open Casual stroll

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

@Blitz Boom
The young dragon could sense Leviathan's anger, but he could also tell it was not directed anger, a small difference, but noticing the difference can be a question of life and death for a weakling like him. What came to his reaction to that anger, he just tensed up a bit, not necessarily noticeable to someone like Leviathan who didn't have the need to notice the smallest of changes in others to survive, since he had already been quite tensed up.

 He again watched the smoke-show interested, and again it was hard to tell if it was because he understood it or because child-like curiosity towards something he had never seen before. After it he looked thoughtful for a while as he started putting pieces together in his head, he knew that someone had saved his life, since his last memory before passing out was him coughing up water after someone had brought him on land, then he woke up in a cave, alive, while someone who looked like smaller version of his mother and this weirdly shaped dragon were waiting outside, and he was told that he wouldn't be harmed, as hard as it was to believe. He had also been fed, and now one of them acted all friendly with him and seemingly wanted to defend him....which made him realize how weird pair the two actually were since his mother's lookalike should by all sense and logic have killed the other one rather than teamed up with her.

He would draw another dragon, this time based on scale it was Ruby, and he would point at it and tilt his head in asking manner, before 'explaining' a bit more. He pointed at the biggest dragon, then at Leviathan, and then he picked up the fish's spine that he hadn't eaten and ripped it apart, he then pointed at what presumably was Ruby, then at Leviathan again, and then said something and pointed at his mouth while he was saying it. After that he again tilted his head confused. 

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Nada smiled when Agni came to show his affection, and would even pet him a bit if she had time before the egg watch rang out, Agni didn't need to worry about Nada leaving him, because regardless of how things went with ponies, she would hang around the forest for most of the time, since no matter how much she wanted to return to civilization, she had spend last millennia in there, so she had certain attachment to the place. 

She chuckled a bit when the situation with the watch had ended, and would pet Agni if he let her "Don't worry, even I got taken off guard by it, those things either didn't exist when I last interacted with ponies or I just never saw them, so I wasn't prepared to how loud it was." she found it quite comical actually, she had been amused by Agni's reactions to pony things yet she herself got scared by a egg watch which was simple enough technology that she figured how it worked by only seeing it.

Nada just nodded at Ziggy, she didn't know enough to say if the muffins looked right, and she had nothing to comment on the fact that they should let them cool a bit.

She wound it a bit curious that Agni, a bird of fire, liked the warmth coming from the muffins, since how she saw it, it was like she taking a bath for sake of comfort. 

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"Oh, so those are called Everwood trees? Well, if we can't keep them calm by talking, I'll get the branches, worst they can do to me is make few more holes." Scarecrow stated, he had been stricken by lighting few times in his current existence, and since his muscles had rotted away, it only slowed him down a bit because the force pushed his relatively light body quite easily. 

He decided to wait when the 'bird' started writing something in case there was some details he and Lyriel were missing, because no matter what he thought about it, it had been correct until now. "I didn't think it that way actually." He admitted  "But now that you mentioned it...true, you seem to have some kind of sentience, so you would have some kind of survival instinct, and going against us could go against your survival considering your creator." "My apologizes." 

If nothing else happened that required his response, he would ask if they were ready to continue after nobody had anything else to say.

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@Blitz Boom

A mask fell upon the two of them, making it seem as if they had both walked away to anyone around
"How did you get the charm of immortality?"

"Don't get mistaken, I didn't snake it out of their hands like you did."

His pupils turned into slits, as he hissed at Iron.
"That test was impossible."

"For a someone like you, evil and filled with darkness."

Skall growled, knowing that if he made a move the illusion would be disturbed allowing others to see or hear them within the illusion
"How dare you?! You were once submitted to the darkness too!"

"Except I left it."

"Oh I remember, and you'll die for it someday."

The guard would see a griffon manifest nearby, a beak made of steel, he flapped his wings down sending out a gust of air, anyone nearby knocked aside, dissipating the illusion hiding Skall and Iron, Steel Beak staring at Skall, flying and pinning him down
"Are you considering betrayal as well?! With how you left my side, I don't know why I bothered regrouping."
His eyes glanced to Iron, grinning at him, then looking to the guards nearby, as a magical shield suddenly pushed them away, preventing them from getting closer.
"So you lead us here, to Canterlot? Why?"

"For Tirek."

"I am never working with that self centered narcissistic- GAH"
The shield vanished, as Skall stared into his eyes, holding a spear that he thrust through Steelbeak, feeling a strange joy from slaying his master, blood dripping onto him.

"We really don't need anyone else do we?"
He stood up, throwing Steel Beaks body aside, holding the element up and staring into it.
"Of course, we should have done that sooner."

Iron stood blankly, frozen as he saw Skall make a move that frankly, he never thought he'd do.
Skall soon vanished in a cloud, heading to the library, arriving as a unicorn again.
==================================

The general looked at her, examining for signs of lying- and though he wasn't an interrogator, he knew her enough to see her tells, and there weren't any.
"We should hear out the witnesses to, maybe we can learn where they took Chariot."
He tapped his chin while he thought and looked to Shade.
"Are there any ways to sense where someone may have teleported?"

[Blitz Boom 4,620]

@Sekel

"Now, we ensure that their generals comes to us. If they know of these papers, they can spread the word, and travelling in at least this city, will be less problematic. These halls were not made for a grown sphinx however, so I cannot wander to where they reside. Either you must find them and inform of what happened, or we will have to make some of the guards call upon them, whilst we wait outside.

I would think that normally, that ambassador of theirs would handle the matter, but he did not seem at his best, and I can imagine he's being ordered to rest now. I were tempted to tell him that myself, as he is not worth much to anyone, if he lays broken in a bed for months on e-"

Suddenly, Enzo stopped talking, as his left ear vibrated, and he jerked his head to the side whilst gazing up into one of the darkened corners of the room. At first without much of an emotion going on, but soon after, a small snarl formed on his lips, and he'd rise up in his full height, glaring with narrow eyes at the shadows.

"Show yourself, or I will make you."

Three seconds ticked by, before Enzo rose his paw, only for a movement to be registered up there. Hard to see at first, but soon after a darkened pony with cloth covered all but his or her pale eyes, would fly silently to the side, out of the shadow said pony had been hiding in, yet remaining up near the corner.

Enzo were just about demanding to be told who this were, before the shadowy pony flapped to the side, into the wall, and on impact would have a minor, dark cloud puff from their being. When it lifted, their onlooker had retreated, as quietly as they had arrived, and with no trace of their presence.

"Hmph. Insolent foal should do well in covering from their better.

Let us leave. Do any of you need a lift down to the garden once more? Or will you wander through the castle, and look for the generals? Either way, I still think we do well in alerting them. Sooner that happens, the sooner we can make use of our inclusion, to wander freely on the street. I wish to see more of this capitol, that the equines think so fondly about."

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@Sekel

6 hours ago, Sekel said:

"I ..." Twilight tried to speak but shook her head to get the words right. "I wish to help everypony I can, ma'am," she eventually said and coughed a couple of times as she looked to Last and spoke softly. "As far as I can tell, whatever is left of her, wants help. I'm sure I'll be able to at least make it so she's not feeling any pain."

Last looked mortified, yet whilst the princess talked, she would slowly - and with a pained expression in her eye - withdraw her sword.

"So can I. I'm not leaving her like this."

"Krrhxt, no! Stay away!"

If they turned, they'd see that a vine were closing in on the remaining manetid, who desperately called out, whilst trying to fend away it, and several other branches were were only slowly approaching. Either the forest were enjoying taking their time with the last of them, or something with how Last's altered mother were seemingly trying to fight through this, were affecting the area somehow.

"Stop fighting..."

The attention brought to it, just made the far more overtaken one lumber forward towards the large insect, seemingly intent on dealing with her himself. Something which made the manetid let out a loud, distressed sound, as she tried to avoid getting entangled.

"P-Please, no more..."

Small rocks and leaves started roaming around, flown on unseen winds, as Last addressed the princess again.

"I buried her once. I... I can do it again. She deserves to rest."

As a tear ran down Last's open eye, she felt conflicted on this, but seeing her own mother as one of these horrors, that at times had assaulted their shrine as well, made her feel the worst she ever had. Not even when she fought she had seen her mother die, had it been as bad as now, when she saw what this place had done to her. If only she had known this were where all the horrors came from, she would have torched it to the ground herself years ago. Even if she had to sacrifice herself for the cause. It would be a good,honorable way to die.

"They're... In... My... Head..."

The horror that once were a shrine maiden, would wander a step forward, towards the princess, so far still oblivious to the presence of Last it seemed. And also to that of her *companion*, who were reaching fungal arms towards the manetid, closing in on being able to grapple yet another victim for the true rulers of this cursed place.

"Stop iiiit!"

A booming voice suddenly rung out from Cherish, who had crouched down, covering her head with her hooves. Seeing what she had, had been horrifying for her. Ponies and what else, turned into monstrosities? Manetids chasing them, just to be seemingly eaten up by the very forest? It were threatening to break her. And then all of these varied beings had started to yell out, cause more distress, in an emotional turmoil... It had been too much for her, and it would show, as several creatures would find themselves tossed about. Last would get pushed back, and a pressure would make one hit the princess too, though due to her magic, she might be able to counter the psychokinetic push.

The manetid would be liften into the air, whilst the varied branches going after her would begin to be torn to shreds, or bashed against trees who would begin to creak and be debarked by the assaults going on them.

The fungal creature would be lifted up too, and thrown repeatedly into a tree. Which were an action not even stopping once it didn't move anymore, but first when the tree actually broke, and it were slung on top of the cracked trunk.

Ladt's mother would be in the air, shaken around like a ragdoll, whilst a myriad of weird bugs would get rattled out, and splattered in the air, with the forest itself seemingly letting out a harrowed howl from the action. That or the wind were meddling with things. Or potentially, it were Cherish's poltergeist episode that were causing some added noise effects, as she were laying in a foster position, and unleashed the emotional, stress-resulted assault.

If either Last or Twilight tried to get close to her without somehow deflecting or countering the magic Cherish were making use of, she would push them away, though if Twilight could - for example - come near, she might be able to get the spirit back to her senses with a friendly embrace, or a stronger force to knock her out. Preferably before someone else would start getting slammed through trees, as regular beings were not made for such actions.

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@Sekel

"Awh hay no. I still have my pride la- Whoah!"

Happy were about to talk about how he were too prideful to go with this sort of plan, before he moved about, and got a dizzy spell that made his legs give up, whilst the world swiveled around. Reminded him of bronkitis, just with an added, increasingly thunderous headache.

Begrudgingly, he'd walk/crawl over, and plop his lanky self on the queen's back. Aurora would probably find that he were surprisingly light weight, and due to his chest and neck fluff, rather soft as well.

"This here's just 'til the world stops spinning. Soon as it wanna stay in place, I'll be right back on my hooves. Just a wee lil' head smacking that needs a couple of minutes to sort itself out. No biggie."

Urgh, what he wouldn't give for a vial of zebra juice for his head though, right about now... Felt like his brain were trying to escape, and wanted to crack open his skull from the inside.

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@Sekel @Widdershins

"There's a difference between the whole town knowing, and just a few here. And we're gonna let it be known eventually. We just have to figure out how to tell the others at work first, so thank you for keeping it for now. It means a lot to us.

And uhm, I think you're talking about Alonsus. He's not part of their family. He works with me and Chop at Sloppy Joe's. It's a coffee shop. Alonsus is kind of the jack of all trades there. He fixes things, delivers orders to those who can't as easily get to us for their meals, and sometimes helps out as a bouncer, in case we get some rowdy clients. He also helps around town a lot with things in his spare time. He's a little strange, but his heart is in the right place."

It were weird being asked about Alonsus, from somepony who had actually talked to him. Usually when there were somepony who wanted to know about him, they had only just seen him, and gotten somewhat interested by his looks alone, but then couldn't deal with him up close and personal. His overcompensating nature were a bit grating for some unfortunately, but like she said, he had his heart in the right place. He wasn't malicious, and except that one time, she had never seen him act out of this cheerful, jolly persona of his. But she were sure that had more to do with the fact that somepony had smashed a plate on his head, whilst he were supposed to get another to the hospital. That sort could be grating on anypony.

"I dunno about Shortstack though. He's acting kinda odd... I wonder if there's something wrong."

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@Catpone Cerberus

Okay, so they seemed to understand one another now on some level, as the whelp now moved on to seemingly ask about Ruby, in a way that were rather simple: Why had she not killed Leviathan yet? A lengthy topic she'd say, that so far were hard to answer, as Ruby did speak like she knew she were expected to break her into pieces. Something which would not be easy mind you, as regardless of the dragoness having the mass for it, Leviathan did not fight physical fights, as much as magical. And the younger, yet larger, dragoness could not win over her in that field.

Truthfully, she thought that on some level, Ruby wanted there to be someone who liked her, and would be there for her, but just had no idea of how to express it, since she were used to having to toughen up, and don't show any sort of vulnerability. Which considering the messed up culture she came from, made sense. To them, relying on another were weakness, and weakness were more or less punishable by death. Though Ruby herself would likely claim it were because she were just amusing herself, and/or didn't wanna spend the effort it would take to chase off *the pint-sized supposed dragon*. Which wouldn't be easy either, as Leviathan were sorta emotionally clingy, once she found someone she decided to hang around.

In any case, it were time to respond to Ruby's little brother, though she likely had to *phrase* it otherwise.

As such, a new cloud dragon would join the others, this one representing Ruby. She looked grumpy and stoic as could be expected, and Leviathan's copy briefly paused her patting of the small one, to look up at her when she approached. When she got close enough, Ruby would let out a snort, but still sit down, and then start to pat Leviathan with a minor smile on her face.

She were trying to get through that Ruby were a friend of sort, whilst also playing along with what Ruby had said before, about Leviathan being a coward. Perhaps it would make more sense to the small one, if he thought on it as his big sister, having taken in a coward to protect, whom she were on friendly foot with.

Heh, actually, from this angle, it almost looked like they were a happy little family...

A warm smile crept on Leviathan's face as she looked on that, and imagined what it would be like, to have small whelps chirping around, and trying to bite the scales off her legs. Wind dragons were a bunch of little ankle biters until their wings grew strong enough to support them flying, at which point they'd upgrade to ear biters. Water dragons didn't mess around though. They went right for the tail, with intent to drag their playmate/play around. Horrifying to some, adorable to others. Depended on if it were your tail, and if you could breathe underwater, she supposed.

Her thoughts trailing off wouldn't remove the figures, but it would drag her mind away for a few seconds, whilst she thought of potentially better times like this. Hopefully something which would happen in the future, though it were probably best to focus on what were happening right here and now. There'd be time enough to wonder if she could get eggs, and therefor whelps, some other time.

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@Catpone Cerberus

"Yeah, it's kinda loud in it. Kitchens can be noisy at times, so I guess the one who invented this wanted to make real sure it got heard. Again, really sorry I didn't warn you about this. I've gotten used to folks just sorta knowing. Whoops?"

Hopefully Nada would accept her apology, but she had to do something nice for Agni, since she wasn't sure if he understood, or would accept it. So she slowly took her right hoof - which still had an oven mitt on it - and slowly moved closer to where Agni were sitting. He seemed a little wary, but he'd remain mostly still, as she calmly grabbed hold on some of the muffins, and dragged them backwards, so that this particular plate were now less spread out, which would mean they'd take a few minutes more to cool off. However, the important part were that it also left a big part of the plate that Agni could now sit in, rather than merely on the edge. Which he'd do, and sit down with a pleased coo, and closed eyes, whilst Ziggy worked on getting the muffins she were handling on the the side.

Afterwards, she'd quick as a flash, stand there with two plates, and start to quickly move muffins on to them. And quickly were the correct words, as the movements seemed more or less a blur, as the muffins quickly ended up on the plates. Though when she were done, she would shake the oven mitts off and blow on her hooves.

"Phew, those things are hot! You'd think they just got out of the oven, hehe.

Just a few more minutes, and they're ready. Should give the pretty birdie a little more time to soak in the residual heat. Must be all nice and cozy to him. Like pegasi and clouds, or sirens and rivers. Or a coral reef, maybe? I dunno. Serenade sleeps halfway up from the lake, lazying on the floor, so I dunno what exactly counts as cozy for a siren. Except for soft beds, and a nice, big patch of wet grass. You should've seen her face when she went out to have a rest on that when it rained in the forest. Only place I've seen her sleep better were when we went to her parents, and she used me as a teddy. It was kinda weird, but I just couldn't get myself to wake her up to lemme go.

Half an hour more than it went on though, and I would've had to. I have a boat load of energy that I need to run off, or I can get into all sorts of health issues. Usually that means I fly around for an hour after a nice nap. Sometimes runs. Kinda depends on what feels the best at the time. You ever feel like just roaming around freely for a while, without a care in the world? I know you got all sorts of reasons to be worried and excited right now, but it's real important to relax and have fun too sometimes."

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@Catpone Cerberus

8 hours ago, Catpone Cerberus said:

"Oh, so those are called Everwood trees? Well, if we can't keep them calm by talking, I'll get the branches, worst they can do to me is make few more holes."

"Unless that pumpkin-headed one did something to you too, and just didn't tell us. Though either way, try to just go for the branches they have shed, and for the love of everything, do not try to stomp of anything that looks like a sprout. Lightning is what they do when they warn others. I can't imagine what they would do, if you trampled one of their offspring."

They'd probably be less than thrilled, to put it mildly, and she for one would prefer to get through this ordeal without anyone getting hurt. Not them, nor any of the beings they were seemingly collecting parts from. This whole thing were already bad enough, without the need for mindless attacks and potential bloodshed.

8 hours ago, Catpone Cerberus said:

"I didn't think it that way actually." He admitted  "But now that you mentioned it...true, you seem to have some kind of sentience, so you would have some kind of survival instinct, and going against us could go against your survival considering your creator." "My apologizes."

Considering the spiderbird were able to write and read, saying it only had some kind of sentience, were a bit irritating for it, but when it came to this one, it resigned that there had been some progress, so it would take what it could get for now. As such, it would delete what it had written before, and instead write *Accepted.* over where its explanation had been before. It considered adding a rude word to this too, but it seemed to be an important olive branch between them, to get over this, so it refrained. For now at least. If it had been able to speak though, it would likely have mumbled it, but this body were not built to speak like that. A design flaw far as it were concerned, but Anomaly likely figured it didn't need it, since it were just a wooden bird/spider thing. She deserved some pecking for this later, but for the time being, they'd be best off moving along.

It were a fair trip length, but nothing of much interest seemed to happen, beyond varied critters hiding from them. Likely something that Scarecrow were used to, but it saddened Lyriel, who were used to having the little ones follow her, or come down for a chat. Not treat her like she might be a potential threat. At least for this, the darkened forest had some comfort to her, as she couldn't see as many of them do this, though she still felt rather miserable.

Not too far away from the grounds of the Everwood trees, she would find that she actually recognized one of the animals that they came across personally, though he did not seem to know her, as the little sparrow flew away at the sight of them.

"...I think she have done something to the animals. They don't seem to remember me at all, and I talked with Harold there, not but a few hours ago. What creature would do such a thing?"

Scarecrow might have noticed another reason though, as his vision in the dark were stronger. Every animal that had tried tentatively to near them, had been focused on by the spider bird, and the ones in question had backed off again. Including the owl, who had looked directly at the creation, before flying off in fear.A fair thing to do, considering whenever the spiderbird got interest in one of them, there would be an oddly ominous, predatory feeling emanating from it. As if it were scouring out its prey.

Considering what else Anomaly had made that they had personally seen - namely Princess - it would not be a massive lap of faith to think that maybe, this one were a predator as well, and were growing a bit peckish.

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@EQ_Theta

On 7/18/2020 at 4:06 PM, EQ_Theta said:

“If I may add to the conversation… Discord can still call upon Omen whenever he needs her even if she is with us. It came about from an agreement with him, though I guess it wasn’t a formal one. Still, it’ll be upheld because it fosters goodwill with the draconequus.”

“And not because he made a good impression on you? Hmm?”

“H-Hey! We should do right by our friends, even Discord.”

Tomb sighed and shook her head slightly.

"Having stories by spirits who were there, when Discord ruled the lands, it is still odd at times to think that he could be reformed, and find friends. Not that every tale made him out to be a hateful monstrosity of sorts, but his behavior never seemed to tell about him wanting this sort of life. One could wonder if the elements blasting him a few times have caused some sort of change in him."

"Master Discord acts strange around the yellow mare, but he smells the same."

Tomb had never personally seen Fluttershy, but she had heard about her from some of the breezies who had stopped by on their travels before, who felt more talkative. They described her well, and also of how she were a kindhearted, yet stern when she wanted to be, pony. The one whom she had heard had tamed Discord, and now this oddity of a mare said the same. Strange, but ultimately a good thing though, right? Whatever the reason be for him listening to her, it were a good thing to have him on the side of Equestria, even if he still had his time doing some antics. At least the bad one he had done here in town, seemed to make him feel bad, so that showed some degree of change from what the spirits had told some of her ancestors.

"An odd way of putting it, but I'll take your word for it. Yours too, Sen and Lin. It surprises me that you know him well enough to consider him your friend, but I suppose, if you run around with his former servant, it makes sense you've met him."

On 7/18/2020 at 4:06 PM, EQ_Theta said:

“Don’t worry, Tomb. You don’t need to be overly concerned with the implications involving Discord. He isn’t here, and if anything should happen, Lin and I will take responsibility.”

"And me keeping an eye on you is as much for your sake, than it is for ours. Thestrals have good ears, so its very likely that some have heard what you've said, and are spreading the rumor. With one of my kin around you, they'll feel safer, and I can help dispel rumors about you. Besides, something tells me you all have some interesting stories to tell, and I'm curious."

"Full disclosure: They have met Discord, but I have not. Just want to lay it out there before you ask if I have stories regarding him."

Rosa had one of Omen's legs released by the time he said this, muttering a little under his breath as he untangled her from this mysterious tangle she had gotten herself into. Quite honestly, at this point, he would just assume that this were Discord's fault. Another of his *design flaws* that he found endearing.

"A shame. I think it would've been fun to hear about him from-"

She'd lean forward, and whisper something lowly into his ear, that made Rosa's eyes go wide, and tighten one knot he had almost released. An action that would've hurt others, but Omen just felt a pressure, and didn't much care to do anything, but wriggle around her one free leg, whilst waiting for the others to be freed as well.

Meanwhile Tomb just took a step back, with a knowing little smirk on her face. Looked a little pleased with herself, in that she had stumped Rosa, but in fairness, she really were. One of life's small gifts this had been, and she enjoyed it in the moment.

On 7/18/2020 at 4:06 PM, EQ_Theta said:

“Time to get our friend untangled again. Do you need any help, Rosa?”

"Huh? No no, I'm... I got this. Just gimme a little longer."

He were flustered, but snapped out of it as he got called out, and went back to dealing with Omen. Within twenty more seconds roughly, she'd be free, and he would use the thread to wrangle around his waist, and tie a knot with. He didn't have his belt anymore, but this could do in a pinch, if he had to dangle something from it.

"So I get the feeling that games involving rope or string isn't going to be what you'd want to try first? What sort of thing did you have in mind, if I can ask? It could help me sort you out easier, perhaps."

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@Windy Breeze 🥧

A small, brief smile got on Sorrow's face as she witnessed Windy's response. At least she could still retain her cheery mood and optimism in here. That was good. She'd probably need it.

Taking to the sky, and covering up Legion as best she could with her hooves, Sorrow would casually fly along with Windy, and looking as best she could as just a regular, ol' flier in the town, from when the memory played out. It seemed to work rather well, though a few familiar faces down below made her cringe a little. Quill seemed jolly and waved at them, which Sorrow would have done back, were she not busy hiding Legion, hence she just nodded towards the likely still possessed mare. If it even were her, and just an illusion, brought along by a powerful memory.

Seeing how Windy ignored them though, she'd try to do the same as best she could, but it were hard not to at least catch a glimpse of the varied ponies here from time to time, as they followed the prime memory objects to a... Restaurant? That was odd. Seeing how the two of them had talked before, it seemed strange that they'd stop here, rather than going straight home and talking about it. Perhaps they had reservations or something?

On 7/18/2020 at 12:54 AM, Windy Breeze 🥧 said:

“They went inside that restaurant” 

"Maybe they had reservations, or he figured that he could sway her with dinner and some talks about the past? I've met spirits who said their significant other did stuff like that, to try and get them to focus on the good times. Sometimes it were just to get through some rough patches. Sometimes... It was a lot more. Should we go in and try to listen in, or?"

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@FanOfManyShows

15 minutes ago, FanOfManyShows said:

"How dare you?! You were once submitted to the darkness too!"

"Except I left it."

"Oh I remember, and you'll die for it someday."

"He were always too weak to wander the path of power. You flourished there, and earned what you had every right to, by being smarter than them. I bet they only gave it to him out of pity."

The spirit had no love for this stallion. Not only because he would divert Skall's attention towards him, but because he were a weak-wiled, traitorous maggot, who did not deserve to even stand in the shadow of their might.Were it up to her, the miserable cur would be laying on the street with blood pulsating from his worthless carcass, but she were still much, much too weak to interact with the physical world. Skall were using the element, and thereby feeding her power too, but there were a long way from empty to able to interact. Hopefully eventually though, she'd be able to strangle him, like they all should have done years ago. To him, and the other weak minded fools that had been tolerated at the time.

As for the nearest guards, they were hesitantly drawing their sword, unable to tell exactly what went on, but seeing some kind of illusion at work here made them cautious. Also, the words sounded very ominous, and were a great cause for concern. It were best of them to investigate this.

Though they did not even get a word out, before Steelbeak showed up, threw them away like rag dolls, and the two of them went into a rather short-lived argument. Literally, as Steelbeak were soon impaled, and thrown aside like dirt to bleed out on the street, whilst the guards could only look on, rather horrified, and panic began spreading in the civilian onlookers that had witnessed this.

25 minutes ago, FanOfManyShows said:

"We really don't need anyone else do we?"
He stood up, throwing Steel Beaks body aside, holding the element up and staring into it.
"Of course, we should have done that sooner."

"He always held you back, and steered you away from useful tools. You don't need cowards like that in your kingdom."

She had hoped that Steelbeak's ultimate end would be to get devoured by his own spirit, but she would settle for seeing Skall do the act of succession properly. It made her non-existent heart tingle with glee. Plus, his spirit might have not eaten him alive regardless. Some of them only barely worked together with their intended carrier, but times changed, and she never got along with the others. Not far as she remembered anyway.

Still, there were a chance it would still happen, i the insolent little turncoat took him away to be resurrected, though why would he waste the effort on Steelbeak? The old feather duster deserved to die a long time ago, and there were nothing redeemable about him, far as she were concerned. 

As panic started to spread in another part of town, where the guards would try to cover up the body and drag it away, whilst calling in backup, Skall would be welcomed to the library by the front desk clerk, who knew not of what had just happened, and greeted him with a smile.

"Hello there. Anything I can help you with?"

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

 

@FanOfManyShows

Shade slowly nodded to the general.

"There are already trackers on it, but it takes time, and some odd magic is muddling the process. It will be a while before we can find the track, but when a link is found, it will be followed."

One of Shade's team would suddenly jump down from a dark corner up near the ceiling, and land on silent wings near him, and just stand there, locking eyes to Shade's single one for a few seconds, before they both turned to look at the general.

"There is another situation you should know about. It seems the ambassador have just made an agreement with a new variation of changeling, to make diplomatic ties between them and us. Also, he have somehow convinced a sphinx to work for the Equestrian military. It sounds as if said sphinx might come look for you, and the other generals, to confirm their agreement."

"Y-You mean Enzo? General Dew talked about him. He said that h-he had started talks with him, a-after he were tricked to attack Canterlot with C-Chariot and Emerald."

The scout's eyes glowed brighter for a moment.

"The name were used by one of the others. Seems like we have an identity to go with then.

Still, it isn't of concern to us right now.  Do you want me to gather the other witnesses?"

[Windy Breeze 15,189]

@Blitz Boom

Windy's face turned solemn “Do you think we should go inside? She asked as one mare went out ot the building where there are targets are in now. The name of the restaurant is 'Green & Tender' giving a hint that the restaurant is both for ponies and for other races who eat meat. Windy felt odd why restaurants like this exist, for she had seen more multiracial ones in the past few years. She only guessed the purpose of the restaurant is to make omnivores and carnivores more equal. She look at Sorrow and waited for her answer. If they didn't went inside, they couldn't hear what Razor and Autumn are saying, but if they went inside, they would risk being noticed and end the memory, revealing the nightmarish reality again. 

[EQ_Theta 457]

@Blitz Boom

“You wouldn’t believe us if we told you we travelled with Discord for a while. Or… Discord did the traveling around and we were tagging along for the ride. I mean, teleportation and moving across vast distances is one thing but even that has limitations.”

“Yeah but that time spent with Discord was enough for us to see him as a friend. Time will change everyone, but how they change and where it stops is up to them. Discord was fortunate to meet Fluttershy, and they seem to be much happier nowadays.”

“And you seem to be wistful.”

“Yes. I am.”

Lin wanted to get back at Sen for his remark earlier though going by his response, he was either expecting her to try it, or something else got him rather contemplative in the moment. He wouldn’t say but the longma had enough things going on in her mind to make several guesses. Either way, it looked like her attempt at teasing backfired, but she wouldn’t complain. There was a glint in her brother’s eyes that hinted at hope and longing to find it.

Sen, meanwhile, was a little too caught up in the moment to notice Rosa managing to cut Omen free from the string or hear Tomb’s question. Of course, Lin would pick up the conversation before things got awkward. Knowing Sen initiated the challenge, she’d want to see his skill in a low-stakes game, just like when they were children. Although there was a little bit of her wanting her brother to eat his words in a playful setting. 

“Seeing as Sen wanted to challenge Rosa, let’s start with games of skill or speed. Or maybe there might be something like an obstacle course? Oh and are there games that accept multiple players at a time? I wouldn’t want Omen to be left out.”

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

@Blitz Boom
The small dragon didn't seem to buy the part about Ruby patting Leviathan and smiling, but he seemed to get the message, as he yet again became thoughtful and didn't notice Leviathan's sink to her thoughts.

He had a decision to make, he could either stay with these two, or run away from them, not that he really could escape his mother's lookalike if she was anything like the others of their kind. The situation itself was very weird to him, and not only because nobody had died yet, firstly, this weirdly shaped dragoness that was with him, something about her didn't match, she looked not lot older than he, but he also got the feeling she was lot older, though unlike with his own kind, he couldn't tell if it really was to case or if his tiredness just was messing with him, and then his mother's lookalike...he had the feeling that she had been the one to save him, not because he sensed anything, but because the force he was hit by didn't really match someone as small as the one he was talking to, and he couldn't sense any sign's of other dragons around. And if it really was her who saved him....it was bizarre to put it lightly, he wouldn't expect his own mother to save him, so why would anyone else do so?

He would ultimately decide to stay, not because he necessarily trusted these two, but because it was the safest bet, because if he stayed, he could think of four end results that could happen, two of them good and two of them bad, but if he left, there was really only way it could go well, while he came up with four bad possibilities without even thinking too much about it. 

If the smoke-figures were still around, he would point at them, give a careful nod and slowly get closer to Leviathan, and if Leviathan didn't do anything that startled him, he would try to carefully touch end of her snout with his own, this wasn't necessarily any specially meaningful gesture to him, since there wasn't really any gestures to indicate trust and such for their kind, but he figured it could work as one since he brought essentially his weakest point close to her. 

If the smoke-figures weren't there, he would give a careful smile, making it pretty obvious he had never smiled before, and would attempt the same.

If Leviathan let him do it, and would then attempt to touch him in any way, he would let her, but he would flinch, again showing to how bad of a treatment he had used to.

This may have seemed bit quick when considering how hard it seemed to be for Ruby to accept help, but they did have over 100 year difference when it came to living in their homelands, and this male was ultimately just a kid who's only wish currently was to not die, and from his point of view, it was better to not anger these two by trying to leave, because if there was even the slightest chance that he wasn't lied to, his life would be lot better than anything he had ever even wished for. 

----------------------------------------
"No need to apologize, I figured it would make a sound, I just hadn't prepared for it." Nada assured smiling, it wasn't Ziggy's fault that Nada was 1000 years behind in technological advancement. She would smile again when she saw Agni getting comfortable, making a mental note in case she ever needed Agni off her head while in the house, make something hot using the oven.

"I do swim around to calm down, it's really a unique experience to be fully submerged and just glide forward, I would suggest it but you can't breath underwater." "Floating on the surface is also quite calming if there's nobody bothering you." Nada replied "For the rest I can't really comment because I have really only slept on the bottom of lakes and rivers for most of my life, I have never really tried wet grass or beds or such." 

-------------------------
"That was my plan, I don't like harming nature without real reason, and especially not when the protector of nature is with me, that would just be cruel." Scarecrow said, purposely avoiding mentioning...or thinking about Lyriel's first point, not wanting to give the creature tormenting them any more ideas, not that she could make his situation much worse, considering that even something like pain would be a blessing after the emptiness he has existed with as long as he remembered. He just gave a approving nod, to the 'bird'.

"It is not you they're afraid of." Scarecrow said, looking towards the 'bird' "Or even me necessarily." he would have narrowed his eyes if he had any, though the red glow did change a little bit, but it wasn't clear if it was actually on purpose or if they just did that randomly "I think we have a predator with us, which in hindsight, I should have realized earlier." he found it weird that this creature had any need to eat period, but then again, they were dealing with a trickster.

[Blitz Boom 4,620]

@Catpone Cerberus

It were tempting to rise up, or reach a claw forward when the little one seemed to be thinking about what to do, but patience were a virtue. Especially with timid ones like this. Considering the sort of creatures she had grown up around, she knew well how timid certain creatures could be, and what could come from startling them too much. If she had grown up around dragons, a certain impatience had likely been linheritant with her, which gave her another reason to be happy that her egg had been stolen. Y'know, beyond the fact that since her father cheated on her mother, she had smashed all the other eggs in anger. Funny how an egg thief were the reason she were alive, but that was a recurring thought, for another time.

19 hours ago, Catpone Cerberus said:

If the smoke-figures were still around, he would point at them, give a careful nod and slowly get closer to Leviathan, and if Leviathan didn't do anything that startled him, he would try to carefully touch end of her snout with his own, this wasn't necessarily any specially meaningful gesture to him, since there wasn't really any gestures to indicate trust and such for their kind, but he figured it could work as one since he brought essentially his weakest point close to her. 

She would have kept the smoke figures around, just in case he had more to say, and she needed to make use of them again. It took less effort to have them embodied like this, rather than remaking them from scratch again. Especially now that there were three of them, though she did need to add a bit of new smoke every now and again. Hence smoke had still puffed out of her nostrils at minor intervals.

As he slowly moved closer, she'd remain silent and still, waiting to see what would happen. This might potentially be some sort of attack, but he didn't seem able to do much of a stealth attack. Plus, he wasn't much of a threat to her. Much too scrawny and weakened for that. Give it a few centuries, some solid training, and a proper diet, and they could perhaps talk about him being dangerous in certain situations.

She would admit though, that the nose boop were not what she expected. It did show a level of cautious attempt to connect, with a part that were rather easy to attack and hurt if it came down to it, but she just found it a little odd. Could be worse though she supposed. He could've licked her forehead, like some sorta cat. Thankfully he wasn't That feral.

In response, she'd move her own snout towards him, and push against his face ever so slightly that way, though remaining otherwise mostly stationary. A gesture she did with a smile on her face, and her best, friendly look going over her slit eyes. It might startle him a little that she moved, but it seemed worse to her if she just sat completely still, and did nothing. He had tried to connect like this, and in turn, she'd do the same.

It were tempting to touch him beyond that, and maybe pat his head, as the figures did, but he seemed to flinch by even this little, so Leviathan would contain herself for now. There'd be time eventually, once he learned that she didn't wish him any harm.

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

"I think you're missing out then. Serenade likes it at least, but it might just be her. Not everypony is the same after all, right?"

That went for ponies, and sirens alike. Hay, any race really. They might have some stuff that most did, or acted a certain way because it were the norm, but that didn't mean that they were all the same. That'd just be silly to think. Everypony had their own little things, and some members of any species, would be bound to have some of those that made them very different. Like a siren that didn't eat emotions for example, which were just proof if any were needed, that not everything were the same for everyone.

"Anyway, let's see if... Ehehehehe, I think they're ready."

Ziggy had poked the muffins with a bare hoof, to see how they were now. Still warm were the answer, but not scorching. Moving them around and separating them some had helped take the worst heat.

With that in mind, she'd slide a few to the side, unto another, smaller plate, and reach them towards Nada with a big, happy smile on her face. Even more than usual, which nearly made it seem as if she were about to burst into rainbows and butterflies.

"Come on, you gotta try 'em. The darker one is the chocolate chip muffin, and the slightly lighter one is the lemon and chocolate chip muffin. Not that different, but if you like muffins, we can work on all sorts of weird ones. Like carrot, blueberry, honey, or oaths. There's a load of fun things you can put in muffins. We can also work on some tasty glaze, and go into cupcake territory! baking is delicious."

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

23 hours ago, Catpone Cerberus said:

"That was my plan, I don't like harming nature without real reason, and especially not when the protector of nature is with me, that would just be cruel."

"It is greatly appreciated, though you should be aware that more accurately, I am a protector of the balance of nature. Trees and other natural things I am free to nourish and protect fully, but the natural order itself is a delicate, and sometimes brutal thing. If I tried to interfere with it too much, by trying to protect all prey from their predators, as an example, I would fail the predators, and the prey animals would overflow. Hard as it can be, since I can understand the critters normally, I have to let the natural order flow as it have to.

That being said, higher sentience beings such as ponies, are not needed as part of the balance between prey and predator. I am free to do what I wish when it comes to them."

A tough job at times, but she would not change it for the world. It made her feel as if she did something important, and it made her happy. Even during the tougher times, when she had to comfort one who had one they cared for eaten, as an example. Though she were not without fault, and had to admit that certain prey animals were kept safe by her. Not all members of a certain species mind you, but some individuals, whom she thought more fondly off than others, which were a bias that were perhaps not professional, yet it were her choice, and she would tand by it.

And speaking of prey and predators, Scarecrow brought up something odd, which didn't seem to make much sense at first, even for this strange creation.

23 hours ago, Catpone Cerberus said:

 "I think we have a predator with us, which in hindsight, I should have realized earlier."

The trickster had stopped up and turned curiously, to look at Scarecrow when his eyes changed hues, wondering what might happen. Seemingly nothing, though it got the feeling that he were focusing on it for a particular reason. Though not one as obvious as the dryad's, who looked more confused and somewhat alarmed at it. Might as well get this over with then...

Scribbling into the ground again, it would summarize things as simple and kindly as possible.

"Prey are protein. But I feel I can wait, until she does not look. She's squirmish."

Something seemed to move underneath it's bark-covered, stomach exterior, but nothing showed beyond that. It would be patient before it went after prey... For now.

...Spiders talk in much the same way. I guess with the legs, I should have expected this.

... Anyway, let us walk, we are almost at the trees."

As in, about three minutes out, and the place would seem rather calmly at first. Just a clearing with a bunch of oak-like trees, almost non-distinguishable from the regular oak trees, except for the slight aura that sometimes flared up around the branches. And sadly, as could be seen on the ground, whereas there were broken off branches, there were also sprouts all over the place. They had to step very, very carefully. One misstep, and the one who even got close to hitting a sapling, would get zapped. Which wasn't the trickster, as since it could fly, it cheated and flew over, before landing on a berry bush near the place. Perhaps they could use this to their advantage somehow?

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

 

@EQ_Theta

"Actually, teleportation are only limited by the amount of magic that you have available to put in it. The further the distance, the more magic is needed. This is again for teleportation, and not usage of other ways, such as gates, or established, linked portals. The latter of which does require a good deal of magic as the link are established, but rather little in the way of maintenance afterwards.

Long distance teleporting is not advised often though, as it will drain you substantially, if where you are trying to aim for have one standing there as is, as it will then not work. A good practitioner will however, find the magic to direct to a place close by, where it will then cast, but a beginner in the craft will just waste their time and energy."

"The egg head is right, though I think the more important thing is how they traveled around with Discord. I hear he likes moving around like that, and like you said, it is good he met Fluttershy. I have yet to see the mare personally, but I hear only good things of the element wearers, and her in particular. There seems to be words others have for the other wearers at times, for varied reasons, but the only thing I have heard against Fluttershy, is that she does not like to interact too much with meat eaters. So far, all who said that, seemed to come from a place of understanding this too.

And of course, her reforming Discord is a big deal. It leaves a powerful ally to Equestria, him in a better place in general, and Equestria free of one of their ancient enemies. I would like to ask her one day what she did to convert him, but there is a time for everything."

Rosa looked at Tomb as she called him out for being an egg head, which were a term that he honestly hadn't been called since he were a foal. And back then, it had been said far more as a taunt, rather than the cheeky little remark she made at him, with a glimmer in her eye that showed that she were just joking around. He could turn it back on her if he wanted to, but considering what she had just whispered to him before, he were weary of poking to her too much on basically anything.

On 7/20/2020 at 3:41 PM, EQ_Theta said:

“Seeing as Sen wanted to challenge Rosa, let’s start with games of skill or speed. Or maybe there might be something like an obstacle course? Oh and are there games that accept multiple players at a time? I wouldn’t want Omen to be left out.”

"Hmm... Skill, speed, and the option for multiple players to be part of it at once. Which should not involve string... I think I may have a fine suggestion of where you can start, yes."

Tomb would lead them down the street, away from the food vendors, and towards a rather peculiar place. It seemed like a hedge maze, but it had gnarled branches laying of the top of the tall hedges, allowing only for little light to come through to the maze inside. It seemed to have some lights dangling from there though, however, they were still unlit, as the place were still being prepared by the thestral mare standing on the other side of a door, leading into a hut in the way of the entrance to the hedgemaze. Her mane and tail were long and rose-tinted, her form nimble and a little on the lankier side, and as she turned around, her silvery eyes would gaze them over first curiously, then spread into a wide-smiled one, as she noticed Tomb. Enough for them to see the enlarged fangs in her muzzle, which even for a bat pony, were rather large.

"Oh hey there Tomb. Who you got here? A batch of tourists in line, before I even set up the line?"

"More or less, yes. They wanted a game they could play against one another, that took skills, and little in the way of rope or strings. Sounded right up your alley."

The mare looked slightly confused at one point of that sentence.

"No string? I don't see why that should be an issue. Don't tell me it's a *phobia* thing?"

It were honestly easier to just show, rather than explain this and think the mare would believe them, so Rosa would unwrap the string/belt he had around his tank, and say *Observe* before throwing it towards Omen.

She tried catching it, but that just resulted in her getting her tongue wrapped up in the string, then as she tried to wriggle it off, ended up getting her elongated tongue, and the string, stuck in the outskirts of the hedge maze. 

"Okay, yeah. That's uhm... Vauw. I see your point. Think you can untangle her, maybe?"

Rosa would nod and get on with it, which shouldn't take all that long, hopefully.

As for the big bag of bits from before, Omen had done the sensible thing before they had moved on, and ate the interior. It were easier for her to have the pile of bits more loosely in the stomach she used for this, than in the bag, which had already almost gotten stuck going through once. Practical, though if you listened very carefully, you would be able to hear her rattle ever so slightly when she walked around.

"Don't see this sorta thing everyday, that's for sure. But yeah, welcome to a place where you can really test yourselves. Soon as I got it all set up anyway. Just need to turn on the lights, speakers, and prep the equipment, and then we're ready to start opening up shop for Moontag."

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

 

@Windy Breeze 🥧

"Well, if this is part of the memory, it's probably important to what happened, so we'd need to hear it. And if it ends... I dunno, we have some sort of idea where her house is, so we can hopefully find it again afterwards?"

It were a risk, but they had to try, or they wouldn't find the answers they desperately needed, right? Though they had to find some sort of cover if they wanted to go in there, and were asked what they were doing there.... Uhm, well, since the restaurant were a combined place for meat eaters and vegetarians, judging by the name, perhaps they could use this to their advantage? Usually she wouldn't want to do something bad around these places, as she greatly respected this sort of inclusive place, but they had to do something here.

So she'd slowly pull off the chain that contained Legion, which - judging by the flared up eyes - made them worried, or at least confused.

"Okay, if the ones who run this place asks what we're doing here, in the memory, we can tell them the chef asked for this for a soup, maybe? I've been to meat eater places before, and I know they boil soup off of bones and stuff. Maybe with the chain in Legion, we can convince them that's what it's for? If they stop us, anyway. If they don't, we should try and sneak closer and just sorta... Not draw attention. Maybe pretend to read a wine card or something? I dunno how fancy this place is, and if it's really fancy, I've only been in such a place once, so I have a hard time being sure how to act there.

What do you think, Windy?"

Windy might note that whilst taken off, Legion's chain were still wrapped up tightly around her hoof, and on her neck where he usually dangled, there were a glowing mark that seemed like a rough outline of a candle. Almost seemed like it were carved into her skin, though she quickly ruffled her coat a little to cover it up again. Only a bit of glow left after that.

[Windy Breeze 15,189]

@Blitz Boom

“That's either a good or a bad idea. But it doesn't hurt to try” Windy silently approached the entrance. She silently opens the door.

Most of the interiors of the restaurant is made of wood but what caught Windy's attention is the costumers.

Other than ponies, there were some other creatures. Windy couldn't identify most of the non-pony costumers but she could see a few griffons, including Raze, who was eating some kind of stew while Autumn just received her vegetarian food from one of the waiters, who happens to be a diamond dog.

“This is beyond what I expect to see” Windy whispered.

One of waiters, a mare approached them “Hello, there” she greeted Sorrow and Windy “I'll escort both of you to a table for two costumers” 

[EQ_Theta 457]

@Blitz Boom

“That’s uh, yeah… swallowing a lot of bits is now a thing. Uh, I hope your stomach doesn’t get upset, Omen. Although I suppose that might not be a problem seeing as you coughed up a bag.” 

Sen would offer to carry the bits on behalf of everyone but that is no longer applicable. He had his saddle bags on him but the only thing he proceeded to put in it was the bag carrying the bits. At this point, he may also consider depositing the remainder of the bits he had on him but maybe that won’t be necessary seeing as they might start their first game soon. 

Which brought the siblings’ attention to the mare at the booth. Moontag wasn’t a familiar name to them, if that was the name of the game. 

“Moontag? Is that what the game is called or is it your name?”

“And if you don’t mind us asking, what’s the game about?”  

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

@Blitz Boom
The young dragon didn't really know what to do now, it seemed that his attempt to show trust had yielded results, and that as far as he had prepared, he had no idea how react to things not going wrong, and that was probably quite easy to see from the almost panicky confusion that filled his eyes. He would just kinda stay still and stare at Leviathan, being locked up from not knowing what to do, and this wouldn't change until Leviathan did something to move things along. 

If Leviathan decided to do something, his reaction would depend on what it was, any physical way to show she cared, would make him flinch at first obviously, but if she continued with it regardless, something in him would change, it wasn't a conscious change necessarily, as evidenced by the confusion that was still apparent, but from his eyes would show a specific type of pain, an emotional pain that told that he would most likely have cried if that wasn't physically impossible for his kind as they lacked the necessary parts. 

If instead she used the smoke figures, he would watch them and depending on what she did with them, would respond with curiosity and understanding, and possibly respond the best he could if needed to.
If she only spoke, that wouldn't do much, because besides the friendly tone, there was nothing he could take away from leviathan talking, and that didn't really help with deciding one's next actions. 

If Leviathan decided to not do anything, the situation wouldn't stay like that forever, because regardless of if she did or not, after half an hour or so, familiar steps of a bigger dragon could be heard, Ruby was back, if Leviathan had noticed she was gone in the first place, and the young dragon immediately turned his glance towards her in his usual fearful state, but there seemed to be some effort to fight that fear, as he looked back and forth between Ruby and Leviathan. Ruby wouldn't say anything though, she would just look at the runt with her usual blank look, seemingly in thought, but she would break out of it if Leviathan addressed her. 

-------------------------------------
Nada waited for Ziggy to finish and then took the lemon-chocolate muffin, because lemon, thought not her favorite, was a taste she recognized, and she figured it would balance out the sweetness of the chocolate. She would take a bite, or well, eat it pretty much whole, assuming they were normal sized. "It's not bad." she simply said, she didn't really know what else to say about it, it was a muffin, it tasted like muffin. If they were still offered, she would also take the chocolate only and eat it, and her rating of it was pretty much the same, she felt bit bad for not being as excited about it as Ziggy seemed to be, but things to eat weren't really a big source of excitement for her. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------

The details didn't really matter to Scarecrow, so he just nodded, for him the concept  of nature included pretty much everything outside things like ponies and purely unnatural beings like himself and anything Anomaly's kind created, so the balance of nature was automatically part of nature for him. 

"Spiders...of course." Scarecrow muttered mostly to himself, him muttering it didn't really have any meaning, he just thinking out loud, he should have realized it the moment the legs first appeared.

He watched as the 'bird' flew over the saplings and then remembered what Lyriel had pointed out earlier, looking at his own wings "I may have a plan, but before I do or suggest anything, I need to test something." He would then take flight, or at least try, since the whole point of this was to test if Anomaly had done something to his flying capacity, and he did it in safe distance to make sure the potential change didn't cause him to anger the trees.

After getting the results, he would then go back to Lyriel, and regardless of the result, would ask if she had come up with anything. If she hadn't, or if she wanted to hear his suggestions, he would suggest one of two plans depending on the results of his test, if his flight was unaffected, he would suggest that they would first talk to the trees and see if somehow they could just go and get two branches, and if that failed, he could fly in and try to grab them, if however, Anomaly had done something to his flying, his suggestion would be otherwise the same, but instead of him flying, they would ask the 'bird', and if it wouldn't do it, he would go alone and attempt carefully to get two branches.

[Blitz Boom 4,620]

@Catpone Cerberus

As he seemed to have calmed somewhat, and didn't make a further move on his own, Leviathan would attempt to do something that might be a little too much, but she had shown him this action, so perhaps there could be some merit to trying if it would work.

Slowly - very slowly - she would move up to a sitting position, rather than a laying one, and reach her right hand towards him, claws held dangling, to try and show that she were not aiming to punch or slash him. Calmly, she'd then reach over, and slowly pat his head. Something which seemed to make him flinch some, but he weren't moving away. It were hard for her to tell if this were due to the action on some level reaching him, or if perhaps her continued use of a calm, soothing tone going *Shh. It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you.*, where the words likely meant nothing to him, but the tone could perhaps have reached him. Regardless, it seemed like he would accept this action, at least for the time being, though she'd get a rather strange look towards her from him. Not a fearful one, but a rather emotional stare, that made her think of times when she had been but a whelp, and felt like everything were crumbling around her. A certain want to just cry, and let out all the pain and misery that felt like it were pressing down on you.

It seemed this one were stronger than she had been, as he didn't cry, but she still understood the pain that were sent her way. At least to some degree, as their misery were not the same. His came from how his brutish branch of dragonkind worked, whilst hers were from struggling - for a long time - to fit in as a dragon among her step mother, and her flock. Something which had lasted until she had learned to accept that she were not required to either turn her back on the flock, nor her ancestry, and accepted herself. Flaws and everything.

What it would take for this runt, only the ancestors might know, but the first step in her mind, were to show him that he wasn't alone. And on some level, she were starting to think that the poor thing were slowly starting to understand that.

If possible, she would show him this physical affection, a calm tone, and smile down towards her small kin, until Ruby arrived, and he went back to being fearful. Although... Perhaps she were just imagining it, but to her it seemed as if he were trying to show a bit of resilience now. A good sign, though it would likely only take one growl to make him crawl into the corner and shiver like a leaf in the wind.

"Had a good walk? Been trying to communicate with your little brother, and I think we've reached some sort of neutral ground, where he understands I'm trying to help him. Not hurt him. Bee trying to convince him you're friendly too, for one of your your branch of dragons, since as he put it, you should have broken my spine by now, but he doesn't seem convinced. Can't say I'm surprised. Survival instinct is a tough one to fight."

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

Ziggy weren't one to take away the muffin offered, and would actively grin up towards the siren, as she saw Nada chomp it down. Not the most glowing review from there, but she figured this might be a kind of pride thing. Like with dragons. Trying to get a compliment out of one of those were not easy, since it were usually stuff like this, or variants of *Well, you're not Completely useless*. Kinda harsh, but such were their culture, and she didn't take any offense. She knew there were barriers preventing most of them to be as open as her, or normal ponies.

"Hehe, that's good to hear. I know it might not be the most exciting thing, but baking's a good skill to learn. You get to socialize with others, sort yourself into a calm mind set, smell all sorts of wonderful things, yada yada. Plus, if you want to make a good impression on ponies, presenting homemade baking is a great way to do it. Us equines are suckers for cake and stuff like it. Even those with diabetes, though there's sugarfree variants they can still eat. Usually very fruity variants, to cover the lack of that sweetness."

She'd reach over as she stood there,a nd chomp a lemon-chocolate muffin into her muzzle, and munched it down little by little. Like a happy squirrel.

And speaking of squirrels, they'd hear a small splash from behind them, and if they looked over to the pool, would find that Fah'lina had returned. She were dragging a rather large bass with her out of the lake, and after shaking the water out of her fur, would grab the tail with her front paws, and drag it the last way over to Nada.

As she got there, she'd brush some *sweat* off of her forehead (just the motion to indicate this had been tiring), and jump over on the other side of it, so the fish were between Nada and her.

Agni had taken note of her at that point too, and would be wary of her, as he sat up on his plate, and watched as she grabbed into her mouth, and withdrew a small sort of bag of a flexible lump of bark that she had tied up, and stored in her left cheek. Unwrapping it, would show a bunch of varied seeds that she had found in the forest, set next to the fish as an offering to the bird. Then, she'd unfurl the bark as best she could, and reach it up above her head, to show that it had a word scribbled on it. Well, sort of. It said *Zohry*, which wasn't entirely correct, but she weren't that literate yet. It took time for her to learn how to write. And this time, as she looked up at Nada, she actually looked sorry. Seemed like she were trying to do this right, rather than have her territory turn into another battlefield. She liked it here.

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

Scarecrow would find that Anomaly had not technically done anything to his wings. They were still perfectly capable of flight... If she hadn't sorta *cursed* him in a way, so that when he tried to flap his wings, strings of green bubblegum would drip down from his wings, latch on to the surface, and drag him down to the ground. All with the scent of fresh mint, and gasoline-drenched fish that had been left in the sun for too long. Seemed like she figured he should have some disadvantages too, though it appeared as if the trickster did not currently have limitations like this. Likely because it weren't technically a contender as much as the prize, so there were a loophole in the rules there.

As for the gum, it would erode very quickly once he were grounded again, and wouldn't show unless he'd try to fly. A disadvantage now, but perhaps, he could make use of this another time somehow.

1 hour ago, Catpone Cerberus said:

After getting the results, he would then go back to Lyriel, and regardless of the result, would ask if she had come up with anything. If she hadn't, or if she wanted to hear his suggestions, he would suggest one of two plans depending on the results of his test, if his flight was unaffected, he would suggest that they would first talk to the trees and see if somehow they could just go and get two branches, and if that failed, he could fly in and try to grab them, if however, Anomaly had done something to his flying, his suggestion would be otherwise the same, but instead of him flying, they would ask the 'bird', and if it wouldn't do it, he would go alone and attempt carefully to get two branches.

"Seems like you are hampered too. What should we do now?"

Lyriel would listen to his suggestion, whilst the trickster would remain seated on its bush. At least until something rattled within said bush, and it suddenly swerved down into it. What exactly went on the next little while, were thankfully blocked visually, but a quick squeaking sound, from some sort of large rodent would mark that the trickster had likely found a good opportunity to pursue some prey. It were pretty odd though, that whilst it fed, polka music started to play from it. A rather upbeat, festive tune too, with some good accordion leading the music. A fun design from Anomaly's side, though it would also seem to stir the trees. In a good or bad way were hard to say, but the leaves did start to waver around more, independent of any wind blowing through the area.

"Let us try and be diplomatic first. If not, then perhaps the strange one can get us the branches. Once it is done feasting."

She'd take a deep breath, then slowly take a step forward.

"Honored grove, we beseech the to hear our prayers. Please w-hoah!"

She'd suddenly find herself lifted up into the air by some unseen force, and made to dance to the music, about twenty centimeters off the ground, whilst looking very confused at what were going on. Scarecrow would feel a pull in him too, but he could fight it, if he somehow managed to do something that would stick him to ground level. Like extra weight or something. Or he could just accept the next four minutes or so of puppet dancing, essentially.

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

 

@EQ_Theta

On 7/22/2020 at 5:03 PM, EQ_Theta said:

“That’s uh, yeah… swallowing a lot of bits is now a thing. Uh, I hope your stomach doesn’t get upset, Omen. Although I suppose that might not be a problem seeing as you coughed up a bag.” 

"One of my stomachs feels full."

The jangling coins were not an issue to her at all, which just made Tomb give her a further weird look, before going into something which Rosa were getting all too familiar with, from the folks who interacted enough with Omen: A look of confused acceptance, in that attempting to understand her were pointless. It were easier to just embrace it, and assume that everything were okay.

It were advisable after a certain point too, he'd admit. It were not easy to attempt logic, when it came to a being that were crafted by a demigod, to which logic were something to mock, and openly twist on its head. Quite simply, if they used pure logic, Omen should not be able to function as a living creature, due to a severe lack of - for example - an actual brain, rather than the magical wiring that Discord had set in there.

Thankfully her magical side seemed to be on a biological level, so it couldn't be negated and essentially kill her, but it did not change from the fact that she were a prime example of why logic could not always be applied to everything. As much as he tried to, it just didn't work all the time.

On 7/22/2020 at 5:03 PM, EQ_Theta said:

“Moontag? Is that what the game is called or is it your name?”

“And if you don’t mind us asking, what’s the game about?”  

Now though, at the booth, the mare looked surprised, and somewhat excited, at the longma siblings.

"You've never tried Moontag? Oh man, you're in for a treat then.

It's pretty simple on the face of it. You get some straps with a sort of magical sensor on you, and something that you can put in your muzzle, or hold in your claws or whatever, and when you press it, a small ball of light shoots out, and lasts until it hits a surface. The goal is to hit the sensor on your opponents, and then I get a signal back here, so I can keep score. Winner is the one who hit the most after fifteen minutes.

There's a fair bit of space in there, dim light, and background noise to mess with your senses, so it's not as easy as it sounds. Also, while I remember it, when your sensor gets hit, there's three seconds where you can't hit others, and you also can't get hit for points."

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

 

@Windy Breeze 🥧

Okay, this seemed to be a mid to higher mid tier sort of restaurant then. Sorrow's judgement on that came from there being a diamond dog here. A race whom she had no personal issues with, but were somewhat more simplistic in it than your average equine. Didn't mean there were anything wrong with them though, but that, combined with how the higher society tended to look at them, made it pretty rare to see them in places like this. At least, that's what Smokey had told her, when she had asked him about why there were no diamond dogs in the restaurant he had then her to, after helping him with a low rung possession issue.

Then again, this might be different. What did she know?

On 7/22/2020 at 12:57 AM, Windy Breeze 🥧 said:

“This is beyond what I expect to see” Windy whispered.

One of waiters, a mare approached them “Hello, there” she greeted Sorrow and Windy “I'll escort both of you to a table for two costumers” 

"...Thank you."

Oh boy, seemed like they were dragged into the memory then. It appeared as if they did best in trying to just play along more than likely, though soon as she could, and not get caught, she'd whisper something to Windy.

"Don't eat the things."

Since it were a memory, there were a good chance that any food they'd be served, were actually rotten, non-existent, or tainted in some way. Which would be covered up by the illusions, and become a real dangerous health hazard for real ponies, like them.

They'd see how things would go, but she for one, would likely stick to the wine card, and just pretend to drink.

As they moved in, she'd keep her eyes out, to see if she could spot where Autumn and her husband were. If they were lucky, they'd get a seat relatively close to them, so that they could hear what they said.

[Windy Breeze 15,189]

@Blitz Boom

3 hours ago, Blitz Boom said:

"Don't eat the things."

“Thank you for reminding me” 

If Sorrow didn't told her about the food, she would have ate it after being served to them. She cringed at the thought of getting food poisoning, then dying. She also took note of Autumn and Razor sitting 6 tables away from them and are waiting for their food to come.

The mare who led them to their table came back with a food, much to her surprise since she and Sorrow hadn't order yet. It was a brown stew with vegetables.

“Here is your order” the mare put the food in the table. She turned to Sorrow “Hey, Melody, I heard you're carrying a foal. Is it a colt or a filly?” 

Edited July 23, 2020 by Windy Breeze 🥧

[Widdershins 9,959]

@Sackal

 "That is... some of the problem." Kaltrop responded morosely to her in their kitchen. "Even if I had any clearer memories... after this long I don't know if she would take me back. Or if it would be a good idea. I have been a bit... might have gotten my share of trouble fighting with ponies." With a pause, the young drake changes his tone to that more of pride.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

@Pastel Heart & B.B

"Not th-the n-neck!" Slimpsy shivered from where he lay on the ground. Exposing his hoof off his head just enough, he showed the reluctant, clenched grin one usually gives when holding in a response. "S-see? There's a smile! Are we done now?!" He wasn't the sort of stallion to let go of things he couldn't rant on about... but he certainly wasn't used to being the attention of any else. Slimpsy didn't know how to deal with those who didn't pay attention to their worries like a couple of carefree fillies who sought out dangers.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

@Blitz Boom

  Flit shot a much flattered smile at Berry and slowly got up when mentioned by the other two stallions in the room. Sauntering over to Alonsus, he stepped a pace in front of him to shoot a smaller, prideful smug down at him, and in the process show the difference in stature of the two. Nearly a head taller, sure, but easily much more close to two heads thinner. A longer, more agile frame might sit better with other pegasai rather than those more groundbound. 

 "Aye, I can be alotta things me finely groomed, big, strong Hunk of a Stallion~"

"Flit, hath thou absconded forthwith from prior instruction of our elder?" Monolith interrupted; Casual Disrespect being a trait common among siblings and judging by Flit's expression, Pouting was also a shared trait among most of the family. "Brother Blither-" This drew a quick snort of laughter out of Flit. "...did submit to us that such knowledge twas best kept in clandestine faculties."

 Eyes still locked smiling on Alonsus, the green brother dismissed his brothers concerns while his scarlet mane framed his smugness yet further towards the new pony in the room. "Oh aye, and you've always been on about keepin' up the lies, eh Mono me boy?"

 "Be that as it may, the rules and regulations heaped upon us are but there for our protection. I must insist upon thy conscientiousness, dear brother." Turning to address Berry behind the counter the largest stallion in the room deflected the compliment over to Alonsus. "I hence fail to see the impact upon mine own stature, if thou dost refer to mine compatriot in our present quest, for surely he begats more regal of impress. If I may approach Milady to inquire upon thy offer? What mean thee by the proffering of goods, for surely payment is best supplied for goods rendered?"

~&~

@Sekel & Blitz Boom:

 Blither carried on, some few yards away from where Dazzle stood with Long Stare, the technical babble between him and Scarcity likely having had tuned to so much background chatter.

  "Oh it's just that such mental magics do seem alarmingly easy to stumble upon. Minds switching bodies is pretty easy enough to accidentally cast to almost comedic effect. Such was a point of study on my own endeavors, but I did cover quite alot of things so It can be hard to sort out how much conjecture I have been through!

 But, heh, I do digress! I, uh, was simply asking to check in on my siblings so that they're not breaking private property or, uh... breaking in bakery doors or something. I never wanted to impose or endanger the little town of Ponyville!"

 

Shortstack's expression changed back to his usual, combativeness. 

 "Och, I've proved meself in many a Pub! I could drink yee under the t-"

 Being able to take things you've imbibed did depend alot on your size and Shortstack wasn't much a heavyweight in several different ways. He was, however, interrupted as Sunny Flush's hoof came down first upon his head to scuffle his mane than lift him fully off the ground like one would a foal or a reluctant little puppy. 

 "Oh ah love my brothers best of all! They knows that! I wouldn't ever dream of bein' without my big brothers! 

 ...It's just a bit hard trying to have fun times with anybeing new. On account o' them usually not havin' much to want to do wit' us since we tend to wreck things. It gets a bit lonely not havin' any friends."

Sunny's big sunny face looked a bit distant and thoughtful as she set her brother back down and he began to dust himself off and attempt to make it look like nothing demeaning had just happened.

 "It's fine by me. I'd ah rather not have no stallions muckin' aboot wit Sunny. Think they can have their way wit her just because she's a big mare that ain' used ta no pony world. We get along just fine by ourselves, we is! Don' need no no-one trying to pull one over on us, we don't!"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

@Cerbone Catberus

 

 The fae companion fluttered down to the object Cerberus held out. Metallic and round, with a small circle at one end with a fuse out like the usual, cartoonish depiction one was used to.

Now let's see...

 Your usual bomb, by the looks of it. Rollable, Seems you can set the fuse to light by just pulling on it fast. Hmm...

 Bombs are devices used to create explosions. Only seconds after they are set, they will typically flash red & then explode in a puff of smoke & fire. Like most items that come in quantities, Bombs can often be found in various objects, such as jars, grass and treasure chests. They can also be purchased in shops! Bombs can be used in a variety of ways, such as for blowing up rock walls, defeating enemies and solving puzzles.

 You could, perhaps launch yourself forward with one but... I don't know how you could take the damage from doing that. Perhaps it can help us find a secret passage later on our journey?

 Okay then! You ready to find our M-Mufffin? ...That's my shorthoof name for Magical muffin item that we're looking for! Lead the way, Adventurer! 

 

 

 

 

.....

... Don't you start.

Did you just...?!

Look, I can only work with so much information.

Quote the FAN WIKI?!!?

Not verbatim! I don't know the games!!

Oh, Super Creative, oh Great Au-TOR! 

 Hey! I'm givin' options! That's narrative! It's fiiiine!!!

Edited July 24, 2020 by Widdershins

[Rising Dusk 27,513]

@Blitz Boom

Data collecting for Rising was a rather simple matter.  Making heads or tails of said data was another thing entirely.  A fashion designer could easily get a few numbers from a pony that could regurgitate how many mares were wearing what color of hat on a specific day.  Of course, only the ones on his particular patrol path that day.  "Seventy one hours and forty nine minutes," the detective recalled from when he put an enchanted blanket wrapped Lily inside the cage and his return from Harrowmark.  "No external stimulus from what I know.  Looking at the magics that enchanted the cage, it appeared the quintessence was pulling the top and bottom of the cage toward the center.  The bars gave to the force.  I halted the cascade of failure with a snip of the magics, returning the cage to, well just a cage.  The cage didn't seem capable of maintaining a constant force.  There really isn't an on off switch.  Perhaps a different shape?" Rising offered with a tired mind.  The workshop was surprisingly less peaceful without the hair on the back of his neck standing up from constantly being observed by the spider bot.

Bash didn't have a simple name for the enhancement pill he created for emergencies in every agent's field pack.  Powerpill was goo enough for now.  "His dark god was displeased with his performance and had a greater interest in me.  Casting the dark wizard down.  No deathblow came from my hoofs.  I was aiming for another arrest attempt since it didn't come along willingly," the detective shrugged.  It was curious though to hear that Center Zero had been gathering data that looked into the existence of primordial beings that might be out there in this world.  Equestria had little belief beyond that of each other and their Princesses.  If any evidence of such beings in their lands were there, it never seemed to have made it to the major populace.  Would such a being actually exist in a land that didn't believe in them and therefore give them power?  Curios thoughts.

"Peace of mind," he chuckled tiredly.  It just would be against his nature to give up to the call of sleep in ponies tied to his case still needed to be checked on.  An agent's work was never done.  Nervousness about whatever the next gadget Blitz was working on seemed well enough the norm for Rising to know all is as it should be.  Reaching into his hoodie pouch he withdrew the pocket watch his sister gave him.  "You be nice to her, she's still in my care," he smiled.  Twisting the top of the watch, he spied the magics as the aether spun and whirl.  Normally one would need to know just how to twist the watch in the right way to get to the location they needed, lining up the compass with coordinates on a map.  For Rising though, it was easier to just a line the multicolored compass to his apartment.  "I'm happy to see you all well.  See you soon mine friend," Rising bowed his farewell and clicked the top of the watch.  A rainbow flash briefly enveloped the pony and then he was gone.

Familiar hard wood floors greeted the unicorn's hoofs.  A room just lit enough by the setting Sun out his window.  It was silent, peaceful and a pony could finally rest.

[EQ_Theta 457]

@Blitz Boom

Though Sen was worried about the possibility of indigestion, Omen appeared to be just fine. The longma wasn’t exactly sure about what to think with the whole swallowing bits that just happened but if there doesn’t appear to be a problem, he wouldn’t prod it. He did, however, kneel next to Omen and started poking at her stomach to find out where the bits are. Or rather, he poked at her stomach twice and was content to leave it at that. 

“I guess we won’t need to worry about storage. It might leave the vendors confused, though.” 

That said, Lin turned to the mare at the booth and continued the conversation with her as Sen was sating his curiosity. It was rather quick but ultimately harmless but he was unsure what to make of it. 

“I can’t say I have played Moontag. We don’t have all of these fancy setups and magic, um… sensors where my brother and I come from. It’s mostly running around and playing catch with wicker balls or fashioning little dolls with plant fibers.”

“Hmm, now that I think about it, the aspect of tagging starts to make sense. Let me get this straight. It’s a game of tag but I don’t have to touch another player to tag them?” 

The overall concept of the game was simple enough to understand from the get-go, but the mare’s description of the playing field was rather odd, yet interesting. Dim lights, sounds, spacious enough to move about? Just the right amount of chaos to throw off the senses sounded like the game will put everyone on even ground. Whatever the result, this was already starting to sound fun. 

[Sekel 692]

@Blitz Boom

KARMIC FATE & ATZY

"I don't know what that shadow pony was," Karmic said, staring at the place the onlooker had vanished too. It didn't sit right with her and she shuddered in thought at what it may have overheard. "I can go look for the guards to let them know about our new status."

"I'll stay with Enzo then to see if I can get some more fresh air. Being stuck in a tightly confined space for who knows how long kinda got old very fast," Atzy admitted as she summoned her magic and then realised the food was still around. "I suppose ... well. At the very least we can take some things with us when leave, I think," she added in confusion, her horn powering down as she studied the different items.

@Blitz Boom

TWILIGHT SPARKLE

"Gah!" Twilight cried out at the sudden psychokinetic push. She performed a quick shield spell and had it cover herself and Last before the latter could get too far away. Once she was sure she wasn't going anywhere, Twilight looked up and out of the shield, quickly surveying the situation. She ignored the ragdoll-like bodies of the manetid, the fungal creature, and Last's mother in favour of spying Cherish. Twilight gritted her teeth and looked at Last before back at Cherish. "Last, get behind me," she said firmly and trusting the guard would do the right thing, shrunk the shield into a more portable shape.

It extended a foot out of either side of her front and above and curved around to stop most, if not all, of the debris and branches from cutting her and Last. The psychokinetic push from Cherish was basically non-existent when it encountered the bright purple shield, so using this to her advantage, Twilight stepped forward. She breathed slowly through keeping up the spell and had to even strengthen it a couple of times the closer she got to Cherish, however, upon getting in close proximity, she threw her shield around Last at the same time she leaped forward and attempted to hug the ghost pony.

@Blitz Boom

AURORA LIGHTS

"Somehow, I don't believe you," Aurora giggled as she successfully stood up. Keeping her balance, slightly kept her wings extended, and began to walk towards the location where the ball had been thrown from, and went out of the ruined area. She wasn't sure what they were going to find, and it was probably a better idea to at least grab Happy's cart from the hive before investigating further, but the glitterbomb was a bit of a priority at the moment. Maybe there were more lying in wait, ready to get thrown at the pair at a moment's notice! "You are very soft for a hoomin, Happy."

@Blitz Boom, @Widdershins

DAZZLE GLEAM

"Someone is sounding defensive," Dazzle commented as she looked up at Sunny and Shortstack, nodding in time with Stare's words. "So Alonsus is who I spoke to. I don't think I see him around here, although with so many ponies around, he probably is still here and I just haven't noticed." She was thoughtful as she perused the crowded area and then her gaze landed back on Sunny when a phrase caught her attention. Or at the very least a word of that phrase. "Friends ... I don't think I even know what the word means."

@Widdershins

DAWN STREAK

"And now someone is sounding prideful about banging ponies," Dawn smirked across the table and smirked with a fake high laughter; her next few words obviously dripping with sarcasm. "I never thought you would have had it in you, Kaltrops. Banging ponies as a pasttime, I mean really! I thought you were a gentledrake after all we've talked about!"

[Blitz Boom 4,620]

@Windy Breeze 🥧

Oh, uh... So they were part of the memory now? Well... Best play along then, right? Seemed the safest.

"Still a little early to tell, but the doctors say they're almost certain it's a filly. I wouldn't mind either, long as he or she is healthy."

Sorrow would smile at the waiter, trying hers to add in on this, though it were not easy really, as she wasn't pregnant. She also wasn't whoever Melody were either though, so it were likely just them perceiving her differently anyway.

Man, just imagine if she actually were pregnant right now. Her dad was gonna flip. And so were she to be honest, since she didn't have a coltfriend, and had no idea how it would have worked. She couldn't even attest it to being a matter of a drunken night out if it happened, since she didn't drink alcohol.

But those were irrelevant thoughts right now. Best just try and play the part, and then see where it lead.

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

 

@EQ_Theta

As Sen would poke her belly, he'd find that the rattling occurred mainly on her right side, though the amount she had swallowed, did not fit with the small area it were concentrated in. It seemed like her internal build were larger than what would seem from the outside, though they would probably already have figured that to be the case. A three meter long tongue, four stomachs, a pair of lungs and other internal organs - functioning at varied degrees of importance, due to her setup - and bones, wouldn't leave enough room for it all, in a regular sized pony. Not unless you assumed assumed she didn't have bones, which were debatable. Might be purely muscle and magic that kept her upright.

On 7/24/2020 at 3:54 PM, EQ_Theta said:

I can’t say I have played Moontag. We don’t have all of these fancy setups and magic, um… sensors where my brother and I come from. It’s mostly running around and playing catch with wicker balls or fashioning little dolls with plant fibers.”

“Hmm, now that I think about it, the aspect of tagging starts to make sense. Let me get this straight. It’s a game of tag but I don’t have to touch another player to tag them?” 

"You got it. That's why the word *tag* is still in the game. Come on, I'll show you the equipment, and you can get some sort of feeling for it."

Opening the door, she'd lead them into the front room, which had the straps with the rather simple, disk-like sensors in front. Likely meant to be on your upper chest, a bit under your neck. The shooters were also present, which seemed to be somewhat equivalent to an old school honking horn. You pushed down on the rubbery part, and the pointier - though softened and padded - other end, would fire off the beam. Though there were also straps and other handles, to allow for many varied ways to use the shooters, depending on preferences and race.

There were also a wall lined with pictures, that seemed to be mostly of the same minotaur, at varied stages of age, posing for the camera. From a teen age by the looks of it,t o a strapping, muscular example of his kind. He seemed pretty friendly though, and barring two other pictures, were the only one here. The two pictures in question, being of a grinning, female diamond dog that seemed to be of a slim build (for their kind), and one of a no nonsense looking pegasus stallion, who seemed to be have been caught with a slight smile on his face for the occasion. Whom they should recognize, as it were Scarcity's bodyguard, Brick Wall.

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

 

@Rising Dusk

On 7/24/2020 at 1:54 PM, Rising Dusk said:

"Seventy one hours and forty nine minutes," the detective recalled from when he put an enchanted blanket wrapped Lily inside the cage and his return from Harrowmark.  "No external stimulus from what I know.  Looking at the magics that enchanted the cage, it appeared the quintessence was pulling the top and bottom of the cage toward the center.  The bars gave to the force.  I halted the cascade of failure with a snip of the magics, returning the cage to, well just a cage.  The cage didn't seem capable of maintaining a constant force.  There really isn't an on off switch.  Perhaps a different shape?"

Molotov scribbled down every word, along with his own observations and ideas regarding this whole thing, and would keep quiet until the mentioning of a different shape.

"It might be that the rectangular shape, along with trying to reinforce it with bars, are causing too much pressure on the edge points that's keeping it together. Perhaps more of a circular form, like a cheese bowl? Just with some way to let in air and with no bars, but instead plates of metal? It might easier spread out the pressure too, if there are larger surfaces like that. I'll see if I can work out something, and combine it with a little external magic to make it more transferable. Just need to finish the wing first, and scribble down some ideas. Might be a few days, but we'll get a solution to this one way or another. Just gonna need some elbow grease."

Which he liked. This was a big deal after all, and of course they wouldn't have been able to get it done the first time. If they were, somepony else would have done this ages ago. Difference between others and them though, were gonna be persistence. As well as a mutual respect that wouldn't lead to either part trying to take full credit for the work. At least Molotov hoped so, as he didn't mind sharing credit at all. He just hated when others tried to leech off his achievements, and claim it were mostly them. Seeing as Molotov dealt with the technical side, and Rising with the magical, this were obviously a fifty/fifty situation, so none of that trash here. Not that it seemed to be likely. He himself wouldn't think of doing that, and Rising seemed like a solid, moral stallion. Likely wouldn't be an issue here.

On 7/24/2020 at 1:54 PM, Rising Dusk said:

"His dark god was displeased with his performance and had a greater interest in me.  Casting the dark wizard down.  No deathblow came from my hoofs.  I was aiming for another arrest attempt since it didn't come along willingly,"

"I believe you, no worries. You're not the merciless sort mate. I've seen those, and they tend to have this look in their eyes, like something fundamental is missing in their heads. Ain't an issue with you."

Molotov would finish up putting down notes, and would float the book back to where it came from, before using the same magic to pull some varied tools down from the walls, and float them towards the table he had the closest to the hanging spine.

On 7/24/2020 at 1:54 PM, Rising Dusk said:

"I'm happy to see you all well.  See you soon mine friend,"

"Wouldn't think about harming her mate. And you take care. Get some sleep, and try relaxing tomorrow. You need some help getting out or-"

He'd see the detective twist the watch, then vanish. A teleportation spell locked in an object? How practical. Reminded him of what Hang Glider had made last year in Center Zero. Though that were more affixed to a certain point, rather than allowing more varied end points, and he suspected that this one were more malleable than that. Still, it did leave a clean path to Center Zero, and allowed to tranfer all who made contact with the primary carrier, depending on distance and mass of the subjects combined, so it were still practical. Especially as an emergency exit. One way ticket though, so they'd have to walk after that, if it were.

On 7/24/2020 at 1:54 PM, Rising Dusk said:

Familiar hard wood floors greeted the unicorn's hoofs.  A room just lit enough by the setting Sun out his window.  It was silent, peaceful and a pony could finally rest.

His dreams shouldn't be haunted by spirits pleading for help anymore, though eh would find that at some point, during the night, he would get a visitor into his dreams. Not Princess Luna though. No, this were a small, glowing moth, fluttering through his mind, unconnected to whatever dream he were having, and no matter how many varied ones were there. It wouldn't be more than that unless he tried to catch or address it. Just a minor observer.

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

 

@Widdershins @Pastel Heart

"Fake smiles doesn't coooount."

The assault were relentless, and showed no signs of stopping. At least not from Jelly, who considered the smile so far to be too fake to be enough to make her halt. In fact, it would just encourage her to go on, and take her wings into usage to also scratch around on his chest/neck area, whilst Cloud flapped up on his beck, and started to tickle with his beak on the back of Slimpsy's neck, to cover more ground.

Alas poor Slipmsy. We knew him, Celestia. A shaking mess of infinite pursuit.

"Not to tell you what to do, but it would be easier for you to just give in. Foals can be relentless, once they get their mind stuck on something. Unless they can find something more fun to get distracted by."

Stargazer could help he supposed. But there weren't an emergency right now. Just a trio trying to soften up the stallion, and get him to refocus on something else than the perceived dangers everywhere. Could be seen as some kind of help, and who were he to halt that? Unless of course, it went too far, or Slimpsy seemed like he would try to do something, like violently hurl them away from him. The guard - and father - in him, wouldn't stay idle any more after that.

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

 

@Widdershins

Alonsus were not intimidated, just because Flit were taller than he were. Quite honestly, considering his build, the winged one could be as tall as he wanted to be. He were built like a twig, and would snap just as easily, without Alonsus even putting in much effort. Which he knew for a fact, as he had broken bones on far tougher looking ponies than this in his days. Of course not something he did now, as he had thrown that life away, yet it were just to cement that he could indeed to quite a lot to this pony, if he had the urge to do so. Which even if he had broken into Sugarcube Corner, been after Chippy, and harassed Berry, wouldn't make him go that far. Itching closer towards restraining the stallion though. That were an option.

He were about to respond to the first thing Flit said to him, which sounded like a flirtatious attempt that he would shoot down, as he were not into other stallions, but the conversation quickly derailed to a talk between him and Monolith. Apparently, still going on about the concept of them being a hydra of sorts? Not something he massively believed in, honestly. It simply seemed too strange, even for Ponyville, and it would take quite a bit to convince him otherwise. Though he would concede that the lot were odd, and somewhat shady. Seeing how one of them apparently had broken into Sugarcube Corner, the shady part were at least partially confirmed now. At least regarding this particular member.

On 7/24/2020 at 1:07 PM, Widdershins said:

"I hence fail to see the impact upon mine own stature, if thou dost refer to mine compatriot in our present quest, for surely he begats more regal of impress. If I may approach Milady to inquire upon thy offer? What mean thee by the proffering of goods, for surely payment is best supplied for goods rendered?"

This however, Alonsus had no issue addressing, right after letting out a small chuckle.

"I can assure you that the gaze I witnessed, did not fall upon Alonsus. And as the old phrase goes: We are but friends. She is not interested in me in the way that you may think, as am I not in her, though we do wish one another the best. Why have friends, if not to hope the best will happen to them, hm? Ah, but surely I ramble."

"Yes, but you get used to it. And regarding the drink, we're having a casual, calm conversation here, and I am offering. You don't need to worry about paying me."

The deal with Sugarcube Corner however... That were out of his hooves, and it would go as it did. He would tell them what happened, once the Cakes or Pinkie came back, and have them decide on what to do from there. If need be, he had a fair extra bit of sugar in his own storage, that he could offer them to tide them over for a little, until they got a new shipment. Their two establishments lived in harmony, and he considered the Cakes to be friends, so he wouldn't want to see them hung dry, so to speak. Besides, he owed them for a time when they had gotten a shipment of salt instead of sugar, and the Cakes had helped tide them over until the next day. Considering it had been a busy day, it had been a blessing from above. As well as being the reason that he always kept extra in storage now, just in case.

"You heard the boss. Come closer, and lemme show you what I got to offer. And no comments from you, Alonsus!"

he opened his muzzle to say something, and got a well deserved used coffee filter thrown his way. He deflected it with a quick slap of the hoof. Something which seemed like a small bash, but sent it flying away, right into a trash can. No mess, and the smug look on his face showed that he were overly pleased with himself. As did the fact that he used the same hoof to brush his hair backwards a little, whilst standing in a stance that looked like he were trying to imitate a hero coming on stage, in some low budget theater production. The sort were he considered himself the one thing that could save the show, though the views on that were pending.

Also, the way he had deflected this, told that this were clearly not the first time the two of them had done this. That sorta thing took practice.

If Monolith came over, Berry would give off a big smile, and give him a wink, before turning around and pointing at the board, listing all the varied drinks they had to offer in here. Surely there'd be something he'd like that she could brew up?

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

 

@Widdershins @Sekel

On 7/24/2020 at 1:07 PM, Widdershins said:

"Oh it's just that such mental magics do seem alarmingly easy to stumble upon. Minds switching bodies is pretty easy enough to accidentally cast to almost comedic effect. Such was a point of study on my own endeavors, but I did cover quite alot of things so It can be hard to sort out how much conjecture I have been through!

 But, heh, I do digress! I, uh, was simply asking to check in on my siblings so that they're not breaking private property or, uh... breaking in bakery doors or something. I never wanted to impose or endanger the little town of Ponyville!"

"I sure that none of you would wish that dear. And I do understand your want to find your family. It is dreadful not knowing where they might be after all. Yet considering what you say of proximity between you causing something less than fortunate, perhaps it would be wiser to not await Stargazer's return, or that of Alonsus and Monolith, before sending out another search party of sorts, to find them? It might fracture things some, but setting it as a 30 minute time to go look, and then return eventually, might harbor some results, whilst also ensuring that not everypony here ends up stacked up at the beginning. I'd be more than pleased to wander with perhaps you, Sunny, or - potentially and -  Mr. Stack, and provide assistance in the matter, if it is wished of me. Whatever I might be able to do to help you out of this dreadful situation, where you know not where to find your dear brethren.

Of course, if you do not think that an issue, perhaps we could ask that my dear sister, and Dazzle, would wander out and inspect the area? They have plans after all, and could get a better feeling of the area, whilst Stare showed her around the town. Either would function well, though I do think that at least one of us are best kept here, just in case. I would hate for the dear officer to return, and find that there were nopony here that he knew properly."

Stare would nod to this, indicating that she'd be fine with it, long as Dazzle were too, of course.

"Alonsus isn't here right now. He went away with Monolith before, to get something for Chop. They'll probably be back soon, unless they ran into some sort of problem. Hopefully they didn't."

It certainly wouldn't be good if it were, though the two of them were same rather large, masculine stallions, so likely they could handle themselves, if something were to happen.

On 7/24/2020 at 1:07 PM, Widdershins said:

 "Och, I've proved meself in many a Pub! I could drink yee under the t-"

 Being able to take things you've imbibed did depend alot on your size and Shortstack wasn't much a heavyweight in several different ways. He was, however, interrupted as Sunny Flush's hoof came down first upon his head to scuffle his mane than lift him fully off the ground like one would a foal or a reluctant little puppy. 

 "Oh ah love my brothers best of all! They knows that! I wouldn't ever dream of bein' without my big brothers! 

 ...It's just a bit hard trying to have fun times with anybeing new. On account o' them usually not havin' much to want to do wit' us since we tend to wreck things. It gets a bit lonely not havin' any friends."

"You could drink me under the table, because I will not be drinking."

He were loathe of doing this, but it seemed like he had to make a point to Shortstack, even squished as he now were over his massive sisters size. So he took a short, dry breath, before sharing a small bit more, before this went into a fight or something. One which he'd consider himself the clear winner of, as strong or not, Shortstack weren't a trained guard like he were but more of a pub brawler. Or perhaps rather, a irate pug in a ball pit. *snrk*

"The bottle cost me my life as a Coastal Guard. I'm soon three years sober now, and not risking losing another because of it. So yes, drink a thimble, and you could win, because I wouldn't try as much as a drop.

Also, try trusting your sister a little. Just because somepony would be interested in her, wouldn't mean that they'd take advantage of her. If they do... Whatever happens, is on them."

He weren't against losing really. Only against losing fights he were actually interested in, and a drinking contest were the absolute last thing he'd want to do. He'd sooner jump into the shark tank during mating season again, though this time fully on purpose, rather than guided by shortsighted idiocy.

His steely gaze would be completely focused on Shortstack as he said this, and not wander away from the little shrimp, before he were done, and could more openly address Sunny.

"Unless it's on purpose ma'am, I don't see why they'd be judging you on that. Frankly, if they don't wanna hang around you because of an accident, they weren't worth being friends with. Real friends stand by you, when something happens you didn't mean to."

This were one of the reasons why General Tidal Wave and her husband, were some whom he considered real friends. because even after what he had done, which had rightfully gotten him dismissed from the guard, they were still there for him. They had to do what they did, because it were protocol, but he understood that fully. If he were in their shoes, he couldn't have kept one like that around either.

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

 

@Sekel

"Very well, but watch yourself, and do not stray alone. I do not trust that thing is fully gone from the castle."

Staying back with Atzy, Enzo would stretch himself a little durther, and feeling the small bones in his spine pop as he stretched his back fully out. A good feeling really, as it gave him a small wave of joy afterwards, to feel fully limber again.

"If it is still here, I see no issue with you taking some things along. Here, a pouch for the task you have set yourself. Once you are done, we can wander outside and stretch our wings some. It seems an appropriate time for a calm flight above the garden."

Enzo summoned the slabs of cloth that were mostly what his magic were used to, and had it weave together into a fairly sturdy pouch, with a cloth belt if sorts on top that she could use to tighten it shut again, once she were done.

Personally, he wouldn't take anything. He had feasted enough for the time being, and had little to no interest in keeping leftovers at this time. Not when he did not need to, and there were fine access to more fresh food, had he a need for it now. Not like when he had to live in the quiet temple, and ration out what bugs and ocassional critter he were lucky to catch, as to ensure he stayed alive. It left him starved most times, but he had wanted to live, and get his revenge upon those who had done this to him. That sort of plan, required him to live through his entrapment. And he had, though his vengeance were still far away. One day though... One day...

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

 

@Sekel

The promptly shield, saved Last from losing her weapon, as she got huddled close to the princess, unsure of what were going on right away.

However, the other events would go of as one might fear, and soon enough, they'd be the only protected ones, whilst the others were but playthings to Cherish's *incident*. The manetid were jiggled around, confused, but trying her best to not interfere, once she bit notice in the fact that whilst she were being controlled, she were also in a sense, safe from the forest. As such, it were wiser to simply play along for now, and hope for the best.

Gods only knew what went on with Last's mother, as she weren't making much of any sound. Especially not after it seemed like all the bugs had been shaken out and crushed, considering no more appeared to be falling out.

Regarding Twilight's attempt at solving this, Last were none too happy to follow suit, but had little choice, and followed her closely, sword drawn.

The princess might get an earful later about her reckless tackle though, from Last, but it were hard to argue against something which yielded results. As Cherish were embraced - still feeling like half solidified, cold jello - everything just stopped, and her eyes went wide.

Last could see the pale nothingness in the mare's eyes, start to fade away, and be replaced by her regular pink eyes, and at the same time, things would gradually begin to loosen in her magical grasp. The manetid and Last's mother would float down tk the ground, the leaves would atop moving again, and the big mushroom guy... Seemed to still be down. It appears as if the impact might have killed him off for good. Though considering the advanced mutations and seeming lack of self control, it were probably more a mercy, than anything else.

Whilst the manetid would slowly rise up, looking at them wearily, Last's mother would remain down, whilst the mare in question would start to slowly approach her, sword still in her muzzle. Or at least, she wish she could, but Last would have to stay and remain vigilant over the princess, no matter her personal connections. Even if it hurt.

Cherish meanwhile, began crying thick droplets of ectoplasm, whilst whispering the word *sorry* over and over again, and grabbing the princess.

A cute scene. But this was a horrible place to have that in, as the forest proved once several more mutated and twisted creatures began showing up. Along with creeping vines approaching among them, ready to snatch away any unwary soul, and make them part of the horrors.

"Krrxht, foolish equines. We need to escape. Now!"

"It's right. Princess, Cherish, get up!"

She did not like to think of working with a manetid, but they both wanted to get out of here alive, and trying so alone seemed suicidal. So they had to do so, with Last and said manetid coming in closer, and turning their backs on the princess and the ghost. Their weapons were raised, revealing more closely that the manetid had two pairs of defining arms. One with hands grasping the weapon, and the other being the large, mantis like bladed arms, which unfolded from her chest, as she prepared to fight off the approaching forces.

Suddenly, One of them lashed forward, faster than the other horrors. A manetid of the recently taken, with thin, pale tendrils growing out of it's darkened eyes, which showed no semblance of recognition, nor self. Last stood ready to slash it through, but didn't get the chance, before her mother suddenly grabbed it, and halted it from moving further. Not something a regular pony could just do, but then again, it were questionable how much of her were still pony at this point.

The affected seemed to try to get away, but would instead be dragged down on its back, as she rose up, and stomped its head in. Another merciful end to one of these creatures.

"...Defend... The princess."

A stronger voice than before, came out of her, and she took a step back to get closer to them, whilst her stance said that she were actively fighting the other horrors and affected now. Considering what she had just done, that seemed obvious, but it were still hard to place complete trust in her for any of them right now. Not that there were much choice. They needed to get out of here before they all got closer, and this entire thing would spin further out of control.

If the princess truly for whatever reason - still didn't want there to be more bloodshed, she'd do best in teleporting them all out. They were all close, and it could work. If she did not, the things would get closer, until they suddenly stopped up, confused and looking around, whilst Cherish seemed to be focusing really hard on something. Still with saddening ectoplasm spilling from the edges of her eyes.

In that situation, she'd be cloaking them, which could function as a way for them to get out unseen. Though likely fast. Something like this could not last forever.

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

 

@Sekel

"I dunno what a hoomin is, but if that's some sorta slang term for changeling, then yes. Yes I am. Seriously, this whole *redeemed changeling form* makes no darn sense. I'm from the Slaver Hive. How come we get a fluffy mane, and not like... Spikes or something? It'd fit more thematic.

Guess it ain't so bad though. It's pretty good when laying down. Beats the exoskeleton just laying raw on stone, and I can imagine it'll be good come winter. Ten gold says that I'll be chased down as real hugable due to the fluff though. It's just begging to be touched, and equines are really high on that whole hugging thing here in Equestria, for some reason."

There wouldn't be thrown more after them from the forest. Long as she might wait, it just wasn't going to happen. Though they would be able to see a family of wild boars roaming around a mud hole, seeming to have a proper good time. Just squealing in joy as they roamed around in the dirt, so at least there'd be something to look at during the trip.

One could also instead look at the left, and focus on the fact that it appeared as if there were something potentially big, obscured by a large amount of dirt and dust being thrown into the air, headed right for them. In between them and this dust creator, were a figure, which would turn out to be a changeling female in adventurers gear, running in front of the dirt as fast as she seemingly could. She might be leading it, or were chased, but either way, they were headed towards the two of them, and didn't seem intent on stopping just out of nowhere.

Edited July 25, 2020 by Blitz Boom

[Windy Breeze 15,189]

@Blitz Boom

“That's good to hear” and the waiter turned to Windy “You should take care of your wife, Agile” Windy almost gave her a grimace, but then she realized something they shouldn't or should take part: becoming a part of the memory.

“I understand” she said, trying not to blush. She noticed Razor and Autumn are approached by a griffon and a stallion, both are staff members of the restaurant. Windy looked pass the waiter, and saw Razor, standing from his seat, saying something to Autumn before he went with the stallion and the griffon. She saw them enter the kitchen. She turn to Sorrow, wondering if she saw that despite the waitress blocking the sight. 

[Widdershins 9,959]

@Sekel

"Banging?!!" The drake jerked his head towards Dawn Streak, eyes wide with an expression of quizzical alarm. He didn't seem to catch sarcasm easily having spent so much time out of either side's society; though he did get teased quite alot back among the other young dragons. "I said Fighting! Fighting! Like the few rounds I've done with you earlier!..."

 Pausing for a moment and thinking better of his statement, he clarified. "I did say that I am a wanted man, right? When one lives alone you have to take advantage of simple minding traveling merchants who you can scare into doing whatever you want!" He said, his expression returning more towards his usual prideful self.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@Pastel Heart & Blitz boom

"This IS me giving up!!" The grown stallion squealed under the diminutive onslaught. "I'm quite capable at giving up!! Whattaya want from meeeEEEeeheee!?" Slimpsy begged the two fillies.

 "Maybe you teach me how to smile then?!! From a safe distance, heeee!" 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@Blitz Boom & Sir Sekel

"Well Madam, its more of a case that misfortune would happen whether we're together or apart. I came bearing warning as we were in the area. We had split off with Slimpsy making a dash off in a random direction.... as usual. Would that we know of each other's whereabouts enough to know that we all leave your town at approximate the same time, then we can leave without no harm having arisen. What I had initially expected was the pursuit of knowledge for the sake of knowledge, as they say. I hadn't expected to be put up for any length of time and beleaguer you ad nauseum... l-length, I mean. I do fear that the longer we stay here, the more a risk we pose to your hospitality and peace of mind.

 Kluge Town was what I consider an anomaly in that they were rough to begin with and didn't seem to mind much of small scale property damage. The odd wall being knocked down or someone running away suddenly in shouts at random... those tend to be common enough there.

 I feel sure that if you all see us off together at the same time we can, uh, manage to collect ourselves safely on our own without any danger to your way of life. That, uh... misfortune does tend to follow us." The effeminate powder blue unicorn, of noticebly slighter build than perhaps Scarcity was, would look away at this and nervously toy with the fainter blue curl of his mane that crescent curved around to bat his cheek.

 It seemed quite capable of course, that if left to his own devices Blither would verbally speculate for more than enough time than getting everypony back would take.

 

 On the other side of the room, Shortstack and Sunny Flush continued their conversation with Chop

"Aye, an' thet just makes me tha better-"

 *Squeehink!*

 Shortstack was jolted suddenly closer to his sister as she accidentally squeezed him tighter in thought.

 "Yeah. Big Brothers say that sometimes ponies want to take things from you. That sometimes they wanna pick a fight with you to make their name or take from you what you can't get back. But we've never really kept much gold or stuff around in our hoard. Usually books and plushies."

Sunny wasn't smiling. She tended not to when she was thinking which is why she usually said thinking about stuff made her head hurt. Being the youngest, mating never really came up in the time she had been around which was just as well. Hydra mating rituals weren't widely known, mostly on account of anything living in the area getting greatly mauled in the process. Including those participating. It was a rather messy affair of things. On top of that, as most hydras avoided each other quite easily as they were heard coming from a long way off and this hydra hadn't seen another of its kind in quite a very long while. 

 Even then, close contact with ponies while pony, was kind of a fair bit of a dice roll. Much to Flit's constant agony. Even a hug had a small chance of feeling noticeably awkward like one was hugging a statue or even wholesale missing one of these ponyform hydras.Forming relationships of any sort with anyone was rare to impossible. Sunny couldn't grasp why certain ponies, particularly male ones acted strange around her or how she had to act differently with different people. All she wanted was to make others smile, but sometimes those smiles felt wrong somehow.

 ...and that sometimes ponies didn't like it when you patted them on the head and accidentally made them eat dirt.

This wasn't Shortstack's take, of course. His opinion was that eating dirt was good for everyone involved.

Wheezing temporarily, he waved his sister off with a quick, frantic hoof wave. As she set him down, he puffed his chest out again to Chop.

 "Course they won't! I'll maul 'em before they take a shot at us! Dirty skulled stallions thinkin' they can take advantage of a big mare just because she's a bit sh-... smal-.... not good with knowin' things! Think they can take her home and brag about baggin' a mare to their buds! 

 If it ain't a fight, then it's gonna be one, I always say! Better'n hurt someone before they hurt you!"

Also to B.B!

  Monolith padded quietly up to Berry with a very slight nod of greeting and no attempt to read the menu.

 "Salutations Mistress of Comestibles. If I myself may inquire thereupon thy offer. Of what use, pritheetell, do I have for yon nourishment? Is it the prescribed time of sustenance for which such rites are behest? Doth thou wield magics capable of detecting when a patron requires the proper amount of liquid molecular mixture?"

 Monolith was third youngest and middle child of the family. One might not be able to tell from his stature, but moreso from his deciphered words... that he had lead an extremely sheltered life. Mono had no concept of Coffee Shops, selling products or coffee. Oddly though, he knew tea. Tea came up often enough in what few books he was read in his youth.  With his flat, emotionless face it would very much be hard to tell when he was being intentionally obtuse and pedantic with his unnecessary words or genuinely baffled by what was before him. It did tend to give him an air of a haughty judge were it not for the numerous questions phrased in a way that he clearly wasn't comfortable with saying it any simpler. 

 If it wasn't obvious from his several centuries out of date attitude and words, he considered the simple act of putting hot liquid into a cup as some form of strange witchcraft.

 ...he never made his own tea. Hydramade tea was what most referred to as "poisonous" or "literally just hot swampwater." Monolith was just as much dependent on his family as Sunny was, for it didn't strike him that eating was something important to keep track of.

 Flit, however, was getting a show.

 "My now! Ain't ya just a skilled, suave stallion! I bet you got all sorts of mates lined up to spend time witcha, eh? Someone put togetha as well as you, bet you could do alot, if ya had the urge to!

Aye, its a shame to anypony that don't has their eyes on you! I'm a pony that knows a pony who knows how to put on a show an' yeh keep that show goin', mate! Don' let a mare down, ya keep at 'er! That's what mares love, persistence! Mares just LOVE grand gestures!" 

Quite alot of the Cephalli family had a habit of accidentally sounding antagonistic, but Flit carried a level of sarcasm with his tone that said that he would deny anything you asked him to clarify on. He had the lilt to his voice of the kind of dubious friend everyone had in their childhood that goaded you into dumb risks that only sounded less so because you knew he only wasn't doing it because he wasn't currently bored enough to do it himself.

Edited July 26, 2020 by Widdershins

[EQ_Theta 457]

@Blitz Boom

Lin followed the mare into the room with Sen in tow, who started examining the items in the area. Sensors, straps, everything in here looked strange and foreign. If it was one thing certain, this would be the advanced technology that he’d heard about somewhere along his travels. Frankly, seeing something used in a recreational manner was the more unexpected bit but he was hesitating to pick anything up, thinking it would probably break if not handled with care.

Lin, likewise, followed a similar approach but her attention was drawn more to the images on the wall. Probably a reminder of exceptional players in the past, which was not out of the ordinary. Perhaps either Sen or Rosa would like having their pictures on the wall… However, the longma looked at one specific image, that of the pegasus stallion and examined it closely. 

“So… uh, is this stuff easily breakable or is it alright to wear these things right now? I mean, I know you said these are all needed for the game but maybe I should take care of this equipment.”

“Rosa? Omen? This pegasus looks familiar to you, right? It’s Brick. He looks a little happier here, or happier than usual. Maybe when he was younger?” 

[Blitz Boom 4,620]

@Windy Breeze 🥧

On 7/26/2020 at 1:18 AM, Windy Breeze 🥧 said:

“I understand”

Sorrow would reach over and run a hoof gently down Windy's face, whilst looking at the waiter with a smile.

"He does his best, even on the days when I can be a little difficult."

She'd send a small glance to the side, seeing the last bit of Razor leaving the table for some reason, but refocused back on the waiter, and hoped that Windy would keep track of all of this. She probably had a better viewing angle, and now, perhaps an excuse to go and deal with this, now that it seemed the memory had them placed as a couple, where the mare (Sorrow right now) were pregnant.

If the waiter left, she'd turn to Windy, and let out a small, shaky sigh.

"That seemed close. But I think I might have an idea? Maybe we can play this along, and pretend like you're worried that the soup might have something in it that's not good for my health right now, due to the whole *pregnant thing*, and you're just wanting to ask the chef more directly about it? Though it might put too much focus on us both in this memory. What do you think? It'd be a big risk, and I'm not sure if it would work. Honestly, if you have any idea that sounds right now, I'd be happy to hear it."

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

 

@EQ_Theta

23 hours ago, EQ_Theta said:

“So… uh, is this stuff easily breakable or is it alright to wear these things right now? I mean, I know you said these are all needed for the game but maybe I should take care of this equipment.”

"Yo definitely should be careful with it, but it's pretty sturdy. Have some good, cured leather straps there, and the magic that keeps it all working, don't go off that easily. I also make sure to keep it properly sealed up and clean when there's not an event going, and the enhancements are reapplies every six months as a precaution, even though they could last a year.

This is my primary form of business after all. Can't have things going badly here, or equipment breaking halfway through a fight. That would give a lot of bad reputation, and I'm not having that."

23 hours ago, EQ_Theta said:

“Rosa? Omen? This pegasus looks familiar to you, right? It’s Brick. He looks a little happier here, or happier than usual. Maybe when he was younger?” 

Whilst the mare explained things, Rosa and Omen would wander over to look at the picture in question. Rosa studied it, whilst Omen went over ans sniffed it, trying to find some sorta trace, but finding nothing else, than the vague smell of the owner of this place. She had likely polished them, not too many days ago.

"Yes, I do think that is undeniably him. A strange place to find him, I would say. If I were to guess, this would be him... 2-4 years ago? It does not appear that he is much younger than now, and yet it can be hard to tell with him. Not like one can judge him by the wrinkles around his smile."

He were jesting, but it did appear as if they'd get answers soon, as the owner of this place came around, and note how they were both talking, and looking at, Brick.

"You know Brick Wall? Must mean you have been in that fancy shop in Canterlot, right? He barely goes anywhere that his boss isn't, though he have come around here for every carnival, seven years running now. This picture is from three years ago, when he managed to win the tournament for the first time."

"What tournament, if we may ask?"

"Sure you may. This place is open around seven times a year, for the varied carnivals and such, and every years when creatures come in here, their points get scored up. There's some factors like the skill of their team to take into consideration, just to weed out those trying to hoard points by inviting some weak players, and a bunch of other things. Then once a year, I tally up, and pick the five best players, who then gets invited to the grand tournament in September, before I have to shut down for the year, due to snow and the bushes losing too many leaves. It lasts for a full hour, rather than fifteen minutes, and at the end, the points are tallied up.

Winner of every year, gets their photo hung up on the Wall of Fame, as well as a large gift basket of varied local goods, that adds up to quite a nice sum. It's a pretty big event in the area, and we do have a lot who comes in to watch how the points go. I rent some video equipment when the day happens, so that everypony can see what goes on during it too, which really gets a crowd hyped up.

Brick is a solid fighter in this, and he's usually the second, though he won that year. Never seen him happier honestly, but not like he's a ray of sunshine or anything.

His biggest competitor though, and our reigning champion, is Münrath here. Son of the infamous *hunter* Ludvig. Though thankfully, a far better example of his kind than that rotten monster. A real nice guy too. Usually stays around after the tournament, and helps me clean up the place."

"...The Hide Hunter's son frequents this? I must admit, that I did not see that coming."

"Yeah, color me surprised to. A lot of tension in the early years when he got here, but folks have started to trust him, and like him a fair bit too. Don't let the pictures fool you, it's just a show for the camera. He really is a nice minotaur.

Also, that right there, is the frequent third or fourth place competitor, though she did win one year, due to Münrath and Brick being too focused on one another. I still have no idea how a mare that timid can have such an insane change of personality, once she gets let in the maze."

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

 

@Widdershins @Pastel Heart

Stargazer were about to say something, when there were an object suddenly being slung towards them that got his attention, and he pushed all three of them back, before jumping back. Just in time before a large, dark-green glob of slime hit their location. Had he not pushed them all away, this would have engulfed the fillies and Slimpsy, provided that the latter had not moved out of the way himself. If he had, and taken the fillies with him, Stargazer would have simply moved out of the way himself.

Looking the way where the projectile had come from, they'd see a flock of panicked ponies suddenly rushing away from... What the hay were that?!

It looked like a humanoid amphibian. Possibly a frog-like creature, judging by it's face and the long tongue it were licking its own mouth with, yet it were clearly not a harmless little pond dweller. This one had a row of serrated sharp teeth, lining a mouth big enough to gobble up a regular pony whole, were towering above the equines running from it, and it's scaled, slimy hide, didn't do much to hide that this were a rather limber, yet muscular creature. And sadly befitting that, were the fact that it moved fast. As were evident when somepony tried to sling a cart towards it, to give his neighbors and friends some time to escape, and it just jumped up on the roof as it got near, barely touched it, and used it as a springform to reach up on one of the buildings, where it's feet would almost go through the roofing. Seemed like Last Stand's insistence on reinforcing the roofs on some of the collapsed buildings after the last attack, had been effective.

It's bulbous, slit eyes looked around, focusing on the one who had sent the cart after it, and harked up another blob of goo, which only didn't hit the pony because he hid behind the wall. Judging by the way the wall creaked, getting hit by this substance were likely a real bad idea, as it seemed to have some weight, and possibly poisonous qualities, to it.

"D-Daddy? What's that thing?"

Jelly had stopped her tickle attack, and looked up at the monster worried, then rightfully terrified, as the creature directed its gaze directly at her, and a cruel, sadistic smile spread on its face.

"My problem. Slimpsy, get them to safety. Now!"

He would command the pony if he had to, if he hadn't left already, at which point at least Jelly would have likely still been stuck in his wing. If he hadn't, and she were still there, Stargazer would instead command her and Pastel to run for dear life, and get back home to the station.

He himself would prepare a battle stance, thinking on how best to deal with this threat, before it went into a loud, croaking laughter at the effort. And then... All Tartarus broke loose.

It would lean forward, hands around it's neck, and tighten some specific muscles in its back, which caused something to pop out of its back, and fire down to the ground with a splat. Dozens upon dozens of these in fact, that went out of some holes that had been impossible to see on its back from this angle.

The blobs themselves hit nopony, except for one mare who hadn't been quick enough to move, and ended up on her back, with the blob on her stomach. She looked horrified on as it moved, and a pair of slimy arms broke the flimsy goo shell it had been packed in, to reveal a smaller version of the attacking monster. A child of itself potentially, but the mare focused not on that, as much as the fact that it seemed to carry the same evil glance in its eyes, a row of sharp teeth, and glanced at her hungrily. It would lounge forward and try to bite her, but Stargazer just managed to get over and punt the creature away. Just in time to see all the other globs hatch and the small ones looking around, croaking lowly. Until the original monster let out one, enormous croak, that made several of the nearby walls tremble. At which point, the smaller monsters would spread out, and start to attack Ponyville in all different directions.

They were rapidly growing, at about a centimeter per minute, and would top out at a meter and a half in size, from their current half meter stature, before their *maturity* stage had completed. And what were worse? As could be seen on the monsters back, moving ever so slightly, there were more to come. Ponyville were once more under siege. And one of them were deliberately chasing Jelly and Pastel, with another going after Slimpsy. Two if they were grouped up.

And Stargazer could only stand there helplessly, doing his to try and get others away, and praying that Slimpsy would do what he had done once already, and save his daughter. If not him, then he could only hope that he had taught Jelly good enough.

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

 

@Widdershins @Sekel

"Misfortune does have a habit of arriving at Ponyville. I always assume it had something to do with the bearers of harmony being here, as the stories of monsters and other such things, were rather scarce before that happened. Not unheard of, of course. The Everfree Forest holds a fair bit of fascinating, and at times deadly, creatures. At times, such creatures do come around, but it have increased substantially in recent years.

Regardless, I wouldn't worry to much dearie. A minor amount of property damage is nothing unheard of here, and I don't believe they will hold that against you. That being said, I do agree that it might be best if we soon find where your close relatives might be, that you can plan your follow-up steps, as well as ease your mind some. I for one would feel dreadful, were I not aware of where my darling sister were, in a time of crisis."

Or at any other point really, but that were what informants, scrying spells, and tracking enhancements were for. Call her paranoid, but one in her position on the black market, did best in not leaving an obvious weakness - such as a little sister - open for being taken advance of, and with no scrutiny. It would harm Stare, and expose her to a side of Scarcity's life that she did her best to keep at leg's length, though she were aware that her sister suspected something. Stare were no fool after all, just somewhat... Limited in scale, when it came to her ideas of what might be possible, and with some more defined morales than Scarcity herself had.

For the time being, she had handled the potentially security risk, by upping the measures around her sister's protection, as well as managed to make comprehensive deals with anypony of note or value in her scene of life, to ensure that they were either on a wavelength with her, regarding her displeasure and instantaneous halting of any work with or for, anypony who dared to try and use Stare against her, as well as making sure that up and comers who looked to make a name for themselves, rightfully feared her wrath, if they tried to do something. It were not possible to cover every potential issue with deals of course, but that is what the protective means were for. It made for a far larger, percentage chance of success. Not a guaranteed one though. Sadly, nothing could be 100% guaranteed, and anypony who thought that weren't the case, were laughably ignorant, in her opinion. There were always a path, even if it seemed unlikely.

"Kluge Town does start to sound somewhat familiar though, in the way you speak of it... Might I ask some more details of the place? I may have simply heard of it under a different name."

23 hours ago, Widdershins said:

 "Yeah. Big Brothers say that sometimes ponies want to take things from you. That sometimes they wanna pick a fight with you to make their name or take from you what you can't get back. But we've never really kept much gold or stuff around in our hoard. Usually books and plushies."

Something that you can't get back? Considering Shortstack's idea that any stallion wanted to take advantage of his sister, Chop could pretty easily see where this were going. Sunny didn't appear to know, which just spoke further to her innocent, or potentially great ignorance of what darkness and bad creatures were out there, bit Chop were starting to see how this worked.

Sunny were naive, and easy enough to take advantage of, if you knew how to talk with her it seemed. Shortstack in turn, were paranoid, short tempered and overprotective, so he didn't think on whatever pr not only some were like that, but rather went under the assumption that everypony were. So he'd keep others away from Sunny, which made it harder for the mare to keep friends, and in turn, likely caused at least a fair chunk of the varied fights that the shrimp got into. he did strike the former guard, as the sort who'd launch hoof first after somepony, for giving his sister as much as a wink.

Messy family dynamic right there. Made him somewhat happy that he didn't have any, far as he knew of anyway. His father had been open about having a few crazy years in his youth, so everything were possible he supposed, but that was a hypothetical he wouldn't waste any time sorting in his head right now.

"When you don't have much, you get attached to what little's there."

Little weren't the right word when it came to Sunny, but that was another topic entirely. And not even an important one.

23 hours ago, Widdershins said:

"Course they won't! I'll maul 'em before they take a shot at us! Dirty skulled stallions thinkin' they can take advantage of a big mare just because she's a bit sh-... smal-.... not good with knowin' things! Think they can take her home and brag about baggin' a mare to their buds! 

 If it ain't a fight, then it's gonna be one, I always say! Better'n hurt someone before they hurt you!"

"Hmph, I get where you're coming from now. But you're still missing the point. If you keep everypony away from her, what's gonna happen to her, if any of you gets hurt, or leave for your own lives? She won't have a network, no experience with others... She'll be the easiest pony to take advantage of then. Ever thought about maybe giving somepony a chance, and just keeping a close eye o-"

The door would suddenly barge open, and two of the little frog-like creature's would launch forward, maws wide open, and tongues beginning to reach forward to get a better grip in their prey. Which considering the tongues seemed to have small barbs, would likely be rather solid.

One would aim at Shortstack - specifically his head - thinking him an easy meal, whilst the other would go for Stare. The second one mentioned wouldn't get a chance though, as Chop would hold a hoof in the way, causing the tongue to get a grip on him, and when the creature got closer, would hammer it right in the face with his other hoof, so that it flew right out of the door again. It also left him with some ripped skin from where the tongue had been, but he didn't care much. Didn't bleed, and the itching were nothing compared to what he had felt the first few months after he woke up after the shark attack. This were far easier to ignore.

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

 

@Widdershins

"Nah, I don't have magic. I got intuition, and otherwise, the patron in question saying what sort they'd like. Sounds like you wanna be surprised though, huh? You seem to me like you'd enjoy a good, strong blend, that'd knock out some of the weaker stomachs, but with a nice, rounded aftertaste. I think I got just what you need. But we can work on the coffee first."

She'd stick her tongue out at him as she said this half tease, half flirt. Again, this guy were talking mighty funny, but she were relatively sure she got what he were on about. Mainly that he gave her a weird title, asked if it were the time, if she had suggestions, and seemingly, if she had magic that told her what sort the customer wanted. Which for the record, if she had, she would own her own place, not work in one. She'd be rich if she could just look at somepony and instantly know exactly what they needed.

That being said, she did have some barista intuition to work with, and would go on that unless told otherwise. Might be that she saw Monolith one way, but he could well be entirely different. Though she didn't think he'd go for a pure sugary mix like Flit. They seemed to be very different.

As such, she'd start up on her Volcano Tribute. A drink that started off with a rough patch of dark coffee, and a good helping of chili-like heat, which would cut off in your muzzle before it would go the full chili route, and blend into a soothing mixture of exotic fruits. Mango, pineapple, that sorta thing. Getting the fruits themselves to Ponyville were a pain, but the taste? There were some fine powders for that, which worked perfectly well, and weren't as bad to get a hold of.

"Just gimme a few minutes to brew it, and you'll see what I can do. And just drink it right from the cup when it is. It ain't a high society tea party this thing, thankfully. Nobles can be such a bunch of annoying snobs. And their brats are even worse. You got no idea how rude they can be. But anyway, working on your coffee now."

23 hours ago, Widdershins said:

"My now! Ain't ya just a skilled, suave stallion! I bet you got all sorts of mates lined up to spend time witcha, eh? Someone put togetha as well as you, bet you could do alot, if ya had the urge to!

Aye, its a shame to anypony that don't has their eyes on you! I'm a pony that knows a pony who knows how to put on a show an' yeh keep that show goin', mate! Don' let a mare down, ya keep at 'er! That's what mares love, persistence! Mares just LOVE grand gestures!" 

"A gentlecolt doesn't simply take, he offers. And one day, a mare will arrive whom sees what Alonsus can offer, and wholeheartedly accepts his the entire package."

His ego were being given a polishing here, which made Alonsus flaunt somewhat, as he flexed the ell toned muscles in his body, whilst flicking his hair backwards again. As he said, he didn't go around and simply tried to be pushy on mares, regarding any sort of potential future, though he did inquire at times if particular ones might have interest, if he noticed their gaze settling on him long enough. So far that have not gotten him far, but it were still better than the days when he had been a thug.

Back in those days, he had been told that it were best if he tried being rather pushy, and had attempted that one. It took him one time towering above a mare, pressed up against a wall, and seeing her fearful eyes tear up as she looked up at him, before he gave that up. Scaring some other thugs, guards, or a few who hadn't paid their protection money yet, were one thing. But trying to be imposing and scare a mare into being with him, made him feel the weakest he had ever been, and that the others had called him out for being weak, and that he should try again, and just stop listening to himself, had been one of the factors that made it easy for him to go to the guards, and surrender himself, before turning on the lot of his former companions. There had just been too many things that made him start to feel like a disgusting tool eventually, with this being one of them. Even if at least in this case, he had barely started anything. And thank Celestia for that. He weren't sure he could've lived with himself otherwise.

But those were dark thoughts best left in the past, and never addressed, unless it were with his parole officer, or in case he got called in to another meeting at the courthouse in Canterlot.

"Of course, one must also be vigilant and persistent, but there is a limit to how much force one can provide. Why, just imagine if somepony attempted to forcefully go on you. How would such a thing make you feel?"

They would have a chance to have that answered soon, as in an almost comedic fashion, one of the growing frog-like offspring, would roll in the door, and launch a glob of dark-green, swampy ooze towards Flit, before crawling rapidly beneath the tables towards him, and then launch its tongue, aiming to get stuck around his neck, so that he couldn't escape. Dinner shouldn't be able to run off like that.

[Sekel 692]

@Blitz Boom

KARMIC FATE & ATZY

"I take it this is for the scrolls?" Karmic asked Enzo as she grabbed the cloth bag with her hoof and looked within it. "Or did you do something else to this?"

"I don't know what the things was, but it rubbed me the wrong way and I'd much rather be out there than stuck in here with it," Atzy mumbled with a violent shiver and looked from where the shadow disappeared and over to the balcony.

@Blitz Boom

TWILIGHT SPARKLE

"Whatever is happening is at the heart of this forest," Twilight muttered as she looked at each of the taken creatures with sadness but a determined expression. She knew Last didn't care for working with her enemy but at the moment, no one had a choice but to fight together. Or that would be the case if she hadn't spotted a clearing up ahead that didn't have any trees within it. "If I can get us from clearing to clearing, we should be able to get out of this," she told them. "Cherish, you may want to prepare yourself," she warned as she lit up her horn in a bright purple light. There was a white flash and the Manetid, Last, Cherish, and herself all got teleported down the way into the clearing she had spotted. Looking even further ahead, she grinned and teleported them again and again, hopping through the many clearings in the forest that appeared to permeate its structure, acting like holes they could dip and jump out of. Her stamina and endurance did run short before she could hop them to the last clearing where a tower could be seen through the trees. "I ... I can do this once more. Just ... just need a breath. I don't ... don't think we lost anyone but ... I don't hear anything from whatever those creatures are."

@Blitz Boom

AURORA LIGHTS

"Those boars look happy," Aurora smiled, largely ignoring Happy. She purely thought of his babble as him having drunk too much of his own 'happy juice' and shook her head a small. She did hear running hooves along with a what sounded like a large boulder coming from their left. She turned her head and her eyes widened before taking flight to hover within the treetops. "What the heck is happening here!?"

@Blitz Boom, @Widdershins

DAZZLE GLEAM

"These aren't normal," Dazzle said cautiously as she eyed the frog-like creature still standing. She flicked her gaze between the frog and Shortstack and inwardly groaned at the possibility of actually saving him. The kind of frogs she  was used to dealing with staying in Boggy Bottom Swamp and like to stay within the murky depths. Maybe some yelling would work? "Oi Froggy, I'm talking to you! That pony you're eyeing up tastes like spoiled meat and rotten wood! Come and get me instead!" Or maybe some taunting, throw that in too as well.

@Widdershins

DAWN STREAK

"Fighting ... banging ... sounds pretty much the same to me," Dawn hummed in thought, swaying her head from side to side as she weighed up the words in her mind. A sentence he spoke did resonate with her, bringing her outo f them. "A wanted man? This is the first I've heard of it. Please do tell more," she gasped dramatically. Maybe that was a bit much but she was interested in why he was on the run. Or maybe this was a ruse? Something to get her to sympathise with him? "Scaring travelling merchants sounds fun but I at least know it's against the law."

[Windy Breeze 15,189]

@Blitz Boom

“Is that so? Well, then, I should go to the other customers and find out what they want to order” at last, the waitress left. Windy finally blushed that her cheeks turn blood red. So in this memory, she is took the role of a stallion named Agile.

1 hour ago, Blitz Boom said:

"That seemed close. But I think I might have an idea? Maybe we can play this along, and pretend like you're worried that the soup might have something in it that's not good for my health right now, due to the whole *pregnant thing*, and you're just wanting to ask the chef more directly about it? Though it might put too much focus on us both in this memory. What do you think? It'd be a big risk, and I'm not sure if it would work. Honestly, if you have any idea that sounds right now, I'd be happy to hear it."

“I think we should worry about that later. Razor is being led to the kitchen by one of the staffs of the restaurant” she told Sorrow just as Razor closed the door that led to the kitchen “It could be important” 

Edited July 27, 2020 by Windy Breeze 🥧

[Catpone Cerberus 23,588]

@Blitz Boom
"It was peaceful, felt weird to be honest, I'm used to someone or something trying to attack me constantly." Ruby answered in her usual tone, though her response was bit delayed showing that she had broken out from deep thought "Good that he trust at least one of us, and probably better it's the one who doesn't turn into a pony." she kept her eyes on her brother "He will probably never believe I'm friendly, but I'll try to prove to him that I have no interest to hurt him."  she then paused for a moment and looked at Leviathan with expression that told that she knew, or at least thought she knew what Leviathan was thinking "And yes, I'm saying we keep him, but don't think it means I care about him, I just want to go against my mother as much as possible, even if that includes taking care of her offspring." she looked back towards the male "And it's not like I'll be getting my own in any time soon." 

As the conversation went on, the runt stopped the back and worth with his glance and focused fully on Ruby, scanning her with his eyes to form an opinion on how dangerous she was to him, she looked like his mother, there was no question about it, the shade of red was bit different but otherwise they were almost identical, but something about her felt different when compared to his mother, but he couldn't really tell what it was, possibly due to the fear and tiredness, as they made it hard to focus enough. He would probably find out if Ruby wanted to kill him soon though, because he could feel fatigue creeping up again, and he would probably be out cold again soon enough, sure he had gotten food, but he had still flown a quite a distance that was enough to tire out even someone of Ruby's size, and right after that he had ended up in water fighting to stay above surface, so his small body was quite worn out.

--------------------------------------------------------------
"I'd need a bigger kitchen before I can even dream about baking myself." and bigger tools, though she couldn't really add much before Fah'lina appeared. 

Nada let Fah'lina finish before showing any special reaction, but after she was done, Nada would give her a kind smile and a gentle pat on the head "Apology accepted from my part." her tone was friendly but it had certain sternness to it to indicate he wouldn't forget everything immediately just because someone said sorry, she would need to see they really meant it, and that was shown by not doing it again. She would wait for a moment for Agni's reaction, making effort to not look like she was expecting him to act certain way, but she would show she was glad if Agni too accepted the apology. 

After the moment, regardless of what Agni did, she would speak again with neutral tone "Now that you both are here, I want to make this clear, I personally won't be trying to force you to like each other, it's not any of my business, but I expect both of you to behave when inside houses and such, because I'm sure nobody form us wants to anger or disappoint someone else by burning or destroying things belonging to them." "You are free to do whatever you want outside, I will of course try to break it up if I see you fighting, as I don't want to see either of you to get hurt, but you're both creatures of nature, and it would be foolish from me to try to stop what happens in nature." 

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Scarecrow couldn't tell that what was pulling him down was bubblegum, as he had either never seen bubblegum, or had forgotten it existed, and the smell wouldn't really help him to tell it was anything else than green goo since he had no sense of smell. He seemed unfazed about it, but then again, he couldn't really seem fazed about anything.

He obviously would try to use the new found disadvantage as advantage when he felt the pull, and assuming it worked, he would start thinking and then share what he was thinking with Lyriel, while she was still dancing "I wonder if the trees are affected too, because if they are, I could use this time to get the branches since I can resist it." "We need to see how long this lasts first, but if everything else fails, we could just feed the bird-thing to make the trees dance and then I can get the branches." he knew he repeated himself a bit there, but these were shared thoughts, not well thought out plans. 

If it didn't work, he would just mutter something that included "..of course.." assuming of course one could talk while influenced by the 'bird's' 'feeding-music', honestly this 'price' was staring to seem more of a curse than a gift, since it would need to be quite obedient for it to not cause more trouble than a simple disguise is worth considering Scarecrow dealt with already terrified and sometimes exhausted ponies.

 

 

-----------------------------------------------
@Widdershins
"I'm honestly surprised it was just a normal bomb." Cerberus said "Though why does it only destroy rock? I'm pretty sure explosions destroy pretty much anything, expect meter by meter blocks of certain material....why do I know that?" "But sure, let's go, though can you hear arguing in the distance, this is the second time I heard something."  he would follow the light again.

[EQ_Theta 457]

@Blitz Boom

“The way you described the tournament makes it sound much more fun than the game itself. Maybe I might not see myself competing but I’d like to watch a game some time. Does it get intense? Were there any close matches?”

“Sounds like your game attracts some interesting personalities. I think my brother’s getting excited about it, and compared to the improvised games we were used to back home, this could probably be a full-fledged spectator sport. Maybe not in the levels like buck-ball but you’ve already got an audience!”

It was no secret that buck-ball has a large following owing to its popularity. Perhaps it isn’t the topic that leaves the mouths of ponies in Canterlot society but elsewhere, it’s got its fans who could speak about it all day. Frankly, Lin finds the idea rather curious; talking about one topic and all of its aspects sounded tiring but ponies could find themselves in an endless number of conversations when the sport gets brought up. 

Sen, in the meantime, found himself fiddling with the equipment yet again, this time attempting to wear them. Although the leather straps suggested they’d be wrapped around his limbs, he was trying and failing to get his claw through the hole before putting the device down.

“Uh, do these come in only one size? Or am I doing something wrong?  I’m doing something wrong, aren’t I?”

In the background, Lin found herself trying to stifle a laugh as her brother was messing around with the strap. He eventually caught her but as much as he tried to get her to stop, she wasn’t having any of it. Clearly, this amused her more than she cared to admit.