open Casual stroll

[Rising Dusk 27,537]

@Blitz Boom

Oof, that was indeed an interesting mess made from baking.  Rising Dusk could see a good portion of things just from the entry way, and he definitely had to give Blitz the gold medal over his own sister for kitchen disasters.  Luckily, it seemed that the damage was mostly just having to clean up multi colored batter.  So not only did Blitz attempt to bake using explosives, but it looks like she was trying to bake for the whole city with how much there was.  It was impressive how well prepared the Boom siblings were for such things to occur on the regular.  The fact that no pony was harmed though was by far the most important part.  It didn't look like it would take repairs too long, although it didn't look like it'd be the most pleasant of activities for Molotov and Blitz's night.  Now that he thought about it though, living in the community of Center Zero must have been rather interesting when it was common place for a neighbor's house to be exploding every other day with a new invention.

While wanting to see how the new cage design did come along, it was something that could easily be put on the back burner to make way for more important things.  It wasn't all that big problem for Dusk, not being in all that much of a hurry with the completion of the project.  "No need to worry about the cage Molotov.  There are more important things ahoof," he told the other stallion when he came out.  It was nice though that he was going to have Blitz clean up after herself, these were the types of lessons a young pony should learn early.  Of course, the fact that he pulled out a fire hose to un-batter her might be a tad overboard.  Hose water came from the ground water, which was cold and the little filly was having the sticky batter blown off her with high water pressure. 

"It was my pleasure Molotov.  I believe we had some fun and learned a lot," he expressed with a smile.  "Hopefully she'll want to drop back by the scrap yard for a visit.  I'm sure the crew would like it," he continued before looking back into the workshop.  He had to go to work tomorrow, that couldn't be helped, but he should be able to swing by in a couple of days.  Or maybe even include the East side of the city in his patrol route.

"Do you need a hoof?" Dusk asked, motioning to the messy workshop.

[Blitz Boom 4,621]

@Catpone Cerberus @Moonlit

"I don't even know if the princess knows I exist. I'm pretty sure she would've had words about me rummaging through her trash if she did."

It wasn't the most clean thing to do, but how else was she going to find out secrets? Ask them? Nah, that'd just alert The Conspiracy that she was getting closer, even if the royals wasn't in on the whole scheme. Besides, who was gonna be truthful when you asked them face to face, when everypony had their dirty little secrets to keep from others? Nono, the trash talked the truth, and sometimes, that truth were just plain old weird. The things she had found around Long Stare's place...

A shiver went through her as that particular string of images came to mind. It still had to be cataloged, and it sure was interesting, but Berry was never going to tell anypony about what she found. Both because it wasn't evidence of much, and because of what she found out from those small pieces of the puzzle, even if it wasn't substantiated, she were going to be a very missing pony if she ever tried to use it against Stare. Some family ties should not be messed with.

Besides, as weird and off-putting as Stare were, Berry liked her. She didn't hurt anypony, and after the trashy letters she had found at Chop Chop's stand once, she sure wasn't gonna try and poke a stick in that wheel. Doubly so since Chop had been very clear that his own injuries would be nothing compared to hers if Berry ever tried to harm Stare. Considering his proficiency with knives, she wasn't gonna bet against his shark attack wounds being prettier than what she'd look like if she messed around with the wrong mare.

Nada here were an easier friend to deal with than those two. Sure she were a siren and getting her integrated into society was gonna be a pain in the flank, but at least this one hadn't threatened her or had potentially disturbing connections. Yeah yeah, she didn't trust Berry too much right now, but who could blame Nada? Wasn't like the last few millennia had been spent thinking ponies were angels after all.

"Anyway, don't worry Nada. it's not like I trust that many either. The Conspiracy runs deep and their spies are everywhere. I'd be pretty sure you could be one too if you hadn't been isolated for so long, but everypony else? All of them could potentially be part of it, and I haven't ruled out enough to be sure I don't need to take most with a grain of salt. The forest dwellers seem mostly okay though. Zecora, the weird filly with the explosions, and Special Harvest, before he went completely bonkers and began cultivating and eating Poison Joke. Which reminds me, if you see a faded-yellow shack out here, don't go near it. Some of his uhm... Well, let's just say that he had pets, and not all of them were caught. You really don't want details on that."

Berry frankly didn't want to think about it either, so she went on towards Zecora's area, with Nada freshly out of the river, and still completely unaware that anypony were following them.

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@Catpone Cerberus

The first response, about Ruby not being into feather, only made Marley chuckle a little more. Quite frankly, he wasn't into anything that were not a griffon, but at this point it seemed like Ruby and him could have some fun poking at one another, regardless of their preferences. It were not as if he had honestly thought that she were breathless simply from gazing upon him. Something else were afoot, and he were pretty sure it had something to do with the amulet she now clutched protectively, and the perfume that had affected her so.

At the last of her responses, Marley hadn't gotten any closer to try and touch the amulet, but simply looked down at Ruby with a somewhat amused look going over his feathered face.

"So it seems. Usually we have things evaluated before splitting them up, but not to worry, I can make an educated guess on what it is worth, and talk it over with Spicy to ensure that it will simply be seen as your first cut of the deal. Keep it."

He didn't blink as he said this, but just starred at the possessive little thing. Such a fragile little body, for someone who he were now certain were far more than what she appeared, or that he first thought.

"...Did you know that the job of a bodyguard is not as easy as you may think? Our employers trust us in making the right decision that will keep them safe, both from strangers, and those they allow to get close to them. It is our sole responsibility to make sure that we make the call, including whatever to tell them something which may be important, or outright lie to them, in case we determine it is more of a benefit to them to keep hidden."

Hardly had he said this, before Marley turned around and grabbed some of the boxes needed for the jars, and put them on his back, with his wings spread out halfway to allow more surface area to be covered.

"I am making that call now, since I believe it is more of a boon than a plaque to have you with us, and because I can respect your need for secrecy. I sincerely hope that you will not prove that this were an unwise decision, and if faced with the same choice, that you will repay the courtesy.

Now if you will excuse me, I have a job to do."

With that, Marley went back downstairs to began stashing up the jars, a smile on his beak and no further comment to what he were certain now were a dragon in disguise. How? Why? It didn't really matter, as much as whatever she'd use her secret or true form to harm Spicy. Currently, he saw mainly benefits, so he would give her the benefit of the doubt, and lie on her behalf if need be.

If she did eventually become a problem though... That would be a bridge they had to cross if they arrived at it, though in a fair fight, he found it doubtful that he could win.

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@EQ_Theta

"Many things to think about these days. No time to think. More thoughts come. Still no time. Head makes time."

Omen didn't know all the ins and outs of why or how she shut down when she had an overload of unprocessed information, but she did know a little, which basically just boiled down to what she had said. Her head couldn't take it all at once and keep going with other things, so eventually, her brain would just take over and try to filter through some of it, until eventually there were enough room for her to be back. When? How long? If it were dangerous? Omen didn't know, but then again, she had never thought much on it either. It hadn't seemed important compared to all the things in her head she had to try and get in line.

"Still a lot to think about. I need time to understand."

"Just give her some time, and don't try to feed her any new information. Then we get the statue, let her go and think for a few days to clear her head."

Every time Omen *spoke* the words were transported into anypony's head that were close enough, and Rosa were within range. Whilst he slept that wasn't an issue, but he hadn't really slept well, which were evident as his wings spread out and stretched, revealing the grim, drained-looking bat pony.

Still dangling down by his tail, his tired eyes rested on where Omen laid, then over towards Lin, and then finally, over towards the tent, though it seemed like Sen were still asleep. How Rosa envied him that calm nights rest, but at least the bat pony had gotten a few hours before the nightmares rustled him too much. It would have to do.

"So, have the night gone well for you, Lin?"

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@EQ_Theta @Storm Shine @Lucid_Nightlight @BloodDrops @Dji

Lotus rolled her eyes at Fluttershy's response to the offer. That mare sure needed some help getting a spine up and running, that was for sure.

Since it seemed that she understood what Angel were on about, Lotus would try to talk to her directly herself, and jumped closer until she stood just in front of the timid mare, then rose on her feet. Her arms were folded in front of her too, to try and give off an air of confidence and stubbornness to herself. Not an easy task when you were a pink bunny, but Lotus would stop trying when she were dead.

"My dragons spends a lot of time reading, but she wants to get closer to your village. Helping you can help her with that too, so I'm sure she'll be fine with it.

Besides, you're out here, helping with the sphinx that nearly got her, and you're keeping an eye on me. She owes you. Just go up to her, and very clearly say *Please help me get more confident.* and if she gives you lip, tell her that after everything, she owes you to try. She'll respect that."

Nerzhei were a dragon, with much of the pride that entailed, but she weren't as dominating and a jerk as many of her kind were. She respected beings who had the courage to talk to her not as the talker being superior or an underling, but her equal. If Fluttershy asked, she'd perhaps dismiss the mare to try and see what she would have to work with, or simply because she were buried in some other project, but being told *You sort of owe me, after the sphinx* or something along those lines, would get her attention. Nerzhei honored her debt, and as long as it wasn't shouted at her in a way that made it seem like Fluttershy thought herself as having the right to demand whatever she wanted - AKA being a jerk about it - the dragon would be compelled to at least try.

Meanwhile, whilst the cute circus commenced, Anomaly had almost managed to crawl through the portal that Lucid had made to see what was really on the other side, when it began to close and she got spat out and back into the same old Equestria. She had managed to throw her left ear in there though, so provided that Lucid didn't notice, it could evolve into something and explore from there on out, though knowing that buzzkill, he'd likely go snatch it up before it even got done making a cocoon.

Yet, Anomaly had other things on her mind, which became evident as Lucid turned to her and she stood with a balloon bat, ready to take a swing. Which she took too, straight to Lucid's head. SHe considered using a real bat after his comment, just to see if he could really take it, but she had decided against it in the last split second. It'd just get all sorts of messy then. Plus, this one could make squeaky sounds when you hit somepony. It was clearly superior, even if it hit like a wet noodle.

"Hehe, nope. I like my seer since he's a sneaky sneaky with funny features, but he isn't interested, so that's a bust. I sorta figure that I'll run into somepony one day, then mutate them and give them a longer lifespan to have happy days for a looong time, back on my isle. It's just so hard to find anypony who wanna date somepony who wanna twist their being and have a kid, you know? But I'm sure that one day, I'll find the perfect being just withering away in some mental asylum, and kidnap him under the guise of darkness to an extended lifetime of weirdness."

A long, drawn-out, dreamy sigh came afterwards as Anomaly thought about how her crazy kidnapping scheme romantic idea would unfold itself, until something started to click in her head, and she focused on the newcomer instead.

"Wait... Novia? Why would your dad be swinging bats at anypony? Is that the way you say hello in your dimension? I like the idea."

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@Rising Dusk

Molotov shook his head at the offer, whilst Blitz spat out a stream of water, shook the worst water and running batter off her, and wandered into the workshop to get dried up. She'd take a real bath later, but big bro said they had to get things clean and fixed, so it'd have to wait until he wasn't so stubborn on that.

"Thanks for the offer, but this is going to take all night, and you have a job to do. Besides, Blitz needs to learn that her actions have consequences, and she won't if she keeps getting help from everypony, so she needs to make an effort. I'll help her once she gets the idea, and start repairing until then. You better get on home and get some rest so you're ready to tackle the day tomorrow Dusky, and we'll see you around at some point, alright? If we ain't in, just knock and see if one of the girls are here. They can explain where we're at.

Who knows? Perhaps I'll even have some good reserves of metal to really get cracking when you ain't on duty. Got far with the bot in there, so hopefully it won't be too long before I can start getting some raw material from Center Zero. Gonna take Blitz there when it's done too, and see if it rustles any memories, though I'm gonna have to keep her on a shorter leash than normally, heh. Wouldn't want her to break into workshop 2,5, 7 or 12. Especially not 5. I don't wanna know what she'd do with what's in there."

He sure appreciated the concern from the officer in regards to needing a hoof, but Molotov just really wanted to get the place fixed up as a family matter, and then get on to a few other projects. He had a chance to tinker a bit with the bot after making the steel needed for the cage, yet it hadn't been a lot, and as he were saying, Dusky needed his rest. He might not be the one out there making all that many arrests, but what if like, fifty magical items slumped on to his desk tomorrow morning and he weren't rested? That couldn't be good.

"Anyway, you're a trooper Dusky, I really mean it, but the town is gonna need you at your game more than we need an extra pair of hooves to clean up this joint, so you should head on home. Though if you want the bars to test this thing out at home, I could give it to you? I'm trying a new design around more screws and bolts, rather than welding them together, which might help with the pressure wearing at the welded parts. Want 'em? I'll let you borrow a #9 Multi-tool as well, long as you promise to keep it safe."

"𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕀𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕝𝕠𝕡𝕖𝕣 𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕣𝕖𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕟 𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕙𝕖 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕖, 𝕚𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕒𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕦𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕕𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕤 𝕥𝕠𝕠𝕝𝕤."

Molotov wanted to argue that, but he just didn't have it in him right now. Not with the dread of having to clean for half the night floating around his head.

*sigh* He really had to invent some kind of cleaning robot or something. It'd be so much easier in the long run.

"𝔸𝕟𝕕 𝕀 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕣𝕖𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕟 𝕥𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕔𝕣𝕒𝕡 𝕪𝕒𝕣𝕕, 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕪 𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕤𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕡𝕠𝕟𝕚𝕖𝕤. 𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕧𝕚𝕤𝕚𝕥 𝕚𝕤 𝕦𝕟𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨𝕟"

Though she wasn't sure when, Felicia did wish to return to the scrap yard, and though she initially thought of doing so on her own, communication with the workers could be gained through writing if needed, so the potential were there to have visits alone, though she'd have to remain unseen by the uninitiated, just in case. At least on the way there. She didn't want to worry the officer about having to deal with reports about her presence there, when he likely had more important things to worry about. Whilst he had told her of what he did, she did hope to one day see it for herself, yet one thing at a time. First integration into their society, then examine Officer Dusk's work behavior.

For the time being, all of them were ready to call it a night in their respective ways, though Molotov stood ready and waited to hear if he should fetch the metal and a tool, so that Dusky could work on it on his own. Felicia also stood ready, though this were mostly so that she may say a proper goodbye to the stallion in question. It seemed to be what the ponies would consider *polite*.

[Sekel 692]

@Widdershins

DAWN STREAK

“Oh yeah? Well, how about no!?” Dawn shouted to be heard from the back of the dragon. “It’s not like I planned this or anything!”

@Blitz Boom

KARMIC FATE

“I’m a changeling slime. I was an experiment done eons ago so I would rather stay here for the moment,” Atzy replied out of curiosity more than anything else. Enzio did intrigue her, but with Karmic trying to take back control, she was starting to get a bit antsy.

@Blitz Boom

AURORA LIGHTS

“Oh, thank you, Queen Onache,” Aurora said in surprise. She was half expecting the recently changed changeling to reject her and force her out of the temple grounds. She found it a welcome suprise when it didn’t happen though.

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine @Dji @BloodDrops 

Lucid saw the ear go in, but didn't do anything about it. The fake bat turned into a fish when it hit him in the head.

"If it messes up my house, I'm sending it to the animal shelter."

"As for your lack of relationship, we'll just go around Ponyville finding you someone!"

Was it going to work? Probably not, but it would give him something to do.

Now as for her question to Novia.

"Lucid watches a lot of movies. My adoptive parents won't be mad. Honestly, they've been waiting for me to get a boyfriend for a while. As for how things work in my universe, we're similar to you guys."

 

[Blitz Boom 4,621]

@Dji

"Then your wish is promptly stated. What then of Karmic? What does she wish would happen? And think not to lie to me. I know her desire is not to carry you around out of simple goodness in her heart. If she truly wishes to carry you too, she must have a reason for that."

He would guess something along the lines of gaining certain attributes before expelling the invading parasite, yet he didn't know what went through the mind of these two. Enzo were not a mind reader. He could simply guess that the pony might want some of the powers that a changeling could bring among her own, and carrying this being within her for a time could grant her that.

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@Dji

"Your appreciation is accepted. Though be warned, upon these grounds, attacking any others than hostile invaders, are forbidden as well. When you seek shelter here, you will leave your personal bias against certain individuals at the door. Even if by some miracle a siren appears, the rules stand."

The relationship between sirens and changelings were... Pretty ugly, honestly. As predators feasting on conflicting emotions, their kinds were not unheard of in having turf wars with the opposing species, trying to get the best victims and areas for themselves. The sirens usually hid at coasts, and not many in Equestria likely, after the three large ones had been banished, but at times, their kind moved inland to set up shop somewhere with more prey, and though she had personally never seen one, as Onache had always lived in deserts, she knew that an oasis were as fertile grounds for their kind as a lake, and considered this to be a thing to be said, simply because it may happen. Even in Equestria, of all places.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,591]

@Blitz Boom @Moonlit
Yet again, Nada started by listening what Berry had to say, but this time something else caught her interest, a faint scent that came with the wind, it couldn't be what she thought it was, it was probably her own scent coming from the river, but she needed to makes sure, but she didn't want to alarm Berry...so she decided to go for the most logical thing that came to mind, after she had replied to Berry of course, "I'll remember to keep away of that." she had pretty much ignored the part about the conspiracy and listened just a bit about the ponies, and zebra that live in the forest.

Now was the time for checking if she had smelled right, she started singing, a short and low tune, that she knew would travel a long distance, leaving short pauses between tunes to listen....she hoped that if she had smelled what she thought, she would soon hear a response. It was beautiful tone, and very recognizable to be that of a siren.

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@blitz Boom

Ruby didn't say anything, it was obvious now that Marley had figured out something, she had no way of knowing if it was the truth that he had figured out, but the whole talk about his job and his decision about trusting made it pretty obvious that he knew something. Now that the bird was gone, she took even better look of what she had found, the feeling was impossible to describe, but she could feel the eye calling for her, she didn't usually care for stuff like this, dead dragon here and there, they didn't cause any type of feelings to her, but this one did for some reason, and it was far stronger than any greed she had ever felt before.

After just standing there for a moment, Ruby took the chain off around her hoof and put in on her neck, it was quite long chain, so it required some adjusting to make it sit right on her neck, but eventually she succeeded by just wrapping it around few times, and after she was done, she walked back in with lies ready to go if Marley already didn't tell something to Spicy. It would be a shame if the partnership had to be broken, but Ruby could always just steal what the two already had, even if they had jars of poison on their hooves.

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@Blitz Boom

Iron looked to Chow, narrowing his eyes. "This is a book that requires trust to use it. You can't threaten it to be readable. Besides, if this is the one I think it is, It could just regenerate itself" 

While they spoke, Astral was pacing about, thinking about what to do next. This book thing did change things up, and also made things complicated at the same time. "Look at where we are." She said, sitting down next to a tree. "Far from home, dealing with a problem we caused. What could this book even do for us at this point?"

"Well, I'd assume Emerald uses spells from it. But seeing as you can't read it unless it lets you, we can't know what they are." He opened up the book, showing the inside. "See?" Looking inside would reveal the interior pages to be blank, no text at all, or even images.

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

Sure, magical residue was a thing, but Iron was efficient with his teleports, never using more magic than necessary. So Sapphire found no real clues to their destination. "Nothing, best guess is they went back home... but which one?" She said to herself, before shrugging it off and teleporting off. 

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

@Dji

Zealous chuckled, smirking a little. "Suppose I did." He said, sighing a bit as he turns to Watts. "What do you do, besides building stuff? Because with me having to not do anything. interest in you is preferable" As much as he hated to distract himself from it, leaning into this may just make her leave him in the long run, it may also prove that his plans for the day weren't as beneficial to him..

Crystal smiled a bit, glancing at the two of them. Being in a similar situation of not doing much that day, outside of getting her manuscript back,though it'd be smart to consider getting the guards on it. "I'll be off, since you two aren't having a problem. Nice talking to you though." She waved and walked off, looking around for some guards.

[Moonlit 593]

@Blitz Boom @Catpone Cerberus Serenade stops, her ears swiveling back and forth. She could faintly hear the song, she smirked. It's unfocused. She thought, then decided to show this new siren, how things went in Ponyville. She began to sing. Faintly at first, before getting a bit louder as she followed the trail.

[EQ_Theta 457]

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

"Well... I guess that is a sensible way to put it. And you say she is your dragon? Alright, I guess I should give it a try. After everything that's happened here, I guess she might be willing to hear me out."

The pegasus was still unsure, but perhaps hearing this from Lotus gave her some semblance of confidence. Or at least a different perspective. It was strange to hear this from a bunny who lived closely with dragons. It could explain the attitude but then again, Angel was assertive and sometimes abrasive, aggressive at worst, but he didn't grow up with a dragon with a matching personality. It was the opposite, actually, with Angel commanding a domineering presence over Spike once. Back when he wanted to earn some bits looking after the pets. Seemed like Angel caught on to his less than altruistic motives but things eventually worked out in the end for everyone. Well, almost everyone. 

Fear still gripped Fluttershy. Despite this, she asked the one question that she might regret later down the road. She knew she was outnumbered two-to-one, and ironically, the bunnies have more spine than her. 

"So, where do I start looking for her?"

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@Blitz Boom 

"Take your time Omen. We'll work with you at your own pace."

It is the strangest thing. If Lin knew who she would befriend many years into exile, she wouldn't expect Omen to be that one friend that left the biggest impression on her. Between the unconventional method of communication and the unorthodox appearance, there was nothing that could come close to her. But she opened herself to the experiences from the past few weeks and saw how much changed from then until now. Even she couldn't be more surprised at how much her patience was stretching. Back then, she just wanted answers, solutions, a way to get back no matter how much she had to risk. Now? A dramatic change... she felt just like her mother, always giving her room to grow at her pace. Learning was quick and curiosity ruled her mind, pushing her forward in the pursuit of knowledge. Now she stepped back and saw a little bit of her mother manifesting in the way she spoke. Gentle and kind, tempering herself as she would work with Omen's way of processing information. The world no longer revolved around her and her wants. That time has long passed. 

Lin turned to Rosa, who had awoken looking a little worse for wear. Maybe she should've woken him up?

"I guess you can say it went well, but you don't look to good. Did your nightmares keep you up? Or were Omen and I making too much noise? I apologize for the latter."

At that time, Sen's tent started to rustle with movement within. The longma emerged looking fairly drained with eyes half-open, slouching a bit while walking forward. 

"Nightmares got you too, Rosa? I think I spent a good portion of the evening rolling around trying to keep myself from waking up. I've already left Lin worried about my nightmares and I didn't want to drag you in too." 

Sen wouldn't elaborate further, though being around Rosa long enough meant he might be a little more willing to share about what he saw in his mind the previous evening if anyone asked. Frankly, as much as he hated having Lin wake him up from his nightmares, speaking to her left him feeling calmer with her to reassure him. It was better than the years spent in exile where he would wake up in a cold sweat and hoping for someone to talk to. Maybe Rosa could use some reassuring. 

"I know this might sound strange but... would you want to talk about your nightmares?" 

The longma seemed unsure about having asked that question in hindsight. Even he was hesitating before the popped the question but Lin would be ready to listen nonetheless. 

[Emperor Azurailo 1,092]

@Blitz Boom

It was another wonderful day in the city of Cloudsdale. The weather factory was functionning well, just like any other day. Now, with a closer look at the eastern end of this city made out of clouds, a rather big house could be seen. It was home of Equestria's best train Engineer and designer, Blue Trainsfeather. This Pegasus had a wide knowledge on railway features and rolling stock, knew close to everything about how a locomotive works, and many other things. At this time he had finished working and was just relaxing on his couch, reading a book about...trains!

[Rising Dusk 27,537]

@Blitz Boom

While Dusk felt a little bad about leaving the Boom siblings to clean up this mess, not the kind of pony that didn't want to give a helping hoof, he could also understand the pride Molotov had about the issue.  An older pony wanting to teach the young filly he was raising the consequences of her actions without relying on another pony, at first at least.  It was actually a familiar lesson Rusty and Dusk had taught Felicia earlier that day about needing to let a few bumps and scrapes happen so that a pony could learn from their mistakes.  Now she'd get to watch it happen first hoof.  The conversation shifted to Molotov preparing to go out in the near future and harvest more material for them to have at their disposal.  So, it indeed sounded like Molotov had another big project on his hooves to work on while trying out different cage designs as well.

It was also at this time that he learned Workshop 05 was indeed part of a series of workshops and not just fancy name Molotov came up with.  Like those ponies who add random big numbers to the name of their goodies in hopes of making it sound more fancy and important.  It was rather interesting that Molotov listed off Workshop 05 again as a place to not let Blitz into.  Mayhaps this workshop was a remake of one from Center Zero, or maybe it was the workshop number that the Boom family used.  A detail for another time perhaps.

Turning to face Molotov as he thanked him for his help today and continued interest in helping them out further.  A sense of pride swelled in him and caused a smile to appear on his lips.  While it was true that disenchanting artifacts and going out on patrol of the city weren't the best things to do without a good night's sleep.  With or without the aid of the Dream Princess, Dusk didn't have all that much trouble getting a good rest in each night.

Rising Dusk had to take Felicia's side in the remainder of that conversation though.  He could just wait for the next time he is free to come and visit.  Who knows, maybe Molotov will have a new idea randomly that could improve it further before Dusk could return.  "It's okay Molotov, I can wait," he replied with a smile.  Not wanting to wound Molotov's pride or Blitz's lesson, he finally nodded and decided it was time to head home.  He needed to do laundry anyways.  

"Very well my new friends, I will retreat to my dwellings.  Do give Blitz my best.  Molotov, Carmen, Felicia, until next we meet," the Detective extended his hoof to Molotov and Felicia in kind.  He tried it with Carmen, but would settle for a pat to her fussy top encase she couldn't.  Turning to leave the Boom family to their probably quite busy evening.  With cake batter covered hoodie slung over his back, Rising Dusk made his way to the increasingly familiar path that would take the Detective back to his apartment complex.  It would probably be a good idea to pick up dinner on the way, but it would need to be from a vendor, not really wanting to go into a restaurant with a dirty hoodie.  The thoughts of the coming work tomorrow drifted from the front of his mind while he reflected on the day's events.  Luckily he could recall it with a perfect enough clarity to the point that he might as well have been doing it at that moment.  Hopefully Felicia would improve upon her meeting with scrap yard crew and grow from there, and that the current Boom family overall.  The large spider bot had some contempt for her creator, but hopefully some of the lessons she learned today could help aid in mending that relationship.

[Blitz Boom 4,621]

@Emperor Blu Traincrown

So this here was Cloudsdale, eh? For some reason he had expected more out of it.

Molotov flew in past the gate on his metallic wings, causing quite a few eyes to go his way. He couldn't blame them really, considering that unicorns usually only got here if they cast the right spells to be able to wander on the clouds, but one flying in on homemade wings? Now that was something new.

Of course, he still cast the spell, since even though there were plenty enough sun up here to sustain the use of his wings, he wanted to see if that little incantation in his great uncle's notes held true.

So he cast it, touched down on a fluffy cloud, fully expecting to go straight through - how these pegasi were able to create cities on clouds were baffling to him - yet he stayed up here. Sure, it felt like wandering in a somewhat firm bouncy castle, but that was probably a part of the experience, and just something he had to get used to, long as he were out here in the *street*.

In any case, since it seemed to hold, he folded his wings in, and took a deep breath of the thin air.

"Looks like we made it then, Carmen. keep on tight, you hear?"

A whir of agreement came from the mechanical spider on his back, who promptly clutched his back even more. It got a little uncomfortable, but it was far better than her falling off and tunneling through the skies, towards the ground. He'd be able to grab her again before she hit the ground, but why take the chance, right?

Carmen's red eyes focused on several things as they passed around the cloud city, asking small questions about what she saw in the mechanical language - which Molotov usually called clank - that she now had, with her creator looking like some kind of mad pony for talking to seemingly nopony, or to what to most looked like a large, fuzzy spider pet.

Molotov also saw several interesting things, and used his magic to adjust the lenses in the glass he had in front of his right eye. It gave him a nice range of varied visions, though it also made him seem like he was leering at others at times, which were one of several reasons as to why he tended to get smacked by mares. His poor attempts at pick up lines tended to do the most for that though.

Wandering around and playing tourist, the saddlebag bouncing against his right side made sure to remind him that he wasn't just here to look around, but also to find a specific pony. A pretty interesting bloke from what his great uncle had went on about, though Molotov himself didn't know much. Apparently, the guy was a real wizard at designing and making trains, but to what extend he wasn't sure. Could be nice having somepony give him some tips on engines though, so Molotov had brought some of his own designs as well as what he were here to deliver, to see if perhaps the two of them could work out a deal of sorts.

Rounding a corner, Molotov got pretty sure he had found the right place. Wasn't everything he had expected, though the name on the door spoke up about this being the right place, so he went up and had a knock on the door, or a push on the bell, depending on if Blue had this sorta thing installed.

When the door would eventually get answered, he'd face the resident with a grin on his face, and Carmen sitting on his head, looking curiously upon the train stallion.

"Hey there chief. Blue Trainfeather, right? I'm Molotov Boom, sent here to deliver some papers from Center Zero. You got a bit of time to spare?"

It'd be interesting to see if this stallion even knew about Center Zero in the first place honestly. They were a town made of some of the best and brightest, but the town were isolated and the members mostly only communicated through letters and published papers,  with only a few departments having active travelers. Especially the engineers and inventors were elusive, as the Boom family were the main providers of that sort, and they tended to be focused on working, so they mostly got known through publications of strange, innovative devices. They didn't exactly have a train division however, so Blue might have no idea, but eh, he could be educated about who they were quickly enough. He'd be far from the first that Molotov had to give some details about any of this.

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus @Moonlit

"Vauw. You got a pretty good voice there, Nada."

When Nada had suddenly begun singing, it had surprised Berry quite a bit. She had only ever heard of their kind doing that in the stories, and that tended to also include causing a whole lot of fighting to happen between everypony. But this wasn't anything like that. There wasn't any malice in it, or something that made the mare act against her own will. It was just... Fairly beautiful, actually.

Berry weren't one for music most of the time, as it distracted her thoughts, but the low, fragmented song that her new friend here were firing off were frankly enticing. Not mind controlling, as she could still keep her weird, paranoid thoughts, but it made her slow her pace and look up at her new friend with awe.

She were about to talk to Nada about how she should try and work with her voice and be a singer or something, soon as she got into society properly, when the weirdest thing happened. Somepony else started to sing back.

It wasn't close by, that much were sure, but the faint sound that were growing louder sounded like somepony were either really giving it their all, or that whoever were the one Nada had a song contest with were getting closer. The words were even starting to get into things, which made Berry's ears twitch a little.

"Is that... The Skye Boat Song?"

Berry were baffled by hearing this song in these parts of Equestria. This sorta song had been sung in the village that her grandmother had lived in, before her untimely passing, and whenever the old mare had been for a visit in Berry's younger years, the old mare sang sea songs like this to lul the filly off to sleep. It didn't have her raspy voice, and there were less pauses as whoever were singing now had an easier time catching their breath, but the tune were unmistakable. She could even hum along, though for some reason, it felt wrong to even try right now. Like she'd be disrespecting the singer for meddling in this with her own, rather bad song voice, which had several times been linked to a frog throwing up at the bottom of a barrel.

At this point, Berry wouldn't even be walking anymore. She'd just listen in, and hear the songs between Nada and this unknown voice go off, feeling somewhat mesmerized, though if Nada took off, Berry would manage to snap out and run after her.

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

On the way down there, Ruby should be able to hear the last parts of a conversation between Marley and Spicy.

"- are you serious?"

"Quite. If she were sneezing much harder, she would have flown backwards."

"Huh, to think that this was all just allergies... And that amulet she ran off with?"

"A dragon eye in a sparkly container. Likely what got the one buried here torched in the first place, but relatively worthless for anyone who cares little for gory jewelry, or seeks vengeance for a fallen comrade. From what I could gather, it appears she simply likes it because it is a unique kind of shiny. I figure we each take a piece from what's left in the coffin, then sell off the rest together and call it even. Personally, I would advise you to have a good eye on the leg band. It seems quite a bit more valuable, and may fit you if you ever actually cared to go to any social gathering."

"I do. It's called a poker tournament."

"Hardly a social gathering like what I had in mind. There is barely anything worth ones time at those casinos."

"And the shrimp cocktails?"

"...Your tournaments may hold some merit."

"Hah, freaking addict."

They'd either hear or see Ruby at this point, and turn to face her, with Ruby sporting a great big grin that was almost going into laughter as she imagined the mare just cleaning out her lungs rapidly outside, whilst Marley gave more of a general smile, and a knowing look.

"Ah, our dear companion have arrived. Worry not, I have informed Spicy of your allergic reaction to the perfume, as promised. We will make sure not to open the jars around you again, just in case it may flare up again. As for your newly-acquired trinket, we have come to an agreement that to commemorate this first partnership, it seems only fair that we each take a piece of the jewelry for ourselves, then sell off the rest and split that. And if I must, I'd say that this fits me rather well too, hmm?"

Marley lifted his right wing, and showed off a jewel-encrusted, silver dagger that had been situated at the belt area in the coffin. It would require a polish to truly shine, but the blade were sharp, the scabbard quite beautifully crafted in fine leather, and the ornate, rose gold handle were quite comfortable for his big hand. It were a bit showy, certainly, and the scabbard were more or less headed straight for the trash as soon as he could replace it, as it were really showing its age, yet he overall liked this, and if not for this little detail of them each taking a thing that he were trying to spin here, he would likely have spend some of his own profits to buy this, instead of sending it off to an auction somewhere. There was just an elegance and brutality in knives like this that spoke to him, and it were not a bad thing to show off to potential mates either. He knew quite a few griffon ladies who enjoyed a man who was ready to gut dinner on the spot, though sadly, all of those mentioned were married already. Unfortunate really.

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

 

@FanOfManyShows

"Right, if we can't force answers outta this book, then what sorta things would we do to get it to work with us? Thinking it might not be anything pleasant though, considering how Emerald are. For all I know, she could've fed blood to it or something."

It would somehow not surprise him, though Chow had no idea if that'd even be a thing. Blood seemed bad for a book, but then, this was a talking magic book. Regular rules didn't exactly apply here, right? And if it wasn't that, what then? It wasn't likely that Emerald could've written poetry or hugged kittens to get it to work with her. Plenty more reasons to think it involved doing something macabre. Yet, what sorta thing were they talking about? The book would know, but the odds seemed slim that it'd spill the beans, and the only one who might know, might just be an illusion brought on by the Element of Deceit, which made Sapphire's testimony to this sorta thing unreliable at best.

Chow cast a glance towards Astral. Poor gal were sounding kinda defeated in it right now, but who could blame her? Things were going up a certain creek with no paddle right now, and there didn't seem to be much of an end to it, even if they managed to slow down Emerald and Sapphire a bit. With everything else, and dealing with her mom perhaps just being an illusion... It was amazing she kept up her chin, but Chow just wasn't sure what to say to her to try and make things better. Promising to try and help was basically the best idea he had, as emotional situations weren't really his strength. if it were, he'd had grown a spine and hugged her a few times through this or something. Regular ponies seemed to like that in the right situations.

"Look, whatever we're going to do, we need to find a place off Emerald's radar, before we get a retaliation strike. Emerald's snooped around my head for a long time, so my place in Canterlot, and the hovel here, ain't gonna work much. Same with the tree in the woods you used to live in Astral. She would know about that too. Your place might be in trouble actually, Iron. We wrecked her home, and if she learns where your place is through... Uhm, *methods*, she might go there to have a bash at wrecking your home.

Anypony got any ideas?"

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

 

@EQ_Theta

Before Sen got out of his tent, Rosa managed to answer the question that Lin had asked, though barely.

"Omen can't yell, and you didn't speak too loudly."

It at least seemed like Omen couldn't. Every single interactions so far, with her voice transferring into the head of him and others, he had always only heard the exact same volume of whispering, yet clearly audible voices. Considering that, he just assumed that she only had this one volume, in parts because of her way of communication. It had interfered with his nightmares though, which made a few parts become... testing, as hearing the strange, mare-like creature, had inserted her here and there in situations similar to what the swamp had thrown in Lin's and his faces.

As for Lin, she had spoken calmly the times he had heard her voice, though what she had been on most of the time he didn't know. Something about teaching and pain, which were disturbing in a sense, but he were aware how out of context and likely far apart those two things had been, so there weren't much that made him worry about waking up, roped up like a mixture between a sausage and a pinata, and about to be swung at with a bat.

As Sen arrived on the scene, looking worse for the wear as well, Rosa let go of the branch he were on, and fluttered down to the ground in an uneven pattern that made clear that he hadn't found his balance after the terrible night's *sleep* he had gotten. Sen looked a good deal worse than him though, which honestly surprised the bat pony. He had not been in the swamp, so what haunted his nightmares? Whatever they were, it seemed to predate Rosa meeting the trio, though an opportunity to find out arrived shortly after, as Sen asked if perhaps they should discuss their nightmares. Or was it only Rosa's? Urgh, his mind must really be scrambled by tonight for him to not be certain about that kind of thing. Though if he worked under either possibility, it still involved spilling the beans of what haunted his rest. A grim thought, but Rosa had long lived by keeping things to himself, and what good had that done him? He could try to share and see if it helped.

Letting out a large yawn that exposed his fangs - and caused Shrimp to hiss at him from where the refraction had rested near Lin - Rosa would try and rub the sleep out of his eyes to no avail, before answering the inquiry.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt.

I found myself wingless in a graveyard. All around me, where countless graves with names I couldn't focus on, but they all felt familiar. As did the mourners present at nearly every stone, who ignored me for the longest time until suddenly, they came after me. Tearing, biting, howling and screaming, all demanding to have vengeance for what I did, and angrily wanting me to answer to those I took away.

So they dragged me to an open grave, threw me in a waiting box, and began throwing dirt down upon it. I woke up around when I heard the moaning voices and scratches from bony hooves get closer to my wooden prison.

Cheery, isn't it?"

He hadn't known what part of that nightmare were the worst, but it certainly made him queasy about returning to sleep for the time being. He'd be better off just staying awake from now on until he passed out, and didn't have the energy left to dream, or at least remember what they were on about. It wasn't healthy, but neither was it to be assaulted by dread and untold visions of Omen's crystal-encased being broken on some of the tombstones, whispering about needing help. A little detail that he most certainly didn't feel comfortable sharing, even considering the rest he had told.

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

 

@Rising Dusk

The gang would say goodbye to Officer Dusk the best they could. Molotov with a shake, Felicia by meeting his hoof with the tip of her leg, and Carmen would lean into his hoof like a cat, and whir a goodbye. They'd all meet again, but it were going to be a bit of time for the lot of them.

(4 months 2 days later)

The last few days had been productive for the Boom's. The workshop were cleaned up as well as one really could considering what they worked with, everything that had been damaged had been prepared, and they had a bit of time to breathe and get to work on a few other things the coming day, when they had been by themselves. Molotov had granted the design he made some thought, but beyond putting it together and running it through some physical pressure tests, he hadn't tinkered more with it. It handled the regular pressure tests fine, but he wouldn't be able to see what sort of resistance it might have without Dusk being present. Carmen had examined the runes he made carefully, and Molotov may be able to remake them, but this wasn't his kind of magic, and the marks had been a little lacking at places, making him think that they were incomplete, so he hadn't wanted to risk it.

As for the spiderbots, things had gone somewhat well.

Carmen had needed her fur washed several times, which meant that after she had been powered up again after her in depth cleaning, she had been hiding for most of the previous day. She didn't like being seen without her fur on, even by Felicia, so she had used small crannies and the like to hide in whilst she waited for things to be ready. Since the washing machine had to be repaired as well, it took a little longer than were ideal, but during last night she would've gotten her fur back and be able to follow the lot around, looking cleaner than she had in a long time.

As for Felicia, the spiderbot had went for a visit tot he scrap yard again yesterday, but she kept her interactions to a minimum. When approached by some of those who worked there, she would write responses in the dirt, but most of the time she scuttled on top off and around the piles of metal, soaking in the atmosphere, and observed everypony closely to learn some more about ponies. Even the ones who came looking for something, though she made sure to not be seen when they were around. It were still far too soon to be shown to everypony at that point.

1 pony had seen her though, on the way back to the workshop, but he had also been rather scruffy and gulping down a foul-smelling liquid, so it were unlikely that anypony would believe him, even if he did tell others about his encounter. A strange reaction he had really, with just blinking, then pouring the rest of what were in his bottle out on the ground, and then wandering off with a strange look in his eyes. A peculiar thing to do in Felicia's eyes, but she supposed it were better than him screaming and calling for help.

To return to the current day though, in the hours of around 10 AM, Molotov were whistling and working on the insides of the robot he had been sleeping on when Dusk had last been around. The outside were complete now, with a pretty basic, three ball-like designs, with two sensory organs on top of its head, legs down the sides to accommodate the travel of both it and whatever it may need to carry, as well as a large, open hole in the elongated ball-like form in the back, likely meant to carry the motherlode.

To be completely honest, it was a large, metallic ant, but every time Blitz confronted Molotov about how he had a weird thing for creepy crawlies, he went on about how this was just the best design for things and yada yada, until she wandered off, bored and wanting to do something else.

Blitz had also been working, yet she were being monitored for any kind of baking ingredients, just to make sure that she didn't mess up the place again. What exactly it were were hard to say, as it kinda looked like a foal-sized lollipop, and she didn't want to say. She just snickered or started talking about lights, at which point she were usually left alone to keep tinkering with it since it even gave Felicia an error that would feel like a robotic version of a headache from listening to her babbling.

All in all, it were a perfectly nice, calm day for them. They hadn't even caught anything on fire yet.

(Start here for Molotov and the gang, or at Dusk's office for magical misconduct with Null and Void)

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

 

@EQ_Theta @Dji @Storm Shine @BloodDrops @Lucid_Nightlight

"She's back at the castle. She was hurt and couldn't come with us."

Fluttershy should've remembered the dragon there, but perhaps it had slipped her mind, or Nerzhei just didn't make much of an impression in the moment, since her interactions were mainly with Twilight. Either way, things were getting somewhere now, so that was good, though it would get bad if Nerzhei had to return to the hospital while they were gone. She had gone through an invasive test sample to figure out what might cause her migraine attacks, and were told that she'd hear back as soon as they knew something. Perhaps this went really quick and they took her back in? Or she had been really hurt, and she were now in there in a bed, in pain and wondering where Lotus were.

The bunny shook her head at these thoughts. Worry wasn't gonna help her right now, and her dragon was tough. She'd get through this for sure, and at worst she'd just need more gauze. Weren't any large kitty that brought Nerzhei down.

Before she could question that thought, Lotus spoke up again to sorta try and distract from this, and in general to see where they'd go from here.

"Soon as you're all done with the big one, we can get going, and you can talk with her. Just remember to stand your ground, and don't talk down to her. You'll be fine."

Meanwhile, Anomaly had also slapped Lucid with the fish her bat had turned into, wanting to see if it kept turning into other things, and if so, would keep hitting him with what showed up until either something didn't change, or it were a duplicate, at which point she'd lose interest. She'd still talk whilst doing this though.

"I dunno, Ponyville have all sorts of weirdos, but not sure if they're my kind of wonky. Plus most of them have families who'll just get all up in a tip about their relative being swiped away and messed up. This is why it's so much easier to nick somepony from a loonie bin, they're not missed as much, and I can fix their heads, so it's all going to be better. It's just biology, you know?

Just like with my old ear. I have no idea what it's gonna mutate into, so is it good? Bad? Will it stomp on Neighpon and rest in the sea? No idea. That's the fun part.

Kinda boring that things aren't different in your world by the way. I had expected something craaaazy, since your loonie coltfriend came from there too, hehe. But nope. Same old, boring stable place, just with draconequui families... Huh, that is pretty weird. Never seen one around here before. Unless your parents aren't draconequui? Uuuh, that sounds like a story. Common and lemme hear it Novia. Are you the only one, or are your parents like, jigsaw beings too?"

 

Edited October 22, 2018 by Blitz Boom

[Emperor Azurailo 1,092]

19 minutes ago, Blitz Boom said:

@Emperor Blu Traincrown

So this here was Cloudsdale, eh? For some reason he had expected more out of it.

Molotov flew in past the gate on his metallic wings, causing quite a few eyes to go his way. He couldn't blame them really, considering that unicorns usually only got here if they cast the right spells to be able to wander on the clouds, but one flying in on homemade wings? Now that was something new.

Of course, he still cast the spell, since even though there were plenty enough sun up here to sustain the use of his wings, he wanted to see if that little incantation in his great uncle's notes held true.

So he cast it, touched down on a fluffy cloud, fully expecting to go straight through - how these pegasi were able to create cities on clouds were baffling to him - yet he stayed up here. Sure, it felt like wandering in a somewhat firm bouncy castle, but that was probably a part of the experience, and just something he had to get used to, long as he were out here in the *street*.

In any case, since it seemed to hold, he folded his wings in, and took a deep breath of the thin air.

"Looks like we made it then, Carmen. keep on tight, you hear?"

A whir of agreement came from the mechanical spider on his back, who promptly clutched his back even more. It got a little uncomfortable, but it was far better than her falling off and tunneling through the skies, towards the ground. He'd be able to grab her again before she hit the ground, but why take the chance, right?

Carmen's red eyes focused on several things as they passed around the cloud city, asking small questions about what she saw in the mechanical language - which Molotov usually called clank - that she now had, with her creator looking like some kind of mad pony for talking to seemingly nopony, or to what to most looked like a large, fuzzy spider pet.

Molotov also saw several interesting things, and used his magic to adjust the lenses in the glass he had in front of his right eye. It gave him a nice range of varied visions, though it also made him seem like he was leering at others at times, which were one of several reasons as to why he tended to get smacked by mares. His poor attempts at pick up lines tended to do the most for that though.

Wandering around and playing tourist, the saddlebag bouncing against his right side made sure to remind him that he wasn't just here to look around, but also to find a specific pony. A pretty interesting bloke from what his great uncle had went on about, though Molotov himself didn't know much. Apparently, the guy was a real wizard at designing and making trains, but to what extend he wasn't sure. Could be nice having somepony give him some tips on engines though, so Molotov had brought some of his own designs as well as what he were here to deliver, to see if perhaps the two of them could work out a deal of sorts.

Rounding a corner, Molotov got pretty sure he had found the right place. Wasn't everything he had expected, though the name on the door spoke up about this being the right place, so he went up and had a knock on the door, or a push on the bell, depending on if Blue had this sorta thing installed.

When the door would eventually get answered, he'd face the resident with a grin on his face, and Carmen sitting on his head, looking curiously upon the train stallion.

"Hey there chief. Blue Trainfeather, right? I'm Molotov Boom, sent here to deliver some papers from Center Zero. You got a bit of time to spare?"

It'd be interesting to see if this stallion even knew about Center Zero in the first place honestly. They were a town made of some of the best and brightest, but the town were isolated and the members mostly only communicated through letters and published papers,  with only a few departments having active travelers. Especially the engineers and inventors were elusive, as the Boom family were the main providers of that sort, and they tended to be focused on working, so they mostly got known through publications of strange, innovative devices. They didn't exactly have a train division however, so Blue might have no idea, but eh, he could be educated about who they were quickly enough. He'd be far from the first that Molotov had to give some details about any of this.

This front door Molotov saw was actually decorated with an original lable, a very original one. In fact, the name would be written on a somehow railroad crossing sign, with BLUE on a plank, forming a cross with the other plank on which TRAINSFEATHER could be seen. But the original idea didn't stop to that: as Molotov pushed the bell button, a sound similar to a railroad crossing bell would sound, and the sign's red lights would start to alternatively flash. This thing kept going for ten seconds, not to say the least. Meanwhile inside the house, in the living room, the pony Molotov was looking for snapped out of his book and gave a confused glance at the door. "Huh? Who could that be? Didn't expect any visitors today." But that didn't refrain him from being polite and come open the door.

As he did so, he smiled to the...Unicorn with homemade metallic wings and a spider on his head? Whatever. He wasn't the kind of pony to judge a book by its cover. "Hello? How can I help you?" As the pony introduced himself, the Pegasus smiled. "Yes it's me. Center Zero? Never heard of that name, but please come in." Blue said as he stepped aside to let Molotov enter his home.

The front door leading to the living room, it was obvious that the first room Molotov would see was this particular room. It was a large, but tidy room, with almost everything being where it should be. Things to notice were pictures of trains all over the walls. All kinds of trains were there: steam, Diesel, Electric and even High Tech and High Speed trains. 

"Please make yourself comfy. Want something to drink? I have lemonade and apple juice. But if you want water, I'll go with that. Anyway, what are you been up to?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,591]

@Moonlit@Blitz Boom

When the response song reached Nada's ears, her eyes lighted up and her mood seemed to soar to happiness, at this point she didn't focus on Berry anymore and thus missed what she had said. She didn't recognize the song, but she could tell right away that the singer was other of her kind, she stopped her short paused tunes and burst out to an actual song, and now that she was really giving it her all, the millennia long practice time really shined through her voice. She didn't take off towards the newcomers voice, since even though they were still some distance away, she could tell they were coming closer, but that didn't mean she stayed put, as she started dancing in the air to the song she was singing.

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@blitz boom

Ruby nodded in understanding after Marley finished, she was very surprised that Marley had actually lied to Spicey about her reaction, and not only that the explanation of allergies was what she was going to go with too, but she had had backup lie prepared if that didn't work either, but now that Marley for reason or another had her back, she didn't need to worry about that. It did slightly annoy her that she couldn't have the dagger that Marley was showing off, as it was quite shiny, but she thought it as payment for his silence, since she would for sure had stolen it if the truth had came up. "That's fine by me.." she shrugged "..but I'm not the boss." though she wanted to say more about the amulet, since it had really nothing to do with her being a dragon, since it did something to her sense, which was unique even for dragons, she looked at Spicy. "I apologize for my hurry with this amulet, I hope I didn't destroy anything..." "..It's just that it seems to intervene with my sense, as in, it overpowered everything else when I didn't have it." "I have no explanation for it, it could be a curse or some kind of other kind of magic, I don't know since it's something that has never happened before, but I just felt that it's something you may like to know, in case I come across overprotective."

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine @Dji @BloodDrops

"The loonie bin thing sounds illegal. Fun, but illegal. Ever considered speed dating? You can meet a lot of strange ponies that way."

As for Novia, she had a good response for Anomaly.

"I guess there's one difference in my universe. If you are in public long enough, someone will probably boop you. It's a friendly gesture. As for my parents, they are normal ponies who adopted me when I was a baby. I have no biological parents."

[EQ_Theta 457]

@Blitz Boom

"Huh, I guess we both have our share open burials. The mourners, aggressive and relentless... nightmares have a way of twisting our deepest worries and make them even worse."

Sen paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. Nightmares like these often leave him unable to grasp reality until he could breathe and let the rest of the tangible world around him solidify its presence over the dream. What Rosa saw, he himself saw before. Once in the village but having heard about what Lin saw in the swamp got to him. A familiar sight but one that doesn't get easier to hear the second time around. 

"It doesn't get any easier but there is always a way forward. We believe in atonement, we believe in second chances, and we believe in you."

Lin stepped up, smiling and nodding, as she handed Rosa a small pouch with some dried herbs in it. Small brown roots, thin strands with bits flaking off of them. They looked like they were ready to fall apart at any moment. Sen reached out and pulled one of those roots and showed it to Rosa. 

"This is called dread root. Very bitter but guaranteed to give you a lot of energy, not to mention keep you awake for a while. Hours maybe, but I only recommend taking a tiny bite out of it. Eat a whole root and you'll be awake till tomorrow. Happened once to someone in my village who accidentally added this instead of some other root while preparing food. The look he had the next day, pure regret."

Sen munched down on one end of the root he grabbed and went on to put his tent away. As for Lin, she opened a gate and grabbed some rations, handing one over to Rosa while setting aside a few for herself and Omen. She slid one over to Sen's tent while she was at it.

"I suppose we'd be off to the fishing village soon. You think the temple would be completely submerged?"

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

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

"I suppose things here are stable and I probably won't need to stick around any longer. I just need to settle one more thing."

Fluttershy stood up and looked around for their other companion, though perhaps the others would prefer its company. Maybe Pringle would like to have the dracolisk stay with him instead. Either way, it was up to the creature to decide whether it wants to stay or leave. If the pegasus wasn't mistaken, the dracolisk was still mingling with Pringle; she lost track of them both while imprisoned after all. She found him eating some fish on the table, apparently a little more active with meeting a new friend.

"Hey there, little dracolisk! I see you're comfortable being around Pringle. Do you still want to come with me or would you want to stay with your new friend?"

Edited October 23, 2018 by EQ_Theta

[Moonlit 593]

@Blitz Boom @Catpone Cerberus Serenade smiled, and decided to switch up. She stopped singing, and looked around, then settled on the song she had found in one of her adopted Father's songbooks. She took a deep breath, and poured all of her Siren magic into the song

 

Edited October 23, 2018 by Moonlit

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@Blitz Boom

"I am doubtful Sapphire would be the one to reveal my place's location, So her homes are more likely." He said, pointing to Astral. "Even if she's been there while trapped in the gem. In which case Emerald only knows the location of your new home as well as my place." He said, still looking at Astral."On the other hoof, it's possible she convinced Emerald to not deal with us, and Sapphire is going to go after us herself."

"So let's head to my tree house then." Astral said, turning around to the forest. "Don't think Sapphire would hurt us anyway."

Misty stood up. "Makes sense she'd check there anyway. Not like we're familiar with where our new home is." Already she was walking towards the forest, Astral shrugging and following her.

Iron held the book close as he looked to Chow. "I don't think we give stuff to this book, if Emerald convinced it we're bad news... Then showing her true intentions with it will be more efficient."

"Surprising! She said you'd do something like that!"

With a bit of a groan, Iron kept carrying the book into the forest. "Let's just go, this place is closer. Whichever of them was sent to deal with us, we can end this soon."

[Rising Dusk 27,537]

@Blitz Boom

The journey out of the East Side of the city on his way home was pleasant enough.  One of the most lovely of things about Equestria is how predictable the weather was.  Short of there being any big problem that arise to throw off the schedule.  The paper this morning called for clear skies and a light breeze, and sure enough it is what the city got.  Dusk always had to give credit to those hard working pegasi on the city's weather duty.  He passed a food vendor selling cherrychangas, some sort of invention that came out of Ponyville, but they were pretty darn good.  This would serve as his dinner for the night, using his magic to eat them while finishing his trip home. 

Home sweet home, the large multistory apartment complex on a mostly average street with plenty of stores that he didn't need to go very far for the things he needed.  As average as it could be though when living in the same community as Rusty and all her events.  Ascending the stairs up to the eight floor with the clops of his hooves on wooden stairs that echoed off the painted walls.  His own apartment as at the end of the hallway when taking a right, being the room on this floor that had a great view out over the nearby park and the rest of the city beyond.  Entering his apartment, he turned on the lights before pulling the cake battered hoodie from his back and tossed in the laundry basket with five other matching ones, minus the cake batter of course.  Yep, his wardrobe consisted of the same beige hoodies.  Why?  Because they were affordable, comfortable and functional.  One wouldn't believe how often he has to replace them with his work in law enforcement.

Igniting his horn to bathe the basket with his magic and lift it from the floor, he left his room and went down to the other side of the hallway and into the laundry room.  Spending an hour or so washing the six hoodies while he though about what tomorrow might bring him.  The events of today didn't escape his mind though.  The failed cage experiment.  The scrap yard visit with the large spider bot.  All ending with a cake exploding kitchen at Workshop 05.  Take all this and add it to the pile of strange cases he's done, the midnight blue stallion ends up with a weird life.  He sighed, oh well, better weird than boring.  With his laundry done, the sun and moon switched places and Dusk was off to bed.

The next morning came rather quickly and his morning routine remained unchanged in his breakfast habits.  Pulling a clean beige hoodie over his head, it was time to head off to the office.  With his week at the front desk over, it was finally time to pick up some cases, he hoped anyways.  The O.M.I. office building wasn't anything as spectacular as say, the main police building or the fire fighter station, but that was to be expected with only fourteen of them working.  A double door entrance with the open spell book logo sitting above it was really all that separated it form what might be some sort of law firm.  Pushing the right door open it was time to get back to work.  A larger white earth pony sat at the front desk, head hidden behind an open newspaper.  The light chime of the bell that informed the office somepony had entered was enough to make him pull down a corner of his newspaper to see who entered.  A grunt for a greeting as all that Dusk got before the paper was returned and the pony went back to reading.  No pony liked front desk duty, the mood was understandable.

"Morning Bash," Dusk greeted as he walked by the desk and through the chest high swinging doors that served as the only real barrier from the entryway to the back office.  Behind the front desk were an array of ten cubicles that was where they worked.  Toward the back, a more official office where the chief was.  Off in the back right corner was another door that led to the basement where the vault was kept, along with two more cubicles.  Dusk's desk was the the first one on the left.  Taking a deep breath, he poked his head in to see how high the stack of papers might be in the basket labeled 'Open Cases.'  To his surprise, there was only one folder.  Huh, must have been a slow week while he was at the front desk.  Or it came in yesterday.  Letting out the long breath, he walked into his office and sat at his chair, going for the case folder.

[Blitz Boom 4,621]

@Emperor Blu Traincrown

"Thanks. And no worries, Center Zero's a pretty isolated place so not everypony knows about us."

Molotov stepped in and felt Carmen on his head stretch her legs and look around at the place in wonder. The spiderbot had barely seen a train yet, with the two of them mostly flying around unless it were a great distance they needed to travel, so seeing this many plastered around the walls were very interesting to her. As a machine, other constructs were always a curious thing that she wanted to see and try to interact with, though she knew that most of them didn't have a mind. Her trying to talk with the coffee machine back home had made Molotov teach her of her and her sisters uniqueness.

She looked down on Molotov, and let out a series of wirs and beeps, which made her creator raise a hoof to pet her fuzzy little head.

"Let's get him to know us before you start exploring, alright Carmen?

And lemonade sounds grand Blue, thanks."

Molotov would follow Blue and have a good glance around at the impressive collection of train pictures. He wasn't gonna judge the pony on being obsessed with his work, as that'd be the kettle calling the pot black, and quite honestly, he liked this look. Sure it might seem eccentric and crazy by some, but Molotov just saw a very dedicated worker who resolved his life around his favorite thing. He could understand a pony like that.

Once he had a glance around the room for a minute or two, using his magic to effortlessly adjust the smaller levers on his glass to zoom in on particularly interesting trains,  Molotov would get around to answering the big question that Blue had tossed his way.

"Eh, completed a test run with a new design for a mechanical leg yesterday that went pretty well, but I still have to figure out a neural connection that doesn't involve surgery. I swear, connecting metal and flesh can be a hassle sometimes.

Not much else the last few days with my sister running rampant, but you know, it's been a pretty productive time anyway.

Now, as to why I'm here to break you outta train-vana, I've come to deliver these, first and foremost."

Horn aglow, Molotov fetched a sealed file out of his saddle pack and floated it to the nearest table.

"Center Zero used to hold the best and the brightest scientists, researchers and inventors that wanted to work for the betterment of Equestria, but without all those noisy folks snooping into our business a d breaking our concentration.

So a few generations ago, they build a large town for science way out in the wildness up north, and started to get some real work done. We've been behind lots of research on everything from metal to biology, microbiology,  weapons, and yada yada. We had a lot of ground covered basically, and sometimes a few would take their projects out and present them, whilst most just sent out papers for publication if they felt like they really had something.

Few months ago, the town were attacked when I was out for a bit. No trace, no forced entry, but everypony were taken.

Emergency protocol are clear. In case the town suffers a calamitous loss of lives, any and all research done by the affected individuals are to be sent off to designated beings in the same field, or nearest match.

My great uncle Calamity Boom, was an engineer. Loved tinkering with engines in particular, and trying to find out the next big thing. He was working on something he called a *Repeat Usage Tank* but he never had a chance to finish his work before he were taken, and as per protocol, I'm here to deliver his papers to somepony that he thought were the best in the business. Ain't sure what caught his attention before, since I don't read much on trains,, but I'm starting to understand his inclusion of you as his fail-safe now."

If Blue would have a look, he'd see about twenty pages detailing a kind of engine that would recycle the intake of fuel to a gas, which would then be reused later on in said engine to ensure less waste and pollution, whilst providing a cheaper cost of running the thing.

It wasn't complete though. There were page up and down with attempted and failed concoctions of what said fuel would have to be, and some concerns about the stability of the core tank that had apparently been revised six times so far, as well as had numerous references to needing a special alloy to deal with the pressure, but the basis were there for somepony to perhaps one day finish it, or at least use some of the innovations that Calamity had made to eventually create something special. Could be years, could be never really, but the old stallion had been sure that if anypony could use anything that he made, it'd be Blue Trainsfeather, and Molotov wasn't gonna question his great uncle on who he picked, no matter the result.

Okay, if Blue burned them and spat in his face, they'd have words, but that seemed pretty unlikely.

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus @Moonlit

And now Nada was dancing too? This was getting all sorts of weird, but in a nice way. First the sea song, then Nada showing off, and now Berry's siren friend were adding dance and more confidence into her musical number. If this was a theater, Berry would currently be ready to throw roses at the scene and getting ready to whistle as soon as the performance would end. Yet she didn't want this to end. It sounded and looked absolutely amazing, and then from the other source... This was just insane.

She didn't know this song, but it still sounded pretty good, and like with Nada, there was an incredible amount of talent and beauty in the voice. Yet, it was like there was something more to it. It was drawing her in, and enticing her to fall deeper and deeper into the song. Following every word, almost seeing everything described in front of her, and causing her to get a big, goofy smile on her muzzle.

It was as if her brain had dipped into a sort of calm the mare had never really felt before, and the more she listened, the better it felt to just give up trying to focus on the song all that much, and just fall back into that delightful, warm feeling that were embracing her. Sure made her brain feel kinda tingly, but it was fine. Everything were just, perfect.

Berry stood there for about three seconds more before and erratic look came over her face and she fell to the ground, hooves covering her ears whilst she hit her forehead into the dirt.

"Mind control! The Conspiracy! They're here after us. They wanna invade our brains and make us sheep! I. Won't. Give. In. To. Them."

Each of the later words corresponded to her hitting the ground and feeling the fog lift a little more from her head.

What kind of mind control was this? Audio, clearly, so holding her ears could help some, but what were the source? A radio? The metal box she had been sure were in the lake? Whatever it were it were powerful, but The Conspiracy wouldn't get her. She wouldn't give in to their mind altering trickery, and become just another dull, easily manipulated puppet like the general population.

It had been close though. Reeeeal close. Awh crud, but what about Nada? She were singling along and dancing. Were she lost to their vibes already? No, Berry wasn't gonna accept that. She'd get her friend away and get her head on straight again. She just needed a minute to clear the fog from her head fully, or she might fall prey to this trickery the second she removed her hooves from her ears, no matter how much she hummed something else to try and drown it out.

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

"Huh, that sounds wonky... But long as it ain't interfering with your gift anymore I guess it ain't a biggie. Better keep it on you at all times though. It could be a real hassle if you dropped it and it messed you up again at a bad time.

And don't worry 'bout the urn. I managed to stop it from tipping over. I figure some dragon out there wouldn't mind carrying the last remains of somepony who stole from their kind, just to deal the last trump card."

"I'm certain that Ruby will do whatever she can to ensure that her prized possession remains in her grasp. Now then, if you would please take your pick Spicy, so that you can pack up the rest and begin to look around to see if there is more here. There is still a room left unexplored, and this one may hold something that were undetectable before because of the necklace. I would suggest to perhaps sweep this place some more while I handle the jars."

With that, Marley wandered away and towards the first side room they had entered to pack up the valuable perfume.

"Feather-face is right, we outta get ahead. I guess I'll just grab this here thing and try to figure out what to do with it later."

Spicy reached down into the coffin and pulled out the arm band that Marley had mentioned, which were also in need of some polish, like most everything else they had found, but the white gold and embedded nightmare diamonds - a diamond with which got darker the further towards the center you got - were still looking pretty good, even like this. It had been fit for a stallion's ankle area, so for Spicy, it clasped in better a little above her knee, where her leg were thicker and could hold it in place. A temporary solution since she planned to pack it down later, but it kept her own stuff apart from the other stuff in the coffin, of which there were still plenty. An easy 10 grand if the things were sold as a set. Even without the band that Spicy had taken, it were still a pretty complete looking set that some snobbish eccentric would be thrilled to buy, and there were plenty of those in the shady parts of the world.

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

 

@FanOfManyShows

So Chow saying that Emerald likely knew about the tree house from her time in Chow's head were ignored it seemed. Well, if these folks were sure enough of themselves, then alright, though he reserved the right to be tense and prepared for a quick strike at any time. Emerald might not come for them now, but it were impossible to say for sure when she might go through some locations she had seen through Chow's eyes, so it was best to be prepared. But hey, the gals had the home turf advantage in the tree house, so perhaps that was gonna be a help? Might be some fancy protective wards there too or something like it.

"Alright, let's get going. And watch out for the wildlife. Poor things have been through enough without getting a face full of fireball."

Strange to say this, since he usually had to ask folks going into the woods around the same time as him to watch out, and if they needed somepony to keep 'em safe, but in this situation, the roles were a bit different. Now the wildlife were the poor things that had to watch out, and Chow were the one being protected technically, as these other ones had a great deal of mojo to swing around. Fancy how things change sometime, though Chow wasn't letting go of his protective ideals, regardless of his role as the lowest rung on the food chain. It was a bit too ingrained in his head around this forest at this point.

Iron addressing him whilst the girls lead the charge, made Chow stay closer to the old timer than the younglings up front though.

"Showing that thing her real face is one thing, but what're the odds that that ain't the one the book knows already? If the sorta magic Emerald bounces around comes from that book, it ain't exactly filled with butterflies and fresh down. Might be it's into the whole blood mage thing. Unless you know something you ain't sharing? Sounded like you had some sorta clue about it a few times now."

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

 

@EQ_Theta

"Thanks for the words, but it's okay. It's to be expected that my guilt bash me in my sleep for a while after getting it shoved so forcefully into my face. I won't fall back into looking for an escape at the bottom of a flask."

Their words were kind, and Rosa would like for it to be an easy case of simply doing better, but the bat pony had a lot of destroyed lives to atone for. Guilt were going to be a part of him for years. Perhaps even until he faced the grave himself, and it wasn't just going to go away, especially not after the swamp had visualized it in such a horrid manner.

The past wouldn't repeat itself though. The bottle wouldn't be an escape this time. He'd face things, and thankfully it were going to become easier to do so when he had the claws and hooves of these new friends of his. It made things tolerable to go through, rather than an uphill road with a broken leg, and that they tried to console him now meant a great deal. Yet as he said, he'd be fine. This were just going to take time.

He were pretty surprised to then be offered something that were actually going to help with the main issue though. That being the lack of energy he had after the unsteady night's rest.

Slowly, he'd reach into the pouch he had been offered and took up a root for himself. Such a frail looking thing, yet this were going to fill one with energy? There would be a crash afterwards it sounded like, but stimuli tended to work in such a fashion.

"The description reminds me of caffeine tablets, but they look nothing like this. The crash afterwards sure sounds familiar though. Such a peculiar thing to find from a raw root..."

Going at it like Sen had said, Rosa would take a small bite out of the root and chew it down. Bitter was frankly an understatement, as it reminded him of biting into an extra sour lemon, just without the liquid, but the effect were more akin to the caffeine tablets he used to take on long duties back int he day. Yet the root were far quicker to get into his system it seemed. Impressive little thing that one.

"Thank you. I needed that. I'll get to work clearing the traps."

Better to get it done before his newfound energy ran out. Sen may say that there were energy for hours, but the longma body likely took in these sort of things differently than a bat pony like Rosa, so it were better to get something done as soon as possible, before the crash would start to seep in.

He set down his rations whilst getting that done, opening only to grab a slice of apple within that he could chew whilst working, and left it open for a certain dragon-like creature, who he noticed had smelled the mango as soon as the ration had been taken out. He would have to remember to show Omen later what a mango were, so that she may go for those specifically for Shrimp, along with perhaps some other fruits that were akin to mangoes. Who knew what sort the little thing could go after?

The first strings were about to be cut when Lin started to talk about the temple.

"Possibly, but it depends on the time of day. Submerged or not though, we will need to examine the state of the temple as well as possible when we get there, and see if everything is as we were told. Omen?"

The mare in question rose her head and looked towards him, curious whilst chewing on the bag itself her rations had been in.

"Yes?"

"How well can you hold your breath?"

"I don't breathe."

"So that wasn't just a dream... Well, that's good. We might need you to have a look when we get there then. I'll tell you more when we get there."

Omen nodded. Less extra information in her head were good right now, or she might just shut down for a time again, and find that the others had wandered off without her in the meantime. She could find them easily enough, as she had the 'scent* of all four of them, so it wasn't really an issue. At worst, it would just be strange, and somewhat more confusing for her until the thoughts would have turned fully in her head.

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

 

@Rising Dusk

The door to the O.M.I. rang not long after Dusk had settled into his office, though the ones who came through the door did not look as pleasant or comfortable as the officer did. The one in front looked positively furious frankly, whilst her counterpart fidget along, and scurried into the building as quickly as she could, sending nervous glances back towards the outside.

"I swear, if I ever see those two again, I'm gonna pummel them into the ground."

"P-Please calm down. It's just g-gonna fall back on u-us again..."

The voices matched the look of the two mares. The first - a pegasi around a head lower than a normal adult of her kind, and missing her right wing - were seething with rage, supporting the idea that she were a violent pony, and that her words were not idle talk. As much as she were limited by physique, there wouldn't be any doubt that if it came down to it, this mare would strike without hesitation.

The second mare - an earth pony a head taller than most others of her sub-species of ponies, with a strangely glassy left eye, and with a back right leg that gave off clacks as it hit the hard floor - were far more subdued. Timid, stuttering, conflict-avoided and though the more physically able of the two, were likely to hide behind the smaller mare if a situation arose that would cause her to be scared.

The two were clearly sisters, as their silvery manes, eyes and tails, along with their onyx coat were too similar to be a simple coincidence. Even though siblings were usually different in colors, siblings were of a higher chance to look alike than total strangers, and the way the smaller mare kept standing in front of the larger in a protective manner, were more akin to an overprotective sister than a friend.

Their cutie marks were also eerily similar. Both depicting a swirling back hole - in purple - except swirling in each their own direction.

Both of them carried saddlebags on each side of their torsos, nearly filled to the brim with items that wasn't clearly visible, but did make them come off as gypsies of some kind, or thieves who didn't understand the part about not being obvious.

The smaller mare went towards the front desk, where no matter if the desk clerk were still reading his paper, she'd reach into her bag, pull out a sealed parchment, and slam it on the desk. Depending on the height of said desk, she may have to reach up to do so, but she still would, and wouldn't budge away from there again. She was in no mood to be brushed off by some desk jockey more interested in the sports section than dealing with whoever came in.

"We're looking for some bloke called Rising Dusk. The princess sent us."

The parchment would certainly mark this as being true, seeing as the seal upon it were Princess Celestia's official stamp.

The letter were brief, and talked about it being of some importance that the mares Null and Void - the carriers of the parchment - were given the time to speak with Officer Rising Dusk whenever it were possible, as they carried items of interest to their department. It also went on to explain that the reason for them being sent to see the officer in question were because of his talents being the best suited for the task at hoof.

As always, it ended with a polite notice from the princess, and her formally thanking them for their service to Equestria, before her own signature were written at the end. Elegant and fluid, written with a single, delicate stroke across the parchment.

Null didn't care about that though. She just wanted this to be over with, so that she could either find something to do get some steam off, or just get out of this town all-together. They had not had a pleasant day, what with their auras cancelling out magic ending with quite a stir here and there, and from a few unicorns that wanted to show off near this place, particularly high amounts of ridicule and harsh comments. Null would have hit them until she were arrested or it stopped being funny, if Void hadn't kept hold of her, and dragged her elder sister away from the scene. It certainly hadn't gotten less eyes on them, and neither of them cared for that. Null because she hated most beings because she saw judgement in the eyes of nearly everypony, and Void because large crowds and attention made her nervous, and afraid that something bad were about to happen.

Personal experience had told her that it would be like that, even if Equestria were vastly different than most places they had been. For one, the only being who actually had attacked the two of them, had gotten arrested instead of being cheered on, so that was a welcome change. They also hadn't been chased with spears, put in cages, attempted drained of their abilities, or had a bounty put on their heads at this time, so really, this country were pretty good to them, all things considered.

"Uhm... S-Sorry for my s-sister. It's b-been a bad day..."

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

 

@EQ_Theta @Dji @Storm Shine @BloodDrops @Lucid_Nightlight

The dracolisk looked disinterested up towards Fluttershy, and just stared at her for a time before letting out a deep, guttural croak. Considering the reverberating tone he talked with, translating weren't easy, but it were a rough *Stay*, with Anomaly raising a hoof and waving it to get their attention as she heard the croaking.

"I'll drop him off later, promise."

If the dracolisk got it or not was up for debate, as he just went back to the fish and started to chew one down, head first.

"He's fine. Let's just get out of here already, before the fruit head starts licking us again."

Lotus didn't care much the the desert, Anomaly,t he sphinx, Discord- Basically everyone out here. The dracolisk in the current situation for example, she didn't know why they even talked to. By all accounts, some semblance of a brain was there, but the amount of caring this guy didn't do was staggering. It was like nothing mattered, beyond eating, sleeping, and mingling a little to eat some more. The weird pumpkin thing over there had made him, so that probably had something to do with it, but he just seemed so... Bleak and basic. Good luck turning him into a viable, active pet. Perhaps he'd make a good doorbell though, if he got tied to the doorknob. That'd be a sight to behold.

That mental image made Lotus snicker in her paws. Was it nice? Not even remotely, but neither were her sense of humor sometimes. It could be a little dark.

Meanwhile, Anomaly turned back to her strange companions, and booped Novia on the snout, or nearest equivalent.

"Okay, I'll give your world that. It's more fun than a hoofshake.

Sorry to hear you got no spawners. I got told I didn't either, but got raised after a big, BIG forest fire. You're nicer than I was told I were though, so I'm sure nopony will kill you, and hey, now you can be a spawner yourself one day."

She had a giggle, as she once more imagined the goofy kids that'd come out of this pairing. Adequately awkward, cute, and downright crazy. And that was just the parents! Zing.

"Must be nice to have good adoptive parents though, yep yep. Sounds kinda funny how regular, boring ponies adopts a draconequus though. Did they find you somewhere and figure it'd be good and fun? Oh, or did you raise from something cute, like a field of kittens, and they thought you'd be sweet and fluffy too?

And yeah, you're totally right Lucid. Illegal by the silly pony laws to kidnap mental patients. Buzzkills, right? I can make them all better, but noooo, I'd be a dangerous creature then. They need to think less so things make sense.

Never tried speed dating before though. What is it? Talking over dinner between two rockets firing off down a long road? If not,t hen it's false advertisement. False I tell you!"

Edited October 24, 2018 by Blitz Boom

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine @Dji @BloodDrops

Lucid waved bye to Fluttershy.

"I have no idea where I appeared from, but having adoptive parents is still pretty good. As for spawners, there may be a little kiddie after we're married a few years down the line. Maybe a daughter and I'll teacher her the best ways to annoy ponies! But of course, that's a few years away."

Lucid added something to this.

"Oh, if we do get married in a few years, we will need tons of explosives, chickens, and Anomaly has to be my best mare! And if I ever have a kid, I wanna train them in the art of throwing eggs at houses to annoy the neighbors!"

Of course, that would be a few years from now.

"Speed dating is basically where you sit at a table and talk to ponies for a few minutes and move on to the next one. My friend Lone Star did it once, but he decided that everyone there was too weird for him."

"So... who are we down to? You, me, and Discord right? Is Discord here? He's been pretty quiet if he is."

Edited October 25, 2018 by Lucid_Nightlight

[EQ_Theta 457]

@Blitz Boom @Lucid_Nightlight @Storm Shine @Dji @BloodDrops  

It was... something. It's going to be a tad difficult to get the dracolisk integrated into the cottage with the animals living with her being more lively and energetic compared to the newcomer. Angel is going to get his work cut out for him, though if he were to agree to the task, there might be some good compensation there. Perhaps larger salads with cherries on top. Or better yet, more salads per week! He just needs to put himself into a better position to bargain, hopefully before Fluttershy gets wise to what he'll try to do once she get some lessons from Nerzhei.

Speaking of Fluttershy, she waved goodbye to Anomaly and Lucid before setting out back to Ponyville. Hopefully, her meeting with the dragon will go smoothly. She approached the bunnies with Angel hopping on her back and knelt down next to Lotus.

"Alright, you said Nerzhei is at Twilight's castle? Let's head out." So begins the trek back to town, fortunately with little in the way of distractions. Frankly, she hoped Nerzhei would be a little bit like Ember, a head taller with a short temper but amicable to interacting with ponies. Of course this probably will not come true and the dragon she will meet will be much more different than what she could imagine. 

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@Blitz Boom

Putting away the tent didn't take as long as it did with Sen getting used to the process. Things quickly became routine with him, as did the many years spent on the road acclimating to the myriad of situations he found himself in. To him, this was a nice change of pace. While he still needed to learn his way around, he was comfortable with current company, letting him feel more relaxed and willing to speak up. No need to worry about drawing unnecessary attention to himself when he is surrounded by friends. With his task completed, Sen sat by the empty fire pit and cleaned it out, ensuring no stray embers would inadvertently light something on fire. A quick task summed up by looking and rubbing a rock on anything glowing red to stop it from lighting something flammable. 

Sen proceeded to eat his fill for the morning, working up quite an appetite despite his nightmares. That is not to say he listened closely when everyone else began planning for the day. What would it be like to walk under water and see things below the surface? Perhaps they'd know a little bit more later. As Lin listened in, that last part with Omen not needing to breathe got her curious and a little disturbed. Not being able to breathe? She tried holding her breath but it didn't last past five seconds before she needed to breath in some air. Maybe it is about as strange as hearing Omen speaking in her head whenever they communicated. 

"I suppose we can't say for sure how things will be like until we get there," Lin spoke as she opened her rations and extended another pack to Omen. "Let's eat up first before we leave. Who knows what we'll find in that temple."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,591]

@Moonlit @Blitz Boom

Nada noticed Berry's reaction, but she didn't seem to care, she heard her to say something about mind control and the conspiracy, but she knew that wasn't true, because she knew she was singing with another Siren, though this siren might still have magic unlike Nada, so maybe it was better that Berry protected her ears regardless, since there was no way of knowing what this Sirens's motives were.

Nada finished her song before joining up to sing the same song in harmony with the another siren, though her lyrics differentiated a bit, mostly just being pronounced slightly differently because the language changes that had happened during the millennia, she had found said song, and several others from different songbooks and scrolls around the forest when she had searched place to stay before finding the lake she had inhabited for most of the millennia, but some of the songs had been taught by ponies back before the siren crisis. 

Nada wondered how close the new siren was now, because due her own singing, it was hard to tell from what distance the singing was coming.

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@Blitz Boom

Spicy's point about selling the ashes to a dragon surprised her, would Equestrian dragons really waste their treasure to buy some ash? she wouldn't, sure she could take something to remember certain foes after their defeat, but she would rather take their weapon or something than their remains, but what did she know, she didn't know what sold and she didn't know what the Equestrian type liked.

She didn't comment on Spicy's talk about Ruby dropping the eye nor to Marley's comment, not that she didn't have anything to reply, she just didn't have time to until she wanted to interrupt them. After Spicy had taken armband, Ruby ignored her greed towards the shiny thing as she asked "Next room?"

Edited October 25, 2018 by Catpone Cerberus

[Moonlit 593]

@Blitz Boom @Catpone Cerberus Serenade is impressed, this other Siren is harmonizing along with her. Okay...that other Pony needs to calm down, lest he give himself a heart attack. She switches up, this time choosing a song that other Siren may or may not know. Once she's done, she's raises herself out of the River, in her full-grown, mature female Hippocami form. "Hello"

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@Blitz Boom

"It's only assumptions, I've heard little about this book, just legends and myths about it." He held the book back up again. "Some may be true, some not, so I'd rather not share anything if it turns out to not be true. Or I hide what you'd not understand." He said, giving a sly smile at him, Chow did have much to learn if he intended to use magic, but this book was indeed beyond him, especially it's contents.

Misty followed next to Astral as they kept walking, looking back to Iron and Chow. "You think that there's a chance Emerald could recall being at your home from his time there?"

Astral chuckled to herself as she looked to Misty. "She'd not expect us to be going there just to find her. Chances are she'd find it empty, and leave to another place to find us."

"You don't know her though."

She shrugged, looking ahead again. "It's the best case scenario, besides, we've been to a lot of places, which one is she going to pick and wait for us to arrive?" By now they already entered the forest, Astral looking around, sighing a bit. "Alright. Shouldn't be to far now." She continued on as she looked to her neck, it was surprising what she had this entire time was the element of deceit, thinking about it. She was able to harness its power even though she wasn't deceitful, was she? A moment passed before she cast a spell, without lifting a hoof. It was the same spell she used to see if Iron was reading her mind

Being more focused on Chow now., he wasn't, as soon as she found this out she discarded the spell, hoping none of the rest noticed it. "Only thing I know for certain is the books requirements; trust in the user. We haven't earned that yet, Emerald has, so breaking it's trust in her is necessary, as she's made it distrust us already, and all we have is words, so yes, some form of evidence like what she looked like, or is doing with his spells, may work."