spoke his mind to her.

"How delightful to not meet someone who isn't reacting badly to what is going on, my dear equine. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing more of what hides beneath, but we should be on our way. We're nearly there now, and we wouldn't want to delay too long. After all, this will be quite the game-changer for you, Ruby."

The way he put a little extra pressure on the way he said *equine* and the way he phrased things afterwards were meant as a way to tell Ruby that he knew that she were not what she seemed, though Spicy seemed none the wiser about this, but just thinking that the griffon was talking to hear his own voice again.

Ponies were predictable in Marley's experience. If you snuck up on them, they would react certain ways. If they didn't know you were there, generally wincing, reactive counter-measures, surprise, and so on were the norm, with the few who could sense him i advance either showing themselves to be more wary, or attempting to hide that they hadn't expected things. Yet Ruby? She had been completely unfazed and cold about it. Ponies did not react that way. They were far too emotional for that.

So to him, he were thinking that Ruby were a changeling. He didn't judge that she wouldn't want to reveal that. They had a bad rep, and she were likely hungry and had no other ideas what to do with herself, so she utilized a skill and just followed the first ones who offered a way to truly go the length with it. No issue to him, and she could keep her charade up for as long as she'd like. Unless she attempted to drain them in their sleep, it didn't impact him, and that she'd sometimes find some gullible bystander and have her feast in private, that wasn't his concern. They didn't pay him, so why should he care about their well-being?

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

 

@EQ_Theta

Omen didn't really stop to think it through as she tore a good hoofful of hair from her mane, without a trace on her that it hurt. She felt something from it, which wasn't all that comfortable, but it weren't much, so it didn't register as all that much to her. A perk of having some dulled senses, though not knowing when to do things because it hurt were likely weird.

The barren patch that were now on her head from where she had pulled the hair out, would slowly begin to be overtaken by the surrounding mane to repair the damaged area. An hour or so, and it would look as if she had never pulled the strands of ever-moving hair from herself.

As for what to do with them, Omen still needed to think over that. She had seen others braid things before. Perhaps she could braid some necklaces or something? She might need to pull more hair for that, but that should be okay she guessed.

More importantly though, were Lin's explanation, which she had to focus more on to try and get every bit of information with her.

From how Omen's confused eyes got even more blank than they tended to be, Lin should be able to tell that what she said were hard to register for the old mare.

"Hate can be love, and love can hurt you?

...Is this why Mother doesn't tell the siblings who yells bad things at her, to stay away? They hate her, but they still love her?"

It tended to happen more often than not that when their siblings gained enough self insight, they'd eventually discover some truths about themselves, and not everypony took it well. They'd come back and yell at Mother, calling her very bad things and say lots of things Omen didn't understand. But Mother just took it, and at worst would loudly proclaim that it was enough scolding, yet she never said to any of them that they were not welcome, and those who did tend to come back seemed to be at a better mood when they wandered in to speak with Mother in privacy.

It was the closest she could compare this to, and trying to understand what was going on. If this wasn't anything like it, she'd have to mull over this at some point when she had the time to really process things, and then hope to sort it out a little by little then.

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

 

@FanOfManyShows

Emerald glared at her sister silently, thinking over what to do here, before she finally just let out a snort and gritted her teeth.

"Handle it, or I will. I'm not letting them foil our plans again."

With that, she turned her back on Sapphire and began to keep on her trek further inside the orchard. She'd get the plant and return to the basement later, and hopefully it would then have been handled so she didn't have to get her own hooves dirty. Sapphire wouldn't like it, and the two of them had a tense alliance right now. Hurting her new family would be a risk of splitting them apart again, and Emerald didn't want that. Yet if she had no choice, she would defend her actions, so Sapphire better be sure that she could deal with them.

She would've kept an eye on the situation further, but it seemed like her scrying ward wasn't what it used to be. The vision were fading rapidly already, and within a few seconds, she wouldn't be able to make anything out anymore. The sight of somepony nearly getting hit by one of her traps came into view, though she couldn't see who it were, or what book. Hopefully not the talking one. It might not be of any concern when it came to the ressurection  she had planned, but it were still a highly valuable read, and it had taken her a long, long time to make it trust her enough to reveal the true spells on its pages. Threats just made it retaliate, so it had to like you, or it may just fool you out of spite with a spell that could end up causing the one casting it to turn green, grow an extra limb, shrink or something else.

Emerald were never sure if it just disliked her specifically on sight, and would be kinder to others upon their first meeting, as she hadn't shown it to others after *finding* it, but she sure hoped it wasn't just her. The spells within shouldn't be shared with others as far as she were concerned.

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

 

@FanOfManyShows

Chow felt a sinking feeling in his chest from knowing that he had just done something very stupid, and was about to pay for it. He had been the one warning about traps, and yet he had been the first to wander right into one. What a bonehead move, even for him.

Then suddenly, he were pushed out of the way as Iron dealt with the magic blast that had been aimed right at Chow. He were saved from his own stupidity, but the words right after certainly felt like a stinging scolding. And a warranted one too, because that had really been a dumb, dumb thing for Chow to have done right after talking about caution and not wanting to get caught.

"Sorry chief, that was a boneheaded move. Thanks for the save."

Getting back on his hooves he wondered what else he could get to perhaps taking with him, when Iron began talking about a book with a mind. Something that caused the stallion to wrinkle his nose in disbelief.

"Okay, I'm willing to buy a lot, but a book that thinks? Now things are starting to go into the deep end."

It was likely the only book that were safe to get a hold of from the way Iron talked about the shelf, but still... Thinking book? This were stretching things a bit in his mind, even with all the crazy stuff that had gone on already.

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

 

@Dji

"I'm bored. Extremely, dreadfully, mind-numbingly bored."

Enzo let out a large, deep sigh, which rolled warm breath with a faint smell of rat over Atzy/Karmic.

"300 years, stuck in a mostly empty temple, and it is when I reach pony lands that things finally grows unbearably stagnant. Asked to help by your generals, but then left in limbo upon the lawn like a common statue, which nopony approaches out of fear that I am there to demand half the kingdom simply to be on their side.

I am not an unreasonable sphinx. I only want a place to sleep and fish to feed upon. Is that truly too much to ask for? Enough to have your generals discuss for hours upon hours? This uncertainty are like torture, so I sought something to do. Your situation seemed of some interest, as the smell of bug and pony hung thickly upon your form, so this is what I now drudge along with. At least here I seem to be somewhat useful for something."

Yeah yeah, *sphinxes are highly dangerous creatures that would save a life only for the one saved to then owe them for three generations* and so on, but Enzo really meant what he said. he was bored and needed something to do, and this had seemed like a task he could focus on. Though if Atzy kept shutting his attempts down, there wasn't much that he could, and he'd return to Canterlot to wait for the slow generals to finally get off their chairs, or whatever they were doing in the castle. Annoying that it was too small for him to wander through and find out himself. Now, if he had still been a kitten? Different story there. He could get in basically everywhere back then, but now he had spend too long away from everything, and never had the chance.

Stupid dragons and their temple...

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

 

@Rising Dusk

"𝕐𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕓𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕓𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟? ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕧𝕖𝕟𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕥."

Felicia had wondered what truly the point were with those things. Molotov and Blitz never talked about them, Carmen had no idea, and there wasn't anything in her database about them, as it hadn't been valued as important information to her programming, and if there were any research files about these things, she hadn't been able to unlock them yet.

It seemed she didn't need to either. Dusky did a good job of explaining it in a way that she could understand the basics of it, even if the technical matter behind them was glossed over. It were curious, and she'd like to know the full process, but it wasn't really needed as long as she understood what the point of them were. It wasn't like she could aim for her own after all. She wasn't a pony.

Perhaps she could get Molotov to add a branding of some kind when she had found out what she did best. An option for the future, though at the present, there were more important things to think of, and not long to do anything about it in, as the workshop loomed within their sights.

"𝕊𝕒𝕧𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕝𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕤 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕞𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕧𝕖. ℙ𝕠𝕟𝕖𝕤 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕤𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕕𝕪, 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕣𝕖𝕡𝕒𝕚𝕣𝕤 𝕤𝕝𝕠𝕨𝕝𝕪. 𝕐𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕗𝕦𝕟𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕡𝕡𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕘𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕠𝕠 𝕞𝕦𝕔𝕙 𝕕𝕒𝕞𝕒𝕘𝕖 𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕞𝕡𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕥. 𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕕𝕠 𝕚𝕥 𝕗𝕒𝕤𝕥, 𝕚𝕤 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕟 𝕓𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣.

𝕄𝕒𝕘𝕚𝕔 𝕚𝕤 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕖. 𝔻𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕤, 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕙𝕖𝕝𝕡 𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕪 𝕚𝕗 𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕕 𝕣𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥. 𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕪 𝕨𝕙𝕠 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕙𝕖𝕝𝕡 𝕚𝕥 𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕤 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖, 𝕓𝕦𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕚𝕤 𝕨𝕙𝕪 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕡 𝕚𝕤 𝕞𝕒𝕕𝕖, 𝕪𝕖𝕤? 𝕋𝕠 𝕙𝕖𝕝𝕡 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕒𝕘𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕤𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕞𝕒𝕘𝕚𝕔? 𝕀 𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕨𝕙𝕪 𝕚𝕥 𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕞𝕡𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕟."

It saved lives to dispel magic, and yet they were only 14 who could do that? That was a disturbingly low amount of ponies in what she assumed were a very big country, at least from what Carmen had told her. It may be even bigger than what her small sister had seen too, and it were going to need help. Molotov would be best off keeping his focus on the cage with Dusky then, rather than her want for a voice box. That one would only make her life easier, whilst the cage could end up saving an untold amount of lives, just like Dusky had done. She couldn't deny that that was far more pressing matter.

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

 

@Seamore Sandwich @BloodDrops @Dji @EQ_Theta @Moonlit @Storm Shine @Lucid_Nightlight

Onache stared at Aurora, thinking on what to answer her on a question that were surprisingly difficult to answer.

"It isn't an easy experience to describe. The hunger have vanished, our bodies grown whole, and even when suppressed by the gem floating above us, I can feel my magic have grown. It is as if I were once half, but now stand completed. However, this chest fur and these membranous layers where I once held a mane and tail will take time to get used to. I can imagine that if you were to convert too, that you would not have to deal with the chest fur however. it appears to be a trait of my hive, and you have not been born of my eggs. As one of Chrysalis's, you would be more likely to be of many vivid colors.

And as for your question, yellow one-"

Fluttershy's question had not gone without notice by the queen, who now turned to Discord's closest to answer a question that she would likely not like the answer too. But the truth were often unwanted, for it were more gritty than many liked to think about.

"- Ponies are a valuable resource to many races. be it changelings for food, dragons for prices, or the vulpine creatures from the east who sometimes wish for a forced friend for their offspring, your kind holds plenty of usages, which in turn makes you valuable to bring to a market of ill gained goods. For those who money matters to, I can easily understand why they would attempt to sell you."

"We're not gonna go there again though, right?"

Happy interjected with a little thought that entered his mind when the talk fell on Klungetown. A place they had been about twice, to exchange certain slaves for others. Mainly drones from other hives that had gotten too near her own, and who Onache had then subjugated.  They were not of her hive, so she cared little what happened to them, so she tended to exchange them in sleazy settings. Klungetown were but one of those places, though not one they frequented often.

"We have no need to anymore, as long as nopony attempts to cleanse us from this desert. I cannot speak for the consequences if my hive gets threatened."

"Pretty fair I'd say."

While Happy went back to his bottle, and Onache returned her gaze to Aurora, Anomaly was over and watched carefully as Novia and Lucid interacted.

She maaaay be putting up signs whenever Novia wasn't looked that carried variations of *Tell her already!* on them to Lucid, and would go away whenever Novia may look her way, but it wasn't like she had flat out leaked anything to the other female draconequus... Yet.

When it came to what Novia said about what Pringle said though - great, two that could understand the mind of the lizard - she got a teensy bit offended.

"Hey, I wasn't any different to him than I am to anypony else. Pringle is just a vindictive little bag of scales."

She pulled her tongue on him, and returned to just look at how things went before Novia went over to Discord, and went through a conversation that was making her somewhat giddy in parts of her heart she didn't listen all that much to: Destruction. She might be a much better being now, but there was always a little part of her that had belonged to her destructive older self that wanted to do something old school. Something which Anomaly didn't want to as 1. She liked creating things instead. And 2. She got killed for that attitude once, and she didn't want to go through that again. Being dead likely sucked.

There wasn't much she could respond to for the longest time either. A lot of talk about things she hadn't seen or heard about before, which were kinda cool to listen to, but no pauses for her to interject anything. Hay, she didn't even have anything related to say about this.

Now, the military on the other tentacle, that she could say something about.

"Hehe, she doesn't have guards. The other princesses do, but Twilight doesn't. It wouldn't have been so easy to make her a pretty garden if she did.

I'm still thinking she should take that cranky brown one with the closed eye. She's no fun at all, but she seemed like she knew how to fight, and bends over for royalty. That's kinda guard-like, right?"

Anomaly couldn't remember Last Stand's name as she said that Hey thanks, I'll remember that Shh, I'm writing.

As I was saying, she couldn't remember the name, but she recalled the mare that she had given a quick heal on and who were likely still keeping the castle under guard with Celestia. Wasn't a unicorn, which would kinda be fitting for somepony like Twilight, who used to be the Element of Magic, but you know, that was nitpicking.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

@Blitz Boom
Nada just nodded and hummed in understanding to Berry's comments about the parties and the Conspiracy, she still thought that the pony was out of her mind, or at least slightly too paranoid...not that she herself was any less paranoid, but at least for her she had seen the banishment happening....but she didn't say anything about it and played along, after all, this was her first....friend, in millennia. "I guess next would be meeting with that friendship princess..." "Though I don't really want to leave the forest...just in case..." it was clear from her voice that she didn't really like the idea even if it was her own, but she knew that it was something that had to be done if she wanted to return to...having a life.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ruby met Marley's gaze and she could tell right away that he wasn't fully convinced by her pony-act, though it really didn't have anything to do with how he looked at her, since she could sense his suspicion anyway, and his choice of words and emphasis only confirmed what she thought, but regardless of everything, she was fully unfazed by this when it came to her reactions, she just blinked at Marley's glance, and to his words she replied with her usual tone and smirk "Don't flatter yourself bird, this is an opportunity to get what I want sure, but I wouldn't call it game-changer, at least not before I see some results." "Though I certainly agree that we should keep going now."

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine @Dji @BloodDrops @Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich

Lucid saw the signs Anomaly put up, but he couldn't say anything out loud or else the secret would be out, so Lucid sent Anomaly a quick telepathic message.

"Mother of Celestia's front left hoof! I'll tell her when I'm ready."

Now Lucid just needed to figure out how to keep Anomaly quiet, which would be pretty difficult, if even possible.

As for Novia, she had a response for what the pumpkin-head draconequus had to say about Pringle.

"Lizards, especially bearded dragons are different than ponies. When you mess with them, they see this as a direct threat."

On the topic of guards, Lucid actually knew some of them. There were two worth mentioning though.

"Two guards that I know can fight are Arrow and Somnus. Arrow was some adventurer who got all these cool magical items, but he had to stop doing that after taking an arrow to the knee. Somnus is immortal sorta like me, except he could die a lot easier than I can, since he's still a normal pony with normal limits, he does have a pet hamster though."

[EQ_Theta 457]

@Blitz Boom

"I don't think hate could be expressed as love. As far as I know, hate is the opposite of love and I suppose the two aren't compatible. I can't claim to know what your siblings were feeling at the time they said hurtful things, but I hope they still love her." 

Lin inched herself closer to Omen and placed one claw on her back. She looked at her intently but wanted to reassure her that despite being put in a difficult position of explaining this, she hoped that she being as helpful as she could. Going by the vocabulary, hate doesn't seem to jive well with love, concept-wise that is. She can understand being angry and saying hurtful things, but those would come out at the spur of the moment, with little thought put into them. She hoped that Omen's siblings still believed Mother loved them. That gesture somehow felt more like she wanted to be reassuring to Omen about how her siblings acted. Maybe it would offer her some form of peace of mind. 

"Love can hurt, Omen," she paused, trying to figure out what to say next without coming off as a mumbling mess. "It makes you vulnerable to pain, maybe understand things the way the other didn't intend, and that makes some feel disappointed or betrayed. Your siblings may hurt Mother with their words but Mother won't let that stop her from loving them."  

Frankly, that explanation was the only thing that Lin could think of. Maybe it might not be a satisfactory one, maybe Omen would need more than that to get the whole idea. Or maybe they would need to speak with Mother some time to get the whole picture. 

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

@Blitz Boom @Storm Shine @Lucid_Nightlight @BloodDrops @Dji @Seamore Sandwich @Moonlit

Just hearing about the varied reasons why anyone would want to buy ponies was disturbing. Even with the changeling threat already diminishing little by little, it left Fluttershy feeling a little disturbed. Or more than that. She probably wouldn't be able to sleep tonight knowing there were still ponies out there who won't be as lucky. But with the cages gone, it seemed that things were starting to look up for them. Even Angel came up and snuggled with Fluttershy, who promptly picked him up and hugged him. 

Afterwards, she walked up to Anomaly and Lucid, with Angel sitting on her back. She overheard the discussion about Pringle, perhaps sensing there might not be a need to speak to the lizard about his behavior. Though it wouldn't be proper of her to just cut in. 

"I'm Fluttershy, Novia. Is Pringle's behavior common for all lizards? I'm thinking that sit-down I planned for him and Lucid might not be necessary anymore." 

Edited October 9, 2018 by EQ_Theta

[Rising Dusk 27,511]

@Blitz Boom

Luckily the short lesson about how Cutie Marks works and how his own purpose fits in with the city, and Equestria as a whole, seemed to get across to the large spider bot.  His work with the O.M.I was rather important and he knew very well that was the case.  Even if not all his coworkers were even unicorn, they had their own necessary purposes in the agency.  Thinking about having to return to work tomorrow was already making a little anxious on how much work might have piled up with just a day off.  Shouldn't be too big an issue.  Hopefully by the end of the day he could fulfill the purpose Turntable had left behind for him and get Molotov on the right track to achieving his dreams of having an invention to present to the Princess.  He rather looked forward to reading about it in the paper.  The thought brought a smirk to his lips.

The pair neared the workshop, and it seemed to still be standing, which was nice.  He'd only known the Boom siblings for about a day now, but based on their stories, it didn't seem that far fetched that one day it just wouldn't be here anymore.  Half expecting it to just one day sprout legs and wander off.  Now that would make for an interesting police report if a workshop just started walking up the down the city streets.  Oh well.

While Rising Dusk might have seen the security system turned off from the outside before, it still seemed a little dangerous to just attempt it himself.  For all he knew, it changed in some sort of pattern.  Getting out seemed easy enough, but those security measured were aimed out, not necessarily inward.  Felicia most likely knew how to get in without a problem.  Or did she?  Has she ever had to enter the workshop from the outside?  Surely a warden would know the ins and outs, ha pun, of the workshop.  He was still feeling pretty good from the results of Felicia's first outing.

Lifting up his front right hoof, he knocked on the hard metal workshop door.  "Rising Dusk, party of two," he greeted the security system and hopefully one of the Boom siblings inside.

[BloodDrops 762]

On 10/6/2018 at 11:54 PM, Blitz Boom said:

"I hate to ask, but what job are you referring to, miss? Kinda new to this setting, and I'm not caught up on everything."

The Sphinx glanced at him and tilted her head, "Oh just educating some ponies. Some need more education then others" she remarked with a smirk staring at the Twilight Sparkle. She definitely needed more education.  

 

On 10/8/2018 at 1:29 PM, Dji said:

TWILIGHT SPARKLE

"Then all of them are still alive," Twilight replied, feeling perturbed at the Sphinx. "All ten of them. That was a trick riddle because it forces the answerer to focus on the number of fish in the tank rather than the entire question."

The Sphinx blinked dumbly at her, had she not been listening at all? "No five died, because two of them had drowned and three of them died from unknown sources. So that makes five, it seems you need to be taught basic mathematics as well as logic and puzzle solving" she said with a growl. She then flicked her tail "Besides I asked how many were left, not how many were alive or dead, How Many Were Left In The Tank, You know the thing they couldn't escape out of?" she said really slowly so the purple pony could understand.

"So that would mean there were ten left" she sighed before dropping a large book of problem solving in front of the purple mare, "Well I suppose since I've done here I can teach you basic mathematics, followed by advanced mathematics and then logical conundrums, should only take a year or two of study" she remarked. She personally though the mare might take a third year, since she didn't seem very sharp. 

"So lets get you back to your house or castle or whatever and start teaching you how to use that brain of yours" she purred amused.  

[Blitz Boom 4,620]

@Catpone Cerberus

"Can't really blame you there, so... Hmmm..."

Berry put on her metaphorical thinking cap and tried to figure out how to sort this situation. Nada were friendly, and Berry were almost certain that the princess would like her, but that didn't mean anything if she could arrange some sort of neutral ground for them, since Nada - understandably enough - wasn't all that big about going into town and face off against all them ponies and varied other beings, without knowing how the reception would be, and if she would be protected against prosecution. Getting thrown to a portal were an understandable fear for the siren, historically speaking, and since Berry and her were friends now, it were up to the mare to try and help her as much as she could.

It would be easier if the princess were just a coffee drinker, or at least came to the cafe Berry worked at. She could be lured with an offering of coffee perhaps, in exchange for meeting somepony that were a big fan of the princess. Although... Twilight had opened that *friendship school* - or indoctrination camp, as Berry thought of it as - and considering her title, perhaps just going up to her and saying that she had a friendship problem she'd love the princesses help with might do the trick? Depending on whatever she were busy, of course.

"What'd you think us following the river until we can see Ponyville, then you wait while I lure Twilight out to meet you? Long as you stay in the water and keep your head down, you'd have a great view of anypony who might try to confront you, so you wouldn't get caught in case something went wrong, or some noisy little thing brought some guards without knowing what was going on."

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

"Oh, I sense quite a lot of change in the air, my dear horsey. I can hardly wait to see it unfold."

Being called a bird didn't faze Marley, though he assumed it were intended to, as griffons had a certain... Reputation, when it came to giving them nicknames or belittling them with demeaning titles like that. He on the other talon, had heard it too much to truly care anymore, and quite honestly, this mare could not say anything worse than what sometimes got slung his way on the black and grey markets. She didn't know the varied slang, griffon-tongue expressions, or names relating to his past that would really get to him, and he for one were not going to simply hand it to her on a silver platter.

"Hey, if you two could stop flirting for a minute and keep on walking, we'll actually be there and able to get something done. You still interested in getting paid, or what?"

"Why of course we are. We're simply having a little battle of words, which so far have no clear winner."

Barring Ruby saying anything more, which would merely cause Marley to respond in kind whilst Spicy rolled her eyes, they'd soon get to a moss-covered rock formation, which didn't look like much, but from the broken hole in the middle that looked like somepony used explosives, they'd be able to see quite a wide staircase going down. They'd have to clear some of the home-made entrance to get things out of there that were bigger than them, but that were what it were.

"Heh, I knew it. Too focused on the town to come around and patch this up yet. I'll get the light baubles."

Back in the day, Spicy had used torches to get light in places like this, but that were a major hassle, especially if you were lifting something else too, so a few years back she had looked around, and found a vendor that sold some spheres of floating glass, with a light source in them. She just needed to wear the collar, press the button, and those things were gonna follow and light up the place nicely. They were pretty bright though, so it wasn't advised to look directly at them, but it were still one of the better investments Spicy had done in a while. Cost her a fortune of course, though what'd you expect when it came to something innovative? Always jacked up the price when it was new, there were no other alternative, and it was effective.

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

 

@EQ_Theta

"...Emotions are confusing."

Omen's eyes were an unblinking pool of confusion as she tried fruitlessly to wrap her head around what Lin said about love, hate, Mother, and emotions.

This had been one of the points were Discord had failed her, as he were supposed to not only stand for her intellectual growth, but also the emotional, so that she may become like a real being, yet with his involuntary departure, her growth in both areas had grown stagnant, and whilst she had learned some things from mainly Sen and Lin, emotions were a tough one to just understand. It were a matter of feeling out things and knowing what they meant, and Omen barely understood even what pain were.

"Important words, but I don't understand. Need to think on this many times."

She'd need time to process what Lin had told her, and a single night for example wouldn't do it. Considering the difficulty of the subject, Omen might need weeks, months, or even years before this truly registered with her, and she understood everything. She had some degree of an idea, but many pieces didn't hang together, since apparently, love and hate wasn't what she had thought it meant in the first place.

Perhaps Mother could help them to sort her head, once they were to meet her again. She knew better than any how to communicate with Omen, and as the one who had told all of her children that she would always love them, she'd be the best to explain how it felt to have her children turn on her, and how things went from there. Yet, Lin had made Omen think about this, so no matter how long it may take, she had set into motion that Omen would attempt to process a topic she hadn't really given much effort in the past. Slow as it may be, it would be progress.

Rosa were listening in to things as best he could, but he were feeling finally that he were dozing off. What were to come in his dreams were likely unpleasant, but the energy would be needed for the day ahead of them. Perhaps he may be able to help Lin explain things to Omen in the long run though, now that he knew a little more about them, Omen's issues, and this mysterious entity known only as *Mother*. He owed them to try at the very least.

Before dozing off, he wondered what they were going to do with the hair Omen apparently pulled out. Were they going to brain it into necklaces for the siblings? Or perhaps just tie some of it into balls and hang them from another string? There were more options, but he didn't have time to think about it before sleep embraced him, and the nightmares began.

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

 

@Rising Dusk

Thankfully, the security system were not on. As part of the recognition systems originally set up, Felicia had been set as a member of the household, which meant that it wouldn't turn on her, nor anypony she may bring with her. The design for Felicia had perhaps not included her being able to just escape, but she could still move out of the hatch above the door, and a little down to snatch anypony who got past the other security measures, so it had to be coded in to ensure that the systems wouldn't consider her an attacker and remove the final line of defense to the workshop.

Molotov had put in a distance tracker that would determine how far that went, but as part of her preparations to escape, Felicia had used the times when the pony were away or asleep to make certain adjustments to the system. It had turned out not to be needed for an escape, but in cases like this, it did work well to approach, though she'd need to get to work in the night once more and get Dusky coded in as well. He shouldn't need an escort or somepony else to have left first to enter safely.

And speaking of the officer, he wouldn't get a response to knocking on, or talking to the door. Likely, the siblings behind it were in the process o- *BOOM!*

Something loud happened behind the door, that made it, and the workshop as a whole, vibrate slightly. It sounded like something had exploded in there, which may well have severely hurt somepony inside. Something which caused Felicia to let out a shriek and crawl up the wall to get in through her *spiderflap*.

Everything would be silent for a while then. Seconds passing by with nothing happening, that eventually turned too minutes, before the door finally opened up and a cloud as dark as charcoal and smelling of candy corn, burst out of the workshop, along with a slightly darkened Felicia. On her back, she had a slightly singed Molotov coughing dark puffs of smoke out, and in her fangs, Blitz were held like a kitten. She looked toasty as well, were completely covered in a multi-colored substance that were probably best not to touch, though otherwise she didn't seem worse for the wear.

"𝕊𝕦𝕓𝕛𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕤 𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕕. 𝕍𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕤 𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕥, 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕕𝕒𝕞𝕒𝕘𝕖 𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕤 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕕. 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕚𝕥𝕦𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕚𝕤 𝕤𝕒𝕗𝕖."

Molotov looked up from his coughing fit to see Dusky, and tried to rise a hoof to greet him, but he wasn't done cleaning out his lungs yet. Blitz on the other hoof, seemed to not have too much to let out. A few sneezes and she seemed ready to face the world. Or in this case, their officer friend.

"Ehehehe, you should've seen that, Dusky. It was so much fun!"

"N-Not *cough cough* funny. Oh C- *cough cough*"

Molotov might need a minute before he could talk properly again, but on the bright side, it didn't seem like he was having issues breathing per se. Just took some time to get this out of his system.

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

 

@Seamore Sandwich @BloodDrops @Dji @EQ_Theta @Moonlit @Storm Shine @Lucid_Nightlight

Happy couldn't help himself when he saw the sphinx going after the princess. he just had to let out the laughter.

"I'm sorry princess, but come on. That dressing down you just got served, were spot on."

It reminded him of the kind of comedy he used to listen to back in the human world, and the few times when he had run into clubs that had that same kind of comedians. Happy had never told his queen, but he actually skipped over a town that would've been easy to take over, because one of his all time favorite comedians worked there. He really had to check up and see if Dry Tongue gave tours in Equestria too, and if so, buy a ticket there. It had been far too long since he had last enjoyed that little guy's show.

With that checked off and shoved into the back of his mind, Happy turned to the sphinx and looked up at her with a big grin on his face. Turned out this one hadn't been as bad as he had first thought. She had given them a new home, been part of Onache and him changing into something more sustainable, and now also gave a great show. That right here, was a pretty good gal in his mind.

"I dunno who you are miss, but I like your style."

Meanwhile, Anomaly listened into what she was told, but her eyes were locked on the lizard, just waiting for him to strike so that she could... Well, pour water over him or something. Not many ideas for non-violent, non-transformation revenges running around her head right now.

Plus, her mind was still very occupied with Lucid's response and desperate tone when he sent his thought-words into her head space. It had been absolutely priceless, and something that she'd have to warm herself with on boring days for a long time to come.

"Well, if I can't mess with my arch nemesis, then what? Be all serious and direct? Blergh, boooooring."

The spiderlegs grown out of her side retracted, and Anomaly flipped 180 to land on her own appendages again. Instead of correcting her face this time though, she just took the pumpkin off, and kicked it up into the air, where it'd explode into a fireworks display that depicted her, pulling her tongue at a sparkly Pringle.

She'd grow a new head whilst that went on, and then once again address the strange couple that wasn't really a couple, mainly because Lucid was a chicken right now or something something something, emotions, bla. bla. bla. She believed in just going for what you wanted, and if it didn't work out? Keep trying, or find something else to do. So Lucid's methods was boring to her. And also, as a draconequus who could conservatively be seen as the spirit of theater, couldn't help wanting to include some romance in this show. That tended to draw the crowd.

"Your guards sounds kinda goofy, but hey, they could duke it out with one-eye and see who got the job as head guard? I'm betting ten bits, and a monkey spider on my guard, though the hamster could turn the tides. Sneaky little things, and all over gnawing on everything. I crossed one with a hog on my island before, right? Ate most of the southern part and wobbled around with huge cheeks, until the dinocats ate it.

That kinda reminds me that I need to cull them again soon. Weird little things are exploding all over the place these days, and the faeries are getting kinda squeaky about it."

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@BloodDrops @Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine @Dji @Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich

Novia placed Pringle on her head and continued with Anomaly.

"I said nothing about being serious. You simply need to treat Pringle with a little respect. He is a lizard with lizard instincts, he going to get mad if you treat him poorly."

Lucid spoke to Anomaly about the guard thing.

"Fluffball wouldn't be useful in a fight. That hamster usually sits there and demands peanuts. Seriously, he loves peanuts just as much as Pringle loves strawberries. Somnus has 1,480 years of experience as a guard, he would put up a fight."

Edited October 10, 2018 by Lucid_Nightlight

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

@Blitz Boom
Nada thought for a second about Berry's suggestion "That sounds like a good plan." Even though she would be awfully close to town, or at least she assumed so, after all, wasn't it pretty close if she was able to see it? But there was something that could go wrong "Though I want to know what exactly you mean by luring." "Because doesn't that usually include lying about something, and..." "...and I may not trust you ponies at the moment, but wouldn't it be better that she knew what she was facing?" "What I mean is that....if she doesn't know she's meeting a creature like me, something ponies see as a thread, she may freak out and......well, you know." 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ruby didn't actually call Marley a bird to insult him, but it had been her intend to make him to think that she meant it so, because by acting that him calling her equine was a insult, she made the illusion of her being a pony stronger, even if Marley suspected something. She was glad that Spicy had cut the word battle short, not that Marley would know the right words to really insult her, but because she really didn't want to bother.

"So this is it." Ruby said as she immediately started trying to sense if there was anything shiny around, and now that she was searching for literally anything, she also sensed each piece of glass and other worthless yet shiny things, though her sense had limits of course, but it wasn't something as black and white as distance, though it was part of it...simply put, if she could see something that size from that distance in a daylight with nothing between her eyes and the thing, she was able to sense it.

If she were to sense something valuable, she would tell about it to Spicy and Marley, for everything else she would make a mental note to herself to see if she can get it to herself.

[EQ_Theta 457]

@Blitz Boom

"Take your time, Omen. Emotions are difficult things to understand."

Even Lin had to silently admit that this was one of those topics where she couldn't give Omen a full explanation. It was difficult to process these feelings, let alone think straight when overcome with anger. That was what she knew well, but to really explain why they hurt, that was different. It left her speechless and unable to reconcile herself with her own experiences. That was one other thing that she assumed Omen lacked: experiencing first-hand how love could hurt. Frankly, she couldn't bring herself to do it. She couldn't think of a scenario that she could simulate to drive the point home but even if she did, she couldn't do it if it meant hurting Omen. It seems like a bit of Sen's overprotective tendencies rubbed off on her.  

"I'll be honest with you, even I am confused by it. Sometimes we laugh but deep down, we are hurt. Sometimes we cry but we are happy. It's hard to say what someone is truly feeling when all we have is what we see and what we're told. I guess that why we don't know everything, so we can learn and grow. We make mistakes and we get better. If you need me to clarify anything confusing, all you need to do is ask and I'll do my best."

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@Blitz Boom

"Perfect, I'll get right on it." Sapphire said, before she teleported away as silently as she could.

"Oi!" Astral's ears perked up as the voice sounded, looking to the book in Iron's grasp "Put me down!" Iron looked to the book, no facial features on it to speak, just a voice originating from it. As it spoke the decorative carvings etched the book glowed as it spoke.

But before he could react, he sensed Sapphire's impending arrival, and they'd be teleported away. Iron taking them to the outskirts of ponyville instead of the location he mentioned earlier. still holding the book in front of himself. "How long has Emerald had you?"

"Long enough to know you are trouble!" 

He rolled his eyes, putting the book in his satchel as Astral looked around herself. "Uh, why did we exit?"

"Sapphire just arrived. So I took us out. Though it does seem she's gained this guy's trust." He said, holding up the book. 

"And I do not like your husky friend's comments." 

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

Sapphire arrived there, grumbling to herself as she saw only the aftermath, the torn open door, and activated traps. "Darn it." She walks around the place, dragging her hoof over the wrecked place. Sighing to herself. "At least I don't need to hurt them now." She looked to the shelf, seeing a missing book from the shelves, but only one spot caught her eye. "Great, he's gone now too, Emerald will not like that." She let her hoof land back on the floor, glancing around, trying to see anything that'd hint to where they ended up.

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

@Dji

"I got nothing to do that she could help me with, she's just following me for no reason." Enigma said, rather blatantly.

Crystal chuckled a bit, looking over to Watts. "Well, I have a feeling he's right. If you want to help somepony. I need to find out who took the draft for my book." She said, Enigma glancing around a bit. "Do you know who it is?" She asked, noticing his glancing.

He turns his head away. "No I don't, how could I even know that happened?"