open Casual stroll

[EQ_Theta 457]

@Blitz Boom

“Bold of you to assume I’m giving up! Test your aim, my friend!”

Lin took one step back, getting one talon on her hind leg ready. She’d pull her shooter up and ready to fire, but before she could loose one shot, she kicked off on the one leg, pushing herself onto the slippery floor. What followed next was the equivalent of a living pinball as Lin darted around the room, pushing herself off nearby walls with her tail and moving into more erratic directions while firing periodic shots toward Rosa. Her aim wouldn’t be as steady but all that movement would mean the thestral wouldn’t easily get a hit as well. 

With the floor not giving way or getting any drier, the longma would take advantage of the situation. The unexpected directions of movement would only get even more unorthodox when Lin would use one leg to slightly angle herself and glide along the floor. She’d get a little more daring and aimed for a corner closer to Rosa before pushing off the wall and toward the back, which happens to be an exit. Perhaps she wouldn’t get a hit, but with the way she was going, the odds of Rosa hitting her were probably just as low. 

Unfortunately, that was just around where Sen was when he was making his escape. Lin didn’t show any signs of slowing down and the siblings, unaware of the other’s presence…

THUD!!!

A crash left both longma knocked down to the ground and gripping their heads, dizzying and concussed from the impact, unable to see who they crashed into. Not exactly the situation both wanted to be in but that was how they found themselves in an unforeseen situation that left them exposed to Rosa and Omen, who are in very much within walking distance. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,589]

@Blitz Boom
Ruby just grunted at Leviathan's comment about strength, she wasn't going to explain it, but things weren't as literal as Leviathan might have thought, because when Ruby talked about not killing them, it didn't mean that she was weak because she didn't do it, but instead it was the reason why she didn't do it that she deemed to be weak, but because even she didn't yet know fully what exactly it was, she hadn't brought it up in that way.

If nothing interrupted them, Ruby would fall asleep eventually, but like previously, there was clearly something bothering her even in her sleep. She would sleep for some hours if nothing woke her up, which could happen very easily since she always slept 'one eye open' for any possible dangers, and the younger male would sleep even past that, though at the point when Ruby would wake up naturally he too would wake up if something sudden happened, as he had gotten past the point of total exhaustion and was just tired, though it would still take some time until he had rested away the fatigue from travel.

If Leviathan was still sleeping when Ruby woke up, she would leave the cave quietly and get herself something to eat, fish to be exact, since she still wasn't in the shape to chase prey.

----------------------------------------------
Nada waited for about half and hour after the ruckus stopped until she popped her head out of the water again and quickly checked for damages, luckily there was none, she would then scan the room for Agni and ask if he was aright after spotting him. She attempted to relax after that but she couldn't drift to sleep anymore so she kinda just laid there staring at nothing and listening until Ziggy and Fah'lina returned. 

When they arrived, Nada was more shocked about the smell than the ooze, as evidenced by her lowering her muzzle underwater to stop herself from smelling it "Did whatever was outside produce that slime?" "What even was it? It sounded like a frog but I don't think frogs try to kick down doors."

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Scarecrow's only reaction to the acorns was slight surprise due to him not being prepared, but it too quickly faded as he realized what was going on, he wasn't really bothered, after all, he probably wouldn't have even noticed them if few of them hadn't happened to go past his eyes since he barely felt anything. 

"Unfortunately I don't know much about combating ghosts, since this one is the only one I have ever even seen...as far as I remember at least, but you should be fine inside the barrier since like me, she doesn't seem to be able to pass it." he explained, he would of course try to protect Lyriel if he had to, but he had no idea if he could do anything to a ghost since they lacked physical form. "And don't worry about offending me, you cannot say anything that would be more offensive towards me than my own thoughts, but to answer your question, I don't know for certain, because as stated, I have seen only one besides myself, but, the stories ponies tell each other always seem to have undead as something to fear, usually taking the form of angry ghosts and mindless flesh eating walking corpses, and though they are just most likely just stories, stories tend to come from some level of truth." "So I'd say that is better to assume that answer is yes, since you can always apologize if you misjudge someone as worse than they are, but assuming someone to be good when they are not can lead to injuries or worse." 

[Blitz Boom 4,620]

@Windy Breeze 🥧

On 8/17/2020 at 12:46 AM, Windy Breeze 🥧 said:

In Sorrow's perspective, she could see a corrupted version of herself, standing on the room, various parks If her body covered in ectoplasms and black liquid, Legion was nowhere to be seen, and mare gave the real Sorrow a sinister smile.

“Why did you decided to follow this 'path'?”

"Because the dead needs us."

Sorrow wouldn't lie. She were creeped out by seeing this illusion of herself (and that it were, since she were clearly alive), but it didn't deter her from answering the spirit. Maybe her being forthcoming with this apparition, would help Autumn understand what she came here to do, rather than just try to mess with her head.

"There's so few out there who can interact with ghosts, but all who does, see the same. The pain. The loss... Without help, they're left to suffer forever, wailing upon deaf ears until they go insane.

My family have a legacy of being able to see those left behind, and we've used that for millennia, to help them. Doesn't matter where, nor when- If there's a call, we're going to answer it.

And yes, it's dangerous. Some of us never come back again. Others who do, sometimes doesn't do so in one piece... But we accept the dangers, because somepony have to be there for those, who have nopony else to turn to."

Sorrow started to feel a little stronger, as she recited what her grandmother, and other family members, had taught her, along with her cousins. Generation upon generation's worth of wisdom, shared with those who came next, so that in time, they could chose if they were ready to answer the call.

It were a burden, but Sorrow had willingly accepted her part in it, even though she were one of the weakest members of her family. And why? Because she knew that somewhere out there, somepony needed her.

She took a step forward, and gazed at her doppelganger with a bit of vigor. Yet her tone and the emotion that would fall from her voice, were that of her namesake: Sorrow. The very thing she felt for the poor spirit who were causing this to happen, after her life had been so cruelly taken from her.

"I hear you, Autumn. And I've come to help you find peace. I know that underneath all this anger, you want that too, but you don't know how. Let me help you."

It might be this ended with her looking like this illusion, but Autumn had not made her less determined to go forth with this task, by showing her the possible outcome. Rather, it had backfired, and just given her renewed vigor, as she were reminded why she did what she did, which had started to flee her mind some, as one horrible thing after another, started to 

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@Lucid_Nightlight

"Please wake up, old me."

Nothing happened.

"Hmm, maybe if I shake it?"

Still nothing happened.

"...Waaait a minute, I got an idea!"

A light bulb went over over her head, which she'd grab, and smash against the statue. Which did nothing.

"Well, worth a shot. Hey Rose, see if you can do something."

Anomaly would throw the statue up, and Rose would send off a black bolt of destruction towards it. The statue would start shaking momentarily as it were engulfed, but  once Rose stopped, it would soon again stop. Black lines had wandered across it though, but weren't visible anymore.

"Huh, so it reacts on pure destruction? Guess that makes sense. I used to be like that, from what I hear. I wonder if there is something about that..."

Yeah, no. I'm not gonna narrate you through a solution on this. You wanted to steal it? You figure it out.

"Well you're no help, whatsoever."

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@Catpone Cerberus

Leviathan would continue to sleep, even as Ruby wandered outside to hunt for fish. She had been using a lot of magic the last day or so, and though she had hid it fairly okay, she were exhausted. So like many magic users, she ended up physically, and magically drained, which required a good rest. She wouldn't sleep through anything, mind you. Enough noise, and it would rattle her, but what Ruby made as she wandered out to fish, were not enough to rouse her. At best, Leviathan would simply curl up further, and mumble something about *pack leader*. Though without more context than that, it were impossible to say what the nimble dragoness were dreaming off.

This would leave her alone with Ruby's half brother, though it were hard to say if he'd start to rouse up and poke at her, to get him something more to eat, or perhaps just return to sleep himself. Maybe neither, though unless something were to interrupt her, Leviathan would sleep for two and a half more hours than Ruby had. If she were interrupted though, she'd rise her head up and blink the tired out of her eyes, whilst looking around, and trying to figure out what all the fuss was about. She'd be tired, but still functional enough to work through some things, and just catch up to the sleep later. Long as her magic wasn't needed soon, this should not put a too big hamper on things.

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@Catpone Cerberus

"Frog monster and stuff... Need a shower first, okay? Dirty with yucky goo."

Ziggy would acknowledge that Nada were there, but not make any sudden movements, to stop from potentially ruining the floor. So she'd walk slowly and calmly, into the next room, and head right for the shower.

It would be about half hour after that before the two of them would return, clearly having gone through multiple showers to get the feeling of the disgusting stuff off themselves.

Fah'lina looked all puffy and bulky right now, due to her fur fluffing up majorly, due to the soap used. But regular water alone hadn't been enough to get the goo off of her, so they had to go to that length. It would lay down again eventually, though for now, majorly fluffy moment.

As for Agni, throughout this whole thing, he had stayed up on a high shelf, after he were called out for. it seemed safer and easier to overlook things from there, and as such, he had seated up there, and eventually blundered off again. Until the two others returned. Once they started making noise, and waking him up, he'd focus on them, as they traveled along. He were confused at what were covering them, but as they left, and he heard water in the other room, he'd just go on with his own thing. Which for now were to fly a few rounds throughout the accessible rooms, to stretch his wings, before landing on Nada's head again. Not too many minutes before the others came back.

"Phew, that was nasty. Weird, really big frog creature started to attack town, and fired off tiny versions that grew real fast, all over the place. Caused a lot of havoc, but I heard that they defeated it. Somehow? Fah'lina and I got hit with a big goo ball from one of them, when we tried to help some others to get away from one of the smaller ones, and it wasn't easy to see after that. Heard lots of stuff though, like shouting, victory cheers, and apparently, they talked about there being a hydra in town that had helped with things? Or made it worse? I dunno. Lot's of panic sounds then, but I didn't hear anypony getting eaten. Might be it were a friendly hydra.

Were you safe in here?"

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@Catpone Cerberus

"It may be that I could say nothing to you, which you could not say worse, but that does not fill me with confidence, that I should simply speak my mind. Rather, it makes me sad to think that you think so little of yourself, considering how much good you seem to do. Proven actions should be something to judge another on, rather than the look one have, and you are a gentle creature, Scarecrow. I judge you on that, and as such, I wish only to be kind towards you. As you have been to me, and many others before that.

Still, I will take your words to heart, when it comes to other undead. I will approach with caution, am I to se her, or others of the post-life cycle. "

It were not ideal, but such were life at times. Or in this case, undeath she supposed, as odd as it were to think of it. Had one asked her mere months ago, if what were dead could simply rise up, and wander around such as Scarecrow and the others did, she would have though it little more than a joke. Now, it were harder to dismiss such claims, considering what she had personally seen herself.

"Even if you do not know much of her, nor her capabilities, your words of the barrier seemingly keeping her contained too, are soothing, Scarecrow. I had fears that I would wander into the territory of a being, whom I would be at the sole mercy off. I am not much of a fighter, so it would have become a tough situation for me."

*sigh* She hoped it would be over with soon, so that she did not need to worry further about this situation. And with a mere 2000 steps to get to where they needed, it would not be long now, until they'd arrive.May the Earth Mother watch over them.

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@EQ_Theta

On 8/17/2020 at 2:57 PM, EQ_Theta said:

“Bold of you to assume I’m giving up! Test your aim, my friend!”

Rosa were genuinely surprised at Lin's sudden move. A brilliant way to take advantage of this slippery floor, rather than simply use it as a trap, or detriment. And an effective one too, as though he managed to avoid a few hits by jumping around, she'd manage to get him on the third, putting him in a position of neutrality, where he were neither worth points, nor could score any.

Which meant 5 seconds where he could stand perfectly still, and analyse Lin's movements, as she were bouncing around the place.

Soon as the time were up, he'd dart to the side, and fire a shot. It missed, but it were relatively close. As she kept shooting, he would begin to jump, and roll around with flaps of his wings, hit the walls, and crawl on them for a brief time, before jumping off and go for the ceiling, then the other wall. Then he'd slide down to the floor, rolling whilst shooting. He'd be at a disadvantage on the floor, with his current strategy, but adapting to the air should impact her own accuracy some. His as well too though, as he were not certain she even made contact once, after she did her shot on him, but he felt rather secure that he only had near misses himself. With the movements, it were somewhat hard to tell, and he couldn't rely on his sense of smell in here, due to nothing they were doing causing blood to spill.

Still, it were a highly fun activity. And one that he could imagine might work well for a crash course, for others wanting to do combat training, without the potential of bringing actual harm. The degree of precision and chaos that came from this, were an excellent way of simulating a high pressure situation, and a good deal safer than the way he had been taught. The lack of real weapons might not add as much of a feeling of survival instinct to the situation, but he'd take that over having to bandage varied knife wounds, coming from him not moving fast enough.

On 8/17/2020 at 2:57 PM, EQ_Theta said:

THUD!!!

A crash left both longma knocked down to the ground and gripping their heads, dizzying and concussed from the impact, unable to see who they crashed into. Not exactly the situation both wanted to be in but that was how they found themselves in an unforeseen situation that left them exposed to Rosa and Omen, who are in very much within walking distance. 

Ah, what a fortunate turn of events. And one seized upon by both Omen and Rosa, who'd shoot a volley over the siblings laying on the ground, hitting them both on their sensors. Who exactly hit who were hard to say, but once Omen saw they had been, she would begin to shoot after Rosa, and ignore them. Though soon enough, she'd start to roll around lazily, to try and avoid the shots getting send her way too, by the thestral. As she switched directions, she did manage to avoid some, but ended up getting hit eventually. As did he, as he had ended up being careless.

Now it were Sen and Lin's turn to have five seconds to get their aims up, and ready to enact some revenge. And they better hurry. Couldn't be much time left of the game by now, and there were still points to rake up.

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Blitz Boom

"Maybe we should try something destructive! Nuke the island! Hit the statue with a tank? Deforestation? Throw plastic in the ocean and put CO2 in the atmosphere?"

"Well, didn't an argument awaken Discord? Let's argue over something! Politics?"

"Celetia tax policy should go more into healthcare."

[Windy Breeze 15,189]

@Blitz Boom

The Doppelganger Sorrow was quiet for a few seconds. She looks pass Sorrow to gaze at Windy before looking at her target.

“That is the most pathetic path to waste your life” she spat out with disgust “Let the dead do their part, the living doesn't have any connection to them anymore, you are just taking the risks of being killed by the ghosts, like as in this moment, I could just snuff that light inside of you if I want to” the doppelganger let out a chuckle “And as for my master, Autumn, she will not listen to you, she will not give up until she found that cowardly griffin husband of hers” she reached out and brought out a doppelganger of Legion from her mane. And proceeded to smash it with her own hooves “And what purpose does that skull has? To trap the dead inside until they forgot what they 'had' when they are still alive? That's blasphemy, and why would the dead need such living creatures like you? They don't really need you, get your dirty hooves off their bodies!” she let out a sly grin, and crackle as she put a hoof on Sorrow's cheek. She licks her own mouth with her tongue “Why don't you give up and leave with your friend over there?”

In Windy's perspective, her own doppelganger was frowning as she approaches the Wonderbolt.

“If you hadn't survived the tragedy, you could have been with your parents, your brother and sisters, your grandmother and grandfather. Why don't you do the 'easiest way' than accompanying that nasty spirit medium?” the doppelganger gently touch her neck with their hooves “Your mother must be crying out for you this entire time, wailing about seeing her daughter, you know life as an orphan is hard, why end it all and be reunited with your family?”

Windy finally uttered a word, fresh tears slowly falling off her eyes “I want to be with my family...”

Her doppelganger smiled warmly at her “Good, now-” she brought one of Windy's hooves up to her neck, intending the strangle her “-this way to the afterlife” the warm smile she was giving turn into a maniacal grin. (In Sorrow's perspective, she would see Windy putting one hoof to her own neck and began choking herself)

If Sorrow notices what was about to happen to her companion, her doppelganger will tell “Because if you don't, we will show you how a mare like you can cause somepony's death right before your very eyes!” it will go into a fit of laughter, knowing despite it was hard to deceive Sorrow, Windy was the opposite of her, a very weak mare who had live without a real family.

The two doppelgangers were filled with hatred, for they are Autumn's feeling of vengeance and hatred itself, the one's which made her keep going, giving her powers to slowly destroy the town just to find Razor.

Edited August 19, 2020 by Windy Breeze 🥧

[EQ_Theta 457]

@Blitz Boom

“Uhh, my head...”

“I had it… had it under contr- WHAAA!!!”

The siblings’ sight refocused to the images of both Rosa and Omen launching volley after volley of shots in their direction. It was immediately apparent they each landed a hit on them. That five-second delay got them back on their feet, standing back-to-back and firing off some shots at their friends. Lin took aim at Omen while Sen had his sights set on Rosa. Once they got their hits in, they switched sides and fired back on each other’s target. 

It may not be long before the game was over but the siblings wouldn’t care. This was the most fun they’ve had in a long time and they relished every single second of it. Of course, with all of the enjoyment being poured into this game, Lin eventually took one look at her brother’s exposed sensor so close to her before taking a pot shot.

The longma sensed this before noticing his sister’s shooter aimed point-blank at his sensor, knowing she already took advantage of their little moment of teamwork. 

“It’s not a team sport, remember?”

“I know… but you’re wide open!”

Sen had his sensor go off again. It didn’t matter as Rosa and Omen couldn’t get another shot in but Sen had his chance to fire one back at Lin before running off in the direction of the slippery floor, only stopping short to turn around and take aim at Rosa while Lin was fending them off. If he had enough time for one more shot, this would be the chance to make it count.

“Let’s make this interesting, Rosa! One-on-one. You feeling lucky?”

[Catpone Cerberus 23,589]

@Blitz Boom
Ruby's brother had no reason to wake up so Ruby would arrive an hour or so later to the still sleeping pair, she had conflicting feelings about the whole situation, there was part of her that enjoyed the peace, but she was also admittedly addicted to danger to certain extend, and she felt rather unpleasant for not having any perceived threats around her, as it made her feel like there was something she wasn't noticing.

When Leviathan would wake up an hour and a half later, she would find Ruby sitting outside the cave looking at the two smaller dragons, while her half-brother was still asleep, though he would wake up the moment the first words were uttered, and seemed bit confused as he looked around before remembering where he was. If Leviathan took a good look of Ruby, there would be something different about her, it would probably be hard to put a finger on what it was, and it would disappear after Ruby realized she was being observed. 

The young male also had some conflicting feelings, he was still scared of Ruby, but he also woke up, without a scratch, so maybe his mother's lookalike really didn't want to kill him?

--------------------------------------------------
Nada just nodded, she too preferred that they took a shower first so she had no reason to argue.

"It tried to come through the door but didn't succeed, so we got scared at worst." "How is it that ponies still after all this time get attacked by all kinds of freaky things? why hasn't anyone figured how to prevent it?" she didn't understand too much about money but she could only assume that the constant destruction was expensive. "Are you two aright? Besides that nasty experience and Fah'lina's new look that is?"

----------------------------------------------------
"You will still be at the mercy of the two unicorns, they haven't shown any signs of hostility, so I'm not saying you're necessarily in danger, but I don't know anything about them for sure other than their looks, so you shouldn't let your guard down until you can make the judgement about them yourself." there had to be a reason why they were living in the middle of the forest rather than in town, so it may be they have ill intent., but then again, as sadistic as their tormentor were, it didn't seem that Lyriel getting killed was a outcome it wanted.

If nothing more happened or was said, Scarecrow would stay quiet for rest of the travel, and they would know when they reached their destination when a faint light could be seen from the forest, and a sound of Scarecrow hitting something that itself didn't make sound was heard, they were at the barrier, and Scarecrow would show it's location by standing up to his hind legs and leaning against it. The barrier would also stop the 'bird' from going through, and if it tried to find a way around, it would find that not only did it go around the place, it also went quite high up before ending in a round-dome like roof. Lyriel shouldn't have any problems getting through though, in fact, she wouldn't be able to tell that there was something there even if she tried to.

Few moments after after they arrived, a weird mist would start gathering around the barrier, clearly unable to get through as evidenced by how it ended around where the barrier was, and the plants under it would start collecting ice on their surface, indicating a radical temperature drop caused by said mist. It would start gathering more around Scarecrow, (and Lyriel if she was still outside the barrier, though the coldness of it would probably drive Lyriel inside the barrier pretty quickly) but he obviously didn't care.

If Lyriel decided to leave Scarecrow and head to the door, she would find a small residence made inside a tree with a door and few windows, none of which let Lyriel to see inside, only letting out light and two moving shapes showing that there was someone inside.

[Blitz Boom 4,620]

@Windy Breeze 🥧

On 8/19/2020 at 7:49 AM, Windy Breeze 🥧 said:

“Why don't you give up and leave with your friend over there?”

Legion's eyes would flare up, and they would loudly respond to the question that had been put forth to, and about, them. Normal ponies would not hear this, but this were a part of Autumn. It would hear them, as much as any dead would, when the cacophony of voices spoke up.

"You want to know what purpose we serve? To gather up the lost and broken, and embrace them into one. Alone we all suffered, but together, we thrive, and we teach others that may come, until we are ready to let go. You could not understand, but she will. She too will become part of us, and when she does, we will help her carry her burden, as all of ours were, until she is ready to let go.

You know we can do this. You wouldn't offer to let them go, if you didn't think we could stop it all. Do you think us blind to that fear?"

Legion were not thrilled about this. The emotional energy and ghastly powers, ran thick through the air, and these two manifestations, were dangerous objects in the way. Manipulators, speaking on behalf of the weight that laid heavy, on Autumn's mind. Not spirits in themselves though. Just apparitions, but no less dangerous, as they fed off her, to become what they were. Their powers would be unlikely to wane, until they reached the mare herself.

Sorrow on the other hoof, reacted to the last sentence, by looking over to Windy, and feeling her heart nearly skip a beat, at watching the mare seemingly choke herself for no reason. None she had seen at least, though she bet this thing had something to do with it.

She'd scramble over quickly and grab hold of Windy's hoves. She'd be trying her best to pull her hooves away from her throat, before Windy went and did something bad, though she might have to go over and physically press Legion against her forehead, if she wasn't responsive.

"W-Windy! Stop that! They're trying to manipulate you. You have to snap out of it!"

If it didn't work, and she had to press Legion against her forehead, the combined spirit's voices would echo through her head, telling her to stop, or she would find herself part of this town, just like Autumn were. Strong spirits like her, wouldn't just let another spirit go that easily. Even if she wanted to, Autumn's aura alone had a very high chance of making sure that if anypony died here, they'd be stuck, until somepony came around and forced them to move on. Which could take centuries, if they were unfortunate enough.

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@Lucid_Nightlight

The statue made a little shake at the argument, but it had a far more violent reaction to hear talks of throwing plastic into the ocean. Specifically, a hissing sound wo- Oh no, wait, that was Rose.

"I will EAT you, if you throw plastic in the ocean!"

"Yeah, totally agree."

Rose would try to fire off a warning shot towards him, with a black bolt, meant to eradicate his nose, while Anomaly on the other hoof, got bored and threw the statue at him, whilst pushing a sort of moss on it, that's grow all over him real fast, and make his bones itch.

The things hit at the same time, and caused the statue to be engulfed in both destructive and creation magic. Which negated both effects, and caused a small crack to form down one of the tails. Through the crack, a small, pulsating dark light could be seen going on beneath the surface.

"Uuuuh, that was fancy. You think it'll break if we hit it with more combo magic?"

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@Catpone Cerberus

Leviathan stretched her back as she woke up, and let out a wide-mouthed yawn.

Opening her eyes fully, she'd look around, and found that Ruby were outside, and her half-brother were seemingly still resting. Probably not for much longer, she'd imagine. Nothing about Ruby so far, indicated that their variant of dragon, were one who required a lot of sleep. A well placed sneeze would likely get a twitch out of him, and wake him up.

Still, she'd try to wander cautiously as she rose herself from the floor to stretch her legs, and walked outside to Ruby. Something seemed a little off about the dragoness, but Leviathan just couldn't place what it were. Maybe nothing, and she were just imagining things, because she wanted to think that Ruby were changing her attitude and such, about things.

"You smell of fish. I take it you woke up a while ago?"

Her ears perked, as she heard the youngest dragon rise from his sleep, as she started to speak. Seems she were right. It really didn't take a lot, though hopefully, he should feel a little better by now. Some rest were better than none.

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@Catpone Cerberus

"It's not really that simple, to make everything just sorta stop attacking.

There's a ton of creatures out there, and they all attack for their own reasons. Some are chased in, some are hungry, some just likes going on rampages, and lots of other reasons. Others are like Tirek, and want to take over Equestria, and some of them come here for that, since the princess and her friends have stopped a lot of the other big threats. I think that's the reason anyway. I'm a doctor, not a historian.

I just know that some beings wanna attack Equestria, to take power, or just to destroy what they think is a weak nation. And then there's all sorta of weird creatures that comes from the forest. I heard a lot of the locals say that all manners of weird stuff live out there, and new things keeps showing up. Sounds about right really. I've met a lot of varied beings from there in the last few weeks I've been here in town. Fah'lina lives out there, you do too... These strange rabbits with horns are out there as well. Deer, zebra, manticores, phoenixes, a sea serpent, etc. It's a really massive ecosystem.

I sorta think this part of it is gone now. I'm not entirely sure, but it sounded like they said that the hydra did something to the frog thing. I don't really know a lot about them, but I guess it might have eaten it? I really gotta ask folks later. Or the hydra, maybe. It sounded like they were talking about it like it were still somewhere around.

And we're fine, no worries. The goo were just real nasty, and kinda sticky, so we had to take a few showers more than I thought. I also had to use soap on her, so she's kinda puffy right now. She'd kinda adorable like this, right?"

Fah'lina would open her maw, and bite to the site, guided by Ziggy's voice, as she couldn't see anything right now, for all the fur in her eyes. Sadly for her though, her ears were also partially covered, so she ended up chomping into thin air, then bash around in said air, attempting to get hold of her, and nearly fell down from the pony in the process. Only reason she didn't, were that Ziggy gave her a slight push in the right direction.

To put it mildly, the mimic were not pleased with how this were going.

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@Catpone Cerberus

23 hours ago, Catpone Cerberus said:

"You will still be at the mercy of the two unicorns, they haven't shown any signs of hostility, so I'm not saying you're necessarily in danger, but I don't know anything about them for sure other than their looks, so you shouldn't let your guard down until you can make the judgement about them yourself."

"I prefer to show those I meet, trust before suspicion. Yet with what you tell me, it is hard to argue your point. I will attempt to take it to heart, and attempt kindness,w hilst approaching with caution. Earth Mother be willing, it will end well."

Being suspicious and paranoid about others, and their intentions, were not something Lyriel were used to. Where she grew up, things were simple, and very much at face value. From her kin to the dragons, there were no need for deception. Or so she had thought. Though with what she later learned from the sphinx who made them, it seemed things ran much deeper than the surface level she had lived upon, and events in this forest - including some by the sphinx in question herself - made her question if she were not simply too naive to make it, in the world at large.

Even through it all though, she still liked to think the best of others. And it had been true oftentimes, when it came to ponies, and those around them. Even if she had gotten strange looks from some of them, they had overall been kind, and they seemed to ease up around her, the more she gave them the benefit of the doubt, and approached them with kindness, and respect.

That being said, this were the first time she had to speak with another pony who lived within this forest, and these two were living under special circumstances. The closest she had to an idea of how to judge them, were from the only other one she knew who lived in the forest, that she had met personally. Though considering how Blitz were, it were... Hard to say for sure. The dear filly had not a shred of malice in her. That much the dryad were sure of. Yet she could still be accidentally dangerous, which were still an issue.

Hopefully she did better now, when she were taken care of by her own kin.

23 hours ago, Catpone Cerberus said:

If nothing more happened or was said, Scarecrow would stay quiet for rest of the travel, and they would know when they reached their destination when a faint light could be seen from the forest, and a sound of Scarecrow hitting something that itself didn't make sound was heard, they were at the barrier, and Scarecrow would show it's location by standing up to his hind legs and leaning against it. The barrier would also stop the 'bird' from going through, and if it tried to find a way around, it would find that not only did it go around the place, it also went quite high up before ending in a round-dome like roof. Lyriel shouldn't have any problems getting through though, in fact, she wouldn't be able to tell that there was something there even if she tried to.

The trickster tried to find a way around after it were denied entrance, but found quickly that it were not to be, as the barrier curved the further it flew up, and the constant pecking told it that it were not weaker up here. It did not take much for it to gather that there were a dome here, and that it were not getting through. Perhaps due to it being made to function with Scarecrow, it were considered some degree of part of him? Hence, it could not go through? It were not sure, but fact remained that it were not passing, so it would return down to the mentioned creature, and land at his side.

In the meantime, Lyriel had passed through unhindered, not even feeling anything as she did so. She would not have even noticed that anything were wrong, had she not heard Scarecrow getting halted.

It were strange really. No matter how much she tried poking at the section where he had been stopped, it were but thin air to her. And yet for him, there were no entrance? Such a peculiar thing...

"I suppose, this is where my own trip begi- Huh? What is this?"

23 hours ago, Catpone Cerberus said:

Few moments after after they arrived, a weird mist would start gathering around the barrier, clearly unable to get through as evidenced by how it ended around where the barrier was, and the plants under it would start collecting ice on their surface, indicating a radical temperature drop caused by said mist. It would start gathering more around Scarecrow, (and Lyriel if she was still outside the barrier, though the coldness of it would probably drive Lyriel inside the barrier pretty quickly) but he obviously didn't care.

Lyriel staggered a few steps backwards, further into the barrier, as she saw the coalescing mist. This must be the sign of the spirit that Scarecrow spoke of. Yet she must have mistaken what she heard then. She were sure that he said that it were inside to some extend, but this made it appear to be cut away from here?

She wished to go out and help them, but considering she were no fighter, as well as powerless in the current situation, she were forced to turn around, and try and find what she came for as quickly as they could, so that they might leave with haste. It were the best she could do for them in this moment, though she would spend the time it took her to get to the door, to recite a prayer to the Earth Mother, begging her to keep them safe.

Getting to the door, she would not be able to see who, or what were behing the door, beyond it being two shapes. Not ideal, but at least then she knew, that they were both home. That could be good... Or bad. Only one way to find out.

With a worried heart, and feeling of dread, she would knock on the door three times, and take a step back. It were time to see who she would be dealing with.

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

 

@EQ_Theta

On 8/19/2020 at 2:43 PM, EQ_Theta said:

Lin eventually took one look at her brother’s exposed sensor so close to her before taking a pot shot.

The longma sensed this before noticing his sister’s shooter aimed point-blank at his sensor, knowing she already took advantage of their little moment of teamwork. 

“It’s not a team sport, remember?”

“I know… but you’re wide open!”

Rosa had a hearty laugh at seeing Lin's cunning maneuver. Quite impressive thinking, by the sneaky longma. In another life, he could imagine her having been a pretty good spy, in her own right. Though currently, it scored her an additional point, as they all were getting, from the constant assaults now going in all directions. Too many for Rosa to avoid without using some more shady methods, and that were against the spirit of the game. Not technically the rules, but he were trying to be nice here. Besides, he were too caught up in the fun of it all, to really linger on such thoughts for long, as he kept dodging, getting hit, reposition, shooting, etc. This game were truly worth every bit they were asked for, far as he were concerned.

On 8/19/2020 at 2:43 PM, EQ_Theta said:

Sen had his sensor go off again. It didn’t matter as Rosa and Omen couldn’t get another shot in but Sen had his chance to fire one back at Lin before running off in the direction of the slippery floor, only stopping short to turn around and take aim at Rosa while Lin was fending them off. If he had enough time for one more shot, this would be the chance to make it count.

“Let’s make this interesting, Rosa! One-on-one. You feeling lucky?”

Rosa focused on Sen, and went into a big smirk, showing quite a degree of confidence.

"Luck is for beginners."

He'd take a shot, then throw himself on the ground, in the direction of Sen, and somersault towards the longma. It would make it harder to hit his sensors, whilst getting him nearer, as the shot he started with, either made contact, or went past, and hit a wall. Either way, about a meter in, he'd suddenly plant his hooves down, and rise up, whilst jumping to the left. There, he'd start shooting more, and keep attempting to get closer, and closer, to Sen.

They had about twenty seconds left to finish this. It were time to see who'd get the last point.

Or they'd just shoot at one another like this, and both end up hitting one another. A tie on the final confrontation, were frankly nothing to scoff at either.

As for Omen, she were just chasing after Lin. It seemed this were personal between Sen and Rosa, so she should let them be.

Though rather quickly, she'd stop up, and tilt her head to the right. A thought were going through her head for a few seconds more, and then she turned around, and started to shoot towards Sen and Rosa. As she had just seen and heard from Lin, this were part of the game too, yes? To get points from those not expecting it? Though there were of course, no guarantee that she'd hit either. Also, it left Lin with an opening to make a full fledged assault in the final moments.

Soon as the twenty seconds were over, they'd hear a whistle blow through the area, and a voice from somewhere above, saying "Times up! Come on back here, and let's tally up the points.".

Soon as the whistle blew, their equipment would stop working, and they could follow the path back to where they came from. Once the adrenaline started to drain out of them, they might also begin to feel some degree of exhaustion, over all the energy they had just spent.

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Blitz Boom

"Handsome attack!'

Lucid fired a ball of power, but it was some chaotic magic, not handsome magic, that isn't a thing, Lucid typically liked the chaos magic more than other magic.

Novia fired a ball of order magic.

[Windy Breeze 15,189]

@Blitz Boom

Despite Sorrow trying to stop her from choking herself, Windy's determination, desperation, and sadness, all the thoughts of talking to her family again made her 'blind' from reality, she began to leak more tears from her eyes as she put more strength to her neck, and she began to make choking sounds with her voice.

While Windy'a doppelganger is busy killing the Wonderbolt, Sorrow's doppelganger on the other hand, approached her from behind, muttering two words of despise.

“Curse you...”

(If Sorrow decided to turn around, this happens)

“CURSE YOU!” She suddenly grab hold of her tail and throw her away from Windy. The walls began to shake, then two wooden beams of the ceiling fall on the floor in front of her doppelganger, who picked it up with her ghostly abilities: levitation. She gave Sorrow a psychotic look “I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!!”

(This will happen Sorrow decided not to turn around)

“She has decided her own fate” it was no longer her own doppelganger speaking behind her. She'll recognize the voice as Windy's “Her reunion is not far away, stay away from Skyline, medium!”

Note: Windy's original name when she was born is Skyline.

Edited August 21, 2020 by Windy Breeze 🥧

[EQ_Theta 457]

@Blitz Boom

Lin took to the sight of Sen and Rosa squaring off with delight, allowing them to settle the match with a one-on-one stand-off. She was content to get keep Omen’s attention on herself, but the moment she turned to Rosa’s direction, she couldn’t let that stand. With only a few seconds on the clock, the longma started firing shots at Omen’s sensor, seeing as her back was turned to her. It may not be in the rule to enforce a duel but Lin was content to do just that. 

“Keep your eyes on me, Omen! I’m your target!”

Meanwhile, Sen would sidestep and dodge each of Rosa’s shots while keeping his aim steady enough to fire back. So far, he wouldn’t feel his sensor going off, but the longma wouldn’t be able to land a shot after being self-conscious. Unlike earlier in the game, Sen’s sudden change in tactics suggested he was holding back, only making himself a hard target while only firing a few shots in delayed intervals. This whole display of side-to-side movement, however, was getting the longma tired, his movements slowing down. 

In just the right moment, a sensor went off and the sound of a whistle being blown immediately followed. It seemed that was the end of the game. A shame it had to end so soon but rule were rules…

“Well played, Rosa! Good game,” Sen exclaimed as he walked up to the thestral to offer a hoofshake. 

Edited August 21, 2020 by EQ_Theta

[Catpone Cerberus 23,589]

@Blitz Boom
Ruby nodded "Early enough to feed myself, I'm not huge fan of fish but food is food." it was mostly the smell she didn't like, but the taste was also rather boring. "Didn't want to wake you up and get hit with a lighting bolt." she was joking, but there was some truth behind it too, because at least she got really annoyed if someone woke her up without reason, so she saw it as safe bet to assume everyone were like that.

The young male after waking up both physically and mentally, started again watching Ruby, though he really tried to not show any fear, unsuccessfully, but the attempt was there. Ruby then said something to him, which made him tense up as he started sniffing around, he seemed to find a scent he was looking for and faced where Ruby had slept, Ruby then spoke more to him and he turned thoughtful while seeming conflicted. Ruby's tone was surprisingly friendly when she addressed her brother, the usual things were still strongly apparent, but she sounded lot less threatening.

"You should probably get him something to eat, he is staring to realize I have no interest in hurting him, but I don't think he'll accept food from someone who looks like our mother quite yet, I wouldn't." 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nada nodded as response to Ziggy's question while chuckling at Fah'lina's reaction "Don't be so offended Fah'lina, adorable fits you, besides, you could use this as your new hunting strategy, no creature will suspect a cute fluffy ball to eat them." she would have liked to pet her but she figured Fah'lina would try to eat her hoof if she did "But to return to my previous point, I know there most likely isn't one simple thing to stop all attacks, but there doesn't seem to be anything at all, like nobody has even tried, why isn't there a wall or something." bit odd for creatures that controlled weather to not have anything to stop anything coming from the forest.

-----------------------------------
While Lyriel made her way to the door, Scarecrow walked around the barrier to a spot where he somewhat saw the residence from between the trees and such, while the fog followed him.

It would take few moments before the sound of hoofsteps coming to the door could be heard and a blue unicorn mare opened the door, her horn was damaged and she had various blue, and red, wound-like marks on her body, she had a friendly smile on her face, and her tone matched that friendliness "Hi." behind her was another unicorn, a blue stallion, these two were clearly twins.

The stallion didn't have markings or a broken horn, but one of his ears was missing a piece, and unlike his sister, he seemed less friendly, he wasn't hostile by any means, but he was impassive, deadpan, and his tone only amplified his lack of emotion, though there was a formal-style of friendliness mixed in, like from someone in customer service. "What brings a dryad on my door? Is there something we can help you and your undead travel companion with?"

Meanwhile the 'bird' would have a interesting thing to fitness, as during Lyriel's interaction with the ponies, the fog started going inside Scarecrow and soon a head of a light blue mare came through his chest with only effect to his chest being a layer of ice getting formed. The mare rose her head enough to face Scarecrow and started taunting him, but after he seemingly ignored her she started complaining how boring he was. Her voice had a echo and didn't seem to have a obvious source, just coming from the general direction of the mare.

[Rising Dusk 27,536]

@Blitz Boom

Rising could feel a quake ripple through his dreamscape as the month pulled back the fabric that was just moments ago a pond.  It was a strange sensation to have another being taking control of one's dream.  His subconscious was probably more upset than he was, but there was no harm on the horizon for what she did.  A glance around the area though he did find necessary.  Who knows if the Dream Wardens could feel the disturbance in the Dream Realm and come knocking.  Rising was a hundred percent sure how they'd react to a foreign entity invading a pony's dream while under their watch.  Nonetheless, the detective watched the tale of Thistle fold out before him, a quite effective method of story telling if he did say so.  There was starting to form a pattern with tall ponies and interesting destinies.  The average pony never reached the size of Minty or Celestia.  The specter Rising had met in the swamp was very different than before she offered up her mortal shell.

The Avatar's next story was not all that different for what happened between the two Princesses.  Celestia being forced to imprison the monster Luna had become.  Rising saw the sadness in the spell that imprisoned the Dark Nightmare pony on the Moon.  Gazing upon the tapestry told more a story than any book could.  "I'd probably be pretty grumpy being force fed too," Rising nodded in understanding, well what understanding in the realm of primordial beings a pony could.  Now though she had brought up a Mistress, a being even before them.  So many mysteries to this new land.  Equestrian explorers are going to have a field day pouring their the history and mythos.  Twisted really did a number on their whole country.  Hard to tell what one is leaping in to for the defense of their home.  Hopefully they will find their harmony again like Equestria, even if it isn't in the detective's life time.  "I'm not sure my wisps can taint any darker," the unicorn chuckled, if the theme of tainting his wisps was to be the gifts he was receiving from the primordial beings was to continue.  Then of course that could also mean another avatar floating around his dreams.  How crowded his head was going to get.

The moth's interest in Princess Luna was curious.  Were those that could walk the Dream Realm really that rare in Harrowmark?  Besides Princess Luna, there was a whole group of unicorns able to do it.  "Easy enough," Rising offered and stood up from his perch on the edge of the skyscrapper.  Leaping from the tall building for one of the bubbles that had been wafting up from the parade below.  The bubble was found to be more that capable of holding the unicorn's weight.  Clinging to the surface, the bubble moved away from the rest of them and drifted downwards instead of heading for the heavens.  Slowly he descended down to the streets of the city below.  Manehatten ponies forever in the detective's memories populated the streets, lining the sidewalks in celebration for the passing parade.  Rising upon his bubble landed on the sidewalk, which then decided it was time to pop.  With a thud and an oof, the detective fell upon the sidewalk.  Standing up and brushing himself off just as the main float was coming into view.

Powered by magic, a large float wreathed in flowers with royal guards escorting it came down the street.  Upon the float sat three thrones.  In the center, larger than the other two, an ivory throne with the visage of the Sun behind it.  On the right, an throne of onyx, ordained with stars and the visage of the Moon behind it.  On the left, a throne of amethyst with a visage of the Elements of Harmony behind it.  On each throne sat their respective Princesses.  Large and regal, the white Alicorn beamed with her legendary smile and almost ethereal rainbow mane flowing, well with in her element as she greeted her people.  On the onyx throne, the smaller dark Alicorn waved to the ponies with a less than confident smile, not as well practiced for the introvert.  Lastly Princess Twilight, the even smaller newest Princess doing her best to overcome her nerves and mimic her mentor on her first parade.  Also the only one without an ethereal flowing mane.  Princess in training was his conclusion.  "Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Twilight Sparkle," Rising pointed each out in turn.  Better to point all three out than just Luna and get asked who the others were.  Princess Celestia turned to look at the detective directly.  His subconscious not letting him live down his colthood crush.

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@Blitz Boom

Skall starts lifting up the element of betrayal in his claw, starting to speak to the element
"How does this feel, to be betrayed so many times."
He grips it tightly with his claw.
"Yet you still stand the test of it all."

One crack forms, a shock wave of magic sent out as this crystal of pure magic sends out it's energy.
"But yet- the one you think deserves you more doesn't need you."

Suddenly many cracks form as the element shatters, unlike the elements of harmony, which could persist in their users, these were pure incarnations of magic with no permanent hosts and that energy contained it inside it had to go somewhere.

Rose looking wide eyed as the following blast cracks the ground, ripping the entire library in half, a sound heard from quite the distance.

"W-what have you done?!"

Skall drops the shattered pieces to the ground.
"Ensuring my victory."
He smirks as he teleports away, this time to wherever the element of lies wanted him to go.

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

"I'm well aware of that and I am not the one responsible for my escape-"

He fell to the ground suddenly, putting a hoof to his chest, but then raising it to keep them back

"Emerald, do you know what happens when an element is destroyed?"

With the forces released by it's shatterning,  he knew that Emerald would feel it too, or at least should.

"Screecher, we're facing one of my old friends, seeing how our friend Opal would be far too weak to shatter an element of disharmony, I really hope you have some powerful friends and weapons on hand."

[Widdershins 9,959]

@Sekel

 This reference went clearly over Kaltrop's head. 

 "Well, yes. That was the point. It was a long canyon that went on for a good mile in either way that only had the one road to the bridge by my cliffside cave. If any pony wanted to get to or from that one village a long way off... they had to agree to my terms. They certainly wouldn't be able to go back.

 Yes, I did have to troll for travellers. I would say that i'm quite good at trolling.

 I made them listen and stay. Until I was done with what I needed them for. I wouldn't have expected anything different from a Pony. After all, you have to give others a reason to stay."

 The drake said rather flatly, in spite of the odd air of having just brought up an apparent, unnerving obsession he might have had. Controlling or manipulative might not have been the right word for Kaltrop, as he was easily unsettled due to his rather easily-startled personality. Dragons did have a habit of predatory possessiveness that seemed to lend them to a slight villanious streak even in the most tamed and whiny of dragon youth.

 Considering how he was bragging about cornering travelers on the road, it seemed almost as if he was asking for her to question what, precisely, he demanded of accosted, lone ponies late at night when he swooped down at them late at night, on a rickety bridge over a fathomless gorge. Of what scoundrel deeds must spring to Dawn Streak's mind of what her dragon housemate did to a lone, vulnerable mare...

...if it weren't for the fact that Kaltrop tended to act more like a cat the vast majority of the time. But hey, cats tended to be pretty villainous too.

##################################################################################

@Catpone Cerberus

Don't look at me! I don't have any control over things any more than you do! The sprite proclaimed in a mock offended voice. The silent tone of the cliffside badlands' howling winds whistled behind them as they walked, and, away in the distance if you had been listening for it was what sounded like a faint chime of irony.

But you did just buy an explosive device from some crazy loner in a cave in the middle of nowhere. I can't blame you for your doubt. But what you shouldn't doubt-...!

 The map held out (somehow) in front of Cerberus received a tap where their destined item was.

...is what magic this item ought be capable of! You don't just make golden, floating magical items and not have them do something! Especially if your going through the trouble of making a map to lead the way there! It's got to do SOMETHING important! Certainly nothing horrific and dangerous!

 #################################

@Blitz Boom

Flit was enjoying this. If his expression was anything to go by; him and Shortstack were the most ready for combat.

 Goo pouring down his throat was, if anything, as welcome as biting into a creamy filling in a snack cake for most ponies. A hydra was equipped to be readily available to digest anything they could get to with their limited mobility and that tended to involve drinking an awful lot of swampwater and mud. There had, indeed, been the very rare few documented occurrences of a hydra's habitat being stripped down to bedrock devoid of water or useable land because the other animal species had abandoned the environment or the ecosystem otherwise proving incapable of supporting a megafauna such as a hydra. Being filled with goo would very likely be something Flit would happily comment on, if he wasn't presently busy.

The little toad creature would feel a gradually increasing pull; magical and irresistible to something akin to what could be compared to a black hole, if any could compare such experiences to be able to convey them. It would shrink slowly, being fully aware as it slid down the throat that folded around it until it seemed to shrink down to oblivion by any outside observer. Not much different from how most serpentine beings ate things, but more magical in method as this was more akin to pulling it into a temporary storage of digestible molecules until such time as the body was reformed. But, this was mostly conjecture and didn't appear much to others in the room as it moreover looked more like the little toad just got smaller travelling down Flit's stretched jaw.

And, for that, Monolith had explanations. He tended to.

"The Conspiracy? Upon mineself, I know not thy terms, and I t'would task thee of elaboration. But I fear I must expound upon such at later date, If thou shalt excuse me, Madam." Mono's excusing of himself to Berry was very much likely met with awkward silence as he was presently talking with the vacant air she had been standing at before.

 He turned around slowly to address Alonsus & Straw Hat... or rather the air some few feet above them. Monolith took great care to not make eye contact when he spoke and with what seemed so much intent that it wasn't based on his height difference.

 "Dearest Proprietor of this fine establishment, there is but explanation for such matters as you derive. One's capacity to consume is hinged upon one's physical limits to ingest what is supplied. Given capacity, all is achieved. It is stated, in late history, that even imbibed substances deigned caustic, toxic or poisonous are able to be safely consumed with practice of readying one's body for its effects. To use thy Layman's Terms... or as mine brother here twould put it:

 'Anything is edible if you, Like, try hard enough.'

I assure you, unhinging a jaw is something anypony twould be capable of, given enough practice.

 

 Now, as to the topic of invasion from foreign, seeming hostile lifeforms... I am sure such matters will be dealt with in natural course of Order. This close to a place such as the Everfree, I feel certain such incursions are habitual in occurrence. It is Logical; were it not, this city would have been leveled by now. A being of nature, it surely must be and leaving it to calm down as per its own deigned ambitions is best. If any threat to ponykind be made, it must surely be from panicked, misplaced megafauna. We must keep Calm & Orderly about this.

 I shall go converse with these specimens."

With that, Monolith, not waiting to heed any objections, would stride to the door of the cafe in his quiet, paced way as if he was being wheeled out on a board and opened the door by means of bopping his face into it and making no effort to actually push the door, just walking straight into it. As Monolith would say: using one's hooves to operate things was illogical; they were walking appendages, clearly.

 Once outside, he would approach the nearest frog-man-monster to ask it about its intentions and feelings. One tended to have a fatally bad level of common sense when one believed all reality was defined by the Judicial System. Surely every situation could be worked out if you just thought about it really hard.

[Blitz Boom 4,620]

@Rising Dusk

On 8/22/2020 at 1:30 PM, Rising Dusk said:

"I'd probably be pretty grumpy being force fed too," Rising nodded in understanding, well what understanding in the realm of primordial beings a pony could.  Now though she had brought up a Mistress, a being even before them.  So many mysteries to this new land.  Equestrian explorers are going to have a field day pouring their the history and mythos.  Twisted really did a number on their whole country.  Hard to tell what one is leaping in to for the defense of their home.  Hopefully they will find their harmony again like Equestria, even if it isn't in the detective's life time.  "I'm not sure my wisps can taint any darker,"

"𝕴 𝖐𝖓𝖔𝖜 𝖓𝖔𝖙 𝖎𝖋 𝖍𝖊 𝖜𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖇𝖑𝖊𝖘𝖘 𝖞𝖔𝖚, 𝖆𝖘 𝕴 𝖍𝖆𝖛𝖊. 𝖄𝖊𝖙 𝖎𝖋 𝖍𝖊 𝖉𝖔𝖊𝖘, 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖜𝖔𝖚𝖑𝖉 𝖐𝖓𝖔𝖜 𝖜𝖊𝖑𝖑 𝖜𝖍𝖎𝖈𝖍 𝖕𝖆𝖗𝖙 𝖔𝖋 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖒𝖆𝖌𝖎𝖈 𝖍𝖊 𝖙𝖔𝖚𝖈𝖍𝖊𝖉."

She had now both seen and felt, how in contact with magic this peculiar mortal were, so it would not matter what color these wisps of his were. He would know well which part had come from Suusha, were that day to come, though question remained if he would want to harness that power.

Viz'nay were a goddess of peaceful rest. Her domain were dreams, and allowing souls to find peace. Allowing them to be properly reborn, rather than linger in varied forms of undeath.

Suusha though, were the god of eternal vigil. His domain were undeath and time. Most who worshiped him in the balanced days were the maddened ponies who wandered too far from towns, and the undead that still had some semblance of self. A sliver of his power could well do partially what Twisted had done, yet with less potency. A chance to revert things that had happened a few seconds, or cause greater connection to the dead or dying. Maybe in a sense, save those who did not want to move on, though maybe not in a way that they would think of as ideal.

The power of undeath were a strong tool, and in the right hooves, a great boon too. The power to effortlessly remove curses, prolong your own life, and help those who feared the final end, by offering them a choice. Yet there were a reason why it were seen as a dark art, as most who picked up the mantle, did not harness it well, out in the world. It held great importance in Harrowmark, but in Equestria? it might well be heresy, despite them not having any gods. Viz'nay did not know, but she did have some faith in Rising, and believed that if he were presented with this power, he would find a way to use it for a greater purpose. If nothing else, it might help him to stay and fulfill his purpose, beyond the years that his fragile, mortal coil would allow him.

Still... Undeath did not mean you could not return properly to life either. Perhaps he would be able to thread the delicate balance between preserving the soul in the body, despite it being dead, yet keep it maintained, until a spark of life could be jolted through it again? maybe even transfer the soul, to a new vessel? It were hard to say, but if time came, she were intrigued to find out what could happen. Something told her that Rising were not done causing ripples through history.

Not that there was much time to think of it, as the dream shifted yet again, and another town went on display in front of them. Equestria seemed to have a lot of grandiose cities. Harrowmark could not boast of the same, having only about five grand towns, and even Copperhagen paled compared to this one.

Not to say that the capitol of her own country, did not have its own charm for the mortals. It were more rustic and down to earth, which seemed to work well for them, but from her perch at least, she did enjoy this more lively, vibrant looking town she were now gazing upon. Perhaps once things had begun being set into motion fully, she should show Thistle visions of this. Some inspiration could well be drawn from this, she would imagine. if for nothing else, then her temples. She would enjoy at least some of the chambers to be more vibrant.

Viz'nay followed the detective as he descended upon the scene. A parade it appeared to be, with countless beings there to see the spectacle. Mainly ponies she noticed. So Equestria were mostly dominated by those too, then? A thing their country had in common it seemed, though she saw other familiar creatures around too. Diamond dogs of more frail variants, than the ones who usually populated Harrowmark, were the first she bit notice in. They reminded her of the dogs of old, before generations upon generations of the strongest surviving, had caused them to beef up a good deal. These days, it were hard to find runts like these in Harrowmark.

Well... Living ones anyway.

Dragons had been something she had not seen in a long time too. The last one had long since left Harrowmark behind, and sworn to never thread upon their shores again, so it were odd to suddenly see them again like this. Yet still, she did like to find that they still existed. She had suspected no less, but you never knew what might happen as centuries and millennia just wafted along.

Others she had no clue what were. Strange bug-like ponies with holes in them, and other variants, that seemed more colorful, yet similar in a way? Birds the size of ponies, whom seemed to have some degree of feline attributes? Strange creatures they had. Perhaps one day, some she might meet herself? If Harrowmark opened up, some creatures from here might come to visit, and sooner or later, they would all need to sleep. Though that were of course, only one of the possible ways she might encounter them.

The far more fascinating sight got into view soon though, as the main attraction of this parade approached, and she goddess silently flapped her wings, to get closer to these three, winged pegasi.

Her focus were mainly on Luna and Celestia though. The smaller one seemed of importance now, yet she were clearly young. Not the one of the most importance of these. That would be the one whom looked as if she represented the night, followed by their leader. The tallest of the mares, who seemed to nearly radiate. Just as the sun on her flank showed. Though, it were not the only thing she bit note in about her. The glance she were given by the detective also caught her senses. A loving look, reserved for beings that mattered more to you than others... His goals were set high, that much she would give him.

For the time being though, she were looking over Princess Luna, in her nightly glory, when the name of the last princess were mentioned, and she found that perhaps, the smallest one were of interest after all.

"𝕳𝖊𝖗 𝖓𝖆𝖒𝖊 𝖍𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖇𝖊𝖊𝖓 𝖘𝖕𝖔𝖐𝖊𝖓. 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖔𝖓𝖊 𝖜𝖍𝖔𝖒 𝖆𝖗𝖊 𝖒𝖔𝖘𝖙 𝖑𝖎𝖐𝖊𝖑𝖞 𝖙𝖔 𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖊 𝖙𝖔 𝖚𝖘. 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕻𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖈𝖊𝖘𝖘 𝖔𝖋... 𝕱𝖗𝖎𝖊𝖓𝖉𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖕? 𝕬𝖓 𝖔𝖉𝖉 𝖙𝖎𝖙𝖑𝖊, 𝖎𝖘 𝖎𝖙 𝖓𝖔𝖙? 𝕿𝖍𝖊𝖓 𝖆𝖌𝖆𝖎𝖓, 𝖆𝖗𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖘𝖊 𝖕𝖔𝖓𝖎𝖊𝖘 𝖓𝖔𝖙 𝖆𝖑𝖑 𝖘𝖙𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖌𝖊?"

Princess Twilight... How odd to find that the youngest, and clearly most inexperienced of them, would be chosen for a task as important as making connections to the outside. Maybe they did not think highly of Harrowmark, when they picked her? Or perhaps, she had more talent, than were currently shown? Time alone would tell, and they both had much of it to spare.

"...𝕴 𝖍𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖓𝖔𝖙 𝖘𝖊𝖊𝖓 𝖆𝖑𝖎𝖈𝖔𝖗𝖓𝖘, 𝖘𝖎𝖓𝖈𝖊 𝖇𝖊𝖋𝖔𝖗𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖒𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖘 𝖋𝖊𝖑𝖑. 𝕾𝖍𝖊 𝖆𝖑𝖔𝖓𝖊 𝖍𝖆𝖉 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖕𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖔 𝖌𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖙 𝖆𝖘𝖈𝖊𝖓𝖘𝖎𝖔𝖓 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖘 𝖐𝖎𝖓𝖉. 𝖄𝖊𝖙 𝕴 𝖗𝖊𝖒𝖊𝖒𝖇𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖑𝖆𝖘𝖙 𝖔𝖓𝖊 𝖜𝖍𝖔 𝖘𝖙𝖔𝖔𝖉, 𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖌𝖍 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖒𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖆𝖑𝖘 𝖍𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖑𝖔𝖓𝖌 𝖋𝖔𝖗𝖌𝖔𝖙𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖍𝖎𝖒. 𝕾𝖆𝖑𝖟𝖆𝖓𝖆𝖙𝖍, 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖑𝖎𝖛𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖕𝖑𝖆𝖌𝖚𝖊. 𝕲𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖙 𝖜𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝖍𝖎𝖘 𝖕𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖗, 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖇𝖑𝖊 𝖜𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝖍𝖎𝖘 𝖎𝖗𝖊. 𝕬𝖙 𝖑𝖊𝖆𝖘𝖙 𝖚𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖑 𝖘𝖍𝖊 𝖕𝖚𝖓𝖎𝖘𝖍𝖊𝖉 𝖍𝖎𝖒 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝖍𝖎𝖘 𝖆𝖗𝖗𝖔𝖌𝖆𝖓𝖈𝖊."

She would flutter around them a little further, before landing in the mane of Princess Celestia.

"𝕴𝖙 𝖎𝖘 𝖘𝖙𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖌𝖊 𝖙𝖔 𝖘𝖊𝖊, 𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖆 𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖜𝖍𝖔 𝖍𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖓𝖔 𝖌𝖔𝖉𝖘, 𝖘𝖙𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖊𝖘𝖘 𝖕𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖗 𝖇𝖊𝖋𝖎𝖙𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖔𝖋 𝖔𝖓𝖊. 𝕿𝖔 𝖘𝖊𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖈𝖆𝖓 𝖈𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖊 𝖇𝖊𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘, 𝖓𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖑𝖞 𝖔𝖓 𝖕𝖆𝖗 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝖉𝖊𝖒𝖎𝖌𝖔𝖉𝖘, 𝖎𝖘 𝖈𝖔𝖓𝖋𝖚𝖘𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖎𝖓𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖚𝖎𝖓𝖌. 𝕴 𝖜𝖔𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖗 𝖍𝖔𝖜 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖍𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖌𝖔𝖙𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖘𝖚𝖈𝖍 𝖕𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖗? 𝖂𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖕𝖗𝖎𝖒𝖔𝖗𝖉𝖎𝖆𝖑 𝖋𝖔𝖗𝖈𝖊 𝖉𝖔 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖕𝖔𝖘𝖘𝖊𝖘𝖘, 𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖈𝖆𝖓 𝖉𝖔 𝖜𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖎𝖘 𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖊𝖗𝖛𝖊𝖉 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝖆 𝖉𝖊𝖎𝖙𝖞?"

Equestria did not have gods, that were true. Yet unbeknownst to Viz'nay, they did have primordial power. The Elements of Harmony, and the Elements of Disharmony. Powerful trinkets, as primordial as any force could be in Equestria, and two of the three ancient pillars of the country. The last being the mythical Well of Eternity. To some, also referred to, as the Fountain of Youth. A lost place, somewhere in the country, rumored to be guarded by elemental creatures from the country's birth, before any creature of flesh and blood wandered upon it.

Legend had it that they guarded the source of power and life, and even that both sets of elements had sprung from that well, yet it were all rumors and speculation. None had seen the well in countless ages, and to many, it were seen as just a folk tale, rather than truth.

Though some claimed to have seen it, and even drunk from it. Among them, the elusive seer Zhu, who wandered the lands, directing things that most did not see before it were too late to change it. However, it weren't just simple to capture and question him. Several had tried that, and he had still wandered freely, for almost a millennia.

As for the well, and the two sets of elements... It were not assured, but had one control to at least one full set of them, or the well itself, it were speculated that this were enough to create an alicorn. Though it didn't answer why more had not been made this way then, or how Flurry Heart could have been born as one, seemingly without access to anything. It were all a large mystery, but it might be more mundane than you'd think, and folks were just overthinking how much were needed. Might well just be an application of eternal life, which took a high amount of magic, and that amplified in the being, allowing them to then also be strong enough to pass this trait along. Though that again, still did not explain Flurry Heart.

Scholars would likely spend generations debating this, and still get no answers. Unless one day, Celestia would talk. If anyone knew, it would likely be her.

(meanwhile, in the waking world)

Somepony would rush over to the door of the O.M.I. and rapidly hammer the door, before entering. Unless it were locked, in which case, the pony would simply keep hitting the door until it got opened.

Soon as the pony in question got acces to the building, or met somepony that worked there though, it would be revealed to be a Solar Guard. A simple private in the army. Of the sorts they had out doing regular routine check ups, which after Twisted's assault, had been stationed in increasing numbers around town to do exactly that. Just to make sure that everything were alright.

Looking at how the young stallion were swearing and looked to be in a great panic though, things had not been as simple as they might have hoped.

"H-Help! We need backup! Something is... It's crazy. The Faint of Heart Boutique, and Lullaby Sweets, they're..." *thud*

And just like that, the stallion would faint, due to exhaustion and hyper-ventilation.

The two places were three blocks from one another, with both being within around half a mile of the O.M.I. office, so it should not take long to have them both investigated.

(Lullaby Sweets)

The candy shop were a fairly popular one in Manehatten, for the middle and low income families, as the prices were on the low side, and the quality were reasonable. The high end variants around town had their own clientele, and if you wanted some glorious gift baskets, those were likely better to go to as well, but for your average candy need, the colorful store were perfect, with a reasonable selection too. Gumdrops, toffee, hard candy, chocolate- All the regular sorts of sweets, packaged in bright paper and sectioned, to make it easier to see what you were looking for.

The issue though, were not inside the store itself, but rather outside, where beings of all sorts were running away from a mare who stood a few meters to the right of  the entrance, at the start of a small, abandoned alleyway, and tried her darndest to blow bubblegum bubbles. The issue however being, that she also seemed to be melting the stone of the street, around where she were standing.

One of the mysterious mare's hooves were on fire, yet didn't seem to bother her. Her mane and tail seemed to be more or less dripping fire too, with a potential for it being actual magma, judging by how the stone the drops landed on were getting melted holes in them. Her hooves seemed red hot glowing too, and more prudently, she seemed to be flaking off parts of her skin, and a large plume of intense fire were spouting out of the larger crack on her back.

At least it seemed contained somewhat, as there were no massive fires or anything nearby, nor any sort of sign that beyond horizontally, anything went far from her being. And even then, the largest plume were only about a meter up. It might soon get worse though, which were why everypony were doing what they could, to run away from this one, as fast as they could.

"Pffff *pop* Oh phoey! Okay, one more time. It have to work."

The mare's bubble burst, and the flames seemed to ease up, and the crack on her back began to be slowly less violent in its reaction. However, soon as she tried against to blow a new bubble, which seemed to take a lot of her concentration, it began to bubble up again.

It were likely best to deal with her at a distance, and not attempt physical contact currently. Not unless you wanted some really scorched hooves.

(Faint of Heart Boutique)

The Faint of Heart Boutique were a high end dress shop, run by a prominent newcomer to the town, named Glorious Shave, though most just called him Glory. A former hair dresser who had found a passion in the clothes industry, and worked closely with a designer friend of his, to both make and sell beautiful, elegant dresses. The sort with looks and prices which were on the higher end. This the somewhat pretentious name.

Him and Needle Stitch, had run the store for about a year now, and did fairly well for themselves, with a number of clientele visiting the store, yet now it were mostly abandoned. Except for the large group outside, looking at the door, and whispering among themselves about there being some dreadful creature that had invaded the store, and kept the owners hostage.

If anypony were to enter, they would find both of the owners in the back room, nervously putting last hooves on a dress they were fitting a very, disturbingly peculiar mare with, who seemed to be smiling away as she looked in the full length mirror.

"This is so pretty and soft! I can't believe hos amazing the stuff you two can make are."

"T-Thank you for that, miss. Please keep standing still, okay? I'm almost done with your mane."

"And don't move your torso at all! You have no idea how hard this is."

Glory seemed to be quite near whimpering, as he were working slowly on the long mane of the mare, to make it look as grand as he could. It were part of the service of the store. A grandiose dress, which would then get a fitting mane and tail cut to booth, as a free extra. It made them able to advertise the ability for anypony to come in fresh off the street, and be ready to go straight to a ball, or other social gathering, right after. Some who took advantage of this offer, even went to see Dawn's events at times, which the two owners of this place, saw as a great honor. She had a great reputation after all.

Needle seemed less nervous though, and more stressed, as she were trying to form fit a beautiful, white and gold dress upon a mare, who stood joyfully and slowly chewed on a white chocolate doughnut. All innocent and fine really. Except for the main source of the worry, nervous behavior, whispers outside, and of course, Needle's stressed outburst about the difficulty of this task: The mare seemed to be transluscent.

Well, not fully though. It appeared to go down to her bones, and internal organs beneath the rib cage, which all were highly visible. Disturbingly so even, as you could see how the pieces of the doughnut that were being eaten, went down the throat, and into the mare's stomach. Thankfully the stomach were one of the organs that were not translucent, though the throat were not the same, and the process until it reached into her torso, were on full display.

The wings too, appeared to have some oddity to it, as it seemed like there were nothing connecting the wings to her back. As if the bones connecting it to her spine were not there, or perhaps fully invisible.

If anypony showed up, her ears would perk, and she would start to turn her hear, until Needle would shout out again.

"For the love of Celestia, don't you dare turn around right now, or I will nail you to the floor! It's really hard not stitching into your skin here!"

"Heh, she's ergh... Under a lot of stress miss. Please don't judge her."

"Sorry, sorry. I just think I smelled something familiar.

Whoever's there, can you wait starting to scream and stuff for a teensie bit? I think they're almost done."

Her voice were pretty calm and collected, though she did also sound like she were expecting something to go wrong here. Considering her appearance, and the way those outside acted, it were likely that she to some extend, expected there to be some sort of violent imminent, and didn't much care for it. She were trying to get a dress fitted here after all. That it seemed to be something that one might perceive to be a wedding dress, were either of some importance, or none at all.

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

 

@FanOfManyShows

On 8/23/2020 at 9:57 AM, FanOfManyShows said:

"W-what have you done?!"

Skall drops the shattered pieces to the ground.
"Ensuring my victory."
He smirks as he teleports away, this time to wherever the element of lies wanted him to go.

The library were in pure chaos, after the energy wave caused the whole building to be cut in half, along with ruining many a book in the process. Librarians scrambled to gather the falling and ruined books, patrons ran for dear life, and guards came rushing in, with most trying to surround Skall before he vanished. After that, the majority would wander into the library, to try and help civilians trapped beneath collapsed book shelves, or attempt to help librarians from getting unstable ones falling down on top of them, all of a sudden. Only a few remained at the draconequui, lifting their spears towards her, but looking on in great confusion and uncertainty. They weren't even sure if this were an enemy, as it were clearly not her that had done these damages. That had been the other one, who were now gone.

She might be able to play for innocence here, if she were cunning, and took advantage of everything Skall had done. Potentially she would also benefit greatly from stabbing him in the back, and sell him out to the guards. He had done much the same, so why should he be granted any sort of benefit? Not like they'd know who she were anyway, right?

As for Skall and the spirit, they would find themselves in a safe haven, far as the spirit were concerned. A long abandoned, massive cave, where at the end of a long, crumbling staircase, in the midst of the room, would sit two thrones. Someplace that she had used some of the unworthy carriers to carve out a long time ago, in preparation for Skall to find her once more.

The area were remote and silent, with not even the sound of whatever beasts might roam outside, reaching them.

"You can rest here, Skall. They know not it is here. I had it made by a fool long ago, who dared to carry me. So I made sure that he did something of worth, before his usage expired."

Though age had crumbled the staircase some, the thrones were still solid, and draconic in size. One of them should fit him well.

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

 

@FanOfManyShows

Emerald felt the shock alright, and clenched her teeth until she felt a metallic taste, go through her muzzle. Her concentration wavered some too, but she staggered along, managing to keep the magic and spell work going correctly, to continue the resurrection spell. However, she were not in a position to talk right now, regardless of her being asked a question.

On 8/23/2020 at 9:57 AM, FanOfManyShows said:

"Emerald, do you know what happens when an element is destroyed?"

With the forces released by it's shatterning,  he knew that Emerald would feel it too, or at least should.

"Screecher, we're facing one of my old friends, seeing how our friend Opal would be far too weak to shatter an element of disharmony, I really hope you have some powerful friends and weapons on hand."

"How dire of a situation, are we talking about here?"

"Substantial."

The word would be spoken, before somepony would rise up from the floor. Seemingly through the shadows, and he looked to be very angry.

"An element were shattered in the grand library, splitting the place in half. It's impossible to say how much is left to salvage."

He'd stagger out of the shadows, and hold a hoof to his forehead. Right above his covered eye.

"I underestimated him, and I got disconnected from my secondary vessel. The ripple ruined any chance I had at remaking it, and frayed my connection to the squad. It will be hours before they're functional again."

The general seemed surprised, then annoyed to see this guest, before grimacing, as she heard further how things were going.

"Casualties?"

"None so far, my general. Though there will be once I get hold of that over-sized lizard."

Dark magic started to swirl around the sneering stallion's hoof, before the general stomped hard in the ground.

"Control yourself, Soul! That is an order."

Soul would clench his teeth, and dispel the magic.

"Yes, my general."

He'd look over the others afterwards, with a sneer on his angry, pained face, and focus his gaze then specifically, on Chariot.

"The elements can't be destroyed. You can break them apart, melt them, grind them to dust- Do whatever you want, but neither harmony, nor disharmony, can be broken. They'll just reach a point where they are too broken apart, release their energy, and reform somewhere else. This isn't the first time somepony think they have destroyed an element."

It seemed as if he wanted to say more, but bit his tongue, before the general made him silence again. The most strict, rule-bound general the Night Guard had in a long time, whom seemed to for some reason, be associating herself with a necromancer. Highly irregular. But then again, so were resurrections, and just as he finished, so did Emerald. The spell were cast, and Sapphire were soon to rise from the blood bath, whole and alive once more, as she had once been before all of this. Just minus the illness that had infested her.

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

 

@Lucid_Nightlight

The mixture did stir the statue, and form another minor crack. Though as Rose and Omen attacked right after, using the same principle, the cracks would engulf the statue, and let loose the thing within.

Soon she would stand there. Tall as an alicorn, with long, dark hair swaying in the wind, and her arms to the side. Wings and tails slowly started to move then, before the rest of her, as she tried to use her muscles once more. And then, her eyes opened, and they fell on Lucid. Literally, they rolled out and landed on him, before rushing right back to where they came from.

"𝐼... 𝒜𝓂 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝑒."

"Boo, bad opening line. Try again."

She turned her face and glared at Anomaly with eyes that seemed to carry a fathomless, hungry void within them, and snapped her fingers. At which point, Anomaly liquefied, and were left to dry out in the sun. Of course she'd reform from that pretty fast though, but still.

"Peh, you can do better than that. Come on me, you can do it!"

Anomaly then got pulled into the sky, with a movement of her hand, and torn asunder. After that, every piece were swallowed up by what almost looked like miniature dark holes, before the entire area she had been in, up in the air, got engulfed in intense flames. It seemed the two of them, did not get along.

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

 

@Windy Breeze 🥧

On 8/21/2020 at 2:06 AM, Windy Breeze 🥧 said:

“She has decided her own fate” it was no longer her own doppelganger speaking behind her. She'll recognize the voice as Windy's “Her reunion is not far away, stay away from Skyline, medium!”

"Never!"

Sorrow did not turn around. The apparition trying to mess with her, were not her concern at all right now. Windy were, as she were still trying to squeeze the life out of herself. And as she had no other idea what to do, Sorrow would straight up tackle her, force her to the ground, and push her hooves away from her throat, before Windy had a chance to get too far.

"You're not going to be with them if you do this, Skyline! You hear me?! You'll be stuck here, tormented and scared. Do you think your mother would want that for you?"

This might be a little cruel to bring up, but she were low on options. And having Windy potentially angry at her, for poking at something she shouldn't, rather than be caught in the grips of this depression, were a better outcome.

"They're gone, and they're not coming back. But you're still alive. You still have a chance at a life, just like she would have wanted for you. Don't you see? No mother wants to see their child on the other side this soon. If you do this to yourself, all you do is making her sad. Her, and everypony else who knows you!"

Shouting in her face was not something Sorrow wanted to do, but it were this, or physically trying to knock the mare out, and she were not a fighter. She were somewhat of a medium, which rarely needed physical combat, as part of the process. Go figure that today, she were being told she were wrong on that account, several times over.

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

 

@EQ_Theta

The final sensor going off, had belonged to Omen. Lin had managed to get a good shot in on the ki'nathar, who kept pushing her shooter a hoofful of times more, before she stopped trying, and wandered over to Lin. Almost fully up in her face.

"I think I liked this. Can we try this again, another time?"

Meanwhile, behind them, Rosa would tug his shooter away, and reach a hoof over to Sen, with a big smile, still plastered on his face.

"Nicely done Sen, it seems as if I underestimated you. If we get a chance another time, perhaps I should stop going easy on you?"

It were a bit of a tease from him, as he helped the longma up, after a fun fifteen minutes. This were honestly, the most fun he had in... Ever, really. It were going to be a memory he'd cherish in the long years ahead, and a rematch would give him something to look forward to, on the other side of it.

Once they eventually made their way back to the main room, they'd be met by Tomb and Bloom. Both of whom seemed like they were rather impressed with what they saw.

"Ah, you're back! And I can see you had a ton of fun. I have to admit, I had to turn on the spheres whilst you were going at it. I don't normally do that, but you're such an unusual group, and the points just started to rake up, so I simply had to. I must admit, you all did impressively well. Come here, and have a look at the scoreboard."

Bloom would more or less drag them over to the wall, where they could see their names written, with a number of lines drawn next to them, assigning points to each of them. From the top, it were taken alphabetically, though it were simple enough to see all of their scores on the board together, with no big issue.

Lin: 16

Omen: 8

Rosa: 10

Sen: 10

"Congratulations on the victory, to Lin!"

She'd go over, and raise Lin's front arm up over her head, to signal the victory to the others.

"You managed to get a lot of cheap shots in, while the others were fighting there, Lin. Might not have seemed like a lot, but it got you the victory.

Fairly impressed with how you all did honestly. Lin were a great opportunist, Rosa snuck around like he were some sort of assassin, Sen took advantage of the terrain and did well at trying ambushes, and Omen... Sheez, I dunno how to describe that. It were like you knew where they were, all along."

"I can smell them."

"Regular blood hound this one? Hah! I love it. Anyway, you all did really great, and I honestly think you could all have a good chance of making it big, if you train up a bit, and come join up some of the others going in, so you can really rake up some points."

"Maybe they will, but Bloom, you need to prepare your gear for others, and our guests have to prepare to go see the festival. It's almost time for it to start."

Tomb interjected, before things got too far, at which point, Tomb let go of Lin, and shook her head a little.

"Yes, of course. Sorry, I got caught up in the action. If there's any questions, just let me know, and otherwise, do go and enjoy the festival. And of course-"

She'd press a button, and suddenly, the scoreboard seemed to shed it's exterior. Rather, it were just getting magically copied, unto a piece of paper. Folks loved their trophies after all, and this contraption had been insanely inexpensive. Nearly a steal, really. How could she not have it added?

"- Proof of your cunning. Well done to you all."

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

On 8/22/2020 at 8:41 AM, Catpone Cerberus said:

Ruby nodded "Early enough to feed myself, I'm not huge fan of fish but food is food." it was mostly the smell she didn't like, but the taste was also rather boring. "Didn't want to wake you up and get hit with a lighting bolt."

"I'm not morning cranky, unless someone tried something. Like attempting to tie me up, or attack me. Those who does that, get what they deserve."

Both examples of things that had happened, by idiots who thought they could get away with it. There were also those who dared eachother to wake her up with a loud noise when she were a whelp, to see what would happen, but those were really just puppy stuff. No one had ever gotten seriously hurt from that, as her magic were not as strong then, though some cold snouts were well documented.

Leviathan yawned again, as she witnessed brother and sister speak once more, in their odd tongue. She still understood none of it, but the tone seemed to be a little friendlier now, so there were some progress. Even if the little one still looked as if he were certain that bad things were going to happen to him. *sigh* It were going to be a long time until that changed, she imagined.

On 8/22/2020 at 8:41 AM, Catpone Cerberus said:

"You should probably get him something to eat, he is staring to realize I have no interest in hurting him, but I don't think he'll accept food from someone who looks like our mother quite yet, I wouldn't." 

"I'm getting hungry anyway. I'll be back soon with something."

It would take fifteen minutes, but she would return with a fair bit dragging after her. That being a boar, a bear, and in her yap, a huge salmon. The others were dragged along with a rope for the bear, and the boar being dragged along with the use of her tail. It were a bit slow and complicated, and she had to chase off a few predators, who eyed an opportunity, but she got here.

As per usual though, all the prey's heads were gone, except for the fish. Likely buried, like the other ones she had handled on previous occasions.

Of course, she still had some rations in her bag she could make use of, but this seemed a time for fresh prey. For all of them, which were also why she dropped off the bear, just as she passed Ruby. The fish then got slung up on her back, so she had the option to speak again.

"I considered eating it, but it has your name on it."

Literally. It were carved into the side of it. Suspiciously fresh looking cuts too, seemingly from a claw of some kind... Very mysterious.

She just kept on moving though, and would get as close to the small one as she could, before he'd start to try and get away from her. If he let her get within a meter, she'd stop by them, and drag the boar over to present to him, with a big smile on her face. It wasn't a massive boar by any means, but it were a fair size, and should do well for one like him.

"There you go. Fresh and tasty."

She'd take some steps back then, and withdraw the fish, so that she could take a large chomp out of it, whilst looking between the siblings.

"I'm half water dragon. Fish is a pretty big part of my diet, and there's a great stream further inside the forest. Guessing you went there too, judging by the tracks. Seems like someone figured you might be back later too, since I found this rope there, set up in a trap. Pretty amateur work really. Seen better work from a sleepy minotaur calf."

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

"Huh, that's what the forepony said too. Not the cute part I mean, the wall one. Fah'lina already uses cuteness and trickery means to get snacks, but she doesn't like that she can't see, hear, smell, or even move right, until her furs lays down again. I don't blame her really, but it had to be done, or we'd never get her clean.

Anyway, the forepony is a real tough mare, who came from somewhere else. Didn't really say where, but it looked like it must've been a tough place, since she had all sorts of scars, and acted like they were kind of marks of honor, when I tried examining her."

She had also said a rather crude comment, before ordering Ziggy to get out of the construction area, and back to the hospital, where there were a need for her. A little rude, but she had been right, technically. Been a lot to do at the hospital, and they had been thankful for the extra set of hooves there.

"She were talking about the town needing better defenses too. Like walls around town, stronger buildings, storm cellars, emergency bunkers, paths leading out of town, and all sorts of things. Like guards too, which... Yeah, that is kinda weird, right? There's a princess here, but not really any guards. Only Stargazer, and he's still part of the Night Guard. You'd think Princess Twilight would get her own guard up.

Last looked like she wanted to stick along, so maybe she'll start something up? She's really, Really intense, but I can tell she means well. And you both agree that the town needs to be better protected. That's a funny coincidence! Hehe, Though that's the only thing you have in common. I tried hugging her, and got tackled to the ground. It was really impressive actually. Barely anypony can get me, if I go at them full speed. Must be some sort of instinct."

She had gotten to the word *coincidence* before wandering over, and giving Nada a big hug again, whilst talking on about somepony who shared the siren's question about Ponyville's lacking defenses. Maybe the two would get along, if they talked over stuff like that? If they ever met that were. hard to say, right?

Right after she stopped though, there were a knock at the door. Repeated ones, with a rather large thud. Must be something blunt pushed against the door repeatedly, instead of a hoof. Maybe a bag with bricks?

Waiting until Nada were out of sight, Ziggy would go over and creak it open, so that nopony could ever tell, that she were there. Even if she were above water.

"Hello, can I help you?"

"F-rooog. Frog. You have any?"

The one talking sounded female, and a bit on the hyper side. Confused too it appeared, judging from the first word.

"Thankfully not in here."

"*sniff sniff* Nnnnno. No frog. Go hunt frog."

Ziggy would come back after closing and locking the door again, and go over the the lake, looking a bit baffled.

"...Okay, even for Ponyville, that was kinda weird."

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

On 8/22/2020 at 8:41 AM, Catpone Cerberus said:

"What brings a dryad on my door? Is there something we can help you and your undead travel companion with?"

"You know what a dryad is?"

Lyriel were utterly surprised by this. In the three weeks she had been here in the forest, there had not been a single soul, who knew what she were. Except for Nerzhei, but she hardly counted, considering that she also came fromt he same area of Dragon land, that Lyriel had come from. Beyond her, the closest anyone had gotten to guess what she were, were the ones guessing her to be some sort of Evergrown, which she in turn, did not know what were in the beginning.

To actually run into some who knew what she were, astounded her, and honestly threw her off balance for a few seconds, before she managed to remember why she were here in the first place.

"Ah, right. My apologies. I'm not used to others knowing what a dryad is, in these parts.

As for why we are here... I know this may sound strange, but a very odd creature, seemingly mixed from many different beings, with a pumpkin head, have lured us into a treasure hunt of sorts. One of her tasks have been to recover something called ectoplasm? I cannot say I know what that is, but her game is... It is taxing, so we are trying to finish it, as fast as we can. Scarecrow believed there may be some here, related to a haunted habitat of some kind?"

On 8/22/2020 at 8:41 AM, Catpone Cerberus said:

Meanwhile the 'bird' would have a interesting thing to fitness, as during Lyriel's interaction with the ponies, the fog started going inside Scarecrow and soon a head of a light blue mare came through his chest with only effect to his chest being a layer of ice getting formed. The mare rose her head enough to face Scarecrow and started taunting him, but after he seemingly ignored her she started complaining how boring he was. Her voice had a echo and didn't seem to have a obvious source, just coming from the general direction of the mare.

As soon as the trickster noticed the mare'a head going through his chest, it would swoop down, and try to peck at her, in an attempt to see what she were made of. To no avail, of course, as she were obviously not solid. Though it's *beak* might get frosted from the attempt.

As that didn't work, it would instead then observe the two interact. Or rather, not interact, as Scarecrow seemingly did not wish to give her the time of day. Now, it personally figured this might be a really bad idea, since if the ghost were not distracted, it might do something. So it would instead, attempt to make contact.

Getting to the ground, it would scribble into the dirt/icy surface *Who are you?*

If the spirit wanted attention, it would try and give it to her. They would see where things lead on from there.

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

 

@Widdershins

On 8/23/2020 at 2:06 PM, Widdershins said:

"The Conspiracy? Upon mineself, I know not thy terms, and I t'would task thee of elaboration. But I fear I must expound upon such at later date, If thou shalt excuse me, Madam."

"They're everywhere!"

Her voice would come from below the counter, and a hoof would rise up, and wriggle in the air for a few seconds before going back down there again. Seemed like the crazy train had taken off the station, and had no intention of slowing down yet. Maybe once things had sorted itself a little more, it could be discussed. As well as the tea that Monolith were owned. Poor stallion should not be denied his treat forever.

On 8/23/2020 at 2:06 PM, Widdershins said:

difference.

 "Dearest Proprietor of this fine establishment, there is but explanation for such matters as you derive. One's capacity to consume is hinged upon one's physical limits to ingest what is supplied. Given capacity, all is achieved. It is stated, in late history, that even imbibed substances deigned caustic, toxic or poisonous are able to be safely consumed with practice of readying one's body for its effects. To use thy Layman's Terms... or as mine brother here twould put it:

 'Anything is edible if you, Like, try hard enough.'

I assure you, unhinging a jaw is something anypony twould be capable of, given enough practice.

It were true that yes, any pony could unhinge their jaw. The fact were just that most did not have the ability to y'know, hinge it back on afterwards. That were not a skill that many beings were able to go in on. As such, it did not convince anypony here, that Monolith and Flit were not something special.

Also, it were not helped by Flit eating the frog the way that he did, with it sliding down like you'd see with a snake. Something which ponies most certainly did not do. It were undeniably impressive though. Everyone here would think so. Well, almost everyone. The frog itself were most certainly Not thrilled about the whole thing, but well... It had tried to eat somepony. Who cared about what it felt? Better chance they focused on how happy Flit seemed to be. Though this would likely not fill him. His gluttony seemed so far, to hold no bounds.

On 8/23/2020 at 2:06 PM, Widdershins said:

With that, Monolith, not waiting to heed any objections, would stride to the door of the cafe in his quiet, paced way as if he was being wheeled out on a board and opened the door by means of bopping his face into it and making no effort to actually push the door, just walking straight into it. As Monolith would say: using one's hooves to operate things was illogical; they were walking appendages, clearly.

 Once outside, he would approach the nearest frog-man-monster to ask it about its intentions and feelings. One tended to have a fatally bad level of common sense when one believed all reality was defined by the Judicial System. Surely every situation could be worked out if you just thought about it really hard.

And neither did Monolith's stupidity, seemingly, as he just straight out wandered outside, and up to one of the frog creatures, that had just caught a pony, and were opening its maw to prepare for a good bite. It seemed some of them were reaching maturity, judging by its size, though they were still stupid. Soon as it were approached by Monolith, and talked to, it would let go of the pony - who ran away as fast as his legs could take him - and charged right at Monolith. Its attempt seemed to be to eat his leg, without even a *pardon* to accomplish it. How rude.

"Awh, what the- Princess! I warned you not to hunt ponies!"

Another one were out there,m amidst the chaos. That being Anomaly, who after depositing the pony at the hospital, had been on her way back to the forest, once this whole thing got in sight for her. Seemed like her newest pet had refused to listen, and actively gone further than she were supposed to.

"Okay, okay, I can fix this. Just have to get the ponies away from the spawn, then deal with them."

She'd snap her tail, and every Pony who had a tag in one of the frogs would be teleported away elsewhere in, or just outside of town. Out of the grasp of the frog creatures. A measure in it having to be only ponies, were to avoid those like herself from getting thrown away too, though the varied hydra parts were probably unaffected too. Maybe.

This would help to get the ones who had been close to being in serious trouble out of bounds, but it would only be a short time solution. She'd need something else, and since Anomaly couldn't outright destroy, she instead went to the next logical step: Introduce a predator a step above the frogs, to deal with them.

One snap, and a shark were suddenly floating in the air, confusingly snapping around in the free air.

Snapping a few more times, Anomaly would set forth on rapidly forcing it to evolve extensively, to be able to better handle the area it were in, and soon enough, she'd let the result hit the ground. A being who would shake her head, and look around, confused at everything that had just happened to it in the ten seconds since it had swum in the ocean, hundreds of miles away from here.

She would stand up, and waddle her hooves around, unsure of stuff, but seemingly been given the baseline instincts to know how to move.

Anomaly would then grab a frog creature and a pony, pull both in front of her, and point with extra limbs coming from... Somewhere, towards first the pony, then the frog monster.

"This one is not food. Frog is food. Food is good, right?"

She'd sniff, the pony, and boop her snoot harmlessly against him. Then she'd get to the frog, and would instead lick herself around her mouth after focusing on the frog's scent.

"F... Foo... D. Food?"

"Yeah, you get it. Here, go get 'em girl."

the pony would be let go, and the female would go to town on the frog.

(Grizzly scene of a frog monster being devoured, removed due to budget cuts. For closest option, imagine a bag of tomatoes run through a wood chipper)

After she were done with that, she'd start to go on the hunt for the other frog creatures. Maw wide open, and chomping the air whilst buzzing after them, as if she were a ponified pacman shark.

"Okay, that should sort itself out then. Now were did Princess go?"

Anomaly would run off towards the town center, looking for her failed experiment. Best deal with this, before she'd get all sorts of ponies after her, trying to turn her to stone or something. She were trying to have fun, not become the next Discord of old!

As for Monolith- If he were still there, Alonsus would come rushing out to him, and ask him something promptly. Even if the frog that had tried to assault him, were still on his being.

"Monolith! Alonsus got worried of your well being. Have your endeavor born fruit?"

If Monolith were not there, Alonsus would rush out and start trying to find him. The others had a safe haven to be in, and Flit to keep them safe. And yes, whilst Monolith could likely keep himself safe too, Alonsus did not want to loose his book buddy. It had been so long since he had anypony to speak with, when it came to literature. Hydra or no hydra, that were not just something to throw away, in his opinion. Even if he were somewhat.. Brazen, in his approach to things.

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Blitz Boom

"Hey siri, play Megalovania!"

Playing Megalovania.

"Yeah! Fight music stolen from a human game in an attempt to look cool!"

Lucid launched several cactuses at the draconequus. Novia would eat popcorn and Pringle would just eat a strawberry, ignoring the fight.

[Windy Breeze 15,189]

@Blitz Boom

Windy heard every word Sorrow had said, including about her mother, who wants her to have a better future. She thought of why she was letting a duplicate of her choking her using her own hooves? Does her mother want her to die as a young adult? Will her family ever want her to die young just like her brother and sisters?

She began to struggle with the hooves that are currently strangling her. No, a mother doesn't want their daughter to die, let alone commit suicide. A stream of tears slide down her cheeks as she attempt to move her fore-hooves from her neck while staring at Sorrow's face

“Do not resist, Skyline” her doppelganger told her “She is just waiting for you.... They are waiting for you”

It has been long since somepony call her by the name her biological mother gave her. She missed her mother, and is desperate to find her at the coast where a town once stood. But she wasn't that desperate to claim her own life.

 

 

[Sekel 692]

@Blitz Boom

KARMIC FATE & ATZY

KARMIC

"Oh," Karmic said as she looked down at her satchel. She hadn't reaised Enzo had put a symbol on it but looking back, it's probably for the better. "I guess I kind of am? I'm travelling with him but we decided to get approval to actually be in the city and not get pursued by guards. I've actually got a certificate saying as such in here and Enzo and my sister, who is with him, have identical ones," she told the guard pony. Her ears flicked a bit and for a couple of seconds, thought on what she had just called Atzy. She supposed it's apt, considering what they've both been through, but to do it so quickly? It's strange to think of but it's also a comforting thought. She nudged open the saddle bag with her muzzle before pulling out the scroll of parchment with her teeth and showed it to the night guard. "Beer ib id."

ATZY

"I'm sure there's a reason I don't have them. Maybe I was simply born a parasitic goop thing but ... well. Maybe forcing it is a bad thing like you said," Atzy sighed softly. She stepped forward before sitting back down beside Enzo, looking over the banister and down to the gardens below. Her expression was unreadable and she liked to keep it that way for as long as possible. After having shared Karmic's head for a bit, she'd rather keep her thoughts to herself and not have anyone read them "Although ... I don't think I was. Karmic did see a young changeling nymph that I found very familiar in those mines. The one we followed through the different tunnels."

@Blitz Boom

TWILIGHT SPARKLE

"We're out of the woods," Twilight huffed, not caring at the moment how Last and the manetid were bickering. She breathed in deeply and continued to wheeze for a bit but she looked from the forest and to the grassy fields. "Do ..." she trailed off. She noticed Cherish was gone and hoped that meant she had retreated to the stick that lay in her saddlebags, and judging by the ectoplasm that's been left behind, she most likely did. "Cherish is resting ... as much as a ghost can, I guess. But, do any of you know what this area is?" Twilight asked them both. She blinked a couple times when she looked between the creatures and narrowed her eyes slightly at a shimmer over the entire area in front of them. She recognised the shimmer as an illusion and hoping to be right, Twilight swallowed and lit her horn to cast a rudimentary illusion lifting spell to see if it was in fact an illusion.

@Blitz Boom

AURORA LIGHTS

"I don't think you know what courting is," Aurora sighed at him before flying down to the ground. She laid down beside the pair and let Happy off of her back. "From what I can tell, Happy here has had something he calls 'happy juice'. Or, from the smell of it, alcohol. Griffins in the village back home tend to drink a lot," she told Flaxx and Lulu. "Where have you two come from anyway? And you in particular," she unfurled a wing and pointed it at Flaxx out of curiosity and looked excited at meeting the diamond dog. "I have never seen something like you before, its kinda cool!"

@Blitz Boom, @Widdershins

DAZZLE GLEAM

"This dragon scholar sounds like someone I can actually talk with," Dazzle admitted, looking between both Stare and Scarcity before looking over to Shortstack. She didn't know why she kept getting drawn to him or complaining about something she obviously couldn't control but here it goes. "Despite what I've been yelling at Shorty he doesn't seem to answer. Or react."

@Widdershins

DAWN STREAK

"You sounded pretty sketchy just then. I like it," Dawn grinned at him before remembering how he said his explanation of being a troll under a bridge. "I thought you would have gotten that reference however, what was it you actually stopped them for? Gold? Fame? Riddles?" Dawn the gasped dramatically and leaned towards him from across the table. "Was it for gem cupcakes!?"

Edited August 25, 2020 by Sekel

[EQ_Theta 457]

@Blitz Boom

Lin was enjoying herself too much that she hadn’t noticed the game was over until her shooter stopped working. That and Omen walking up to her, though her casually walking and talking signaled something was different, even with Bloom already telling them the game was over.

“Of course,” the longma joyfully replied. “The next opportunity we get to go to a carnival, we’ll play again. Come, let’s see how we did!”

As for Sen, he was feeling much better now, his head still in the game though his body was already starting to feel the burn from the exhausting yet fun experience.

“You were holding back, Rosa? I thought you were giving it your best. Oh well, we’ll get in another game some time in the future!”

The siblings regrouped with each other and with everyone else, seeing Bloom and Tomb waiting for them outside the play area. Sen and Lin turned their attention to the scoreboard with an unusual turn of events recorded for all to see. And it was a much different story for Lin, who took a closer look, bewildered at the unexpected victory as Bloom raise one of her forelegs up high. 

Sen took this moment to clap and congratulate his sister, though that tie between his score and Rosa’s did not escape him. He took this moment to lightly nudge the thestral on the side.

“Looks like we really need a rematch now, and it’s not just because Lin won.”

The siblings returned their gear and dusted themselves off before heading out to rejoin Tomb to see the rest of the fair. Lin wouldn’t forget this experience and the piece of paper that reflected her victory; Sen is just as happy about the experience, and looked forward to the rest of the carnival.

“Thank you for accommodating us, Bloom,” the longma siblings bowed. “We really enjoyed our time here and we’re looking forward to coming back!”

[Catpone Cerberus 23,589]

@Widdershins

"I mean, why not, I once saw a floating golden bell that made you hear bell-noises only when you didn't ring it." Cerberus said "I don't know if there was map for it but it certainly was a floating magical golden item that didn't do anything, in fact, it stopped doing when you tried to use it." "I wonder what happened to it, I've never seen it since, whenever it was I saw it." 
----------------------

@Blitz Boom
Ruby just blinked at Leviathan after the bear was left in front of her, there obviously wasn't any doubt on what Leviathan was trying to do, and though she didn't show it, Ruby appreciated it.

The younger sibling was lot more visibly grateful, he was still wary of course, but he let Leviathan close, keeping his eye on her movements just in case, but when the boar was presented to him and left for him, one could see the joy on his face, which could be either a happy or a sad sign depending on what one was thinking. He gave a one more careful look towards Ruby, but she turned her head away to indicate that she didn't care, so he dug in, and his way of dealing with his food was very much the same as Ruby's, showing their similar upbringing.

Ruby didn't touch her bear yet, not because she didn't want to, but because of what Leviathan said about the rope, sure it could be that poacher that the guards were looking for, but what if it wasn't? Ruby was familiar with many strategies, and making your opponent underestimate you was one of them. She closed her eyes and focused her senses, not her hearing nor her smelling, but her extra sense, looking for any metals or anything else that indicated a presence of something that wasn't a wild animal. She would do this for some minutes if nothing came up, and would start eating if it seemed safe, but she never let down her guard, giving extra attention to her sense the whole time in case someone was trying to sneak on them.

If there was something to be concerned about, she would act like she didn't notice anything until she could either attack or would need to defend and/or warn the two smaller dragons. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To her usual manner, Nada just listened, she couldn't really comment on the pony Ziggy was talking talking about, since to her the whole thing in short was 'one specific pony you've never met agrees with you' with some details that weren't necessarily any of her business. One the guard thing though, she agreed, it was very odd that a princess didn't have any guards, but she couldn't really say anything regarding it since they were interrupted by the knock. 

Depending on how Agni reacted to the knocks, Nada would submerge either right away or after warning Agni so he wouldn't get wet, but she would submerge just under the surface like she had done previously and listen. She would poke her head back out when she heard the door close "Was it a pony or something else?" not that it really changed anything, she just felt that it was important information "Though why would anyone think they would find frogs inside a house?" this may have not been the detail that Ziggy had found weird, but it was the first question that came to mind for Nada.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If it has been spotted in Equestria, I'll know about it." The stallion stated "And I have seen you before." he kept a thoughtful pause "So you have became a part of draconequus's game, that's unfortunate, though if it's any consolation, they rarely kill anypony on purpose." he looked at his sister who then nodded and moved out of a view for a moment into the residence "I can give you what you need, but not for free, your friend, Scarecrow..." there was flash of amusement on his expression when he said the name "...if i can get few pieces of him for study, I will give you the ectoplasm." the mare returned levitating two jars with what looked like fog in them "Will you get them for me or do you need Bellflower to do it? I understand your kind isn't big on taking pieces of creatures." "We of course will ask his permission too but knowing undead, I don't believe he cares." the mare cut in with her friendlier tone "And don't worry, it will be just tiny pieces." 

Meanwhile outside, the mare seemed amused when the 'bird' tried to peck her, but didn't pay too much mind to it, until it wrote, which cause her to look at it curiously while casually walking out of Scarecrow, head upside down from looking at Scarecrow, though she would twist it right way up pretty quickly. Scarcrow moved his limbs a bit after the ghost left him, causing a sound of ice cracking being heard. "So this thing can write? Interesting." the mare would say with her echoing voice, trying to poke the 'bird', if it let her, she would feel oddly solid when she did it "Who am I? I'm a victim of wrongdoing, following the guilty until end of their bloodline." "A bored soul, stuck in existence..." she twisted her head towards Scarecrow "...I'm sure you can relate." she then turned her head back towards the 'bird', her movements would probably have been lot more freaky looking if she actually had a body. "a mare, who has been long forgotten, even by her herself." 

[Blitz Boom 4,620]

@Lucid_Nightlight

The draconequus spread her moth wing to the side, and a swarm of locusts would go out, and engulf the cacti, devouring them whole before they got anywhere near her.

"𝒟𝑒𝓋𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒽𝒾𝓂."

At her order, the locusts would then descend upon Lucid, which likely would do just about noth-

"𝒜𝓇𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊... 𝒪𝓅𝓅𝑜𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝑒?"

*gulp* ...The battle went on smoothly for the ancient draconequii, and she likely had a good chance of winning this, as well as any other fight she got into. Also her loci were very intimidating.

"𝐵𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇."

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

 

@Windy Breeze 🥧

It looked like Windy were struggling against this now, but Sorrow didn't seem to get through entirely. The influence from the illusion were still too strong. It's voice more powerful than hers.

But... Maybe not more than theirs.

Taking her hooves away, Sorrow would quickly lift Legion from her neck, and with a concerned gaze, put it around Windy's neck. It might be her own voice were not enough to help her, but she had been able to hear them before, and they were more numerous than this one illusion were.

"Child! Ignore their voice. It is but a wound, running with sickness, not a thinking creature. Focus on our voices, and do not let yourself be controlled by vengeance. Or you will be consumed by it, and forever kept away from those you miss.

Have you forgotten, that we are to go and see them soon? The town where it all happened, where spirits might linger? You won't hear her, if you perish here. Won't find closure. Resist them, child! Hear us, and draw strength from us."

It was a figure of speech, but Legion could still do something, if this went on. The *scream* it had made use of earlier. It were down to two now, but if Windy were made to hold them around her neck, it meant that Sorrow wished for them to do what they could, to try and save her. If they must, they would do this too, to fulfill that task.

As for Sorrow, she tried something else, unless stopped: She'd try and withdraw the syrup she had kept in storage from earlier, and if she got it, would squirt it into Windy's face. Also throw a little something behind her, in case it might mess with the apparition. But Windy first. She had to try and save her here.

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

 

@Sekel

On 8/25/2020 at 9:03 AM, Sekel said:

"Beer ib id."

The thestral seemed to almost pale, as she heard more and more, up to and including the papers being showed.

As she read through them though, she let out a big sigh of relief. You could actually almost see a ton of weight go off her shoulders as she were shown the actual writing.

"Dear Luna, I was fearing this was some sort of war declaration. The things you hear about sphinx are... It's not nice, to put it mildly.

This is almost as hard to believe though. A sphinx, getting amnesty in Equestria? This is pretty historic. And terrifying, of course. But i understand the need to see the generals now.

Sadly though, General Screecher is currently out of town. I can't say when she's back. It were some sort of meeting she had to go to. And general Iron is currently occupied too...

But acting general Dew should still be around. You could speak with him, right? Just uhm... Follow me please."

The thestral would look around, then wave Karmic down a path to the right, which would soon enough start to descend down a little. Down towards the generals meeting room, though there were still a little travel to get through.

"So... You and your sister... How did you get to end up travelling around with a sphinx, of all things? I don't mean any disrespect, but the way I hear about them, they don't keep ponies as friends. Just slaves."

On 8/25/2020 at 9:03 AM, Sekel said:

"Although ... I don't think I was. Karmic did see a young changeling nymph that I found very familiar in those mines. The one we followed through the different tunnels."

"Remember the words that Dia'thiz said? Some of you ran away back in the days, when the two fused together. I feel somewhat certain that the idea that you were among those, rings true, and that whatever happened to you, came around from one of three reasons. Involuntary experimentation, interactions with a cursed object, or something self-inflicted, in a desperate attempt for survival.

Whatever the case, the memories are unlikely to be pleasant. Enlightening perhaps, but likely harrowing."

A curious foal came flying up from beneath, faster than the teacher or parent following her, could grab hold of her, and stopped up a few meters from Enzo. At which point, she looked at him with big, curious eyes, behind the glasses.

He'd nod to her, yet not say a word, as the teacher or parent came up and grabbed hold of her, before hastily dragging her down to the ground again. Away from *the dangerous creature*, as he well heard he were called, just in less fond words. His ears were not merely there for show.

"Curiosity can lead many places, Atzy. At times, merely in circles, or to dead ends, but there are things to learn by the bold. The question will always remain though: Will you be prepared for what you learn? This, I cannot answer you, as it is something that we each much ponder for ourselves. Unless you decide to live by your wants in the here and now, and seek to sate your minds hunger, without thinking of what might happen next. Like the foal did, when she ignored those below, and came up to seek answers to what her eyes fell upon.

I wish I could tell you what path to thread, Atzy, but I am not infallible. Like any mortal being, sphinx are flawed creations, and I do not possess the sight, as some of our kin does. The only answers I can offer, are those from my own, narrowed perspective, and there are too much I cannot see, for me to claim that my words are the final truth. I may well be wrong, which is why I do not attempt to offer a guaranteed solution. Only my pinionopinion. The decision in the end, will always lie with yourself.

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

 

@Sekel

"Krrrrxxt. Forbidden land. Only the queen went here. Now no one does."

"Uncharted territory for us. I don't know what's supposed to be here."

Removing the shimmer would turn out to not really be possible, for Twilight. She could however, cause it to dampen, and allow them access through, before it would remake itself behind them. Old, powerful magic at play here. Or perhaps there were someone - or something - actively reapplying it? It were hard to say right now. Though in either case, they'd be able to see past the shimmer, and behold the large, imposing tower in front of them. There didn't seem to be any light going on in said tower, nor were there any animals or horrors in the area. It were mostly abandoned.

Except, a mare stood over at the entrance, and looked up at the tower. Someone who made the manetid screech, before she staggered backwards, spear held high, as the pony turned around to face them.

The elderly mare's mane were pale-blue, with a single, wide streak of white going from her forehead, to around the center of her back, a little right of the center of her mane, where it ended up tied into a skull that laid on her back. Seemingly a large, avian one, that glowed with a slight, pale flame.

The end of her mane were tied up with skulls of other creatures too, that hung from the side of her head, yet these streaks only went to around her neck in length, and were of smaller sizes than the larger one on her back. They were seemingly of critters of varying kinds, from rat, to eagle, and so forth. And on her forehead, placed in a way that kept other hair from wandering in and blocking her view, were a wide one. From the looks of it, a drake skull, to be exact, with a hole in it for the mare's horn to pass unhindered through. An unusual decoration to say the least, but the mare were in general, unusual.

From head to hooves, she were wearing a darkened black and purple robe, with a large hood hanging down her back. It were not loose though, like you'd see on a cultist, but rather form firm and clearly not just bought from any regular shop. This were custom tailored. And if the form didn't show that enough, the fact that on the right side, it carried a saddlebag that were adorned with a symbol that looked like a scythe with a half-burned, lit candle balancing on top of the blade, should tell you. This were not something regular ponies wandered with. And neither were the scythe that laid folded down her left side.

She looked as if she meant business. From the way she dressed, to the steely gaze in her clear, silvery eyes, this were a mare you did not trifle with, and even Last admitted to feeling unnerved at seeing this one, and withdrew her weapon.

"Halt, in the name of Princess Twilight! Who are you?"

"Madamme Macabre."

Her voice were direct, and to the point, though she barely looked at Last, after having given her answer. Nor at the manetid. No, her focus were on the princess, though her gaze wandered between her face, and the stick she were carrying, which contained Cherish.

"I see. You look for Marepunzel, I take it?"

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

 

@Sekel

On 8/25/2020 at 9:03 AM, Sekel said:

"I don't think you know what courting is,"

"In my defense: I usually get kicked in the face. This here's going smoothly in comparison."

"I'd prefer not to dirty my hooves for that little."

Lulu would stretch herself in her seating position on Flaxxy's back, and give a pondering gaze towards Happy. It were a tricky situation she were in now, with questions being risen, that she had not thought were needed, yet she had to thread carefully. The young queen seemed to guard him, so a wrong movement or question out of order, and she might gain nothing, in the way of information.

"Bah. Dirt under claws is good. Means you did things."

Flaxxy raised a paw, showing that she indeed had dirt under her claws, with a big, toothy grin going over her face. She'd try and stay silent for a little after this, as there were questions coming, and she knew Lulu liked answering them the most. She liked talking, but her squishy bug friend did it more, and better too. Best to let her talk before.

That was the plan, anyway, until at the end of what were said, Aurora would ask something of Flaxxy directly, which would make her start talking before Lulu had a chance to interject.

On 8/25/2020 at 9:03 AM, Sekel said:

"I have never seen something like you before, its kinda cool!"

"You never see diamond dog before? You have now. Flaxxy is one. Big and strong. Almost made alpha, before pack tell her to go."

"You did hammer the pack leader through a wall."

"Nono. Two wall. I pick him up, then drag out, and throw through wall again. That is two."

Flaxxy helt up two digits on her right paw, indicating the number she claimed.

"Is own fault. Flaxxy too young for puppies, he no listen. Diamond dog ways veeery direct."

"As she said, they are very direct creatures. As for what a diamond dog is, they are a canine race, mostly eating diamond and meat. You usually find them smaller than Flaxxy are, but she were a fortunate pup. Sought after even, as their kind likes strong mates, to get better puppies. Sometimes, there is insinuated to not be much choice in the matter, but it varies from pack to pack. Especially with the ones who are lead by a female."

"Someday, Flaxxy make biiiig flock, with strong puppies."

Lulu patted her friend slightly on the head, which made Flaxxy let out a short, deep laugh, as they kept wandering towards the forest.

"We met on an adventure I were on, long ago. Flaxxy helped me out of a troubling situation, and in return, I helped her learn the ropes of being an adventurer. She is a kindred, free spirit, who seeks to experience the world, and more often that not, we end up wandering together, as our objectives often overlap, and we don't often go for the same things. I like chasing history, and magical items, whilst Flaxxy likes shiny things, and hitting bad guys."

"Hitting bad ones, is very good. They make fun squishy noises, and then guard ponies say nice words."

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

 

@Sekel @Widdershins

"Maybe he just doesn't know what to say to you? I mean, you didn't get along too well before, so... How about we try and communicate with him again, and speak about things he likes? He seems like family is important to him."

Stare listened in to pretty much everything going on, so she had caught on to a thing or two. Shortstack's overprotective brother role, and especially towards his tall sister, were one that really stood out to her though. Something to talk about, that'd be a bit better for the two, maybe? Worth a shot at least.

"You could also try talking to Sunny. She's very friendly, and if you become friends with her, Shortstack would probably like you more too. We can always talk about Nerzhei another time. Right now, it might not be bad if you two get along. And uhm... It could give us something to do, whilst outside hopefully gets less chaotic. I think it's safer in here."

Through the open door, she'd be able to see two of the frog monsters, now running for dear life. Something in town must have spooked them, so that were a good sign at least. Also, none of them seemed to be eating anyone. Another plus in her book.

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

 

@EQ_Theta

On 8/25/2020 at 3:39 PM, EQ_Theta said:

“You were holding back, Rosa? I thought you were giving it your best. Oh well, we’ll get in another game some time in the future!”

"I considered it unfair to release my full potential, against an untrained civilian. I underestimated you, and as such, I will act accordingly the next time. You did well tough. All of you. It was a very enjoyable time."

He wasn't lying, nor boasting... Too much. His skill were hampered some by his own volition, but also in part due to his lack of tools, nor allowance of things such as headlocks and... Other tricks. Especially the sort that required him to get creative with things he had at hoof. Though it were only fair really. It should be an even field, and if that sort were allowed, it wasn't fair in the slightest, to have that sort going on.

Though he would admit that there were a little boasting, and overconfidence. It were hard for him to let go of the mentality that if he wanted to, he could do rather demonstrably better, even in situations where it were hardly possible. Something he could *thank* an old teacher of his for.

On 8/25/2020 at 3:39 PM, EQ_Theta said:

“Looks like we really need a rematch now, and it’s not just because Lin won.”

"I want to try again another day. I think it was fun."

Omen were unsure oif the emotion, but the others had laughed a lot, and she did not want to stop doing what she did, or thought too much on it, so maybe it were fun for her too? Something to think about later, when her mind were up for it. Though for now, they had to give back the gear and say goodbye. And as a precaution, Bloom made sure to take hers off first, before she tried herself, and got entangled in something.

On 8/25/2020 at 3:39 PM, EQ_Theta said:

“Thank you for accommodating us, Bloom,” the longma siblings bowed. “We really enjoyed our time here and we’re looking forward to coming back!”

Rosa would bow too, and so would Omen, after witnessing the others do it.

Bloom stood with a big smile plastered on her face from this turn of events, clearly enjoying the words she got back from these first timers.

"happy that you all like it. make sure to come back, and don't let Tomb drag you down with her ghost stories! Make sure to come back another time."

"Time?!"

They had been outside as bloom had said this, and as the word time came up, an enlarged rabbit with glasses on came jumping over to them, holding a large watch.

"What a fate. Non time! Am I late? What a crime!"

"Oh pish, oh posh, you worry too much."

A pony with a green outfit, big buckteeth, and an enormous hat came floating by, seemingly swimming through the air, with a pot of tea swirling around him.

"Have some tea-"

"There's no time for me!"

The two would grab hold of Sen and Lin respectively, and drag them slowly up into the air, as the surroundings began to seem distorted and odd. Unless either of them struggled, in which case they'd go for Omen and Rosa instead, in that order.

As for what were going on... Some sort of illusion maybe? How else would tables be floating off the ground, and the trees start to swing?

"You must know! Please tell-"

"-oh relax, for a spell-"

"-I must hear-"

"- Ignore him, my dear! And don't worry about the -"

"- Time!"

From the treetops came a large mare's head, looking down angrily, as the two went silent for a second, before talking as one, whilst lowering the longma back to the forest floor they had been about twenty centimeters above at the time.

"But we don't know what's the time!"

The angry face went into a grin, and swirled around itself, as the surroundings began to appear normal again, as if nothing ever happened. Were it not for the rabbit, the hatter, and the large noble above, which coalesced into a pony, wearing a red dress, shoes, and whom seemed to slowly walk down on some sort of magical light.

"Then how about we all tell them?!"

Her voice betrayed her regular body, as it roared beautifully across town, and the crowd... Clapped? Seemed enthused about the whole thing? An odd reaction, as the mare came down, and the hatter, as well as the rabbit morphed into changelings. One a female, wearing a theatrical peasant's dress, and the other, a male wearing what you usually saw in productions of The Hooded Robin, and His Jolly Fellows.

When the mare were about two meters up in the air, she'd take a deep breath, and many in the crowd talked with her as she let out two words, though her melodious voice roared above all of them.

"It's showtime!"

As she descended fully to the ground, there'd just be more clapping and whistling, whilst she took bows from the varied beings, up until she hit the ground, and looked over the peculiar longma, who might not have taken well to all of this.

"What? Not a fan of the classics?"

"I think it's more that they don't know you, and weren't expecting this."

"Don't know me?! *gasp* That cannot stand!"

The mare theatrically pretended to faint, before going into a small giggle.

"Everypony, meet Queen Cheshire. I forgot to warn you that she tends to like... Audience participation."

"Especially with intriguing members of it! And you are the rowdiest group of curious creatures I've seen in a while. We were simply too tempted to include you. No hard feelings, i hope?"

Cheshire would reach a hoof forth, and give them a big, friendly smile, whilst her two changelings stood near her, to either side, giggling as they felt the adoration and enthusiasm of the crowd wash over them.

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

On 8/25/2020 at 7:27 PM, Catpone Cerberus said:

The younger sibling was lot more visibly grateful, he was still wary of course, but he let Leviathan close, keeping his eye on her movements just in case, but when the boar was presented to him and left for him, one could see the joy on his face, which could be either a happy or a sad sign depending on what one was thinking. He gave a one more careful look towards Ruby, but she turned her head away to indicate that she didn't care, so he dug in, and his way of dealing with his food was very much the same as Ruby's, showing their similar upbringing.

Feral as a mountain lion, and with about as much grace. Heh, it were rather easy to see how him and Ruby were related, when looking at that.

She weren't judging really. She tended to hold a fish and chew through it in big lumps, not with a knife and fork. It were just funny to her how intensely similar these two dealt with eating something quadruped, like this boar. Or in Ruby's case, a bear. Something which she thought were more to her size and liking. and seeing as the larger dragoness hadn't pushed it away, nor come with any snide remark, Leviathan figured that she indeed appreciated the thought. A good thing that she had take some extra time out of her day, to get this as well. Not a lot of time mind you though. had it taken like, a half hour, she would have got another boar or something, maybe.

"There you go, little guy. Eat up. We'll get you back to strength again in no time."

She'd wander backwards as she said, to give him some room to eat in. They still needed more time before she could do things like say, pat his head while he ate, she imagined. All in due time though. Maybe after a few months, they would reach that point? Depended on his degree of adaptability.

So she'd go up and eat between where he sat, and Ruby sat, to  really get into her fish. She considered to roast it briefly, but lost interest in that idea rather quickly, and just dug in.

As for Ruby, she'd find that there weren't anything to sense within the next few minutes, so she could safely eat.

...Four minutes in however, there'd be something. No sound, and not much of a smell, yet that were almost in and by itself, a hint. What suddenly stopped the general flow smell of grass and moss wafting in, and didn't make a sound? Generally not an animal. Someone had to deliberately be doing something out there, and wanted to be hidden.

A shame for whoever it were, that he or she did not take into consideration, that Ruby's variant had better senses than your average dragon. Why, she might even be able to smell a faint something wafting in eventually. A smell of a small amount of dirt, mixing into the air, as if someone were messing with the ground out there. Perhaps laying another trap? Could be that the one at the river, had been left there not so much to trap a dragon, but to make them think that the hunter were careless, and then in turn too, get careless. Not removing tracks or anything. Could be dangerous.

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

On 8/25/2020 at 7:27 PM, Catpone Cerberus said:

Depending on how Agni reacted to the knocks, Nada would submerge either right away or after warning Agni so he wouldn't get wet

Agni were starting to catch on to the fact, that Nada wanted to dive underwater, when others came around. So when the knocking had happened, and Ziggy wandered towards the door, he would fly off her head, and land on the table, before looking back. And as expected, she did hide underwater. So he were right in this, which were something to keep in mind for the future. Anything to avoid him getting soaked, were worth learning.

On 8/25/2020 at 7:27 PM, Catpone Cerberus said:

"Was it a pony or something else?" not that it really changed anything, she just felt that it was important information "Though why would anyone think they would find frogs inside a house?"

"I uh, don't really know?"

Ziggy scratched her head, and looked about as confused as she sounded like. Tough, could anypony blame her, with what she had just seen? Maybe if she explained it to Nada, it'd make sense to the siren. She were millennia old. Sure she had seen something like this, right?  If not, then at least somepony else would share, in what she were getting confused about.

"I opened the door, and this mare with thing, purple wings, and a shark tail, were booping her forehead into the door, like she were trying to ram it. Just like, really weakly. Then when I opened the door, I get a look from these reeeeally intense eyes, and a big, weird smile. I mean, she looked all innocent, and sorta crazy, but she had the teeth the match the shark tail, which is just weird. Ponies don't have any of those. Nor the wings, but other than that, she looked totally like a pony.

Anyway, then she started asking really slowly if we had any frogs in here. Sorta sounded like she wasn't sure how words worked or something. Then when I said we didn't have any, she sniffed me, then booped her nose on my chest, and walked out to the left.

I mean, this town's plenty weird alright, but usually the sorta stuff I see and hear about, isn't this close to a pony, to make me confused.

I think she were harmless though. She didn't really look like she wanted to hurt anyone, just sorta... Intense and hungry. You ever heard of something like this?"

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

On 8/25/2020 at 7:27 PM, Catpone Cerberus said:

"...if i can get few pieces of him for study, I will give you the ectoplasm." the mare returned levitating two jars with what looked like fog in them "Will you get them for me or do you need Bellflower to do it? I understand your kind isn't big on taking pieces of creatures." "We of course will ask his permission too but knowing undead, I don't believe he cares." the mare cut in with her friendlier tone "And don't worry, it will be just tiny pieces." 

"I can go and ask him, though I make no promises. This game are... Draining in many ways, and I wish for it to be over, sooner, rather than later, but I were not risen to harm creatures. So I will ask, and he will then decide if he will agree to this. If he does, chose not to, or wishes to see you himself, as to ask what you need it for, I will return with words about it soon. Though if you wish, you can accompany me right away. I will not hinder your path, if you chose to do so. Though if you remain here, I must ask that you please excuse me for a moment."

There were something off about them, wanting to have pieces of Scarecrow to study. His condition were interesting, certainly, but it just seemed strange, to want parts of him like that.

Yet the decision would ultimately be up to Scarecrow himself. It were his parts, so it were only reasonable, that he decided what happened to them, and whom had the right to toy with said parts, if he chose to surrender them. So whatever Bellflower would accompany her or not, Lily would begin to make her way back to where she had left her companions. This would certainly be an... Interesting conversation to have, she were sure.

On 8/25/2020 at 7:27 PM, Catpone Cerberus said:

"So this thing can write? Interesting." the mare would say with her echoing voice, trying to poke the 'bird', if it let her, she would feel oddly solid when she did it "Who am I? I'm a victim of wrongdoing, following the guilty until end of their bloodline." "A bored soul, stuck in existence..." she twisted her head towards Scarecrow "...I'm sure you can relate." she then turned her head back towards the 'bird', her movements would probably have been lot more freaky looking if she actually had a body. "a mare, who has been long forgotten, even by her herself." 

The trickster wouldn't stop her from touching it, though the likely frosty feeling on its beak, would make it shake its head a small bit, though it did not say or do anything really, beyond that. Instead it were listening to the ghost, hearing her answer, and pondering what it had been told. It's head tilted to the side, looking up at the spectral mare, and trying to get to a logical next step. Something it could respond with.

Eventually, it would think of something, and start scratching it into the dirt, before simply stopping that. What it had to say were long, and using a claw took a while. So instead it opened the beak wide, and let the spindly spider legs out, where they'rd start to wriggle across the dirt, making the lines that would form its response. And potentially make her more curious, as she had now both seen the natural *bird* write, and half-barf a spider, more or less.

"So the ones who live here, did something to you? Or their ancestors did? And you're stuck until they're dead? Are they really worth your time? Hiding away in the forest, doing nothing- They seem like wasted effort. Or are something going on here? He will not like if they are dangerous, when they have his dryad."

Seemed like she were talkative, so why not try and speak with her, and trying to figure out something important. Who knew? Perhaps the ghost were the friendly one - relatively speaking - and the two in here were... Necromancers, or cultists, or something else. Might be important to know.

Edited August 27, 2020 by Blitz Boom

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Blitz Boom

Lucid looked at the locusts. Really what worried him more was the music.

"Hey Siri, stop."

Sorry I do not understand.

"Stop the music."

Ok, Lucid.

The music stopped.

"Who knew a draconequus could be so serious?"

Lucid picked up his pet lizard that would grow and devour each locust.

"Ah man, my data plan is running out, what's the wifi password?"

Novia would quickly go up to the mean draconequus and bite them.

"Hey, Anomaly, is the other you allergic to iron and silver too?"

Lucid them placed a sign with many lights saying

Allergic to iron and silver, please do not use iron or silver, thanks.

[Windy Breeze 15,189]

@Blitz Boom

Windy heard Legion, speaking to her. If she would die here, she would not see her mother who is in a far away location, they would never reunite!

She slowly began to remove her hoof from her neck. It was difficult since her doppelganger is still holding her limb, but she will not give up.

“Kh...let go of me...!” she manage to utter some words.

The other doppelganger behind Sorrow glared at them, something is inside her mind and it wasn't good.

[Catpone Cerberus 23,589]

@Blitz Boom
Ruby first didn't pay attention to the smell, but then she made a connection, or more like a lack of one, fresh ground was getting dug out, but she didn't smell an animal, besides their food that is, but she could tell the difference between living and dead animals. She let out a bit of smoke to clean her nostrils so that she would get a better scent, this shouldn't be anything too concerning to Leviathan, as it was done in a casual way that didn't given any specific message. 

She still wasn't worried about any hunters, even those targeting dragons, since she saw herself to be above their skill level, but she didn't like the idea of anyone snooping around, so she decided to go check it out. Without saying a word, she took of the support she had made for her leg and leaped into the trees, moving close to the tops of the trees without a sound, heading towards the source of the smell, keeping her other senses sharp too in case there was something she hadn't noticed earlier.

Whoever was out there had also made a second mistake besides not considering Ruby's sense's, they also hadn't considered that forest may be the most natural habitat for her like it was, and being a bright red dragon in a forest meant you needed to really master the ways to not be spotted, which she had done during her time at the homelands. 

Ruby's younger brother either didn't smell anything or didn't care, as he only reacted when Ruby suddenly left, though when she did leave, there was a wary look on his face, he could sense Ruby's concern. 

----------------------------------------------
"A shark-pony with wings?" Nada asked "Can't say I have, but I know pony hybrids are a thing, so maybe it was a hybrid between a shark and a pegasus?" she put her hoof under her chin thoughtfully "Though I don't know any shark species that are sentient." she also listened the water as she spoke, just in case the shark-pony found the underwater entrance. "But she has to be connected to the monster frog somehow, otherwise this is quite the coincidence.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Bellflower did join Lyriel, though not before grabbing an empty jar with her in addition to the two with the ectoplasm, when she got outside, the stallion closed the door behind them. Bellflower then spoke, sounding slightly apologetic "Sorry about my brother, he had a strict upbringing, he's lot nicer than he lets on." "And having annoying ghost following you everywhere doesn't really help with that." They wouldn't find the trio from where Lyriel last saw them, but it wouldn't be too hard to figure out what direction they had went to, as there was a quite obvious trail of frozen plants going in that direction. 

Meanwhile...

When the spider legs came out, the mare looked surprised, but not shocked "That's new." when you have existed for 400 years, something like that wasn't as impressive as it could have been. "Ancestors, a grand-grand-grand...I have lost count, it has been a while, and the mare has nothing to do with it, she is from different family, even if she shares the blood." "I was betrayed, and killed, but it's not like I stayed here to haunt them, no, I haunt them because I stayed here, I figured it's what's keeping me here, but I don't know for sure." her voice had a weird, constant maleficent tone to it, and it seemed like she couldn't get rid of it even if she tried "And as much as I hate them, no, they're not dangerous, or at least not for the dryad, if they wanted to harm her, you wouldn't have made it this far." 

Scarecrow suddenly took a step backwards, but didn't say anything, the mare did though "Oh? You can feel her too?" "Her?" "The sister, Wild Bellflower, she's the source of the powerful presence around here, she annihilated me into nothing when we first met, if you think you cannot feel pain, you're wrong, getting turned into nothing and then coming back, it's quite excruciating experience."