open Casual stroll

[Victoria Sponge 1,014]

@Blitz Boom

Victoria chuckled, stepping back towards her friends.

"Pop's getting strict with you now, it would seem I could learn a thing or two about discipline from you."

Heather stood behind her looking around, slightly absentmindedly, it seemed she was daydreaming.

"Heather?"

She snapped back to reality and looked at Victoria with big confused eyes. Victoria rolled her eyes.

"Foxgloves?"

"Foxgloves?"

"Foxgloves."

Heather paused for a moment trying to work out what Victoria was going on about.

"Foxgloves? You... need foxgloves? S-sorry I'm find it easy to get distracted. I think it's because I... because... well I'm not entirely sure. If you need help with anything, especially personal problems, then I have no issue listening, otherwise I struggle sometimes. Guess it has something to do with my emotional state, when I'm feeling less positive I can listen more easily, but I'm happy so much of the time that's not so useful. I apologise again, I can get you a... um, what was it."

Victoria huffed and trotted to the back of the room.

"I'll get it, don't worry I saw some when we came in."

Heather sighed and stomped her foot, clearly irritated.

"I'm useless sometimes, clumsy and ignorant. Oh well, at least I'm good at smiling, that's gotta count for something."

She chuckled to herself.

"I really need to get an assistant..."

Turning to a display she began adjusting the flowers, creating a rainbow of coloured petals. At that moment the door bell jingled again and another pegasus stood in the doorway, she was mostly brown, with both her coat and mane being different shades of the colour, and she had a small paper bag in her mouth.

She looked towards Heather with a blank expression, then at the two customers, with an equally blank expression, then she trotted silently to a small stall near the door and tipped the bag's contents into a glass bowl, some tiny fudge cubes that released a fragrant odour into the shop. Heather paused to see if the mare would say anything but decided that wasn't going to happen.

"That's my sister Caramel. Don't expect much from her, despite the fact that we're twins, only born five minutes apart, we're surprisingly different ponies."

Caramel trotted over with a plate of chocolates and fudges on an outstretched wing and offered them to Pop and Toxen.

"Care to try one of my sweets, don't expect too much, they're nice but they're probably not the best."

Heather chuckled,

"Ignore her, they are the best."

She swiftly grabbed a fudge cube in her mouth and swallowed it down beaming happily as her mouth was filled with flavour.

"If you don't want one that's fine too, I won't force you to try one, plenty of other places to get chocolate round here."

It was strange how she spoke, very monotonous and without expression, her blank face matched it perfectly.

[Blitz Boom 4,426]

@EQ_Theta @Storm Shine

Filigree roared as the lot of them swooped down on her after she landed. The entity attempted to fire them away, but with the liquid causing them pain, the impact not helping much either, and the constant barrage, it was hard to focus down something. They were not whole. Not perfect yet. They couldn't just swat them off like insects.

There was some success in hitting Omen accidentally, but she wasn't part of the fight either, so it wouldn't matter too much for the current situation that she had gotten crystallized again near the electric field. Sen also almost got hit, but it was narrowly missed, and instead struck a bird flying overhead that fell down with a clang. It was good for it that it had been crystal and not glass it had been made into, or this could have ended badly.

At the pivotal moment though, nothing really mattered of that. The environmental damages that happened, the bird, even Omen wasn't important compared to getting this fight over. Beginning with a set of small teeth clutching the hardened chest of a certain parasite and it's vessel.

The reaction was not pretty. The ones that Shrimp had usually bitten into had all been immobile and not feeling it, as it was only the shell attached to them that were hurt. This time however, the *shell* were a collection of minds that felt the energy drain out of them very severely, and reacted as best it could. More blasts happened and they tried to stronghold their way out of the grips of the assorted beings that held them down,  but with the fleeting strength it went from tough to basically impossible.

All the while, Shrimp dug deeper and deeper down as more gem became inert and he could really grasp hold and suck the nutrient to him. Energy crackled on his scales, and would zap the hooves or claws of any being trying to touch him, until he were finally too full and rose his head. For a brief second, the eyes of the little creature, and the panicked being he were draining met, before he let out a large blast straight into the parasites face.

A short scream were all that came after that, before the gems literally started to pulverize on Filigree and the still stuck Rosa, leaving them both freed from the grasp after a few seconds. The son were doing well, though he felt a little stiff in it, whereas Filigree were still passed out, surrounded by gem dust, and a single gem bauble the size of an apple lying next to her.

It looked sickened, pulsating with strong colors and being near it caused whispering voices to try and lure you in with promises of untold power. Enticing for the weak of mind or those like Filigree who wanted that power for her own gain, but they should all be more vary than to touch it themselves.

Shrimp looked at it, but seemed very disinterested as he let out a burp and coiled around himself to take a nap. He had increased by a few more inches this time around again, but otherwise seemed much himself.

"That was a closer fight than I would have liked. Everypony accounted for?"

"The telekinetic pony are crystallized, but it appears to be the only one who have been impacted severely by this."

Belladonna looked around at the area surrounding them, seeing the cracks and heaps of changeling crystals that the random blasts had caused to grow here and there. Not a pretty sight, but it were a minor inconvenience, and an acceptable price to pay when you considered the alternative. This could be corrected after all.

"I would advise that we start by focusing on two tasks: Freeing your friend, securing transport of Filigree to a suitable prison, and containing what I assume to be the beast heart you talked about earlier.

I would suggest using the ropes around to secure her, and then see if there is a small container somewhere on site that could be used for this thing. I think it best that nopony touches it directly. Also, I would not be concerned with her waking up too soon. The toxins I introduced into her system seemed to have been taking their toll before, and should be in full effect now."

"You poisoned my mother?"

Rosa raised an eyebrow at the assistant, who barely dignified his question with a disinterested look.

"Concentrated nerve toxin that caused sleep in the subject. A normal dosage will last for an hour, but with three dosages, she should be out until the sun have settled. The odds of issues arising with her from this is 0,42%, in case you care for that information as well."

The whispers from the gem annoyed her while she answered the bat pony's question, as it reminded her of the lies and deceit she had gone through growing up, yet it made it easier for her to not get tempted to pick it up. She had been in the presence of false prophets and powers with chains attached before, and she had no interest in returning to that.

Rosa would start to work on the restraints for his unconscious mother right away, while Belladonna would start to look for a suitable container in their vicinity. Sen and Lin could help or hinder things as they saw fit, or simply take a breather, and relish in knowing that they had come out of this situation on top.

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@Battenberg

Pop glared at Toxen as the mare wandered in, butt he dragoness seemed to have gotten her fill of meddling with ponies for now, and just winked towards the newcomer instead. Perhaps some pity for the poor confused Heather were part of it too, though she didn't seem to wanna admit it straight off if that was the case. Draconic pride were weird like that.

"Foxglove Heather, that's what the zebra ordered, and I'm thinking she'll know best what to pick up. Gonna go help Vicky to look around, alright?"

It was weird, but Pop didn't really mind. Caramel looked to be uhm... Less fun inclined than her sister, though the mare still wished to speak with her, considering that she too apparently made candy.

"Nice to meet you Caramel, I'm Circle Pop, and I'd be happy to try what you've made. I have a candy store myself, and I love to see what others are able to do."

Wandering over, Pop took one of the cubes and started to slowly gnaw it down, savoring the flavors and trying to really get a taste for what this were like.

"It's... Chewier than the ones I make, but the flavor sticks around all the way. Gives it a really good experience to the eater throughout. Seems to be from rich tastes too, nothing stale or poorly made in this... Perhaps a few drops of honey..."

She kept half-mumbling to herself as she went over this, and finally swallowed, leaving her final vote on this hanging in the air for a few seconds as the taste began to fade from her muzzle.

"I'll agree with Heather, this is really good. It might do well with a few more sweetening ingredients, but that's just my own opinion of course. Different tastes all around, and not everypony will like everything, plus it could ruin the texture you were going for, and I can't say anything against that. I've been holding a store for seven years and I'm not as good as getting that right as you are. I'm very impressed Caramel.

Did you study under a confectioner, or are you self taught? What kind of ingredients do you use? Local, or imported? I adore local only creators, but there's just so many good imports you can get to as well."

Pop were very enthusiastic in talking about this, and wandered a little closer to Caramel, with a big grin on her face and curiosity shining off her. A strange mare she had run into here, but a talented one for sure, and she wanted to know more about her now that she had the chance. Well, unless she were the sort who didn't like to talk? it was hard to say witht hat expressionless face she had going. Best poker face she had seen in recent memory.

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@Lucid_Nightlight @Storm Shine @EQ_Theta

The more the lizard thing stared at her, the more Anomaly just stared back whilst inching closer and closer, waiting for it to do something. Would it bite her? more than likely. Would it hurt? Yep, but that was still kinda fun, and getting into the face of something small and primitive like this was bound to have some consequences. She were fine with that.

"Itsy bitsy lizard, sitting on a pony. How close can I get, before you try to snap?"

She mumbled a song that she twisted the lyrics of while getting closer and closer. Lucid, Discord and Fluttershy didn't really register to her currently, thought he last two had gone fairly quiet the last few minutes. Bit boring considering the fun yelling and magic before, but meh, she had her lizard now. Wait, Lucid's lizard she meant. (for now)

[Victoria Sponge 1,014]

@Blitz Boom

"I'm glad you appreciate my efforts, though you give more compliments than they're worth."

She passed the remnants to Heather who quickly devoured them. Caramel appeared to roll her eyes, though like her every other expression this was incredibly subtle.

Caramel winced slightly at all the questions.

"I'd prefer not to answer... family secrets. Though I'd recommend you slow down because you're going to give yourself indigestion."

Heather pushed Caramel aside to face Pop directly.

"Sorry, she can be quite a downer. Though she's very honest, so she actually gives pretty good advice. Maybe slowing down the chatter after eating will do you good."

She smiled, making light of the dark once again.

"She got her sweet tooth from our mother, Raspberry, and of course our sister Red and good old Battenberg and Vicky. Sweet making family, all except me. I'm ok at decorating cakes but I leave the baking up to this lot. I guess I take more after my father, he sells fruit, I have his talent for growing and selling plants."

"She does surprisingly well considering that we never let her use half the gardening tools, she'd probably have her eye out if we gave her a pare of shears."

Caramel butted in with some more pessimism. 

"Yes, well..."

Heather trailed off, forgetting whatever counter statement she was about to make. She paused, weighing up different topics in her head, trying to figure out how to fill the silence created by her absent mind.

"...It's taking Vicky a while with those foxgloves."

"Victoria is here? Prepare yourselves for a meltdown."

"Oh don't worry about that Cara, she's actually changed quite a lot since we last saw her, she's much happier now, but still so lost and confused."

Heather was curious to see how Victoria would react to the appearance of her other cousin, maybe her increase in positivity would rub off on Caramel.

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@Blitz Boom

"Very well." Sapphire and Iron Wing said together,  then the general looked to her, as he said the same as her.

He didn't acknowledge the coincidence for long, before turning away. "Let's just head to the throne room now." He said before urging them forward with the gesture of his hoof, two blades from his wings separating. "This is only a precaution." The blades floated to Astral's neck, and Sapphire's.

Astral looked at him nervously as she walked forward, Sapphire more calmly as she noted how far the blade was from their necks. Too far to harm them immediately, with visible lack of intent to even harm them at all, but only Sapphire noticed this, Astral had not. "Who enchanted the metal of your wings?" She noted as she looked to the feather. "I have seen it before, Warlock had the enchantment in his metal legs before."

Iron Wing paused his walking. "Well, I know some twins in the castle enchanted the metal, or at least fixed the enchantment, and even if Warlock used it before, I am using it for a just purpose."

"Interesting, I will make sure to remember that." She said with a bit of a smirk on her face as they resumed walking.

[EQ_Theta 415]

@Blitz Boom @Storm Shine

A close call, but it’s over. Any different and maybe things would be worse, but the battle had reached its end. Both siblings sat to one side, picking up Shrimp and taking her to Omen. Sure, she had been hit but now the reaction was less horrified and more annoyed than anything. This was more of a quick fix now that they are more than familiar with the crystals. The quiet, the lull in the moment, that was what they needed; a respite from the tension and action.

“Didn’t expect the day to go like this, huh? We did it.”

“Haven’t felt like this in a long time,” Sen clutched his back after having been slammed against a rock, the sharp, piercing pain now radiating across a larger part of his body now. Seems like the magic granted to him doesn’t offer pain relief. “Spelt is still back in the mine, right?”

“Yeah, I’ve got one more vial on me right now. Mind as well make the most of it while there’s still time.”

Lin stood up and walked to Rosa and Belladonna, not wishing to keep them out of the loop as well. She diverted her course to attend to the crystallized bird and spared some of the liquid in her last vial to undo the crystallization process for the poor little thing before continuing.

“I’m heading off to get Spelt while there’s time. I just thought I’d let you know.”

With that, she opened a gate behind her and walked through. It would take her back to the three paths diverging from where she left her X mark on the ground. Two paths cleared and one remaining. At least it makes finding Spelt a little easier now. 

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@Blitz Boom @Storm Shine @Lucid_Nightlight

The pegasus spaced out for a moment as Discord had just removed the powder covering most of her face but she had just noticed the lizard present in the room with them. Without hesitation, she walked towards it and crouched down to get a better look at it. 

"Hello there! You wouldn't mind if I picked you up, would you?" 

That friendly greeting was her way to starting them off on a good rapport, then she could probably cuddle it if it allowed her. From her time at the Grand Galloping Gala, her first one to be exact, she had a painful lesson hammered into her about letting the animals decide on whether or not they wanted the attention. 

[BloodDrops 762]

On 07/01/2018 at 4:05 PM, Blitz Boom said:

Nerzhei looked over towards her robes before answering. She might not need them, as both her kind and Ponies didn't have to wear clothes, but she still didn't feel comfortable about being without them. The layers felt comforting, and she missed having pockets.

"I'm not here to be your heater. I'm helping by getting your armor set, but after that I'm leaving. I have important research to do. If you want to keep warm and not infect the general population, then try to find some natural steam baths. Right now, I need to get back to work before my arm gets crushed."

With some gritting of teeth, she rose from her seat and went over to the anvil, then looked at Blood and rolled her eyes.

"Fine, you want to be warm?"

She reached down to the amulet with the gems in that had not been taken by either of the two others yet for some reason, put two fingers ont he blue and red gems, and focused..

At first nothing happened, which made Slappy open his muzzle and quickly yap off the expected *Please don't eat me. I swear I won't tell anypony, ever.*, which he only barely managed to get done before a red flash went over Nerzhei's hand, and a rumbling came from about a meter to her side.

Steam rose from the ground, and as the dirt gave way, a small pond of steaming warm water would be revealed.

With the spa in town, she could redirect a little of their water and then warm it by using these slivers of water and fire magic, though it still only made a pond large enough for a single Pony to sit in, and would loose the heat within an hour. Basically something around the size of two half barrels side by side, in both depth and width. Not much, but there wasn't a lot of magic in these things either, so it was really not a surprise.

"There, happy? Can you get away from my forge now so I can actually get something done?"

She did not have an ample amount of water gems to use from, so seeing as she had now used what was in the one on her, it was actually quite annoying. Hopefully she could find somepony good in that sort of magic one of these days so she could get her stocks refilled somewhat, or that part of her studies would have to be delayed.

Blood sniffed at the water and then climbed in it, it was indeed warm and she was rather happy. She sat in it for awhile and watched Nerzhei work on her armour. Though the water soon got cold that made blood get out and shake herself getting water everywhere. She blinked up at Slappy and Nerzhei who were still making the armour, well she was cold and needed something to warm up with, since she didn't want to get in the way after all Nerzhei did tell her to get away from the forge,she decided to go find something warm and come back later. She smiled at the thought and slowly slipped away. 

 

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Blood blinked and wondered back towards the forge carrying her warm red gem. She was sure that Nerzhei could use it to make more hot water for her to sit in. She blinked when she got back noticing the cold forge and smiled, must have meant that Nerzhei had finished. Though she just needed to find the dragon, or her armour. She pressed her nose against the forge and frowned, it was stone cold though she was sure she hadn't been gone that long. That or the forge cooled down quickly. She blinked and looked around, wondering where the dragon and Slappy had gone to.

 

Edited March 21, 2018 by BloodDrops

[Sekel 685]

@Blitz Boom

KARMIC FATE

“You just think you’re so high and mighty, don’t you?” Karmic asked, sounding like she was talking more to herself than to Zhu. She kept her mind open and her senses spread as far they could go, trying to figure out just what the heck the Serpanther was doing. She recognised balls of light in her vision as dead relatives and talked to them in a snarky tone, saying about this and that and sounding a bit crazy. Maybe it was the confined space of the passageway getting to her. “You think we should go right!? Right here!?” Karmic shouted at the light, watching it whiz into a wall right next to her head. She headbutted it and felt something crack, hoping it was not her skull.

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Storm Shine @EQ_Theta @Blitz Boom

The lizard was about to bite Anomaly because she was creeping him out when suddenly he heard Fluttershy.

All aggession disappeared from Pringles when he turned to the Pegasus that was slight less yellow than Lucid was.

"What's that Pringle? Anomaly is a stupid face, but you respect Fluttershy?"

Lucid talked to the lizard as if he knew its thoughts.

"Alright, Fluttershy can hold you, but no biting the creepy pumpkin horse."

[Storm Shine 1,195]

@Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta

Discord snapped his claw, wrapping the now unconscious pony up in magic-resistant ribbon, topping it off with a neat little bow in the shape of a seahorse. "Wouldn't want to leave anything to chance now, would we?" He grinned slightly, lounging in the air wearing a vacation outfit and sipping on a marshmallow colada

 

@Blitz Boom @Lucid_Nightlight @EQ_Theta

The spirit of Chaos chuckled, "Cheeky little lizard."

[Blitz Boom 4,426]

@Dji

"I'm still a pawn."

Perhaps he were guiding others around him, and could in that way be seen as above them, but how could he himself, when he were simply guided by strings himself? He was still just a puppet, not the master who stood above the whole scene.

Her words seemed to not be the only thing that seemed out of place. Her behavior were getting erratic, and she looked around and talked to shadows unseen to him. Perhaps she were having a vision, and it were blurring the lines between reality and what had been or would be? He weren't sure how her abilities worked entirely, but it were an option, along with her simply having snapped. Not every pony did well being locked in confined spaces like this.

it ended with her wandering into a wall for some reason, though why she would do such a thing were not known to him. Had she perhaps found something? He supposed that he could inspect he wall and see if something were there.

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@BloodDrops

Slappy would be long gone at this point, having seen his chance to escape and Nerzhei not seeing the point in stopping him in it. He would be safe and sound on the train to Canterlot, where he could then give a proper resignation to the guard before getting back to the circus. He would never forget this day though. It would haunt his nightmares for many a night to come, though hopefully one day he could get over it.

As for the dragoness, Blood would be able to find her if she followed the sound of groans that were coming from the west of the forge.

She were leaning up against a wall, with the arm she had used whilst forging bend in front of her. It didn't look as healthy as it had earlier, being swollen and redder usual, whilst Nerzhei were slowly applying some salve she had found in a busted open crate to it. It was meant for ponies, so it wasn't as effective with her, but it still helped some in cooling down her overworked limb. Hurt quite a bit to apply however, and she couldn't stop winching in pain and groan occasionally through gritted teeth.

The armor would be leaned up against said crate, and looking like it was finished. It needed to be washed and polished quite substantially, but it had been made at least, and Nerzhei couldn't do more with it in her current state. She had been using that lump of rock as a hammer for too long as she stubbornly wanted it to be done, and right now, she needed to tend to the consequences of that.

Her bunny suddenly rose her head up from the crate, and held a roll of gauze towards Nerzhei, who took it with a thanks. She were going to need this soon, and hopefully she'd be done with that before Blood would show up. (she hadn't seen the zommare was there)

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@EQ_Theta @Storm Shine

Shrimp were really not feeling all that hungry right now, but as he was roused from his sleep and saw Omen crystallized in front of him, he nibbled on her snout and eventually had gathered enough up to blast the rest of the crystals off her. It left her momentarily disoriented, and gave him time to curl around her neck and get some rest. It had been a long day and he needed a chance to sleep and let his meals get digested.

"Good, we shouldn't leave him to his fate. I'll go back with Omen to get more of these vials when she is ready so we can clean up the mines and this place for crystals. We shouldn't let them get more widespread than they already are."

Rosa hs bwwn qorkinf on tying up Filigree when Discord butted in and did an admittedly better job of it than he would have done with the materials at hoof, and all that were needed now were to get her to a secure location where she could get what was coming to her. There'd be several places that would want a piece of her after her attack, but he would assume that the Manehattan PD would be the best place to go. Amethyst were a prominent figure and would not back down from demanding that Filigree was arrested for what she did to her store. That combined with the evidence he had gathered and the beast heart should make it so that they could make a solid case for getting her at least detained for the time being. Hopefully in time she would even get arrested and sent to jail properly.

It was perhaps not the best thing to wish for your mother,  but she had not been family for a very long time, if ever. From what he could gather, he had simply been another pawn in her schemes, so he wouldn't feel any remorse over her facing whatever judgement she deserved. For trying to take over Equestria with dangerous gems like that, he would guess that it could win her at least five years in prison, though he wasn't sure what an attempt alone could do in Equestria, especially with Filigree's silver tongue. She might end up sliding away from this unscathed, but that wasn't up to him to stop. He just had to stop this scheme, what happened after that were up to the courts.

Omen would soon be ready, causing the two of them to take off and leaving Belladonna now alone with Sen and the unconscious Filigree, the former still looking for a container that seemed sufficient for the beast heart, but not having much luck currently.

"M-My mine! What have you done to it?!"

That were when the forepony returned, and looked in horror at the streaks and heaps of changeling emeralds growing around them. Anger and shock flared in his eyes as he focused on the ponies and longma in front of him, though mostly Sen, as he were the one of them that he knew about.

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@Lloyd

Upstairs, they'd run into the medley little group that was returning from the train station.

"General Wing, I hear you managed to catch Warlock? Not bad."

honestly, Screecher were rather impressed, but she weren't here to fan his ego. if he started to think that he'd done perfectly on his first day, he wouldn't strive to improve, and that would be disastrous. Though perhaps she was judging him too harshly. They'd see, depending on his response to this, and the meeting they were going to.

"That is your general? Celestia wept, what have the country come to?"

"N-Null, please don't i-insult him."

The earth pony looked towards Wing with a nervous, apologetic look on her face.

"I-I'm sorry, it's just... Been a l-long, bad day. It makes her i-irritable."

A bit of an understatement, as it looked like Null mostly wanted to kick somepony straight in the knees, but who could blame her with everything that had gone on today? And it wasn't even done yet, as they had now been dragged into this stupid fight, and had to come to Canter lot to both help, and speak their case for citizenship, without the princesses even present. It was all down to the military currently, and that didn't bode well in their mind.

"This is... Something, but can I go? Please? It's starting to itch again."

Benny interrupted and looked at the general of the Night Guard with a pleading tone in his voice, whilst he presented his hands. As he had to catch the blade Warlock had tossed earlier, a thin cut went down the palm of his hands, and he didn't know if it was getting infected. it felt wrong though, and he'd really like to get this cleaned up and hopefully be done with it before he got an infection going strong.

"Yes, you've done enough. Go to the infirmary and get patched up."

Letting out a sigh of relief, he went on his way towards the army medics barracks, leaving the siblings, Screecher, Wing, Astral, Sapphire and Dandy behind, though the changeling weren't going to talk unless he had to. He considered himself in enough trouble already without needing to make it worse by opening his big muzzle about something stupid.

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@Battenberg

"I understand. Some things should be kept secret so others doesn't copy you."

Pop didn't see the warning as having much merit though. She had eaten one cube, slowly, and in small bites,a n then had begun to ask a few things. She would've had to gobble one down quickly to give her issues like they were on about. Then again, she didn't know what was in this, so perhaps one of the ingredients would do something to you like that, even if it wasn't normal? Perhaps that was it. She didn't know for certain after all, only Caramel and Heather seemed to.

"I don't think my praise was misplaced though. These are pretty good, and I know bad candy. Making new recipes always end up with a lot of duds that tastes like the inside of a rusty cauldron, and this is far from that. Plenty to be proud of with your end product."

It was strange to meet a member of Victoria's family that were like this. So far, all of them had seemed positive, happy, somewhat outgoing and full of life. Caramel however, seemed like she had spent most of her time criticizing everything and didn't see the good in what she or others did as much as the dark sides. Kinda like a paranoid pony, but more of a downer than fidgety and concerned.

*sigh* She wished Benny were here now. He did well with warming up to others, so perhaps he could have gotten through to her and made her see that she deserved the praise she had been given. It was hard to say if it would have worked, but he had done well with Victoria, so... Never knew, right?

Thinking of the baker, where had she gnome off to? Perhaps Toxen were messing with her, and it took her a bit to get around? It sounded like something the dragoness would do honestly, but in what capacity were hard to say.

"They're probably just looking at which ones look the freshest. Toxen wants to have everything right for the zebra so the potion works as well as possible. I saw her dad before and the poor guy's really a mess right now."

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@Lucid_Nightlight @Storm Shine @EQ_Theta

"Hey! I'm not a stupidface, and I'm not creepy."

Her head suddenly lighted up from the inside, casting a large shadow of the jacko lantern she had for a head over the nearby beings before it dimmed down again.

"Ignore that. Stupid author..."

So now the author and this little reptile was mocking her? What a bunch of boring, judgemental little monsters. She should release a swarm of locust on them all. That would teach them.

"...Mlergh, I'll just get into trouble. Stupid lizard will face my wrath another day. Hear me, tiny devil? I will feed you to Datt Mamon! Or I would if he had a stomach that could handle it, but I can make one!"

Anomaly pulled several tongues at Discord after saying that, as she had heard him chuckle at this too. lot of them were being meanies right now, and she wasn't allowed to change anything without them just getting more and more testy about it. Was this Tartarus or something?

[Victoria Sponge 1,014]

@Blitz Boom

"Oh that's a shame."

"Mess is the body's natural response to infection and injury, it's probably a good thing he's in a mess because it means he's getting better."

Heather shot Caramel a glare.

"Careful what you say Cara. I hope you don't get offended by what Caramel says, she has a weird way of putting things, normally quite negative and down. She means well though, and she's not wrong, if he's feeling down it means his body is doing all it can to make things right again. What's actually wrong with him?"

"That's a good question, would chocolate or fudge be helpful to his recovery? I'll give you some for him if that's the case."

"They say eating chocolate gives you the same feeling as being in love, and from my experience that's completely true..."

"I wouldn't say completely..."

"...of course you wouldn't, anyway love is a good feeling, as I'm sure you're aware... not that I'm jumping to conclusions but you seem very involved with this dragon family and I can only think of one reason why. A-anyway I think chocolate would be a great thing to give a dragon who's down in the dumps."

The twins had a weird dynamic but they were clearly used to playing off one another like this and clearly cared about one another greatly.

Heather's gaze suddenly drifted to the back of the room to where Victoria and Toxen were still looking for the foxglove.

"Oh! No no Vicky! You don't want those ones!"

She trotted off towards them, stumbling over her own hooves a little.

Caramel gave an attempt at a smile to Pop.

"She wanders off like that quite a lot, terribly scatterbrained that one."

It was odd but Heather quickly returned with some half dead foxgloves in her mouth, she dropped them into a little green bag filled with clippings of various plants.

"I'm sure the zebra didn't specify, but I don't think a potion made from dying flowers really screams health potion... Anyway, sorry about that. I'm shouldn't have just wandered off, a-and Victoria probably didn't need my help anyway, she shares my eye for pretty things of course. Oh well... I'm glad Caramel offered you her treats, that's a good way to demonstrate to you that she means well, that was always the big difference between her and Victoria, I don't want to speak badly of my cousin and I love her to bits and all, but Caramel never brought me to tears."

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Storm Shine @EQ_Theta @Blitz Boom

Lucid's ears perked up as he heard Anomaly's threat against his beloved Lizard... that was a big mistake.

He opened a portal, went in, and dragged Anomaly with him, they were suddenly floating in deep space. Lucid's fur turned to a darker yellow as he said something in a deep creepy voice.

"Never threaten my lizard or I shall put you in the most normal boring room full of iron."

Lucid then teleported both himself and Anomaly back into Fluttershy's cottage with his fur and voice back to normal.

With a more calm and cheerful voice he added one more thing.

"Do I make myself clear?"

[EQ_Theta 415]

@Blitz Boom @Storm Shine @Lucid_Nightlight

"You shouldn't threaten animals, Anomaly. They're a lot smarter than they look and if pushed enough, they won't hesitate to let you know they don't like what you're doing to them."

The pegasus said her piece though in a calm voice, as if understanding that even her tone could upset the lizard. She simply sat where she was and stroked Pringle's back with one hoof before rubbing its abdomen. Fluttershy didn't take kindly to threatening any animal whether or not she was familiar with them. Even with Lucid teleporting Anomaly in and out, she kept her calm demeanor as if nothing happened.

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

@Blitz Boom @Storm Shine

Suddenly hearing the forepony yelling about the state of the mine spurned Sen to stand upright and face him. It is true the whole place was a mess and frankly, it could've been worse. At least they're still breathing, Filigree is not much of a threat anymore, and the place will be cleaned of the crystals in a while. Could the forepony blame them if Filigree were to stage her attack here later if they didn't act sooner? 

"Ah, yeah, about that.... Sorry we messed it up but we stopped the crazy bat pony from making this place even worse. No more plans for taking over Equestria with these parasitic crystals crawling all over. Oh, what's the point? Yeah, this place is a mess. There's no denying that but we'll get rid of the remaining crystals if it makes you feel better." 

As for Lin, returning to Spelt's last known location was a simple stroll through an abandoned mine. A quiet place, but the silence was calming, and time felt slower despite how quickly she could potentially get everything done. Guess it was the frantic scramble to get Filigree down to the ground and separated from the crystals that scared her while it was happening that got her heart racing. Now that she had the quiet and empty mine to herself, it would be easy to find a giant slab of crystal just conspicuously jutting out from somewhere on the ground. Unless Filigree left a surprise, which Lin hoped were not the case, maybe things are looking up for everyone tied to Filigree and her mad conquest. 

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@Blitz Boom

Astral stood there in the room, looking around a little, Iron wing didn't seem very phased by Null's comment, in fact he grinned a little. Astral turned to look to Benny, almost about to call out to the dragon, before deciding not to. "So, we're all gathered here again." Iron Wing walked forward to Null and Void. "The only new ones here are you three." He said, looking to Null, Void, and Dandy as he took another step towards Null and Void, and the paused as he saw some of his metal feathers slide out of formation, and onto the floor. He looked to them as the enchantments on them let loose some green magic out of the etched in markings, which flowed into the air and dissipated. "Interesting." He looked to Null, looking across their bodies. "You don't seem to be possessing any antimagic objects, how did you do that?"

"They cancel out magic." Astral said, Sapphire looking to her with a raised eyebrow. "I have no idea where they got it from either."

"Care to explain in detail?" He asked, pulling his feathers back with his hoof, finding that the enchantments worked again as he stepped back, sliding the feathers back into position. "Wait sec, are you Null and Void? I believe I heard from somepony about you two." He said, pointing a hoof at them.

[BloodDrops 762]

On 23/03/2018 at 12:10 AM, Blitz Boom said:

@BloodDrops

Slappy would be long gone at this point, having seen his chance to escape and Nerzhei not seeing the point in stopping him in it. He would be safe and sound on the train to Canterlot, where he could then give a proper resignation to the guard before getting back to the circus. He would never forget this day though. It would haunt his nightmares for many a night to come, though hopefully one day he could get over it.

As for the dragoness, Blood would be able to find her if she followed the sound of groans that were coming from the west of the forge.

She were leaning up against a wall, with the arm she had used whilst forging bend in front of her. It didn't look as healthy as it had earlier, being swollen and redder usual, whilst Nerzhei were slowly applying some salve she had found in a busted open crate to it. It was meant for ponies, so it wasn't as effective with her, but it still helped some in cooling down her overworked limb. Hurt quite a bit to apply however, and she couldn't stop winching in pain and groan occasionally through gritted teeth.

The armor would be leaned up against said crate, and looking like it was finished. It needed to be washed and polished quite substantially, but it had been made at least, and Nerzhei couldn't do more with it in her current state. She had been using that lump of rock as a hammer for too long as she stubbornly wanted it to be done, and right now, she needed to tend to the consequences of that.

Her bunny suddenly rose her head up from the crate, and held a roll of gauze towards Nerzhei, who took it with a thanks. She were going to need this soon, and hopefully she'd be done with that before Blood would show up. (she hadn't seen the zommare was there)

Blood blinked and twitched her ears as she heard a noise from deeper in the forge. She moves away from the cold anvil to investigate. She continued to move rubbing against the wall before turning the corner and pushing the door open. Or more accurately breaking the lock from the door since she hadn't pulled the handle down before opening it. She blinked staring at Nerzhei and then the bunny before looking at the armour. "Ohhhhh, it looks nice" I remark moving over to it.

I blink down at the helmet and put my hoof in it. Getting my hoof stuck making me frown. "My hoof slots too small" I whine at the dragon trotting round with my armoured hoof, I hold my hoof out at Nerzhei expecting her to touch me to pull it off. "I'm gonna need help putting it on. Slappy can help" I remarked. "Also that cream doesn't work to well. I could lick it but that would make it worse" I remarked while glancing at the crate noticing it was hollow.

"Ohhhh crate." I exclaimed trying to fit into it. Blood was in a exploration mood, that and her forgetful mood but that was a given along with her clumsiness. I turned around before getting stuck, would give Nerzhei some time to heal and finish off the armour.

Edited March 24, 2018 by BloodDrops

[Blitz Boom 4,426]

@Battenberg

"He is my father in law. I'm dating his youngest son, Benny."

She didn't think most would take kindly to it, so she didn't often start by saying this, but the rest of the family seemed fine enough with it. So it couldn't hurt... Right?

"And I'm afraid the illness his dad suffers under is more like a prolonged insomnia. He can't sleep, and it's causing him to sway between unconsciousness and delirious bursts of wandering around. We're trying to help get him something that can make him relax, and get rested."

Why she could have said, but she didn't think that was all that important right now. Plus she barely finished before Heather had wandered off again, so...

"It's okay Caramel, I'm used to beings like that."

Pop gave a small smile back to the other mare before Heather returned, and dropped some sub-par foxglove into what she guessed would be some sort of compost bag? She didn't do well with plants, so she weren't sure.

"It sounds like Victoria have had that effect on a lot of her family members. I really hope that we can manage to keep her from going back yo be like that."

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

 

@Lucid_Nightlight @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine

Anomaly yawned and rolled her eyes at the threats she got from both of the non-draconequui.

"Oh please, neither of you can do anything to me."

She snapped her tail, at which point she'd suddenly have Lucid's stick with her. She tossed it into the air towards him after, not interested in playing with it no more, but just showing that she could if she wanted to.

"I could turn you both into jellyfish and break the little stick in half before you could do anything. I just don't wanna.

And you know, chill out? I just yell at the thing and have fun. I don't do bad things to tiny scaly. It's just an animal, not something evil. Sheesh, learn what's theatre."

A neon sign saying *Applause* lit up over her head as she looked at the flock with rolling eyes and a yawn.

She had humoured Lucid before, but if he actually tried to take her away, he'd just end up with a balloon replica the next time. She had her guards up towards him now.

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

 

@EQ_Theta @Storm Shine

The forepony glared at them as Sen explained how things had gone, and were going to be.

"...Fine, long as this gets fixed before they seep into the diamonds."

"Considering the current rate of growth when not in the proximity of ponies and the crust of earth beneath - presuming it is like what I can see beneath the electric field - I would say that an infection would take three weeks and twelve to seventeen days. Long as no outaide stimuli is added, it should be well within the time limit that they will be corrected.

Now then, do you have a container that can be used to keep the beast heart we separated from Filigree? It will not bode well if it falls into somepony's hooves again."

He glared extra hard at Belladonna, but she didn't seemed bothered in the slightest.

"I'll find something. Stay here."

He wandered off, at which point we switch the scene to the coal mine.

The tunnel that Lin went down, would end with a thick layer of crystals that had burst out from behind the central point, where in a pony stood and stared out. A robust sort of current undetermined colors, starring defiantly at the point where Filigree had been when he had been blasted. Even faced with that, he didn't seemed to have been the sort to flinch, though it didn't leave him any less trapped.

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

 

@Lloyd

"Yeah, that's us. What's it to you?"

Null starred suspiciously at the general, though that might be hard to see for the angry jealousy that were also directed a him and his oh so perfect wings. He wasn't even meant to fly, and yet he were welcomed in the sky, whilst she were tormented to stay on the ground since her one of her wings had to be amputated. How she hated this pony and his luck already.

"I-It's a birth t-thing. Had it s-since we were b-born. W-We don't want to hurt a-anypony though. Things just... S-Stop working or fizzle o-out near us."

Void were just nervous. Over the city they were in. The things they had seen stop working as they made their way here, the generals and the judgement they stood for. She were terrified, and with good reason in her mind.

"We can cover this, but we should make our way to the meeting hall. Tidal Wave should be here any minute, and there is a few things we would do best in covering before her arrival."

Screecher had seen a few Coastal Guards as they made their way here, which meant that the general were in town somewhere, though she suspected that the mare had taken the chance to go say hello to her cousin. It tended to happen when she came to town, regardless of how urgent things were, and it delayed them by up to a half hour each time. Annoying, but they had accepted this, and tended to use the time to be productive before she showed up. Iron Wing would have to learn this as well, as it wasn't going to happen that the mare would change.

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

 

@BloodDrops

Nerzhei snarled at Blood, as she started to whine over the slot her hooves had to go into were too small.

"Kick something to slide them on then. And if they still don't fit, live with it until tomorrow. I can't work on your body suit right now."

She were in pain and frankly not in the mood to deal with the negativity. If it wasn't because touching the mare were dangerous, and her hands were busy right now, she would have slapped Blood too. The tone had made her deserve it.

"And you're not gonna find him. He escaped on the train when he had the chance."

At this point, Nerzhei wasn't even sure if Blood were still listening, since the scatterbrained disease factory had started to play with a box like she was some sort of cat. Perhaps she should close the lid and send the mare off to some frozen thundra while she had the chane and just get this headache out of her life...

Several other things that she could do went through her head as she kept applying the creme and wrap her arm in, but it sadly wasn't as relaxing as she had hoped it would be. It was hard to get past the pain right now.

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Storm Shine @Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta

This caught Lucid by surprise. Someone besides him could pick up his stick without permission!? Although Anomaly being able to break the stick was by no means plausible considering it's power, but picking up the stick was still quite a surprise.

"I doubt you could break it, considering that it's literally made of chaos."

The yellow pegasus raised his stick, summoning the owners manual.

"I've read this many times and I've found nothing about li- wait a second..."

He looked at the back of it to find some sort fine print.

"Let's see... cannot be broken, but can be lifted by anyone who is at or above the stick's current level." 

Lucid should've known there was another catch, sure Lucid is able to control the stick without holding it, but if the other individual has it, they can use too, which can be a pain.

"Um... Anomaly, on a scale from continent level to multiverse... how powerful are you?"

Could she be more powerful than him? He already knew she was more experienced... but he assumed that she wasn't nearly as powerful. It seemed that Lucid has misjudged her.

He backed up a bit, was he actually afraid of her? This was definitely a first.

Edited March 24, 2018 by Lucid_Nightlight

[Storm Shine 1,195]

 

@Blitz Boom @Lucid_Nightlight @EQ_Theta

Discord rolled in the air slightly, chewing on a bite of tea-pot. "You know.." He mentioned, feeling himself to be in a helping mood, "There's a loop-hole there you should watch for." The chaos spirit swallowed his bite of tea-cup before tossing the rest to the side, where it exploded into butterflies and flew off, "It's made of chaos energy and while generally energy cannot be destroyed (Conventionally at least, and trust me when I say it can be rather easily created with the right knowledge) it can still be absorbed." The mismatched being held up a stick resembling Lucid's which began to disappear into his paw, leaving nothing but empty space "Meaning any chaos being of sufficient power could probably drain your little stick for all it's worth." He chuckled as he floated upside-down above Fluttershy, idly playing with her mane a bit, "Just something to keep an eye on."

[BloodDrops 762]

On 23/03/2018 at 12:10 AM, Blitz Boom said:

@BloodDrops

Nerzhei snarled at Blood, as she started to whine over the slot her hooves had to go into were too small.

"Kick something to slide them on then. And if they still don't fit, live with it until tomorrow. I can't work on your body suit right now."

She were in pain and frankly not in the mood to deal with the negativity. If it wasn't because touching the mare were dangerous, and her hands were busy right now, she would have slapped Blood too. The tone had made her deserve it.

"And you're not gonna find him. He escaped on the train when he had the chance."

At this point, Nerzhei wasn't even sure if Blood were still listening, since the scatterbrained disease factory had started to play with a box like she was some sort of cat. Perhaps she should close the lid and send the mare off to some frozen thundra while she had the chane and just get this headache out of her life...

Several other things that she could do went through her head as she kept applying the creme and wrap her arm in, but it sadly wasn't as relaxing as she had hoped it would be. It was hard to get past the pain right now.

Blood blinked and kicked the side of the crate knocking the armour of her hoof getting freed. she smiled at her cleverness before getting out of the crate. She stared at Nerzhei with a blank expression processing the information about Slappy. He was her food bringer after all, she would ask Nerzhei to get her food when she wasn't as grumpy. Till then she would get something to eat herself.

She blinked at the bunny and licked her teeth and lips, that would be a good snack. Though Nerzhei wouldn't approve such a action. She glanced at the paste the dragon was using to heal herself and trotted over giving it a sniff, she decided to give it ago and placed her head in the gap licking the paste. It was sour but not bad so she continued to eat it. Hopefully there are not any side effects though not many that could affect her anyway. Though Nerzhei wouldn't be too impressed having to babysit Blood if she got stomachache or anything of that nature.

[Victoria Sponge 1,014]

@Blitz Boom

"A mare and a dragon? Interesting... You know dragons are known to-"

"Ok! Thanks Caramel, we don't need your advice right now! Haha. I personally thinks that's a great idea! Not that it's an idea, it's love right? Love who you want! It's probably more interesting than my relationship, all me and Evergreen do is...garden.... but a dragon, think of the posibilities!"

"I was just going to say that dragons are very sharp in places, be careful. I'm sure you are though, but better to be safe than sorry."

"That's true! It didn't really need saying though, if someone loves you they're not going to go around scratching you. Evergreen never sliced me with his shears, and I'm sure Paperback hasn't ever thrown one of her books at you."

Heather laughed and Caramel smiled, not quite a laugh but close enough, especially for such a monotonous pony.

"She has actually."

Heather laughed harder

"I stand corrected. Oh well, if the books were sharp and could actually do real damage to you then she wouldn't, I think you get my point."

"Of course."

"Anyway, it's nice that you are with a dragon, it's probably a whole different experience to dating a pony. I'm sad to hear that he's not sleeping properly, hopefully my foxgloves will help."

Heather looked sadly in Victoria's direction, thinking about the past they shared, about all the nights she'd gone to bed in tears, worried about what Victoria would say to her next, worried what words she'd use to break her. She looked towards Caramel and smiled, her unexpressive sister might not be big on smiles and hugs and gooey lovey stuff like that but she really made it clear that she loved Heather and would always protect her. Those nights Caramel had always climbed into Heathers bed and curled herself around her, warming her not just physically but emotionally. She had helped Heather to learn to always look on the bright side of things.

"Victoria was a bully, but like all bullies it was only because she wanted to hide the fact that she was hurting too. She's already learned she doesn't need to hide, it's clear she's still hurting, she's not sure of her current situation, all we need to do now is stop that hurt. I know I can turn her into the sweet pony she wants to be, the sweet pony that she really is inside."

"If anybody can do it, it's Heather."

"Thanks Cara."

Heather's eyes were wet, because of the sad memories or because of the hope for Victoria it wasn't clear but she was clearly very passionate about her family and wanted to do anything to help, even though Victoria had been nothing but evil to her in their late childhood. Caramel gave her a hug.

"Maybe you should stick with her for a while, if you want to go with her I can look after things here for a while. I'm not great at flowers but I'll try."

"Thank you Caramel, I might just take you up on that offer, I'm sure Evergreen is available to help you if you need him, he owes me one anyway. Um... I-is it ok if I come with you Pop? I don't have to but I really think I can help Vicky."

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

 @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine @Blitz Boom

Hearing about the little loophole scared Lucid even more. The thought of losing his reality warping just bothered him. He needed that power, due to many dangers he constantly faces.

He was about to bolt out of there and hide so no one can find him and take is power when suddenly a lightbulb appeared above his head.

"According to the manual, there is no rule against me making a transfer of that power out of that stick and into myself, so techniclly I could easily just have the abilities intertwine into my genetics."

Of course, the same rules and limitations of the stick would still apply, but at least his power wouldn't be absorbed.

"I need this power to protect my universe. Your Equestria has the Mane 6 to protect it, mine does not. My power is the only thing that can protect my world."

Lucid was serious, although he knew that Discord and Anomaly had no intention on taking his power, but what if something else just as powerful or even more powerful did? His world could be destroyed and he wouldn't be able to stop it.

"I know transferring the power into myself is possible considering I can do anything that isn't against the rules, which in this case it isn't. The problem is, I'll need either another reality warper or someone REALLY good with magic to do the transfer."

 Lucid may have a powerful stick, but of course he's still just a pony. He didn't know if what he had to say got through to the two natural reality warpers, he didn't even know whether or not they had a conscience. Maybe they do, maybe they don't, he has no clue.

As for Discord, Lucid thought he may be willing to do it, considering how he knew Fluttershy would likely be pretty compassionate about his world and it's inhabitants and everyone knows Discord wants to be within good terms with Fluttershy.

And then there's Anomaly. Lucid didn't know what to think. Really after what he' seen... he found himself afraid her and what she might do to him and that definitely was easy to see.

Edited March 25, 2018 by Lucid_Nightlight

[EQ_Theta 415]

@Blitz Boom @Storm Shine

Perfect! Convenient for Lin to make quick work of the situation. Pouring down the liquid where Spelt's head likely was should get him out and breathing again. The rest of his body should be removed from the crystalline casing after some time but it's nothing to be too worried about. It makes the incoming freak-out and barrage of questions a little more intimidating that expected but at this point, Lin should have some experience to make it work. Or maybe the shock of waking up long after the threat has been dealt with will make things easier on her part. Relief works in many ways, after all, and Spelt could use some when he is free. 

Meanwhile, Sen is waiting. Nothing on him could help remove the crystals along the rocks and Shrimp is too full to eat anymore of them. All that's left is to just sit around until Omen and Rosa returned. Amethyst might need a new batch of liquids after their work here is over. 

"So, I take it you have some experience with this. Do you work with gems frequently or is it something you picked up in your line of work?" Sen asked Belladonna, still unsure what to make of the words she spoke to the forepony. Big words like those quickly lost their meaning on him but seeing that the forepony left without further questioning, this must be common in Equestria, or at least from the more learned population. 

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

@Blitz Boom @Storm Shine @Lucid_Nightlight

Now things were getting really confusing. Big words about a topic she knew nothing about left Fluttershy silent and clueless. It makes her wish she knew was everyone was on about but at the same time, it might be better not to know about it. It might keep her up at night. But, Discord playing with her mane kept her thoughts off it almost immediately, quietly chuckling while still playing with the lizard in her vicinity.

That said, the discussion did present some opportunity to pass on something to think about. Lucid is right about Fluttershy and her friends being Equestria's protectors but over time, it extended. They have gained allies along the way and while they aren't exactly in agreement to a whole host of things, they'd be ready to protect their home when evil forces come around. 

"You know, Lucid, maybe your responsibility to protect your world doesn't have to be yours alone. I... I mean, maybe it doesn't have to involve giving up your powers to somebody else but you could find others who share that sentiment to protect the world, maybe friends? Or... I guess I'm not understanding this so well and you can forget what I just said." 

Edited March 25, 2018 by EQ_Theta

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@Blitz Boom

The general smirked at them. "Well you would've been quite useful earlier when we fought Warlock." He looked at Null for a moment, seeing a tinge of the jealousy she looked at him with. "If there's anything you need I'll try to ensure you're provided with it." He looked to Screecher when she spoke. "Well then we should make our way to the meeting hall, Will they be following us?" He asked, pointing to Astral and Sapphire with his hoof.

[Sekel 685]

@Blitz Boom

KARMIC FATE

Karmic stepped away from the wall and gingerly rubbed her head with a pained expression. She groaned and winced and stepped backwards until her rump hit the wall opposite. The wall she did headbutt though crumbled away into hoof-sized stones, revealing yet another passageway that looked straight as an arrow.

”Can I go home?” Karmic murmured in a great amount of pain. She slowly opened her eyes and sniffled, looking into the void beyond. “No torches. Anypony got a light?”

[Blitz Boom 4,426]

@Dji

"If you can steady yourself with patience, I can light your path."

It would take Zhu about four minutes of chanting some kind of spell to conjure up a small sphere of light. During this, he would sound quite a bit more like the snake you would expect him to, as he couldn't cast magic effectively when he had to half-growl the words out.

While he tended to have some spells pre-cast for certain situations ready on his person, he didn't normally use light like this, so he had to go from scratch with that. Between him tasting the air and what he could learn from listening and using the wind, he tended to work well enough in areas with little to no light to not consider it a real hindrance. He would honestly have relied on this further and just led Karmic on if needed normally, but she seemed distressed, and he needed her somewhat aware, instead of headed towards panic, or they could end up being trapped here for longer. Nopony said that just because one wall had gone down, that they were free.

If she had wandered on in the meantime, he would find her, otherwise he would simply look down the path she had uncovered, with the dim light casting a pale shade over the bricks.

"Nothing good comes from lingering here, Let us seek an exit."

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

 

@Lloyd

Null didn't answer, but just narrowed her eyes further while keeping the harsh things she had to say in her own head. It was normally something she would be more than happy to share, but Void were right. They needed to try and gain some favor here, and her cursing out this pony for being able to enjoy the sky that had been taken away from her wasn't going to help. Though if he tried to spit this in her face, so help her Celestia...

The rest of the trip to the meeting went on in silence from the sibling's side, while Screecher had a few guards come to her that needed to be directed, so she were occupied on the walk towards the throne room.

Upon arriving, they'd find Dew standing on one side, shaking his head, while Scorn had his right hand planted on his head, and looked like he were trying to do his best to not destroy something.

"This could prove to be a problem."

"That doesn't even begin to describe it."

The dragon stomped on a nearby pillow in frustration. Whatever they had walked into, it didn't seem to bode too well for what should have been a meeting to discuss the aftermath of the fight they had all ended up winning.

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

 

@EQ_Theta @Storm Shine

"Amethyst? How long have i-"

Spelt had a surprisingly light voice considering his overall demeanor and appearance, and from the sound of things, had expected to be released from this sooner or later. However, as his eyes focused and saw who it were that he were faced with, it became apparent that it was not by whom he had expected. It wasn't even a pony.

"...How long was in there for?"

A small amount of fear was rising in his voice, as he contemplated that it had been so long that Amethyst and the others were dead. perhaps even so long that there wasn't ponies around anymore, ad Equestria had been taken over by whoever and whatever this was? Did Filigree get her will after all?

His eyes darted from side to side while his heart raced on, looking for some kind of indicator that could tell him what had gone on. That's when his eyes settled on a few mining picks and hard hats that had been left after he had told his workers to run when she approached. Exactly where he had seen them drop, and just ads dirty as you would expect, leaning up against the coal of the walls. Surely this meant that it could n't have been that long, right? It couldn't have stayed pristine for years upon years... Could it?

Meanwhile, at the mine, Belladonna shook her head slightly and pointed towards the clusters of gems around the area.

"I observed them after Filigree were taken down, and you can see the slow growth of them if you focus. Considering how consistent it have been thus far, I merely made a preliminary conclusion that it would have a slow, stable growth rate until it was affect by an outside force, such as a living being.

It is merely a hypothesis, as I have not gotten enough time to research them, but it sufficed as a tentative conclusion, and satisfied the forepony to a degree where he stopped begin against us, and instead worked with us. It served the purpose better."

Though she still considered it a good guess, it were true that it were merely that: A guess. She needed more data to be able to say something for certain, but sometimes the situation required a snap judgement, and this had been the most efficient in her mind.

A few seconds after she replied to Sen, a gate opened, and Rosa wandered out, followed by Omen. The former were carrying a small box on his back, which would be full of vials they could use to clean this mess up, which he put down on the ground when they were fully through.

"Amethyst were willing to spare some flasks for our usage, long as we promised to ensure that Spelt got safely loose. Try not to use the entire box though. We will need to return to the other locations Filigree were in after this so we can clear them out as well."

He'd start off by popping the lid and taking one vial out, then go to the first cluster he saw and slowly pour it out, a few drops at a time. All the while, Belladonna stared at him unblinkingly, looking for the way to do this correctly.

Omen in the meantime just went over towards Discord, and looked up at him with curiosity in her eyes, wondering what he was thinking about now that things were more calm in it. She had been asked to not handle the vials, so it was the only thing she could think about doing now, until she managed to think of a question to ask somepony, or got an order/asked for help.

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@EQ_Theta @Storm Shine @Lucid_Nightlight

Anomaly grinned when she saw that Lucid seemed to be in awe of her might.

"Yup, I'm all powerful and strong."

She's lying, she cheated.

Hey shush, I did no such thing.

You mutated a patch of your leg to be like Lucid. it was the only way you could lift the stick.

Awh come on. It's not fair. I just made him think I was strong and stuff!

Yeah well, I can't have the other characters get all riled up over nothing. Besides, you'd use this against him for little reason, and things are already a little tense.

Anomaly rolled her eyes and looked at the others after her little *off panel* discussion with the author.

"Fine fine, I cheated, sue me. Here, lemme show you."

She tried to do it again, yet this time, nothing happened. A few more attempts were going on until she gave up ad went on to pouting.

"Boo, it doesn't fall for it anymore.

Meh, nevermind, it was a stupid stick anyway. It'd be way better if you took in its power and just tossed it away. Oooh, perhaps you'd turn into a draconequus then? Can that happen? Does it say in the guide book?"

What had started off with her in a smaller bad mood for not being able to dupe the stick anymore, turned to her with a glimmer in her eye and a gleeful tone as she went on to talk about a potential magical overload mutating Lucid. Mutations was her her favorite thing ever, and it sounded more fun than Fluttershy's idea about getting friends to help with it. Her plan was better, obviously, but it wasn't as fun, and what was the point of it all if it wasn't going to be entertaining?

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@Battenberg

Heather wasn't the only one who had misunderstood things at the start. Pop had too, and the blooming blush that had spread on her cheeks had made it hard for her to cover that up.

"I-I know, scales, claws and all that... Really, it's not so bad as you think. His scales are pretty tough, but they're not spiky unless he's shedding, and that's not something that happens a lot."

Well, he could also have cut himself at work and gotten a few uneven spaces then, but he didn't do that so often, and the conversation was already veering away anyway, so the window to say this were fading. It was odd how many varied responses she got to this in their family though. They seemed to be okay with it, but it had gone through a lot of *be careful* to *that sounds lovely* with the varied ones. Of course, acceptance were still the most important thing, but as she listened on to what Heather told of her past with Victoria, the thought just struck her for some reason.

"I'm sure that Victoria will stay a lovely pony, and keep shining through, long as she has her family and friends to keep her chin up.

I'm uhm... Actually trying to get her a date too. She said she wouldn't mind the help and I know a stallion that reminds me a lot about her. Quite stubborn and direct too, and kind of a neat freak, but it's not so bad once you get used to it and don't touch his shears."

She had done that once, and that was plenty enough. Snip Snap hadn't assaulted her or cursed her out, but the way he had reacted had left a damper on things for the rest of her appointment.

As it were mentioned that Heather would like for them to go and see how things were with Toxen and their cousin, Pop nodded and wandered over towards where she had seen the go off to, though she turned to Caramel before they'd really get away. She was a strange mare. Seemingly melancholic and gloomy, yet still smiled and hugged her cousin when the time had come for that. A fascinating mare, she were sure, but they had to get on their way.

"We should properly go. See you soon Caramel."

She assumed that they would, once they went to pay for the foxglove, so she didn't say goodbye yet as she turned and began to actually wander towards her friends. In case they were leaving and only dealing with Heather again however, she had to remember to send her best back with the clumsy mare.Wouldn't feel right to just leave Caramel hanging.

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@BloodDrops

Nerzhei glared at Blood, irritated that she would contaminate the last of the remedy that she had used to try and get her arm at least a little better. She still had her hand and half the lower part of her arm to cover, but at it looked now, the box it had come from would be too dangerous to take anything from.

The irritation was barely noticed however, against the fury that were starting to rise after the zombie had dared to look towards her bunny like she were some kind of prey animal.

"If you so much as try to touch Lotus, I will send you to Tartarus myself."

Her voice were cold and dripped with poison as she leaned down so her furry friend could jump up on her shoulder. Lotus did not seem all too happy being within reach of the zombie mare either, so she happily went uo and then pulled her tongue at Blood, when she were safely out of reach.

The dragoness wished she could actually touch this one without it causing trouble for herself, as she reaally wanted to punish Blood for what she had done just in the last few minutes. Taking her remedy and threatening her friend were things that separately already made her hostile, but combining them while she were in pain? If it had been anypony else, she would have retaliated.

As it stood now, best she could do were to set fire to her, but she had morals that made her reluctant to go down that route, even now. Plus, considering how riddled with disease Blood were, who were to say that the ashes wouldn't just spread and cause a massive pandemic event? It was perhaps a foolish idea, but she didn't know enough to say for sure that it wouldn't happen, so she wouldn't want to take the chance. Being known as the one who destroyed Equestria were not a legacy she would want to her name.