open Casual stroll

[Rising Dusk 26,078]

@Blitz Boom

Working the front desk at Manehattan's Office of Magical Investigations was often a high target for gripes and moans when one's rotation came up.  Rising Dusk has a new appreciation for it, however.  After his new promotion to extending his field work beyond the limits of Manehattan, having that guaranteed week on station was a relief.

The midnight blue stallion sat at the office's front desk, ready to take complaints from the citizens of Manehattan, or accept messages from other local law enforcement agencies requesting assistance in their own cases.  Today was a pretty slow day though, allowing Rising Dusk to sit there with the latest copy of Daring Do.  He held the book up and open with both hooves while the glow of orange around horn let him turn the pages with magic.  He'd always been curious how a few of these artifacts in the books were similar to some he'd seen in museums or in the office's vault.

Rising Dusk was dressed in his light gray hoodie, a nice perk of his division as they didn't care much for uniforms, as long as one carried their badge on them to identify themselves as law enforcement.  Orange magatama rising over a bright yellow starburst cutie mark stamped his flanks, earned at a young age that marked his destiny as a 'spell breaker'.  A term given to him by his co-workers when he was a newbie that accidentally ended up in the city's paper some time ago and now it's stuck.  Really he just had a unique expertise in Dispel and Counter magic.

His nice quiet morning was quickly broken when the front doors of the office burst open.  The thick waft of soot, grease and gun powder filled the entry way.  The glow of his horn extinguished and he promptly closed the book he was reading to be put away.  The two ponies that now stood before his desk could easily be considered odd, but he's from Manehattan, not much surprises him anymore.  Plus he just recently returned from Las Pegasus where he witnessed... No, what happens in Las Pegasus stays in Las Pegasus he reminded himself.  The three did share similar hair colors.  Rising Dusk's a sunset yellow that transitioned to red at the tips, like the setting sun against the coming night sky that was his coat color. 

Opening his mouth to greet the two, he didn't have much of a chance to do so as he was caught off guard by being called Riding Duck.  Attempting to correct the young filly, his mouth only managed to reach the opened state before the two went off on some details about a rubber duck and his name doing some obscured things with explosives, lightning or fire.  Rising Dusk listened for a moment, waiting for the smallest of gaps to wiggle into.

"Yes, I am Rising Dusk.  How can I help you?"

Edited April 21, 2018 by Rising Dusk

[Victoria Sponge 1,014]

@Blitz Boom

Victoria looked slightly startled by Pop's sudden outburst, which was odd considering how stoic she had been when Ahadi's cauldron had erupted so suddenly. Perhaps her mind being focused elsewhere had broken her pokerface.

"What-"

She tried to ask Toxen what she wanted to say but couldn't get a word in over Pop who was acting weird all of a sudden.

"I-"

Pop had a lot to say, she clearly wanted to change the subject, Victoria decided it was best to drop it and instead responded to the slew of words that had fallen from Pop's mouth,

"I think I'm going to stick with two... that would be nice I think, like Battenberg and I, or Heather and Caramel, we all worked so well in pairs back in the day, before I became insane."

Heather felt a little bad for Pop who seemed to be desperately blurting out her thoughts, perhaps letting her know that her opinions on Heather's potential litter were not too far off would calm her a little.

"I'm sure you're right Pop, I probably will have a few eventually, Greenie wants four I think, I don't know how good an idea that is. He's weird though, he likes everything to be perfect, everything has to be even. So he wants more than two but three would be a big no no. I suppose with his help and... motherly instinct I guess, I think I could do it without crushing them."

She laughed nervously, doubting herself a little.

"Four... good thing I don't care about my appearance as much as Vicky, after four foals you're not going to be the same mare you used to be, and if you love your beauty sleep then be prepared to have your world torn apart."

Victoria nodded in agreement.

"Another reason why I think two works just fine, I think I could stick to my style a little easier that way."

"Oh you needn't worry about Caramel by the way Pop, I assume that's who "needs a bit of help" while you're not wrong on her perhaps needing to soften up to foals a little as her cousins and sisters start to become mothers, she really won't ever want any of her own. Which is probably a good thing since she isn't into stallions."

Heather remembered when Caramel had come home one day out of nowhere with Paperback and announced that the two were dating, it was just another thing she had been able to add to the very long list of differences between the two twins. To the untrained eye you probably wouldn't even know they were sisters.

 

Lemon's ears twitched as Toxen spoke those last few lines and she smiled sweetly to herself, hesitating for a moment before responding.

"It's sweet of you to suggest that my dear Vicky got her "spice" from me, that couldn't be further from the truth though."

She chuckled,

"No, that's all from her father. I don't know what she got from me to be honest."

"She got her beauty from you aunty, her beauty and that sweet warm heart of hers. Maybe it wasn't obvious before but the real Vicky takes a lot after you, she talks a lot like you too. I think you maybe didn't realise how much you rubbed off on her even as she pushed you away."

Lemon smiled and blushed a little.

"Thank you Heather, I never thought of it like that, you're very right though Victoria is very sweet and very pretty even if she hid behind an ugly mask of anger for so long."

Victoria's cheeks became a shade of red as she turned her head, letting her mane cover her eyes. She was still a little sensitive about letting other people see her cry, even when those tears were happy ones. Lemon patted her on the back.

"And don't worry about what having foals will do to your appearance honey, you think I ever let that bother me? Why worry about how beautiful you are when you have two beautiful daughters to love. Actually, it's funny Toxen mentions twins because Vicky is likely very prone to having twins, I'm not sure if that kind of thing can be hereditary but every other generation in her father's line has been twins. Felix has a twin sister."

"Aunt Felicity."

"Yes, and his grandmother had a twin sister too and her grandfather had a twin brother. It can be traced back for generations, it's odd and maybe just a coincidence but I wouldn't be surprised if you had two at once Victoria."

Victoria wasn't sure how to feel about that, on the one hoof it would get things over quicker, she could have her perfect pair of foals and never have to worry about it again, but at the same time having two babies at once was not an easy thing in any aspect, from pregnancy to bringing them up it would be a struggle. Her strong will would probably see her through it though, the effects of foals on her was still nothing compared to her worries of her effects on them. 

[Moonlit 593]

@Blitz Boom @Dji @Seamore Sandwich "♪it's a phrase, usually said when you feel somebody staring at you. And the fact I can feel Dawnbringers eyes on me, I'm doing everything I can not to find the nearest ocean to dive into♪"

[EQ_Theta 415]

@Blitz Boom

"I'll carefully consider any option that comes to mind. No one should experience the horrors Filigree has inflicted on her victims."

With the crazy mare being hauled away, it was too soon to think they had won, not when there was still an air of tension hanging over them. Even with their brief hope spot, they still have yet to find tangible proof that could get Filigree to stay behind bars. Unfortunately, this was about as far as the siblings could go; their knowledge, or lack thereof, on Equestrian laws was proving to be a detriment the longer they lingered. Nothing in their travels could've prepared them for this. 

"So, what's next. Sen and I are stumped for ideas and we don't know how to proceed from here." 

[BloodDrops 762]

On 20/04/2018 at 9:29 PM, Blitz Boom said:

"Perhaps you do deep down want to, or perhaps it is a side effect of your affliction. I'm not a psychologist."

Nerzhei growled back at the hostility she got from just saying what she had seen, and a few observations about it. Just because she made those observations, she didn't think it fair that she were getting called out, or even told that she was the bad guy in all of this. How the insolent little pony could even... Grrr, no, keep focused. Stay calm, or this would get worse.

"That side of you threatened Lotus and I, and demanded sacrifices, or we would be it. Why do you think I would ever have any interest in having your feral side influence you, or even take over, when it increases the risk of either of us getting infected? Only mad scientists does things like that, and I'm not one of them. I'm a researcher and a scholar, not a monster. If I were, I would have long since burnt you to a crisp instead of trying to be rational about things."

The comment about her burning and stealing had stung, as she were well aware that it were not an unreasonable comment considering she were a dragon. She weren't like the majority she had met though, and she prided herself in that. Sure, she had a lot of rage bubbling under the surface, and the want to simply cause a rampage or antagonizing ponies for no reasons were there at times, but she weren't a savage. She had a brain and used it, which frankly she hated got overlooked constantly. First by the majority of the short-sighted fools of her own kin, and now by random ponies, like this actual monster of a disease factory.

"And if you think that me being alive means your other self isn't smart, then you're a fool. It might get you back in control when you're fed, but it wouldn't kill me, because I provide food for you, and it is tied into your hunger. Grrr, I need a shrink to take a long, hard look at you one day for this... Or an extraction... Pad..."

A small light went off in her eyes, right before she jammed her spear into another fish. Yet this one she put out of Blood's reach. It was rations for later, so there would be something handy.

"If your hunger have some kind of personality, splitting you up into separate minds... No, that sort of technology isn't around, surely. But if anyone would know...

I will need to ask that pony when I find him. Now stop your foolishness and listen: We need to get you into a place to sleep. I need the time to prepare some things, and find directions to the town I was told of. You want the station again, or a hole somewhere?"

Blood blinked and smirked at her, "Good because i don't want to be a little feral zombie pony. and you be best to remember that" she giggled licking her muzzle. She flicked her tail and snorted, "well my last food provider seems to have disappeared, so this will have to do for now won't it?" she added rolling her eyes, she wondered who had made Slappy disappear in the first place, probably Nerzhei she suspected. 

She blinked and made a effort to get the fish from Nerzhei she had tried to stash away, far from touching her she didn't get the fish as it was put into a food pouch for later, she snorted grumpily and licked her nose. "Extraction pad, sounds painful and shrinks charge too little" she commented with a snort. She tilted her head and thought about the sleeping arrangement. 

"lets find a hole, Or i can sleep standing up. Whichever is easier" she snorted closing her eyes having made up her mind. She could sleep right here. 

 

[Blitz Boom 4,427]

@Rising Dusk

Molotov looked over on Rising as he identified himself, but kept the thoughts of the lightning duck in the back of his head. It could be a fun little toy if he lowered the setting to just buzz you a little, or perhaps small scale, and linked together with some other cables as a foal-friendly defibrillator? That sounded promising.

The levers on his goggle moved around as he glanced over Rising with a few settings, before returning to the base configuration again and chuckling to himself.

"You are? That's a bummer. From my notes, I would've figured that you were a good deal more impressive looking. Perhaps x-ray would show off something neat."

It was more of a conceptual idea than something he were actually getting anywhere with currently. There were a few steps in the right direction before the attack on his home, though he still hadn't figured out how to not cause the internal side of the lens to microwave his eye, and that was kind of important. He might be able to make artificial wings, but an eye? That sort was way more complicated, and would require some degree of neurology interference as well, to make sure they'd get connected well to the head. You could use magical orbs as eyes, sure, but that would be cheating. The whole point of what they did were to make advancements that didn't rely on magic too much.

"But hey, not here to judge you Dusky. You do you, am I right?

Heh, my name's Molotov Boom, and this here's my little sister-"

"I'm Blitz Boom!"

As she said the last part of her name, Blitz stood up on her hind legs and used her front legs to mimic an explosion. Like if she had held a bomb in her hooves, which would be cuter if she didn't start to giggle afterwards.

"Spot on. We're from the scientist town of Center Zero."

He reached a hoof back to the saddlebag on the left, as he went on about their names and where they came from. He assumed that Rising would know where he was talking about, considering he had been mentioned by name as a recipient, but honestly, only about three fourths of the ones he had delivered to so far had actually heard of them, or enough to know their deal, so it was hard to say. Sometimes the reputation were the reason why they were chosen, rather than any connection at all to their town.

After rummaging around a bit, he would pull out a stack of files in a hermetically sealed, plastic folder. Per instructions, they were to use those in Center Zero to prevent water damage or other issues affecting their research papers, and when delivering to others, Molotov found it easier for everypony to use the same. It helped in case there was rain or something else, and they were pretty easy to open if you had the code.

"About a month ago, our town got hit with an attack from one or more unknown sources, that took all but the two of us away. As per protocol, in case of emergencies like this, we are to deliver research papers from our scientists to the right parties. You know, head biologists, engineers, psychologist, or that weird princess in Ponyville. Phew that one was a hooffull to deliver to, lemme tell ya. Finally got to hand off the files to her, and she goes off on a rambling for an hour straight. I try to add in, and suddenly she needs time alone. I only suggested that her rambling ideas could be mixed with some elbow grease to craft some prototype, magic-infused constructs, and she reacted as if I'd handed her a malfunctioning pulse bomb."

He would lightly and elegantly skip over the detail about him telling her that with the suggestions his father had once made about the same thing, it had a minor, 35,6% chance at ending in horrible disaster. It was really the AI that was  the tricky part, but using Carmen as a base, he were sure that the chance of the constructs ending up revolting against the fleshy beings of Equestria could be as low as 28,7%. Even lower if you were quick to smash them with hammers before they had a chance to improve themselves.

"Anyway, Professor Turntable wrote you down as being somepony he'd wish to get his research, so that's why we're here. I don't understand half of it honestly, but he figured that you did apparently. so here you go. Code is 8 Gamma 5 6 Delta Pi."

It was a lock akin to a more sturdy number lock that kept it shut, so Rising would just have to rotate the dials to hit the right code, and then he'd be met with around thirty pages of intricate, detailed pages of the professors chosen field. That being the *Negation and redirection of magic and magically infused objects* as well as *The practical implementation of efficient containment and redistribution fields*. A couple of long titles, but the professor hadn't exactly been the subtle kind. Confusing though, at least to Molotov, yet the majority of this was to ponies who understood how to counter and meddle with magic in general, and not him.

"Last pages looks like they have some schematics for prototypes, though  I can already tell you that they don't work. Even a little magic, and those things will implode. Trust me, if anypony in Center Zero knows about engineering, it's the Boom family."

He gave a glance to Blitz, who had started to nudge towards the trash can to see what was in it. A bad habit she had gained mainly from Ponyville, where she had done so to gather up parts for her own experiments in the month before he found her again, though he suspected she'd only find banana peels or something like that in here.

"Well, what's left of us at least..."

Molotov refocused on Rising Dusk after that, thinking that Blitz wouldn't be able to do much harm rummaging through trash, unless she started to giggle. In that case, he'd have to get over there right off the bat before her crazed little mind would start to make something. It was always good to see that she were an inventor, like most of their family, but she took more after their grandpa than anything. meaning that it was only a third of what she made that wasn't designed to explode one way or another. Not good in a place that were at least some kind of law enforcement, from what he could gather. He didn't really deal with the outside world that much before the incident, so he didn't know all branches of things that were running around these days.

"Anyway, I think I can get something screwed together to help you out, but the science of magic meddling is beyond me. Turntable was sure you knew your stuff, so perhaps mashing our heads together at some point can get you to complete what he couldn't? Have a look and see if anything springs to mind."

If Rising would look enough a the things in the files, and understand enough of the technical terms to get at what the professor had been theorizing and attempting, he should be able to see that it wasn't just boasting that came from the stallion. The stuff in here - if it could be made - would make machines that could do some simpler versions of what Rising were doing with cursed objects, or potentially even deploy minor fields of magic-negative zones.

Of course, the really impressive stuff would require technology not even made yet, but it could be something worth striving for, and if the base principles got into line, some skilled ponies might be able to get real progress going on the highly theoretical stuff within as little as ten years.

As for the professor himself, Turntable had seen Rising Dusk on a few occasions, beginning with the first time that he had practically stumbled over the pony as he were dealing with an object that the professor had left alone on a road, as part of his study. Molotov had no idea if the two of them had ever actually spoken, but Turntable had mentioned that it wasn't the only time he had left something or sent it towards the office the stallion worked in, to see if he could learn something from the pony's process.

The two of them rarely spoke honestly, so Molotov didn't know much. The magic-study areas of their town were cautious with working too much with his family, as they tended to find ways to incorporate breakthroughs into the town's weaponry. Which kept them safe, but also made some of the researchers uneasy. Especially once the aforementioned pulse bombs had been crafted by his mother. Even if it was just a kind of riot control thing and didn't do any actual harm, they had still been less than thrilled about it.

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@Lucid_Nightlight @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine

"What's a timeshare?"

Anoamly looked into thin ai- No wait, she's starring at me. Look, I don't know what he's on about either, okay? Best bet I have is that it's some sort of apartment complex thing he have in mind. Perhaps he wants to go full on cult leader and keep the masses away from the indoctrination process.

"Okay, that doesn't sound bad. I'm in. I can make big banana's too, though everypony will need to peel their own. I'll give them moveable vines so they can fight back. It'll be fun!

I dunno any other cults we can egg though. The one that made me again isn't here, and I'm not allowed in like, 5-7 amusements parks throughout Equestria. It's all prejudice against draconequui, I swear. Nothing to do with anything I did."

The smile that spread on her face seemed to say otherwise, but past actions should have warned about her poor self control already.

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@Victoria Sponge

Pop was pretty surprised to hear that Caramel were into mares, rather than stallions. She knew a few who were like that, but it wasn't all that common where she were, or at least not something openly said around her she supposed.

It was something she should probably keep in mind, though she wasn't going to be one of those who would be hostile towards Caramel for that reason. Being with Benny, she would be pretty hypocritical to judge others from being attracted to somepony that they weren't supposed to.

Toxen looked like she were considering saying something, judging from the risen eyebrow at the news, but that didn't really surprise her. From what she had experienced with Benny, it was an uncomfortable thing to talk about for those in his family, as dragons swinging that way was not looked upon favorably on the isle, unless they were really strong, and merciless in beating down the ones talking to them about it. There was a small degree of respect in it, if it were a thing from the top  in any given settlement, though even then, it was secretly frowned upon, and certainly not encouraged.

Or that might have just been with his family. Benny mainly had contact with them growing up, and didn't travel much, so interaction with others to learn stuff like this wasn't something he really did. Though regardless of it, he were trying to not judge things that deviated away from what he had been raised to think. It just made him uncomfortable to be confronted about it, and he ended up saying something stupid.

"I mean, I didn't really see Caramel with foals right now, but I didn't think she were into mares. Though hey, she could still adopt one day if she finds it to be something she'd like. Benny and I are going to do that one day as well, but it's all about being ready. Though even if she weren't I can imagine she could be a good aunt. Foals loves candy, and she makes some pretty good stuff, if the sample she brought along was any indicator."

"...Gonna be interesting that situation.

Heather though, girlie, you don't need to worry about crushing your little ones. If you stumble around, you're gonna instinctively making sure to miss 'em, and if not that, I've seen other ponies carry the tiny ones in packs around their necks or in them saddlebags I see so many places these days. Or your mate can carry 'em around for you. One way or another, you and the little horde of fur, are gonna get through it."

"It might end up being a horde if it's true that your family is prone to twins. I'm sure it'll be fine though. perhaps a little harder with two at once, but I've seen the bakers in Ponyville getting two foals at once and keep their business going, and they're doing great. They do look awfully tired sometimes though."

"Part of the package. Plus you know, having twins can be hereditary. I have a friend on the isle? Her family haven't gotten less than triplets for the past seven generations. She is absolutely freaked out about it."

Pop grimaced a little at the thought.

"Suddenly twins seems easy."

"Right? But hey, both of you got a strong-knitted family to help out it looks like, plus whoever you'll end up picking as your mate, and his family. Gonna be loads of help there I recon. And speaking of help, we're here."

Toxen didn't even knock before she entered the house they had reached, and wandered in. You could hear her soon talking loudly about her getting what they needed to her mom, but leaving the door open in case anypony else wanted to go inside.

"I know Vicky have met her, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea to have you come in too, Heather and Lemon. I don't think Toxen would mind, but Jade is pretty intimidating."

"Mom's busy in the kitchen actually."

Pop felt a jolt go through her as Benny suddenly stood in the door and looked at her, scratching behind his ear, and either not noticing, or not caring about the blueberry cake crumbs on his face.

"Dad got a weird flip and thought he needed to dig for a well, so the floor is kinda messed up out there.

Toxen says you've gotten something that'd help though? That's great to hear! Is either of you two the ones who made it?"

He stepped out a little and grinned at Heather and Lemon, before reaching a hand forth. A hand he took back once he noticed there was a bit of cake on it that he quickly licked off.

"Right. My name's Benny. I'm *burp*..."

His hands got slammed in front of his mouth quickly while his face lit up like a tomato. He had not meant to let out a burp like that, and then it just burst out, right in front of new faces. Dear Celestia, this was so not the way he wanted to meet ponies.

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@Moonlit @Dji @Seamore Sandwich

"Y-You're finding the princess intimidating too?"

Cherish shimmered a little in surprise at hearing this. Serenade was a big and seemingly strong sea creature, and she were afraid of the princess of day? She figured that the siren would only be somewhat nervous about the reception, not what the princess did or might think about her right now.

"I mean, I know the princesses are good ponies, but it's scary to be near them. Wondering what they think, how they will d-do things... I don't know if they can s-send ghosts away. Makes me scared. W-What is it that gets to you?"

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@EQ_Theta

"I believe this is the moment of my entrance?"

The mare with the silver shoes came out fro the backroom, where she had been waiting for the right time to enter. Originally she had been expected to be introduced, but this had just seemed like far too good of an opportunity to make her way in here.

"You were supposed to wait."

"Until she left, and so I did. Now be a dear and introduce me to your friends, hm?"

"I don't know the name of them all. B-"

"Siblings Sen and Lin, That is Omen, and I am Sub Rosa. I'm surprised you didn't already know that."

Rosa seemed to have gotten somewhat hostile and wary as they faced the mare, who did not repay his hostility in kind. in fact, she seemed to find it rather amusing.

"It was a hasty meeting dear. Otherwise, I might have.

As you see to know me, you can ignore the next bit Rosa. I am Scarcity, owner of a lucrative antique store in Canterlot, and somepony who have many a friend to contact, in case help is needed for associates of mine."

"So what, you want us to work for you now? I know what dealings you actually work with."

"I'm sure that I haven't the faintest clue what you are talking about dearie, Now hush hush, the adults are speaking."

"I don't know what sort of history you two might have-"

"I have never personally met this stallion as far as I know. Though who can really tell, when he hides his face like so?"

"I've met you... Now what do you want?"

"Oh, several things, but for the time being, to be of some degree of hellp. I am to understand that you are having some issue finding evidence against your mother, hm? Dreadful business that is, though hardly surprising from what Amethyst tells me. Several false names and many a base throughout Equestria, makes it a rather boring endeavor to dig through for potentially nothing, and I am to understand that you are pressed for time."

"I called her in to help, because I'm willing to do everything to make sure Filigree gets stuck in the jail where she belongs. Rosa, give her the papers you have on Filigree."

Rosa looked like he were going to protest, though he kept his tongue as he hesitantly reached towards the place where he had hid copies of what he had found.

"If you know me, as you claim to, you know that I can procure results. Give me what she speaks of."

He aimed to throw the papers on the ground, but Scarcity grabbed it with her magic before that, and folded them neatly on a nearby table. She would look these over when she had time.

"There you go, that wasn't so hard, no? Now then, my help does come at a certain... Exchange of favors, if you will. But there is time for me to cover that. Your endeavors so far must have been dreadfully tiring, and you could surely use some rest. Or are you perhaps in possession or more stamina than I give you credit for? Would either of you be so kind as to answer that, Sen and Lin? Oh, and do try a sandwich before the workers eat them all. They are rustic, but still a pleasant delight."

Scarcity did not meet any of them with the same hostility or arrogance that Filigree did. In fact, she seemed rather cheerful, though a little above everything, and seemed to like to tease Rosa in a somewhat friendly manner. What you would expect from one of the friendlier higher ups in Canterlot, though more sly in her overall demeanor than the nobles.

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@BloodDrops

Blood didn't seem all that happy about the rationing that Nerzhei was doing, but at least the mare were not unreasonable or aggressive. Perhaps when Nerzhei felt better, she could talk to the pony about running some tests on how much she did need at a given time, and then try to keep the food reserves prepared in case of an emergency. Maybe it'd be possible to learn Blood to not be too greedy, though her hunger in itself were pretty disturbing.

Not the part about needing flesh. That was an unsettling thing that she had thought over several times already. It was more the part where the pony ate in such great amounts, then seemed to sleep for a small segment of time, and then be right back to the same voracious appetite.

Perhaps it was imply greed, or not knowing the limit to her own hunger through an inability to feel sated, but even then, she should show physical signs of consuming all of this, and yet, Blood didn't seem to be any larger than a regular pony. She did not even appear to carry a gut after consuming a mea, which were either some degree of weird magic, or a digestive rate that was so alarmingly high, that Blood could realistically eat her way through a village the size of Ponyville in less than 10 days.

*shiver* Hopefully they could find a cure for this sooner, rather than later, before the world would in essence become eaten, though hopefully, she was just overthinking this, and Blood's stomach juices wouldn't rival that of highly concentrated levels of acid.

Seeing the pony just standing and sleep was odd, but after a minute or so where she hadn't moved, it seemed like she were able to do this fine. If she had enough magic to work with, Nerzhei would have risen some rocks around Blood, to protect both her and the forest as a whole, but in the current situation, the best she could do was to take the food pouch, and hang it in a nearby tree. If Blood woke up suddenly, she should be able to kick said tree enough to rattle it loose, and delay her rampage for a time whilst the dragoness were somewhere else. Hopefully this forest did not have many flying predators capable of opening bags.

(around 4 hours later)

Nerzhei yawned as she got nearer to the place where Blood had last been, an cast a glance towards the sky. The sun would soon be dragged down, and be replaced by the moon, but it wasn't her time to sleep right now. Besides, she mainly felt tired from the first shot of painkillers she had been given more than anything else. Soon as they would wear off and the pain came back, she'd feel awake again.

With her, she had another bag that were more suitable for holding rations, where something edible where already in for the both of them, along with some medicinal things, and four bottles of elixir. Her damaged arm were covered in fresh gauze, and a large plaster were placed on the back of her neck, which seemed to indicate that some sort of damage or test had happened in town or at the hospital. A place she were bound to have been, considering the gauze seemed far more professionally set on than what Nerzhei had proven to be able to do earlier, and included a sling, to keep her arm rested, whereas the dragoness had only prepared some gauze earlier on.

"Blood? Are you awake?"

To be on the safe side, Nerzhei held a small bag of dog biscuits in her good hand, just in case she would hear growling. It might not be the best, but the only sort of meat she could get in Ponyville were pet food, and treats. Most of the pet food were non-meaty too, since apparently, the one they did have that worked with meat in town, had suddenly closed up shop and moved yesterday. A real pain in her rear, but she had to work with what she could.

Hopefully, Blood were still sleeping, wouldn't answer, and the dragoness could climb up into a tree and rest her head for a little while in the tree crowns, but what were the chance that she'd have that kind of luck all of a sudden?

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine

"I have no clue what a timeshare is either, but I think it's something to do with listening to some guy talk for an hour."

"We could probably just sneak you into the amusement parks, oh another idea! Hay Burger Sunday! Now... no cults to egg? How about the orphanage? Nah, I couldn't egg that place, had too many memories living there... oh! We could egg Twilight's castle, but we would need to be sneaky about it."

[BloodDrops 762]

2 hours ago, Blitz Boom said:

Blood didn't seem all that happy about the rationing that Nerzhei was doing, but at least the mare were not unreasonable or aggressive. Perhaps when Nerzhei felt better, she could talk to the pony about running some tests on how much she did need at a given time, and then try to keep the food reserves prepared in case of an emergency. Maybe it'd be possible to learn Blood to not be too greedy, though her hunger in itself were pretty disturbing.

Not the part about needing flesh. That was an unsettling thing that she had thought over several times already. It was more the part where the pony ate in such great amounts, then seemed to sleep for a small segment of time, and then be right back to the same voracious appetite.

Perhaps it was imply greed, or not knowing the limit to her own hunger through an inability to feel sated, but even then, she should show physical signs of consuming all of this, and yet, Blood didn't seem to be any larger than a regular pony. She did not even appear to carry a gut after consuming a meal, which were either some degree of weird magic, or a digestive rate that was so alarmingly high, that Blood could realistically eat her way through a village the size of Ponyville in less than 10 days.

*shiver* Hopefully they could find a cure for this sooner, rather than later, before the world would in essence become eaten, though hopefully, she was just overthinking this, and Blood's stomach juices wouldn't rival that of highly concentrated levels of acid.

Seeing the pony just standing and sleep was odd, but after a minute or so where she hadn't moved, it seemed like she were able to do this fine. If she had enough magic to work with, Nerzhei would have risen some rocks around Blood, to protect both her and the forest as a whole, but in the current situation, the best she could do was to take the food pouch, and hang it in a nearby tree. If Blood woke up suddenly, she should be able to kick said tree enough to rattle it loose, and delay her rampage for a time whilst the dragoness were somewhere else. Hopefully this forest did not have many flying predators capable of opening bags.

(around 4 hours later)

Nerzhei yawned as she got nearer to the place where Blood had last been, an cast a glance towards the sky. The sun would soon be dragged down, and be replaced by the moon, but it wasn't her time to sleep right now. Besides, she mainly felt tired from the first shot of painkillers she had been given more than anything else. Soon as they would wear off and the pain came back, she'd feel awake again.

With her, she had another bag that were more suitable for holding rations, where something edible where already in for the both of them, along with some medicinal things, and four bottles of elixir. Her damaged arm were covered in fresh gauze, and a large plaster were placed on the back of her neck, which seemed to indicate that some sort of damage or test had happened in town or at the hospital. A place she were bound to have been, considering the gauze seemed far more professionally set on than what Nerzhei had proven to be able to do earlier, and included a sling, to keep her arm rested, whereas the dragoness had only prepared some gauze earlier on.

"Blood? Are you awake?"

To be on the safe side, Nerzhei held a small bag of dog biscuits in her good hand, just in case she would hear growling. It might not be the best, but the only sort of meat she could get in Ponyville were pet food, and treats. Most of the pet food were non-meaty too, since apparently, the one they did have that worked with meat in town, had suddenly closed up shop and moved yesterday. A real pain in her rear, but she had to work with what she could.

Hopefully, Blood were still sleeping, wouldn't answer, and the dragoness could climb up into a tree and rest her head for a little while in the tree crowns, but what were the chance that she'd have that kind of luck all of a sudden?

Blood heard Nerzhei slowly shuffle off, though she soon gave into her sleep and started dreaming. Firstly her dreams started as black though that soon faded into a scene. Though there was two ponies here, both similar but both very different. Blood blinked and walked with her counterpart, side by side but separated by a invisible barrier. Blood glanced at the barrier and continued to walk around it keeping a eye on her counterpart. "Well you seem to have tried to smash your way out of there. You nearly succeeded but luckily my defences are up to your attacks" I remarked putting a imaginary lid onto the wall. 

Blood continued to inspect the wall patching it up where it looked weakest. Strengthening her own mental blocks in the process, "now that's better. Gives me some breathing space. Without having you in the back of my mind all the time, I shall keep you here. More simple that way, now if you come out again, you will not be able to stop me. After all your stuck in that little tiny box, though if you did get out, you wouldn't miss much" she giggled to herself.

Blood twitched her ears, "Ah sounds likes Nerzhei is returning, well have fun but not too much fun, without me after all. I have enjoyed our time together but seems that our time together is over, and the time for just one has come. Unfortunately" she added leaving the forest with the alter ego in. She had many plans and none of them involved her alter ego. She didn't need someone like that causing her problems after all. 

 

Blood opened her eyes and glanced at Nerzhei, frowning as she held some dog biscuits out, she gave a small sniff and frowned "Oh no, that's just. No" she grumbled, the smell had put her off her dinner already. She turned her nose up at it and stuck her tongue out. "Vegetables? Really? I'm a cannibalistic eating machine, I need meat. Not Vegetables or pet food. Eugh, Blugh" she added rolling up a ball of spit in her mouth and spitting on the ground, letting Nerzhei know she didn't want that food ever again. She looked up at the bag with the nice smelling fish in but she decided against it. Too high.

She instead turned around and wadded into the river, coming out again a few minutes later with a giant fish. She nibbled on the tail and put it down giving her coat a shake, away from Nerzhei so she wouldn't get infected, she wasn't that dumb to kill off her only food source. "I think were going to need to set up some ground rules" she told Nerzhei with a smile. "So rule one, no dog food. That stuff is just rancid, second I've had a change of heart, that town with that cure your on about" I add with a grin, "Well thats just not a top priority anymore, something else more sinister has occurred to me while I was sleeping" she remarked sitting down.

"A most dreadful thing has happened during your absence, the great evil that has plagued me has been trapped, deep in my mind. Sadly I'm not sure she can get out anytime soon if at all. So i'm sure you won't have to put up with any of my antics for some time sadly. I think we should have a moment or a few moments of silence for all that has been lost" she giggled chewing on several fish bones. She picked the fish clean and arranged the bones in a neat pile in front of her. "i implied a useful technique, trapping all her and her negativity in a sort of mind palace. Now she can only come out if I decide to access that part with a memory, though that memory is hidden in another one of these mind palaces which is rather good, don't want to suddenly eat you do I Nerzhei?" she smiled.

"No I don't think I do, though that bunny doesn't fetch me food. No but Nerzhei likes the bunny, which is a problem" I grumble to myself, she then tilted her head at Nerzhei.

"Oh Yeah, i'm the logical side of Blood plus the chewing on your leg part. Though it seems we've mixed personalities again, though in a new way. Think Zombie that wants to eat you, but in a logical way." she giggled. "Hey I like that you know new me, maybe I can be the third personality, after miss logical and miss chew on your leg" she told herself. "Yes I like that plan, though I need a name for myself" I added.

"Hmmm, Droppy. Thats a good name, yes very nice indeed" she finished staring at the dragon. "You can call me, Droppy" she said nodding. 

Droppy liked that name, because she was Blood, and also the zombie thats plague could drop you in seconds. 

[Rising Dusk 26,078]

@Blitz Boom

Rising Dusk could tell the stallion before him had a very busy mind and all those various gizmos sure made for quite the interesting sight.  The only response he could really muster when once again thought of as completely different than one was expecting, was raise his left eyebrow.  Was there a certain look that a pony should have to fit another's idea of being a spell breaker?  Inwardly he simply smirked to himself.  Outwardly though, he lowered his eyebrow, crossed his hooves on the desk and listened.  Once the introductions of the other two were made, Rising Dusk politely nodded his head in greeting.  Offering the filly a warm smile, especially after her adorable little display of her name sake.  It also helped explain that subtle scent of incendiary residue that the pair carried.

He watched as the nicely sealed, and locked, folder came out of Molotov's satchel and came across his desk.  Uncrossing his hooves he spun the folder around until the lock faced him.  So the pair were survivors of passing research along.  Princess Twilight Sparkle and he had exchanged a letter or two, but never met face to face.  For the Boom family to both meet and scare her was rather impressive in of itself.  Checking behind the pair to see if anypony else had come in, only to see the filly going through the trash by the door.  Sadly, she'd only find crumbled up paper balls from when Rising Dusk was bored earlier and shooting them in there.  Next checking behind him, only to find other investigators at their own desks looking busy.  He had time, no need to put this off till later.

Spinning the dial in accordance to the code given to him by Molotov, 8 Gamma 5 6 Delta Pi, listening to each click and whirl from the complicated lock until it disengaged.  His horn came aglow in bright orange and enveloped the plastic folder to lift it off the desk.  Soon it opened and all thirty files came streaming out encased in orange, forming a circle of paper around Rising Dusk.  The folder was put back down and the files spun around him.  Even while still listening, he examined each file.  Files would be lifted up, shuffled around, reorganized and some even folded into different shapes.  Everything here was almost in partial completion, or ideas that rambled on without conclusion.

Rising Dusk didn't remember all that much about meeting Turntable, but the letters and projects that were sent to his office he did.  There were a lot of good ideas here.  Rings that could be produced on larger scales to suppress unicorn horns.  Containment fields to keep dangerous artifacts completely cut off from hurting anypony within five or so feet.  Whole rooms that could be made to prevent any kind of spell casting from happening or even short term suppression when passing through a gate that was less harmful to the pony.

"The formulas are wrong."

His comment was rather neutral on the matter.  Six of the papers were then folded together to make one in the shape of a starburst.  The remaining twenty four went back into the folder for later.  Swinging the folded one onto the desk and slid it toward Molotov's side.  The magic formulas on each of the six papers were combined and folder over top each other until each had added and enhanced another.  Re-crossing his hooves on the desk, he addressed the siblings more directly.

"The formula needs to be cascading or else, you end up with implosion.  These all have great potential that could really help Equestria's law enforcement agencies."

It was always hard to explain to those that couldn't see the actual fabric of magical weave like he could.  Even harder to make it sound more fancy and Wizard-like as there weren't all that many experts in the field of 'magic meddling' as Molotov put it.  The stallion having to learn most of this as he goes along.

 

 

[EQ_Theta 415]

@Blitz Boom

"We can keep going but I hope you don't mind us asking what 'favor' you just mentioned."

So much tension going on in the room right now and both Sen and Lin wouldn't know where to start. To keep prodding for information or to steer clear of Rosa's sudden hostility towards Scarcity. A strange name for a mare with an even stranger profession of selling antiques? A few things did begin to make sense, at least for Sen, when the mention of connections was brought up. If anyone were to get by in a place like Canterlot, it would be in their best interests to look to the more affluent and influential members of high society. Much better than living around in the slums scrounging for food and only focusing on trying to get through the day without starving. And speaking of food, there were these strange things called sandwiches Scarcity mentioned. Both siblings walked up and took one to try with a little more hesitant.

"Hmm... this isn't exactly what I had in mind when sandwiches are brought up. I was expecting something crumbly with more... sand? There's no sand here."

Lin took one bite out of her sandwich and let the taste settle in her mouth before swallowing. "This is strange. What do you call these things that make up this, umm... sandwich? We've never had anything like this."

Sen approached Rosa and quietly asked him to step aside for a moment before asked, "What's your history with Scarcity? You don't seem to like her."
==================================================================================================================

@Blitz Boom @Lucid_Nightlight @Storm Shine

"Um... if I could just mention something. Twilight doesn't take kindly to pranks like that. She may not have guards around her castle like the other princesses but you wouldn't want her getting angry at you."

Starlight was reminded of that lesson, albeit indirectly, back when she tried messing around with a couple of spells. It didn't end well for anypony even though it could've been worse. Fluttershy wouldn't know how her friend would take being pranked like she did before meeting Lucid and Anomaly but if it isn't Twilight who would be getting angry, maybe it would be Spike, and he's got quite a temper.  

[Victoria Sponge 1,014]

@Blitz Boom

"I doubt she'll ever adopt, don't know if she and Paperback could. The child would have one parent who seems to be devoid of emotion and another who is so introverted she barely speaks. They could maybe make it work with my help, but I don't want to end up being a mother to someone else's foals."

As much as she doubted her own abilities to properly look after a child she could at least see herself with foals someday, Caramel was a whole other story.

"If I'm lucky my foals will get some of my bouncy energy and will be like Angel, then they'll probably be bouncing about on my back all the time of their own accord. Not necessarily an ideal situation but better they be on above me than below me. I could cope with that, just how I cope with looking after Angel sometimes."

Victoria had been mulling over the idea of having twins and was beginning to come round to the idea, she knew that in a way perhaps having twins would be easier, it wasn't like she had the choice here anyway, she'd either have twins or she wouldn't, but either way she began to think she could do it. Perhaps the first time she'd been truly optimistic in a long time, it seemed her overly positive cousin was finally having an effect on her emotional stability.

"I think maybe I'd quite like twins, I'd have to look after two at once but that would be the case anyway even if there was a gap of a couple of years, if I do have twins it's easier because I'll only be working with one time frame, they'll be born at roughly the same time, start school at the same time, mature at the same time, fly the nest at the same time. I think that knowing how easily frustrated I get over small things, not having to worry about two foals doing two different things at the same time would be a great help to me."

"Aha! There you go Vicky, now you're thinking like me. Every cloud has a silver lining sweetie, the faster you accept that the faster your life will get a lot brighter."

"I fail to see how triplets could have a silver lining"

"The more the merrier Vicky, your twin logic still applies but now you have three beautiful babies instead of just two."

Victoria chuckled a little, Heather truly could make anything positive, but triplets would be a nightmare in her opinion.

"Well thanks for changing my perspective on it girls, I'll think some more on the matter. I feel a lot better about myself and my future now and I feel more capable of handling such a situation. Now I'm just even more eager to meet this stallion Pop, if I could factor him into my thoughts then I'd feel a lot better."

 

Heather and Lemon jumped at the sudden appearance of the dragon, Lemon was of course more frightened as she worked out that Benny was in fact a dragon and darted once again behind Victoria. Heather did not run but her legs did seem to stiffen, a little like a fainting goat, she did however stay upright this time. Heather managed to reach out a stiff and trembling hoof to Benny, ready to greet him. She paused when he let out a great belch, there was a moment of silence after the fact while Benny looked down at the small white pony in embarrassment, it was broken by hysterical laughter as Heather's legs finally relaxed, causing her to sink to the ground in her hysterics. It was an odd reaction but it relived the tension in the air. The giggling mare managed to pull herself to her feet and shook Benny's clawed hand firmly. 

"Sorry I shouldn't laugh but that was the last thing I expected to hear coming out of your mouth mr dragon. No need to be embarrassed by the way, such a belch just indicates you're a healthy dragon who is eating well. Nice to meet you, I'm Heather, Victoria's cousin. And that quivering mass of yellow fur is Lemon Drizzle, my aunt and Victoria's mother. Don't expect much from her heehee, she's a very timid mare, I think you've met Battenberg? Lemon is the same but ten times worse." 

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@Blitz Boom

His eyes fluttered open as he looked around, now contained in a cell, he sighed, working with others wasn't a strong suit for him. This was his end point, he looked to his chains; iron cast. With a test spell he found that the cell was anti magic as well, and brute strength wouldn't break iron chains easily. "So, you're awake."

Warlock looked up at the guard. "Hey there, want to rub in my face the situation I am in?"

"No, just needed to make sure you were awake. The general would probably want to hear." He said, walking away.

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

Iron Wing smiled slightly at the complements. "First thing we can do is collect as many dark magic artifacts as possible, including the Elements of Disharmony."

The situation here was odd, Sapphire looked at the discussion with a smile, but the termole in the gem that she had, the magic of the glass still affecting her. "Element of Deceit..." Her eye widened a bit, a quick realization popping into her head. The sapphire turning to the exact same color of the element of deceit, covering it with her hoof, she shook her head a bit as the color of the sapphire returned to a blue color. "We must find the Element soon, it's possible Zu might find somepony else who can wield it."

Astral looked at Sapphire, looking at the gem.  "He could disguise it right? He might not even appear to wield it at all."

Sapphire looked to Astral with a grin. "True, but Zu might not know that."

"Did we ever mention his name?" Iron Wing asked, looking to the others.

[Sekel 685]

@Blitz Boom

KARMIC FATE

Karmkc kept right on pushing, even when she felt them pass the door. She shut her eyes, purely concentrating on shoving Zhu forward and saw a slightly raised bit of stone to their left. She opened her eyes and let go of the Serpanther. “This should do it!” Karmic shouted and pressed the raised stone on the floor. The howling wind suddenly ceased and Karmic fell to the floor in a pant, having unwillingly stood tensed against the wind while she had pushed the stone down. Torches magically lit up the room around them, revealing artefacts stacked upon and around crates that reached up to the impossibly high ceiling. The stacks of crates were placed evenly around the room that could fit an entire cottage within it, and looked like they were dusted regularly.

[Moonlit 593]

@Blitz Boom @Dji @Seamore Sandwich "♪Dawnbringer is the apex predator to myself. As in Bookworm and NightTide.♪" Serenade avoids looking at Celestia, as the Solar Alicorn truly scares her. It's partly her Siren nature,and partly having worked in Canterlot being hidden right under her nose. 

[Blitz Boom 4,427]

@Lucid_Nightlight @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine

"Nuhuh, not egging the orphanage. That's like, super evil."

Anomaly had next to no morals really when it came to messing around with others, but even she had some limits, and scaring or making orphans sad were one of them.

Sure, she had visited one, and had meddled a little, but it had not been in a bad way. She had given them candy and treats, and only toyed a little with one of the carers there. She  wondered if he still had that chocolate armadillo following him around actually, or if he had eaten it... Meh, something to check another time. Who knew? Perhaps when she did, it had not been eaten, and instead gone on to spawn small ones. Could be kinda fun if this was the start of a new race, though who could resist the taste of chocolate?

"Twilight's castle is the big shiny one, right? Tricky place to not be seen, but yellow mare says no anyway. I better listen to that then."

A few seconds passed, and a big grin spread on her face.

"Hah, or not. Just have to think of something else, like say... Rose bushes shaped as ponies, that'll make weird faces at her when she's not looking. Or vines up the castle walls with decorative pumpkins. Grass with pollen like itching powder perhaps? Something fun and nature-like. Come on yellow mare, your friend can't be a big borehole, have to be something fun to do against her. Does she have a favorite flower I could grow there, who sings rowdy sailor songs?"

Anomaly figured that Fluttershy meant that she could not do pranks like she had done here, or small scale stuff like egging, but messing with a garden wouldn't be the same thing. Perhaps she needed to grow a garden too, but that was barely a challenge.

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

 

@BloodDrops

Nerzhei were rubbing her forehead in a combined attempt at battling another annoyance-induced migraine, and a somewhat classy facepalm, at the flood of things she were now presented with from the zombie mares side.

"I'm going to need to learn some new profanities..."

A sip of elixir were needed after all to stem the tide before she could address Blood, or Droppy, or whatever third name she would have picked in five minutes from now.

"With the greatest degree of respect I can muster, you're thinking too narrowly on this. Whatever mental exercise you have taken to use, I highly doubt it will last for the rest of the eternity you wander around to potentially infect other beings. If you think it is kept down and you're now more logical in your food choices, then fine, it will make things easier for the time being, but it is not an excuse to not seek assistance in fixing your infection issue. The armor does some, but it won't last, just like any prison your have trapped your mangled mind in."

She were trying hard to not just roll her eyes and tell the mare outright that she were thinking with a brain that had clearly melted away ages ago, but her opinion was still not all that well hidden. Even with the pain killers helping on the pain in her arm, as well as the oils they had rubbed on it prior to bandaging it up, it only removed the pain aspect of her irritated annoyance towards what *Droppy* said. The part of her mind that just inherently disliked idiotic things were still doing well, and cranky over what she had been told after all of her preparations.

"Regardless, you don't need to think about the town anyway. I managed to find the pony, and he told me that it had been attacked a month back, with no trace of the other townsponies. He have told me of someone who have taken up the mantle somewhere else though. We will go there and talk with him about this.

As for the dog food, it was the only thing they had in town. Closest thing they had to a butcher left yesterday, so it were the only thing that seemed to be workable. I suppose it can still be used as bait for actual prey at least, which is going to need to be caught. We're a few days away from the town in question, and I'll need rations, just in case. I doubt this will last long."

She went to the tree and took down the bag with the fish she had left behind. A meager meal for Droppy likely, but it were what she had to work with until she could find some tracks of better prey, like a boar. There should be enough meat on one of those to last for at least a day, if she cut and gave out proper portions of it to the zombie mare.

"Now then, Droppy, can we be on our way, or do you have an actual, urgent reason why trying to cure you isn't a worthwhile thing to do?"

Nerzhei highly doubted it, but she would need to try and be on this mare's somewhat good side to make things work more smoothly. She might have hundreds, if not thousands of years to live, but that didn't mean that she wanted to spent it all babysitting this wandering disease factory, so for her, finding a way to negate her disease, or at least make it non-infectious, were a somewhat urgent priority.

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

 

@Rising Dusk

"That ain't the only way it could go wrong. look at the internal structure of the cage he thought off. Stretching it thin is possible, but without reinforcements and some way to redirect the flow of energy, the cage will become densely magnetized and the sudden gravity increase from that will smash it all into a ball the size of my hoof in less than 8 seconds. Sure that keeps the target from casting magic, but it's way too gruesome. Princess Celestia wouldn't like it if we let that be a possible outcome before presenting it to her."

While it were different around town how and to whom they would present their findings, it were tradition in his family to only show them directly to the princess of the sun herself. As the ruler of Equestria, they had long believed that any sort of technological progress they could make should be presented to her for approval, and all of them yearned for that chance in the sun, so to speak, to get her approval of something they had aspired to benefit the country. They would show lesser things at smaller conventions if they felt like showing off, but the actual good stuff were not presented to anypony lesser than the royal highness herself.

It were usually decades between them getting something done that they believed good enough to present to the princess herself, as they were insanely worried that they'd show her something that would then malfunction, but the things they did show were rather ingenious he'd say. His great, great grandfather had been a key instrument in providing the base for the train that were used throughout the country, and had been the reason why their family had been invited into the town of Center Zero in the first place actually. It was meant as a town for great minds and scientists, but they had needed somepony who were actually able to get some physical things done as well, and tend to the defenses of their home, so they had sought out some capable inventors. Igneous Boom were pretty much their top choice, and then things had gone on as they then did.

Several generations and lab accidents later, here were the newest branches on the tree, and neither of them had made something to show the princess. Blitz were far too young to have gotten to that point, even though she had started tinkering a good four years earlier than any in the family had thought would happen, and Molotov... Well, he were still waiting until he could perfect the wings he were using.

They were workable, and should be possible to use by anypony, but they needed to look a lot better before he could present them, the charge should be higher, or an indicator should be present to avoid somepony falling out of the sky on a low charge, and he still had some issues with the implant needed to work these. Unicorns had a nearly 96% guarantee'd chance to be able to use it o manipulate the things, but earth ponies worked at a different brain wave, and it presented him with problems. Problems that had, so far, made it so that the success chance with them were only 7%. By far not enough to qualify as a success.

"You seem to understand the magic part of this mate. Feel like mashing our heads together one day and see if we can work out a base for a prototype unit? I swear that I won't steal the credit either. I'm running things legit with no cranks and bolts in bad places. Long as you don't nick some of my work either. Fairs fair here, right?"

He heard the sound of the trash can tip over as Blitz had gone towards digging into the bottom of it now, but still only finding paper. So far she hadn't set any of it on fire, so that was good, but he should still hold an ear out. He never knew what might happen with her around.

She took far too much after their grandfather, Hazard Boom. The same great mind, scattered to the winds, and the same liking to explosives. His mother had been thrilled about it, since she admired her father, and were somewhat saddened that the others of them were more inclined towards more functional, lasting things, but of course, all of them were worried too. Blitz were a hazard to herself as much as anypony else, since she were still trying to get the grasp of the concept of safety measures. Their mother had thought she had more time to teach that, but then Blitz had hit six and almost leveled the workshop with spare bits and stolen tools, so that went out the window. Usually none of them got anything really done until they hit ten, but Blitz had been out and earn her cutie mark early on there. Thankfully she mostly stuck to fireworks, but still, he had seen the kind of high explosives she could make if left to her own devices for too long.

"You've been to the east side of town before, Dusky? Bit of the edge, I got a workshop going in the old steel mill, if you know that one? Great space, the noise isn't bad for the complaining ninnies around the area, and there's barely a chance to catch anything on fire after I incinerated the vegetation."

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

 

@EQ_Theta

"Sandwiches can be made of what you wish, but as we are ponies, it is customary to use only vegetarian ingredients. In this case, it is freshly made bread, with honey-roasted mushrooms, crispy salad, ripe tomatoes, and of course, a generous amount of seasoned mustard, to ensure it is not too dry. The plate next to it also includes pecan nuts, if it holds interest to you.

As for the favor, you needn't worry much. What i ask is simply a deliverance of something I seek. A fetch quest, if you will. But it seems you have things to discuss among yourselves first, so do please finish that whilst Amethyst and I go and address the workers. It will be but a few minutes."

Amethyst were somewhat hesitant, but she went with Scarcity as the mare wandered elegantly towards the back room. It left the antique dealer with no ears in the room, but she likely didn't think she needed it. What she could provide of help could be the difference between bars and freedom for Filigree, and she were well aware of the fact that the incarceration were a highly sought commodity for the beings in the room. Enough to make her think little of what slander Rosa would bring upon her name.

And speaking of which, the bat pony hesitantly had taken a sandwich as well, as he had not been able to eat for some time after all of this had started, and he did feel somewhat peckish. His fur matched the wings, so there was nothing special to see from the lower half of his face being exposed, beyond perhaps dental care, which seemed to be fine. A disappointment if anypony thought that he were hiding many hideous scars on his face, or something similar.

He were halfway through when he were dragged to the side by Sen, who wished to know about his information regarding Scarcity.

"I can only tell you accusations. Even standing in the same room as her, and seeing what she have done, I have nothing to prove things. Let that be the first thing to know about her: Whatever you think you might have on her, don't bother taking it forth. Nothing sticks, and she knows how to quiet slander, or return the favor in kind.

As for how I know her... I was the seventh spy from my town that was sent to investigate her. The six before had either been disgraced, found nothing, or had suddenly left without a word to work elsewhere. I have no idea what our mayors reason were for trying to hold something over her head, but whatever it was, he wasn't letting up.

The information I was given were simple: Scarcity was a wealthy antique dealer with ties across Equestria and beyond, who had made a name for herself by procuring several artifacts, and donating anything of significant historical value tot he country in question's museums. Good publicity stunts, though officially, that was it. Just a salespony with ties and charisma."

He chewed down another bite and looked tot he side, where Omen were currently eating the plate the first batch of sandwiches had stood on.

"It took twenty days of shadowing her before I found something else than that. An auction she traveled through back channels and portals to reach, selling things that wasn't just of historical value, but highly magical and dangerous items too. We're talking cursed items along the lines of the Alicorn Amulet, or statues from forgotten civilizations, as well as machines that from the name weren't made with good intentions and so forth.

I knocked out somepony else, stashed them in a back room, and took their place among the buyers, waiting to see what this was about and memorizing as many faces as I could.

Somepony was always watching me in return though, so I couldn't wander off to gather up anything beyond the few things I had found before that, but it wasn't as if I should move, considering Scarcity placed herself right next to me and started chatting away about the things on stage, frowning at what she considered to be *ridiculously plain* items, and so on. I couldn't do more than just nod or shake my head, and when it was all done, all she did were to reach in close and whisper in my ear *Do come look for me if you seek work my dear spy. I could use somepony of your talent.*

She had known she were being watched the entire time and had gone anyway. She didn't say anything when I left through the door and flew off, carrying more than enough evidence to fell down anypony that had been in that room.".

He narrowed his eyes and chewed a little extra hard on his snack now that the last bits of this story went through his mind.

"It only took e six hours to return with a squadron to gather more evidence, but when we got there, it was clear. No beings, no auction, not even the building they had been in. There was just a field of grass and trees that looked as if it had been there for years.

All the evidence I gathered led nowhere either, and the beings seen were matched with several that had strong ties to the black market, but the few that we managed to wrangle in from other things we had on them to turn on their fellows, didn't give us anything on her, or the others. The only thing they said were that they knew better than to cause trouble with somepony like her, and then clamped up.

The auction led nowhere whatsoever. It had been arranged, blatantly shoved in my face, and then taken away without a trace or anything tangible to hold over anypony that we didn't already have enough on already, and I'm positive that she were behind it all. Nopony would be that confident in letting a spy join in unless they had full control over the situation, and she had me on a leash so short I might as well have been glued to her.

No matter how much I looked after that, she didn't do anything else again. I had gotten the taste of the truth she wanted me to see to try and entice me into joining her, and that was it.

Trying to bring her in is the next-biggest failure and embarrassment of my life, so yes, I carry resentment towards her. Do I think that she can actually help though? Begrudgingly, yes, and I am inclined to take her offer, depending on what she wants in return. I want Filigree down more than I want to spite Scarcity, though the lot of you will need to make up your own mind about her, and this favor she wants done.

If you accept it, try and spin getting something on Filigree as something she does only for me, so you can gain something from the work as well. She is a businesspony more than anything, so perhaps you can strike a deal for something you'd want."

Scarcity were, from his observations, a trouble solver that you did not wish to land on the bad hoof of, lest you became trouble in her eyes. But she were also as honest of a businesspony as you could expect from somepony with ties to the black market. If she thought it was gainful for her to hire outside help, she would ensure that they got compensated with something they wanted, as long as it was within certain limits. In his case, it would be for information, in the others... He didn't know what they might want if it were, but they'd have to decide on their own if they would even take her up on her offer to begin with. He were pretty much baited and hooked from what she could give him, so it was all but guaranteed that he would do what was asked at least.

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

 

@Victoria Sponge

Benny wasn't exactly acting any less embarrassed when the laughter started. Quite the opposite actually, as he went down on his stomach with his arms covering his brightly red face. Even with her having taken his claw to shake, it wouldn't stop this, and he'd frankly not shake it back as he were too busy being mortified at his own actions.

"Sorry sorry sorry..."

Pop went over to her mate and nuzzled his arms aside with her muzzle, at which point he'd raise his face slightly to face her with those big puppy eyes of his, and she kissed him right on the snoot.

"Come on you big dork, let's get you up."

She talked to him with loving words and kissed him again on the forehead to make him feel better, before nuzzling him under the neck and pushing upwards to try and make the now chuckling dragon get back on his feet. It'd help pushing him along at least as he got back up, and looked down on his only half-head shorter mate with a great blush still on his cheeks.

Pop were about to say something when he put a finger on her lips, and gave her a kiss on the forehead in return, causing her to be the one to blush up alongside him now.

"Thank you."

The two of them were a weird couple, but times like this just kept proving to him that she loved him as much as he did her. How she keep dealing with his embarrassing little displays like that were more than enough evidence, if how she looked at him didn't already.

*sigh* He really had to remember to get away to have that suit made sooner, rather than later, so he could finally get around to proposing.

Trying to get his thoughts away from how Pop would look in a dress, he instead turned to the other ponies again, and Heather in particular.

"I'm sorry about that, I just... There was still cake, and it smelled really good, so I went into the blueberry one a little before you arrived and had a little taste. Guess it wanted to say hi too, heh... Hehe..."

He scratched the back of his head and glanced to the side, looking about as awkward as he felt.

"Battenberg was the ones who made the cake, so I met her, yeah. She didn't seem to be timid though when we were there though, but I mean, things might be different with others. You don't need to worry though miss. I'm a Royal Guard, and we don't hurt civilians. Though uhm... Mom might verbally though, so perhaps it's best if we stay out here for a bit. I can pick up some of the cake if you want? It's still warm."

"That'd be nice. Could you perhaps bring some water and cups too?"

"Right on it."

Benny went back into the house to look for the things asked for, which would mainly not be an issue beyond the cups. That might be difficult with the kitchen being how it were right ow, but he'd see. perhaps Jade was too busy with his dad - who would hopefully get some uninterrupted sleep now - to really bite notice in him.

"It's okay Lemon, he's gone for a bit.

So yeah, that is my mate Benny. He's really sweet, but sometimes he make a first impression that leaves him a little embarrassed, and things goes a little weird.

He will probably be back in a minute or so, but I don't know if you'd prefer to be away when that is, Lemon? He's harmless, but I understand that not everypony does well with even the pony-sized dragons. I'm really sorry that I didn't think of this before we knocked on the door."

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

 

@Lloyd

Captain Hailstorm were none too pleased with seeing that one of his subordinates had decided to take his own actions, and thought to go to the generals right away, but he would have to reprimand the guard for this later. Perhaps setting him on kitchen duty for a while would leave him time to think.

"The situation you are in is that you are imprisoned, and you're not getting out of here again. Your attack on Equestria failed, witch.

Now you are going to tell us where to find your accomplish, and where you have hidden any Elements of Disharmony that you have gotten in possession of, or this interrogation is going to start to go a lot rougher. I have no reason to show kindness to enemies of the kingdom."

He wasn't actually going to torture Warlock, as that was strictly against the law, and he were bound by his duty, but perhaps Warlock did not know that. In his experience, evil beings often thought that others were willing to be as depraved in their methods as they themselves were, so you could make them believe plenty of things.

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

 

@Lloyd

"The c-captain said his name in the cell. He was the o-one who escaped."

Void let out a nervous response to the question, as the others had started to look between one another as if to silently say that they had heard nothing about this.

"Very well. We had already prepared to send out word to find Zhu regardless though, so this changes little, beyond us needing to do with a more thorough examination when it is."

"Watch out for the wind magic."

Scorn had been silent for a while, and standing motionless in the corner examining things, so he had mainly been ignored thus far. Tidal Wave and Screecher looked towards him with some small degree of acknowledgement - and in Tidal Wave's case, a channeling glimpse as well - in their eyes, but they kept not addressing him further for the time being.

"We need more information. Sapphire, tell us what you know about this, please. I suspect you know more than you are letting on, especially after what happened just now."

Screecher had not missed that Sapphire's gem eye had acted erratically. To the full extend she didn't see though, as Sapphire had covered it up, but after all were said and done, she seemed to be in possession of some kind of knowledge about this, and the bat pony wanted that information. Dealing with the elements, they were going to need as many details as they could get, not more deceit in the first place.

Of course, Screecher and the others wouldn't know the connection Emerald had to the element, as only Sapphire had been alive when her sister had been around it to see the effects, and Scorn had only shared what he knew, which were that it was sought after by Emerald. That she believed it to be the key to unlocking the curse that kept her from getting a body of her own, were a burden that only Sapphire would potentially know, though she also seemed to know that it wouldn't work, and that the elimination of Emerald's original, diseased body, had caused this parasitic stage, which wouldn't end with something as simple as the gem crushing the lock keeping the majority of Emerald's powers down.

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

 

@Dji

Zhu had almost been thrown forth when the wind stopped, from the opposite winds that he had to use to keep them in check, b ut he had managed to only slide forth and narrowly missed a crate instead. Which, from the looks of things, were fortunate.

"This isn't good."

It was not just that they had found a chamber with several items that he could identify as being important and/or magical through stories and pictures he had encountered throughout the years, it was also that the whole thing seemed to be kept somewhat clean. Which meant that they had either run into the lair of some kind of hoarder that lived beneath the castle, or worse, they had accidentally managed to find a secret passage into the castle's storage of dangerous relics. Which meant that they were still trapped in said castle, but were now also around things deemed too dangerous to keep in the public for various reasons.

"I wouldn't advise you to touch anything. In case this truly is the forbidden relics that Equestria hides from the public's eyes, many of them would be highly dangerous to even get near."

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

 

@Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich @Dji

"So s-sirens are above ponies, but alicorns are above sirens?"

It sounded like this was the case, though not in the same way, surely. Sirens had great big teeth and could munch on something like a pony, even if Serenade didn't.. Alicorns however, didn't eat meat. At least they didn't when she was around, and that was one of the things she didn't think had changed. Alicorns were still ponies after all, and it was bad for them to ingest meat.

Serenade must have meant it more as in a threat level thing. Ponies were afraid of her kind, and in turn, she were afraid of alicorns, perhaps because of their high magically powers. Cherish was afraid of unicorns because of their magic too, so it wasn't like she couldn't understand fearing that sort of thing, and unicorns were pretty weak compared to alicorns.

"Where oes something like c-changelings fit in then? They go for ponies, but a-are they above or below sirens?"

Cherish was not aware of the hostility there were between the two races, so whatever answer Serenade were going to come with from this question, had a good chance of spooking the spirit. Might be that she was dead, but instincts were instincts after all.

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine

Anomaly had a point, egging an orphanage would be pretty wrong.

"Yea, you're probably right, plus they were pretty nice to me when I lived there as a foal, and we'll have to listen to Fluttershy about not egging the castle, I don't wanna get the stare. Oh! Have you been banned from any stores around here? Maybe we can egg them!"

An egg appeared in Lucid's hoof and he threw it at straight at Anomaly. Whether or not it would get her... he had no idea, she seemed rather unpredictable.

[EQ_Theta 415]

@Blitz Boom

"I really wouldn't know what to ask for, honestly. I guess I'm just satisfied with what I have right now and asking for something more.... Well, it might lead to more regrets I wouldn't want to have. If you insist we work together with Scarcity, I suppose there's no harm with that."

She may not seem much but the way Rosa spoke about her gave Sen chills. Being seemingly in the know about everyone, always watching from eyes that may not be all that visible. That left Sen quiet for a bit, merely munching on his sandwich but not noticing the taste. It sounded familiar but Scarcity's case sounded low-key compared to past experiences. Lin overheard the story and remembered the meeting in the sanctuary. If she couldn't feel safe in a place that was meant to be so well hidden no one could find it, what more could someone like Scarcity do in a situation like that? It sounded like connections meant more than just meeting others and expanding their circle. Expanding influence through invisible webs, it is a gamble if they found themselves part of it. Frankly, Lin had a feeling she and Sen found themselves part of said web but whether they would take advantage of it, that was another question altogether. 

Right now, it was one mere task. Gather something and return it. It sounded so simple and yet it may lead to more. Exactly what, they weren't certain, but what have they to lose? 

"I guess we can go along with her request," Lin said, jumping into the conversation. "We've already seen just how bad things can get with Filigree around. I suppose counting on Scarcity's help is the way to go."

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

@Blitz Boom @Storm Shine @Lucid_Nightlight

A map in the throne room, numerous utility closets, rooms for Starlight, Spike, and herself... there wasn't much else other than a library and the usual rooms anyone would expect in an average home in the castle. Fluttershy even doubts if any of the current occupants in the castle ever dabbled in gardening. 

"Well, I... wouldn't know what flowers she likes. There no room for a garden in the castle. Twilight frequently goes to the hayburger place in town, though. It's a long purple cabin with straw on the roof. It's usually busy during lunchtime, however." 

[Rising Dusk 26,078]

@Blitz Boom

Rising Dusk wasn't going to pretend to know anything about the more mechanical sides to the flies he just put away into the folder.  He was far more focused on identifying the magical parts that came with them.  That was more his language.  Granted most the time somepony was talking magic spells with him, he was mostly thinking about the ways to counter them.  Comes with the territory he guessed.  Hearing though that the mechanical side of the designs could lead to a rather... drastic flaw, he figured that he only had half the puzzle to these designs.  Of course though, this was quickly confirmed by the Boom brother when his little rant continued.  Presenting such things to Princess Celestia weren't something that he considered.  The higher ups in his office chain dealt more directly with her or the at least the Royal Guards.  He'd be more interested in presenting this kind of stuff to Princess Luna or Princess Twilight Sparkle, but that's neither here nor there.

"Seems fair."

The midnight blue stallion agreed.  It was his duty after all to ensure the safety of the citizens of Equestria, even in his own way, and a lot of these designs could go a long way in helping to do that.  Rising Dusk's ear flicked as the sound of a tipped over trash can rang out, his attention drawn to the filly trying to dig to the bottom as if looking for something.  Trash was taking out by the janitor every night, and so far he was the only one tossing things into it before popping open the book he'd been reading when they arrived.

He has lived here long enough to have been to most part of the city by now.  Finishing those missing pieces off due his duties as an investigator.  A case or two had drawn him to the east side of the city and he had a vague idea on where Molotov was referring to.  Not that he remembered there being a steel mill in the area, but that was more than easy to look up and find.

"As your little sister discovered.  I don't have much else to do at the moment.  I can come down to your workshop after my shift is finished for further discussion."

Rising Dusk finally agreed to putting their heads together to try and get these designs to on the right path, offering a smile.  Not really looking to dig deep into the comment about the removal of vegetation by fire, reserving judgement until he actually saw the place. 

[Sekel 685]

@Blitz Boom

KARMIC FATE

"Oops," Karmic said casually, intentionally knocking over a vase that had the picture of Nightmare Moon snarling with her horn lit up in a menacing manner. "Guess you should have told me that sooner," she added, looking at Zhu. "If you intend to leave now, I'm not coming with you. I've had enough tight corridors to last a lifetime."

[Moonlit 593]

@Dji @Seamore Sandwich @Blitz Boom Serenade opens an eye and looks at Cherish, and tries not to growl '♪♪The Primordials are NOTHING like us Sirens♪♪" Serenade's eyes flash red, and her voice takes on an echo, like there are two voices talking. 

[Blitz Boom 4,427]

@Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich @Dji

Cherish's eyes widened, as the sirens response starts to frighten her. The hostility that seemed to have gone over everything of Serenade - even her eyes - were alarming the spirit, and she didn't know what was going to happen. Except that it seemed like danger, and that shook her.

"I-I-I""

A crystal to the left side of Serenade started to vibrate as Cherish flickered in the air. A slowly rising look of horror went over the mare's face as she stared up at Serenade, and took a shaking step back.

"Didn't k-know. I was j-just..."

The flickering increased as she covered to the floor, like a dog who realized it had been caught in something bad. Around them, the vibrating crystals began to increase in numbers, joining in on a somewhat ominous symphony.

A loose one started to move across the floor towards Cherish, who were beginning to go from scared, to mortified as she glanced at Serenade.

Emotions were an issue in her state. Anger let to outbursts of telekinetic waves, moodiness slowly affected those around her, happiness made her float a hoof above ground, without her being able to go down, and so on. Every tangible emotion, in enough of a *dosage* would make her react in some form or another, and unfortunately, fear were one of the bad ones.

Flickering in an out of sight were an instinctual, defensive maneuver, whilst the crystals signaled that she were starting on a mode closely related to what others would call a poltergeist. The difference were that she could eventually calm herself down again, once she institutionally believed the thing that made her afraid were gone, or taken care off, yet the results were the same. Strong, uncontrolled clashing and trashing of items and spectral energy, in an attempt to keep herself safe.

The fright she had gotten were spiraling her down this path, and she couldn't stop it. Emotions were strong in her case, and feeling one thing that could suddenly start to get a life of it's own were rare, but situations like now, where she had already been shaken firmly by being in the presence of the princesses, caused the rational part of her brain to be unable to overshadow the terror that was creeping over her, and without external input from somepony who could direct her brain or her emotions to calmer seas, she might first be able to take over once it was too late, and somepony had been hurt.

Serenade might want to get everypony out of Cherish's reach soon, or try and calm her down somehow before things escalated further. Otherwise, things could end up going badly.

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

 

@Dji

Zhu threw himself at the vase, putting his paws under it to prevent the vase from shattering on the floor, and barely managed to catch it. From the pained yelp that followed however, things were not as simple as preventing that though.

As it had tipped to the side fully, something had slid out of there and crawled up his sleeve, connecting him with the porcelain container. It was pouring out with greater intensity as the seconds passed by and he convulsed, looking like he were trying to fight something that wasn't there.

He starred into the ceiling suddenly, a dark mist starting to cover the otherwise golden eyes, and a voice beginning to slowly whisper through the room.

"The night shall last E-"

With a half-scream, half cry, Zhu managed to use what strength he could muster to roll, and cause the vase to stand upright again. The dark liquid that had been pouring into his robes violently went back into the vase, as the voice vanished and he was left to collapse to his stomach, clutching his head in his paws.

"Mother, don't... I didn't have a choice..."

His words were more whimpers as he squirmed, trying to fight the lingering nightmare that had tried to overtake him. A *gift* from Nightmare Moon, that had been contained in the vase, yet for a long time had started to collect dust along with the other horrendous items in here. Until a certain mare had tipped it over, and almost caused a chain reaction that could well have caused calamity for Equestria. It was not easy to contain a nightmare this evil, and if Zhu had been overtaken, it might not have taken long before he were not the only one shown the worst thing they could imagine.

With Luna back to help in the dreams of ponies all over the country, it may well have been easier to stop this thing this time around. Or it would have engulfed her, and with the elements currently gone, seeing the return of Nightmare Moon in one way or another, were a grim future to face.

Zhu were going to need a moment to regain himself. If what had been shown had not convinced Karmic that meddling with things in here were a bad idea though, and she poked to further stuff, he would not be able to stop her the next time. Whatever she might unleash would be on her head then.

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

 

@Rising Dusk

Molotov grinned at Rising and took a step back from the desk.

"We got a deal then, Dusky. I'll make sure to power down the defense system and remove anything sensitive before you show up. Come on Blitz, let's get the trash cleaned up and then be on our way, eh? I remember a certain somepony was working on something she wanted to go back to."

Blitz lifted her face from the trash can, not as disappointing anymore as she had just been over finding nothing in here. To not even find a paperclip was pretty meh in her mind, and made her miss the container near the blacksmith back in ponyville, but getting her thoughts back to a project she had been working on back at the workshop before Molotov had told her they needed to go and see the sun a bit, made her almost forget that this had been a bust.

She'd gather up the paper in the trash can again - a few times she tried to throw one in, but missed around half of the time - and soon would stand next to it, grinning and bouncing in place with a slightly maniacal, highly impatient look in her eyes.

"Heh, played like a fiddle. See you later alligator."

The two of them would leave, and wouldn't be seen anywhere until Rising would eventually get to the workshop.

It would be impossible to miss. In a ten meter radius around the building, every sign of plant life had been scorched, and replaced with gravel instead. The building - which had already been pretty sturdy - had been reinforced with plate of thick steel, the windows were of a stronger kind that didn't shatter from small stuff like shrapnel being fired at it, and three chimney's had been installed in the building, all smoking to some degree.

Above the door, a big, wooden frame would declare this to be *Molotov Boom's genius workshop* with the words *And Blitz* painted in crude letters below, with an arrow pointing it to be right before their shared last name.

There would be things hanging down from the sides of the walls that seemed like pipes with scopes, hangers with nets, what appeared to be some kind of flamethrower, and who knew what else that just wasn't shown beneath the plates. Evidently, Molotov wanted this home to be safe, which were hardly surprising considering his last one were overrun. Yet it might make for a less than welcoming sight to any potential visitors, such as the one who would be joining them that day.

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

 

@EQ_Theta

"Good, we all agree then. Though let's wait and hear what it is that she wants first. I am not kidnapping somepony for her."

"Kidnapping? Oh heavens be, what have you been trying to make these poor souls believe of me?"

Scarcity came without Amethyst from the other room, just in time to hear that apparently, a certain somepony believed her to want them to kidnap a living being.

"I haven't told them anything that isn't true."

"Truth is a malleable thing dear. You shouldn't trust it as much as you seem to do."

She knew that she were pushing his buttons, but Scarcity could simply not resist. Getting him slightly unbalanced by having his personal vendetta against their *fun* in the past were not beneficial as such, but really, if he did not wish for her to push his buttons, he should not present them so prominently. She were simply a mare after all, prone to temptation.

Wandering past him a little, she put herself in a position were the three gathered beings would be able to see her well, before she would begin to talk.

"That aside, I can assure you that I hold no interest in sending you to grab somepony for me. Rather, I have a certain object that I wish to have collected, which have proven problematic. I can assure you that retrieving it is perfectly legal, before you say something dear, but it is heavy, and placed in a fragile environment. Lifting it out normally have become nearly impossible without damaging it, and that is not an option.

I have been told that you have access to portals however. A marvelous little thing such as that would be most helpful in this endeavor, and would make me highly grateful. Which in turn comes around to help you as well."

"Stop dancing around the subject. What is it that you want?"

Scarcity used her horn to float a folded parchment out and unfolded it in front of the group, giving them a view of the item she wished to gain.

"It is called *The Three Sister's Symphony*. A marvelous statue depicting the three large sirens who terrorized Equestria long ago, made from sturdy granite by a group who found themselves to worship them as their masters. It is around three regular ponies tall, with quite a width to give space for the details of the three of them rising up towards this single note, carved above them. A rather breathtaking piece, for those who have an eye for that.

Some years past, the temple it were in were reclaimed by the ocean, off the northern coast, and while the other items in there have been retrieved and prepared by other hooves and hands through the time since it sank, the statue remains, and I have a deadline in a few weeks where it is needed."

"To what ends?"

Scarcity let out a short, pearly laughter at Rosa's suspicion. He really were adorable.

"It is an anniversary of sorts for the calamities that have befallen Equestria. What better time for me arrive with pieces depicting some of the beings that have been defeated by the kingdom, and donate them all to the museum in Canterlot?"

"...A publicity stunt? Is that all this is for?"

"Never underestimate good press dear. I already have several displays of everything from Discord to Tirek, Nightmare Moon and so forth prepared, yet the siren statue would complete the set, and take center stage above the rest.

The last time I had workers seeing if they could retrieve the statue, the temple were not flooded, yet if it have become that since, I would wait for the tide. It is not far out into the ocean, so the worst can be avoided with some patience. Also, you are not to touch the large, golden statue, or the box within the center of the room. It is a guarded relic that should not be moved, though as long as you stay clear of that, the golden statue should not become an issue. I trust that you can set aside the urge to be greedy, if you know it will be a painful experience?"

"Just give us a direction. Though i swear, if this is a trap, or I find out the statue is haunted or something akin to that-"

"Do not shame yourself by finishing that sentence. Haunted items in a museum would hardly be good press, and would in essence make the statue worthless. What possible interest could I have in having such a thing clung to my name?"

Rosa thought on it as Scarcity withdrew a parcel with the details they would need to locate the statue, yet he couldn't find a good answer. To smear somepony else's name was his best bet, but if she were truly donating this herself, then it would be a nightmare for her. She could be lying about wanting it to be donated though, but something told him that she were not. It would be fitting for her to try and gain herself more of a name to expand her network and business.

"I will make sure to have something ready that will incriminate Filigree before the weekend ends, though in case you fail, said information may end up simply disappearing. A dreadful shame, I'm sure.

Now then, is there anything else you would need from me before you find yourself on your way darlings? You have three days, so there is hardly a rush on this, but I have many to contact, so I will more than likely not be able to attend more meetings such as this for at least another day and a half. It is better for us all if we have the details sorted before that, no?"

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

 

@EQ_Theta @Lucid_Nightlight

The egg hit her splat in the face, and spread all over her orange head like she had been sprayed with mud.

Her tongue slithered out and took a lick of it, before the draconequus clacked her teeth together a little whilst tasting it.

"...Bleargh, bad taste."

She grimaced whilst the remnants of the egg got sucked into her head, where nopony with any degree of sanity should know what happened to it. At best, it was getting eaten, and the grimace going on would be from the taste. At worst, she had put it into her head, collected it and prepared to have it hatch into some kind of monster at an ill opportune time.

"You need better eggs. Bigger too. Like an Ostrich. And nuhuh, I haven't been banned in town yet. I only got in here like th- Huh?"

Anomaly's eyes went as big as saucers for a moment after Fluttershy spoke, and her focus trailed away from the

"No garden? What kind of monster doesn't like to have nature? Boo to the egging, I'm gonna make one around the castle, and she's gonna like it. We can do weird stuff in town too, but before the day is done, it's garden o'clock.

And the princess gonna like pest-eating tulips then. Plants with fangs are way cool."

The draconequus were all about nature, and hearing that somepony she had decided to mess with didn't even have a garden was wrong to her. It might end up being something profoundly weird she would grow around the magical castle, granted, but it would still be something, and that was seriously needed. What was the point in making vines grow, if there wasn't any other sort of vegetation nearby to make it clash, or seem like the garden had decided to revolt? Details people!

Edited April 26, 2018 by Blitz Boom

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@EQ_Theta @Blitz Boom

"Yea, gardens are nice, but we should also get that long some guards! Seriously, how crazy would it be if she published some weird friendship journal book, ponies start crowding the castle and scream, and there were no guards to make them leave? How crazy would that be?"

That's one thing that confused Lucid. What kind of princess doesn't have guards?

"We should get her a garden, guards, and ask her if she can make me exempt from all laws. That would be fun!"

[EQ_Theta 415]

@Blitz Boom @Lucid_Nightlight

Fluttershy mouth can sometimes get carried away. While she does feel that Twilight could use a garden on some days, it she may have ended up giving away too much information. Guilt on her part? Maybe. Maybe not; but what happens now would be on her. Twilight can occasionally have a very scathing talk about how angry or disappointed she is when something goes horribly wrong and the pegasus knows it. 

"I'll tag along, if that's alright with you," Fluttershy meekly said. "Make sure you don't get anyone into... trouble."

Angel didn't take kindly to that, sensing just how bad that idea is, but then he cares a little too much about Fluttershy to leave her be. Disappointed as he may be, he begrudging climb up to the pegasus's back and tags along as well. 

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@Blitz Boom

"Okay, some questions first before we're off. What is the name of this northern coast area? Where is it? How do we know when, or if we see the cave? What can we expect in the cave on the way to the statue? Terribly sorry if we have many more things to ask. We aren't familiar with many locations around Equestria and my ability to open gates relies on having been to a location and seeing it once. This is going to make the trip longer if it is a long way away from here." 

Time is precious, a thing that would hamper their progress while working with Scarcity. The siblings don't know a thing about how she would react to  the questions or the caveats to Lin's abilities. It would be terribly shameful of them to put out an air of confidence earlier when choosing to accept working with Scarcity on this but now, they might take that back. Scarcity might see Lin making an excuse to not go but despite all of this, she knows herself and the limits of her powers. Who the Scarcity is without the niceties would probably scare both Sen and Lin stiff. 

They know what they're supposed to do but then, Equestria's challenges would very much be different from those faced back home. Terrain, locales, personalities, all unknowns, and each one could spell the end for them.

[Rising Dusk 26,078]

@Blitz Boom

Rising Dusk nodded his head in reply to the preparations that the other stallion was planning on doing for his arrival.  Watching silently as the little filly went about cleaning up after herself from the tipped over trash can.  A smirk touching the corner of his lips as she attempted to throw the trash into the can, not all that dissimilar to what he was doing earlier to fight his bordem.   

"Fare the well Boom siblings.  And thank you for this delivery."

These were his parting words to the pair before they left the Office of Magical Investigations.  His attention brought back to the folded files on his desk in the shape of a starburst and the remaining files that were tucked away in the plastic folder.  The curved horn on his head ignited with orange and the folded starburst as pulled into the plastic folder a after being enveloped with magic.  The folder was then pulled off his desk to be placed into his bag that had been placed behind his desk for later.

The rest of Rising Dusk's day was pretty uneventful, especially compared to the meeting he had with the Boom siblings.  Most of it was spent reading that Daring Do book from earlier and filing some paperwork.  When his shift was over, he attended the end of the day meeting to give turn over to the night shift rolling in.  It wasn't a very big crew, just enough to tend to the desk in case of emergencies.  Soon he was lifting his bag to drape over his back, each stamped with his cutie mark, and heading out the door.  Stopping by the street vendor that always set up shop just outside the agency and got himself a quick hayburger before heading out toward the east side of the city.

It was a pretty fair distance away from where Rising Dusk worked and live, but he didn't mind the walk.  In fact, he loved the city and walking around it was always a new experience.  Seeing all the other ponies that inhabited one of the largest cities in Equestria.  Some time later, the midnight blue stallion made it to the far less inhabited east side of the city.  And oh boy was it an interesting sight to behold.  The workshop was indeed not all that hard to find, really anypony could just follow the smell those three smoke stacks were pumping out.  Granted, Rising Dusk wasn't all that sure he wanted to call it a workshop.  The thing was almost more a fortress that just happened to have a workshop added on to it!  A quick extra sniff at the air gave him the assurance that everything he was seeing was mechanical and not magical in nature.  Stepping up to the front door, his ears perked and his muscles tensed in case he needed to flee.  Bringing up his hoof, he knocked on the large door.

[Blitz Boom 4,427]

@Rising Dusk

A whirling sound above Rising would begin as he touched the door, and a part of the plating began to open. From the look of it, there was something moving in the darkness beneath. Nothing magical, but rather mechanical, like with all the other defenses.

The thing beneath let out a low whirring, clacking sound, whilst the tip of a thin, bony appendage or limb in matted steel reached through before it suddenly jerked back, and the plating slammed shut.

A moment after, the sound of several clicks in the heavy door would become audible, and it was swung inwards, revealing Molotov Boom, though his first response to seeing the officer weren't to greet him, but rather to go to his side and look upward with a narrow eye. It had clearly not been getting a bath since last they met either, since the smell of coal dust and metal splinters had mixed in with the other aromas from before

"She was starting to get out again, wasn't she? She's starting to rebel against her protocol faster than I anticipated..."

He kept starring for a while, seemingly waiting to see if it would open up again, before finally turning to Rising and showing a more relieved smile.

"Hey there Dusky, glad you could drag yourself out here. Come on in."

He'd get out of the way so that the officer could enter what were clearly not the steel mill it had once been.

Molotov had pretty much gutted the place entirely when he had gotten possession of it - it still amazed him how cheap this place had been - and kept the metal for various projects, or remodeling of things such as the improved chimneys. Two of which had  the start over an area covered in soot and metal shavings, with an array of pipes and some sort of patterned plate a little above them. The last chimney were further to the side, in an area that were currently closed off from the rest with a reinforced steel door. Likely the living quarters of the two Boom siblings, though it only made for about a fifth of the building, judging by the walls sectioning the area off.

The entire place would smell of soot, coal, metal, oil, and what else you could imagine such a pair to work with, and be equipped to any task. One wall was just an array of tools methodically lined up on marked spots and kept clean when not in use. Around a third would be common tools, with another third being more obscure, but still known ones. The rest were home made by his family throughout the year, and carried functions that were likely best to know in advance before trying to commandeer any of them.

A large workbench stood beneath, lined with parts, scraps, dust of likely flammable origins, and several currently unfinished smaller projects. Spheres, weaponry, what seemed like a bear trap with purple spheres rather than teeth, a few watches, an unfinished, unpolished version of a right wing, designed in the shape of a bat pony's wing, and so on. Blueprints were stashed neatly in tubes below the bench, to keep them away from prying eyes and accidental damages.

A small, mechanical seal were likely the most noticeable, as it were seemingly getting some finishing touches before getting the second half of the body covered in the semi-shiny exterior that covered the rest. A small array of diode lights lit up as it took notice of the new arrival, but turned off again shortly after.

In the corner was a smaller workbench, where the focus were heavily on the more explosive side of things. Half-finished small gadgets were here and there, but mostly it had what seemed like rockets, pipe bombs, grenades, firecrackers, and so on. Everything from the dangerous to the benign, if it could explode, it would have an origin there. Blitz were currently standing at the bench, working on a small music box with parts for it spread all around the immediate area. From the looks of things, she were focused on that, as she didn't even take notice that they had gotten company yet.

The corner opposite her had crates stacked up and down on shelves, marked with a variety of words that could simply be summarized as parts, and currently unfinished projects. Finished projects were lining another wall, either covered in cases of thick glass or plastic of some kind, or just standing and awaiting to be set in one. There was also one metal box with several locks on it, which only carried a sign saying *In case of emergency*, but otherwise did not show what it might be.

Among the finished projects, there seemed to be a mechanical bird in a silver-plated cage, an intricate pipe organ in foal size, something that looked like an ornate sphere in brass bronze and wood locked tightly in the size of a pony's head, but carrying a sign saying *Portable massage unit*, and a set of armor with a weird, dark exterior that didn't seem like metal or glass, thin wires connecting all the parts together, and three small horns with the tips curving inwards toward a center gap.

There were a few other things, but it seemed like his finished projects were less than a half dozen at this point, or some of them had been sent away or taken. The later seemed unlikely since the building seemed so well guarded, but it might not have been that way always, so only Molotov would know for sure.

A lot of other things hung from wires in the ceiling too, just out of reach unless you used magic or a pulley system array that were in the central area of the building, but they seemed mostly like variations on the things already made, or currently worked on. Failed or in progress attempts more than likely.

From one of the hanging armor pieces, the mechanical spider from before skittered down towards Molotov, soon as he could enter and close the door behind Rising. The door started to whir again as it locked, awaiting somepony to pull the correct levers and push the right buttons on the door to get it open once more, and next to it, another array of smaller buttons, levers and dials, would indicate the control system for the security measures that were currently shut off.

Once the little construct got within sight of Molotov, he raised a hoof to signal her to stop though.

"Go check on Felecia, and make sure you find out what she were thinking before. We can't have her intimidate the guests."

The spider went into a series of clacks, whirs, and so on, before Molotov stopped her again.

"I'm not saying this is your fault, I'm saying that I want you to keep her in line. You know how she reacts when I give her orders."

The spider went silent, before slowly skittering away up wards again, and using the wires too wander towards a dark place above them, where the lights hanging around the place didn't hit.

When she got out of sight, Molotov shook his head and let out a sigh.

"Well, guess it could have been worse. We could've had a clown over."

He chuckled as a memory got into his head about the last time he had encountered one of those. It was really not a laughing matter to most, but it was one of those things that were just funny to look back at for him. The damaged hadn't been that bad after all. he wouldn't have found it funny if something had been permanent. Not like he was some kind of lunatic.

"Anyway, welcome to the fort officer. Wanna check for contraband, or do you think I'm trustworthy?"

Molotov laughed at his own little joke and took a deep breath of the surprisingly clean air. There had to be some kind of filtration system going around somewhere, but honestly, with all the other weird things here, a filter and a way to direct air were frankly low tech. You could find that in most saw mills these days too.

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

 

@EQ_Theta

Whilst Lin had expected Scarcity to be somewhat annoyed or angry about the potential delay, her response was far more joyful than that, as the mare let out a small laughter again and poked to the things she had handed over just before.

"An honest opinion of your own limitations. How delightfully refreshing.

There is a map with the location in there, and it is not as far as you may think. A day's travel with some degree of speed, two at worst, and if you can then return here, I can arrange for the object to me moved myself in time for the big opening then, though if you do have some knowledge of Canterlot, that would be a far better drop off. I know many ponies and assorted beings there, so I can likely arrange for an unobstructed area to be kept in preparation, if you have been there of course.

Do keep in mind though, that I mentioned the statue was not in a cave, but in a temple in the ocean. It is not far off the coast from a ruined fishing village called Salty Breeze, that was wrecked in a bad storm a few years ago, though do keep the tide in mind if need be.

Truly darlings, you need only worry about three things here. To awaken the statue by touching the other object that it guards, to wander into the ocean at an ill opportune time and fight the tide, or that you get lost within the misty swamps thirty kilometers before you reach the ocean. I would advise you to stay very close to one another there, and not trust your ears.

Everything else, including how the statue looks, are in the papers provided. Anything else I might be able to answer you, hm?"

Scarcity were used to some degree of overconfidence in those she dealt with at times. It made her accustomed to prepare for failure, and potential repercussions, in case the overconfident one were one of her workers, instead of a simple hired help. That Lin were aware of her own shortcomings were a positive spin on things in her mind, and though she had certain sides to her businesses where she did not take questions, she would gladly answer as much she could around this, as long as it pertained to the situation. The more prepared the strange creatures and Rosa were, the better for her after all.

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@Lucid_Nightlight @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine

"Peh, laws are for ponies. Draconequui are free and fun.

Now castle, there is no guards, or garden, huh? Mehehe... Muahahahaha!!! Perfect. This is gonna be fun."

The maniacal laughter was perhaps not the best thing to use if she wanted to make the others - Fluttershy especially - feel more secure, but Anomaly was a creature of poor impulse control, and it had felt right in so many ways with what she had in mind.

"Hah, psych stupid hairless monkey thing! I'm not gonna do anything bad. That'll show you."

So to mess with me, you're going to behave?

Anomaly nodded to thin air.

...Why am I getting the urge to hide in a basement somewhere until you're done?

"No hiding for you, author person. You're gonna come with us and see the pretty garden. Come on uhm... Yellow pony and stick guy. Let's get going."

In the heat of the moment, Anomaly forgot the names of Fluttershy and Lucid, before she bounced towards the door. The animals and Fluttershy's house would likely appreciate the draconequus being gone, but what would happen then at Twilight's castle? Only one way to find out, though hopefully for everypony involved, it would be somewhat sensible. Who knew? Perhaps Twilight's castle were more tolerant to outside influence than most would assume.