open Casual stroll

[dragon4111 912]

@Blitz Boom

Draco stood by as he was checking the shop out. was this a jewellery shop? He didn't know but he was currently on his job. He was mentally ticking down the time. this was express after all. It wouldn't be right to make his client wait after all. He chuckled more to himself at that thought. "Sure sir," Draco stated simply as he pulled out the three talismans.

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@@Blitz Boom, Astral smiled brightly, she was right, again. Honestly it wasn't that great the second time, mostly because she had just been proven right previously. Misty spotted a bag, it wasn't opened, so it was hard to tell what the contents of it where. She reached over and opened it, it was filled with bits. "Hah, Chow was right, we had just missed it." She looked around the wagon, several other bags, filled with various powders used for potions, where around her. "Actually, I can see why we did."

 

Astral turned around, yeah, she could see why now as well. "Oh." She face hoofed, she had forgotten to turn those invisible. "Well, at least their natural herbs." She said with a shrug, maybe that was why the gaurds overlooked them. Misty tossed the bits over to Astral, who caught it. She then handed it down to Chow, as she did she laid down allowing her head to be next to Chow's. "Here." She pointed to the mare. "Ask if she owns the shop, if she does, you could try to buy it back with those." She explained pointing to the bag of bits.

 

Misty jumped off the wagon, doing a roll. It was a sudden and unprovoked action, causing the wagon to wiggle. "I thought we were going to buy a house with those."

 

Astral sat up, spotting Misty on the ground. Deciding to jump down as well. Causing the wagon to shake. "Okay, so maybe Chow can use his own bits." She walked over to Chow, snatching the bag of bits back. She looked to the mare, the way the mare looked to them... "Wait, Chow?" She turned to him. "Do you know her?"

[BloodDrops 761]

@@Blitz Boom,

 

Blood Drops blinked up at her, she did have one thing she needed to do. "Yeah I got one thing i got to do before we leave" she remarked. She rubbed against a nearby tree getting a good scratching done. This was indeed a good scratching tree. "Ok im ready, where to now?" she asked. She herself hadn't bought anything from the book shop, since well, she couldn't read that well anyway. 

 

She glanced at the new book the dragon had got "Whats that book about? Blood stuff? Looks like a professional doctor book" she remarked guessing at its intention, since she couldn't read. She went by the colour and pattern of books.

[EQ_Theta 330]

@@Blitz Boom

 

Lin knew when she was beat; her brother's stare pierced her as he silently but surely got his thought across: she knew the answer. With some hesitation, she gave him the answer he was expecting. 

"Before embarking on a journey of revenge, dig two graves. I know what it meant and I would've been in one of them if it weren't for you and Omen finding me. That other grave would've been empty..." 

Sen was satisfied, maybe Lin didn't just gloss over the spells and read the more important sections of the codex. Those were the ones that really mattered, the reflections on the nature of everything that governed their lives. It does leave him wondering why a second copy was made; the most anyone would know about the codex is that it exists and the reflections were passed down from elder to villager through oral tradition. He'll be sure to bring up his question to elder Ghilan's attention later.

He turned to Omen who might be thinking of the contents of the codex, picking out many of the relevant background details he was told about many years go. He'd be lucky if he were to remember them all. 

"This codex was written as a series of reflections on the world, the nature of reality, and everything in between." He handed the codex to Omen before he continued. "It originally started with three observations and those who first read it were free to challenge those observations. Ten pages here were used up solely to provide counter arguments to them!" Sen chuckled at the idea that the authors who contributed to the growing codex back then really were into proving the original author wrong. It was silly but their combined knowledge and input proved to have kept the idea alive for so long. It was a shame, however, that the codex was left to gather dust after some point. 

[cwhip9 1,078]

@@Blitz Boom, With they "toying" zinthar did, put cresent off as it wasn't expected, he kept forgetting zinthar was feline and acted on instcts as such. Seeing him play with the colt did make him a bit uneasy...probably just learning this new world. "well zin heading out on an empty belly is asking for trouble" he said cheerfully to the feline then nodded at the youngster

 

"ever had pasta, I know a good few recpipes that will fill anypony up." As he led the two down the trail towards he then asked the feline "what about you zin, I don't have any good fish but never knew any cats that liked noodles....string comes to mind." with that he had a odd cartoon bubble of the 3 eyed cat playing with his noodels then eating them....food would be interesting.

 

It didn't take long for them to get to his tree house. What the cat and youngster would see at first a clearing with a tall tree, possibly two or 3 story's high. a shed by said tree house. As they would approach the house zinthar could possibly see this before the youngster what look like a set of training dummies one would use for combat.

 

"don't be mistaken this tree cant be cut down by any normal axe" the batpony said as he opened the door. Inside the tree house levers would be seen left and right as they would walk into the house. As cresent would move to the kitchen he would pull a lever to start the water in the pan and a few more dohickys being started. A fire place starting to warm the place up, drapes around the windows opening to let the moonlight in. It was still dark but candles were hear and their. Cresent realizing while him and zinthar could probably see in the dark well the youngster probably couldn't.

 

He flipped a light to aluminate the place more showing a cozy library and a stair case leading up too the 2nd and 3rd floors. "welcome to my tree house"     

[Blitz Boom 3,921]

@,

 

Last opened her muzzle to say something back at Storm shine, but no words came out, and after a few seconds she just shut it and face-hoofed.

 

"Communal food. Bloody hay, why didn't I think of that? Alright, change of plans, you two are helping with that, and when Pinkie returns, she can help you too. I'll take contact to the mayor about the price on the food to be used, then make sure things are gathered from the market and potentially the apple farm, redirect some workers to this that's more used to these kinds of things and a few builders that can make some quick stands. I think we have enough usable planks and slabs of stone to be used as tables in the rubble we're not reusing, but I'll make some scout through there too."

 

She didn't sound too happy about all she'd have to do here, but Storm Shine was right. It was by far a better solution, and would cover those that had lost their houses too, long as she could figure something out with the local authority. Usually she'd refer to one of the princesses, but they were busy, so it was better that she took it to the next in line, which were the local law.

 

"It's not that big of a town, and with the shifts going on... Two serving, four cooking, reduced by one after the first wave have settled down, potentially by two if we go with less cooked food like apples. Then two to make tables and one to rummage through for materials. Unless this town have some tables standing somewhere in a basement? I hear festivals sometimes uses that sort of thing, and it would save us workers and time to just get those. As far as kitchens goes, I'll have to see what I can make happen there, though it's likely still better to find a few of those rather than make a bonfire and use that."

 

The bonfires where how they got warm food when she grew up. It wasn't often, as they needed to have things to burn, which took time to properly grow and/or gather, but when the cold days came around and the fires provided them heat, some warm food tended to be sneaked into their diet whilst they had the chance. Long as they didn't burn things, which wasn't good, considering how they hadn't an endless storage of it. Far from it usually.

 

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@@Moonlit,

@@Driz,

 

"Of course! Lots to prepare."

 

The next week or two were spent with the two of them preparing things for the meeting between Twilight, Luna and Serenade, and the trip to Baltimare afterwards. Or well, Serenade did most of the planning, Ziggy just made sure to help where she could, and keep her siren friend cheerful when the impending day started to loom at the horizon.

 

Turned out the day that the meeting stood, something else had been lurking in the horizon too, with the arrival of the Forgotten One, and the battle between the hulking monster and the group of fighters that had joined up to defeat it. The hour before the meeting stood, the attack happened, and the aftermath left Ponyville in quite a state, as a lot of ponies were hurt and buildings stood damaged to varying degrees.

 

To say that the meeting weren't happening were an understatement, as the princesses that had come had ended up being immensely busy taking care of what were happening right now, and Ziggy had taken off to the hospital almost immediately after the attack were over, to help the local doctors with the hurt ones as much as possible.

 

Now, the past day, night, and some of this day had went with the town becoming more stable. Hurt ponies were taken mostly care of, with only some with more severe wounds kept under check in the hospital, and the ponies in town working hard to rebuild the homes of themselves and their fellow ponies.

 

Whilst Fah'lina were still back with Serenade, refusing to get back into town just yet after what she had seen happened there the day before, Ziggy's exact whereabouts were only known to the hospital staff, and those she had helped there. That is, until a certain pony would find the large lollipop-looking pegasus and zebra hybrid fall from the sky straight down for her.

 

It remained to be seen if said pony would notice before it were too late or not, but if worst came to worst, at least pegasi didn't weigh all that much. Not even a hybrid one.

 

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@@asdfmovienerd39,

 

"Well color me impressed. Somepony who knows what anti-magic is who doesn't reach for a weapon. Finally a change of pace."

 

Null looked pretty surprised by the nonchalant reaction from Zen, but it wasn't really any wonder considering her interactions with those figuring out what she could do had led to exactly zero good encounters since... Well, her parents really. They were the only ones that hadn't acted horrified about her and Void before this, which were why they always had to run. And yet now, here in this smallish town... Perhaps this really were a good space for them to finally rest up a little after all.

 

"Name's Null, me and my sister came around yesterday, and we got asked to help around town. Guess it's a good thing one of us got sent to the hospital. Which reminds me, you, griffingirl."

 

"Y-Yes?"

 

Florence had been unsure what to say about things right now, especially since she had so many questions about what were going on, so she had just stood silently, and looked between her uncle, Zen, and this Null pony with a worried look on her face.

 

"Take it from one who've seen this before: The big guy's gonna be okay. Annoying cursed things tends to try and grasp for the mind of whoever tries to bind it to them, but it's relatively quickly out of the system once contact's been broken. Give it an hour tops and he should be awake, nauseous, and I'm guessing confused. had to have done something to be chained down.

 

Now then, back to you, brainscanner. How do you know anti-magic? It's not exactly common after all."

 

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@@asdfmovienerd39,

 

Sea Breeze scratched his head at what the weird pony was yapping on about.

 

"How's one pony giving you both names? You two grew up in the same village or something? Or is it like, you're siblings and you talk about your parents? Kind of a low opinion to think parents though, so that's not it I guess... Strange uncle perhaps?"

 

The pony hadn't a clue about the fourth walls existence or any of that jazz, so frankly, what Deadpan said struck him as kinda odd, but there were likely an explanation for it he were just missing right now. Might be the uncle thing, or a village where somepony in charge named all the kids perhaps? He'd heard stranger things.

 

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@@dragon4111,

 

It would be about 10 minutes afterwards of rummaging around before Spelt came back, this time around carrying a box on his back that had a few metal bars over the top where you could hold whilst flying. Some pegasi like that, others just grabbed hold in the box, but regardless, they used this sort of box here in any travel situation, just to make sure.

 

"The assorted hinges he asked for is in there. I just need you to sign off for them and it's all on you again Draco."

 

he put the box down and got a set of papers he had on top of it, that he then reached towards Draco to sign. Might be his son had sent his personal seal of approval on this, but this here tool store were his responsibility, and he needed the documentation regardless of the fact that his son would believe him when he said the things had been picked up. Call it a personal preference or old habits if you would, the result were the same: That he were needing a signature before handing over this thing.

 

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@@Lloyd,

 

Chow hadn't even the chance to make a sarcastic comment when he were handed the bits before they were taken away again, but it were like Misty said: He had his own. He had to go get them in Ponyville, along with his few belongings that he cared to bring, but he had his savings that he gathered to eventually return to his proper home again, but with the debt he had and the price of housing there, he had to wait a good deal of time, and now even more since he had to go into those savings, but there should be enough to cover for this place. He were likely out of luck with the interior items though, as those could likely sell anywhere regardless... But he'd have to see what sort of deal he could get with the current owners.

 

He didn't get to think more on it before Astral asked if he knew some mare that were apparently behind him. So he turned... And something that felt like a jolt got through his body t the all too familiar, smiling face that met him.

 

"Oooh, I can see it in your eyes. You haven't forgotten about me after all Chow."

 

It took a little before he regained himself ad answered the friendly mare back.

 

"How could I, Scarcity? You've got a way of staying in my mind."

 

The mare chuckled with a pearly voice and patted him on his cheek.

 

"Still as charming as ever. Now, who are this? Friends of yours, perhaps?"

 

The mare looked at Astral and Misty, and gave them a little wave.

 

"A young earth mare and a zebra foal? What a lovely looking pair. I'm Scarcity, owner of Antiques and Rarities. Welcome to Canterlot my dears."

 

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@@BloodDrops,

 

"No, but it might have some usable information. It's a book about zebra remedies. These sort of things are impossible to get in Dragon Land, but could prove invaluable to finding out several things, including perhaps something to your cure. Will take some time to go through it and testing needs to be done of course, but it is a fortunate omen."

 

She had wanted something relating to the zebra world for ages, but had no luck at all in getting it. There were nothing of them beyond rumors in Dragon land, and the vendor she traded with - though he had many things - did not carry anything either. No books, no charms, no potions. Heck, not even a single hair were there. And now she had spotted a book that contained remedies of their mystical kind? How could she resist that?

 

"With the current speed we will be there in 16 minutes roughly, not countering for any wild encounters. Something you wish to speak of in the meantime? Might as well pass the time." 

 

And with that, she took the first step into the forest, and back towards the cave she had made habitable for herself for the time being.

 

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@@EQ_Theta,

 

Omen stood for a few minutes in silence, not moving an inch as she processed what it were the Sen said.

 

Regardless of how many questions she asked, Omen were not normally one to challenge what she were told. Most things she took as truths and tried to use or understand it some ways in her life, , regardless of how odd it might sound because frankly, how would she know better? Might be she were several thousand years old, but she had less experience with actual life than both Sen and Lin, so she had to exercise some degree of faith in the facts.

 

To challenge those then, as Sen spoke off, sounded rather odd to her, and she needed some time to configure some thoughts on how it would have locked like when a bunch of Longma had seen three written facts, and thought that it were something they should dedicate time to question. A curious visual, but it had likely not been like that ´.

 

"Sounds like something I should know, to understand things here better. Should work to keep me focused on learning to understand it, I suppose."

 

It would somewhat depend on how long it would take, and what else might pop up, granted, but her curiosity could be refocused again on this as long as things were kept somewhat fresh in her memory, so played well, this might be the spark that were needed to make her learning curve go somewhat quickly.

 

She doubted it would be fast enough to understand it now, whilst they waited though. Reading were complex and would take time to understanding, with whatever it said on these likely taking even more time, but it were something to start on at least. Though, thinking on things, she did have one question about it already.

 

"Did it make you question things, Sen?"

[dragon4111 912]

@Blitz Boom

Draco signed the papers with a smirk. He applied the paper talismans which then shrunk the box. And made it weigh less. He then placed the now shrunken box into his saddlebags. "Zebra talismans rare to come by unless your a friend to a tribe," Draco explained with a grin on his face as he tipped his hat to the stallion. "I'll see you later friend,"

Edited December 6, 2016 by dragon4111

[asdfmovienerd39 55]

@

 

"My headmaster educated me in all sorts of things common ponies don't know about. Anti-magic being one of them." Zen explained, as if it was common knowledge. Which, to her, it was obviously. Everyone in the Monastery got educated on the same topics.

 

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

 

"Oh, no, he's not a pony. He's sort of this...thing that controls my every thought, action, or word that comes out of my mouse. Same thing with Zen." Deadpan explained nonchalantly. "Ohhh right, you can't break the fourth wall. Sorry 'bout that."

[Storm Shine 1,195]

@@Blitz Boom, 

 

"Oh, oh! Easypeasy!" Storm replied excitedly raising a hoof as if he were in class, "I can help with a lot of that! I used to do some light carpentry when I was traveling, and I know how to cook pretty well, I usually would forage my ingredients, and I'd be happy to give some bits to help out wherever I can!" He pointed out away from town, "I had my house anchored out a ways from town when I left, and since I never really bought anything except for muffins, cider, and guitar strings, I have plenty of bits I could use to help buy materials or food!"

 

"And Dad has been teaching me a lot about cooking and stuff!" Grey exclaimed, jumping onto Storm's head. "I can help with that too!"

Edited December 7, 2016 by Storm Shine

[EQ_Theta 330]

@@Blitz Boom

 

"Yes, many times over." Sen replied in earnest, but with a hint that he was weary of how it changed his way of thinking. Some entries gave him new insights and a new, positive way of looking at the world. At other times... he only became more disappointed and cynical. Even if he were to add to the codex, his rebuttal will end up sounding more depressing than the last entry. But he perked up quickly and returned to reality with a follow-up to his reply. 

"The first thing I questioned was how my uncle managed to smuggle it out of the archives several days at a time just so I could read it! Every time he did it, no one noticed it was gone. But I digress; the first things that came to mind were the first three observations from the original author."

Sen turned the pages of the codex to first three, showed Omen these three and gave a brief explanation of them. These were on the nature of wielding power, the hypocrisy of hypocrites, and an observation of the depressed. The first talks about how those who jump at a chance to wield power are unworthy of it, the second is about how liars call other liars out for lying but never themselves for doing the same, and the last is on how the saddest of souls are the kindest. The last one was what a lot of authors spend a good amount of time arguing about, mostly because it is a generalization that doesn't always hold its own weight. Lin was curious enough to let her brother speak on them since she didn't exactly go through these and he seems to know much more. 

"My favorite ones, however, were on the nature of reality and the problem of evil. But these are very heavy topics, might take a very long time to understand."

Edited December 7, 2016 by EQ_Theta

[Driz 1,552]

As Trinket lifted up her trusty bottle of water for a quick sip before resuming her work, the divine sunlight provided by Princess Celestia gave life, as much as it punished the earth-dwellers, with intense heat. Furthermore, for that specific day, the clouds in the sky somewhy decided to take a break all at once, letting the sun's full force shine through the sky. After about ten seconds of non-stop drinking, the young blue mare was finally out of air, so she let go of the bottle with a long sigh of relief.

 

She had arrived at Ponyville just that morning, having heard about the mysterious devastation of the town; about the need of volunteers to assist in bringing the gleeful village back up. If nothing else, curiosity alone made her accept the request. Part of her mind wanted to believe that she simply misheard the word 'demon' with the word 'tornado', as stretched as it may seem.

 

"Tch." Trinket clicked her tongue. "What would a demon even want with a peaceful town like this? It's probably just a hoax someone came up with to cover up some random accident with Cloudsdale's factories or something." She spoke to herself for brief entertainment. "I gotta say, though... These poor ponies... Nobody could've predicted such tragedy."

 

With a concerned, yet determined look on her feature, she picked her wooden mallet back up.

 

*CLANK* Trinket hit a nail on the wall of a half-built house with mighty force.

 

*CLANK* A second hit, for good measure.

 

*THUMP!!* That time, something else hit her dead-right on the head.

 

"GAAHH!!"

 

@@Blitz Boom

 

Without a fraction of a second left to react, the mare immediately fell to the ground due to the force of the impact, her construction tools being launched off towards many different directions. She blanked out for a second, but soon came back around, just to find herself pinned down and unable to move, completely unaware of what was happening.

 

"Th... THE DEMONS ARE BACK!!" Trinket screamed the first thing that came to mind whilst flailing wildly in an attempt to break free.

[Moonlit 593]

@@Blitz Boom,  the attack by The Forgotten One had sent Serenade into a panic. In her pool and hunting for her supper she had surfaced and immediately dove back down. Ponyville now smelled of the wrong, and her instincts told her to find a rock and stay there. She was glad she added a small cave underwater, she got over her panic long enough to make sure Fah'lina had enough food before diving back down. Sighing, and knew that the Princess Luna would give her that look, Serenade swam to the surface and reached for her pendant then set about trying to figure out what was going on. 

@@Driz, Serenade stared at the clump of Ponies that was the blue colored mare and Ziggy and resisting the urge to facehoof trotted over. 

Edited December 7, 2016 by Moonlit

[Blitz Boom 3,921]

@@cwhip9,

 

"I have no idea what noodles are, but don't you think more after three birds are a little greedy? You wouldn't want to encourage such behavior, would you?"

 

Zinthar chuckled to himself a little and followed behind Crescent and Cover-up, watching them both closely and making sure to adjust his speed to theirs when they sped up or slowed down. It was like a little hunt really, just that he didn't intent to eat these two. Not even after the little comment on string, which he had chosen to ignore, as it got boring in the end to keep talking about dignity. Sometimes, certainly, but all the time would end up becoming stale.

 

Cover-up on the other hoof, just did what he could to ignore both the taunting words and looks from Zinthar, to mixed results. Considering the thing were larger than him, and looked well able to hurt others if he wanted to, he couldn't help feel at least a little on edge, but as long as Crescent were there, it wasn't going to end badly... Right? H-He'd keep him safe if it were, right?

 

The thought nagged him until all of a sudden Crescent stopped and started to talk, at which point he snapped out of it enough to realize that they weren't exactly in the wild forest anymore. Or well, they were still in a forest, that were a given, but this wasn't untamed. This was somepony's homne. Crescent's home to be exact, and now that he focused on it... It looked rather nice. He were more of a city pony himself, but he could definitely see why somepony would live here. At least on the outside, as when he got inside, he couldn't see a thing.

 

The others would be able to see fine, but the only thing he could see when they got in really were the feline's eyes, and tip of his tails, as they glowed with a ghostly coloration. That, and as soon as Zinthar looked around and focused on the boy, two rows of teeth that also shone the same way, as the cat gave him a predatory smile.

 

He would have broken down crying if that were the only thing he kept seeing or if he were alone, but thankfully, Crescent made it lighter in there seconds afterwards, showing a comfy home instead of darkness, and a smirking cat that suddenly looked a lot friendlier to the youth had previously thought. Not because Zinthar actually did his to look more inviting, but rather because compared to the frightening way he had looked in darkness, this were barely anything.

 

"T-Thanks. It looks... Comfy. Must have taken some time to set up."

 

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@@dragon4111,

 

Spelt scratched his chin and looked at the charms and the shrinking package with interest, whilst Draco picked up the now smaller package and said somewhat how he'd been able to get a hold of this thing.

 

"Zebras makes this you say? Seems like I gotta talk to Clayton about making some new connections then. Could prove useful for another time... But that's another day. For now, safe travels friend."

 

With that, and a little wave, he'd be done with this and would return to checking around the store, like he had when Draco had first entered. There were a few things he had to write down regarding their inventory, and there could come a customer any minute, so he had to use his time as well as he could.here. They weren't exactly a dead store by any stretch after all, and he liked to keep things running.

 

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@@asdfmovienerd39,

 

Null looked at Zen closely for a few seconds, eyes narrowing, as if she were expecting something bad to happen or some grand reveal. Neither of which came, so after the little passage of time, she eased herself again and nodded.

 

"Strange school you've been going to, but better to have one educated about it than being scared and paranoid. Been through enough from that sort of short-sighted buffoons for one lifetime already."

 

She scratched her ears a bit and then had a seat over on a chair in the corner. Any height she could gain were a bonus when she talked with others in her mind, especially as it helped a bit on her natural pegasi instincts to soar up and look down at others. Something which she still sorely missed the ability to do every single day, but without a second wing that were impossible, and considering that every thing you could do to mend or even regrow one - at least she had heard that last one happening before, but she weren't sure how real it were - involved magic, she was out of luck there.

 

Accursed aura... How she hated it, and all it had cost her.

 

"Now then, you got my name, your turn to spill the beans."

 

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@@asdfmovienerd39,

 

Sea Breeze looked at Deadpan like he had gone a bit crazy.

 

"Are you sure you're alright dude? Because saying somepony controls you like a puppet is a bit on the wonky side. I mean, I hear some ponies that like to think of gods and stuff, but even they haven't spouted at me that they're dancing on strings like this. And what's that with a wall? Something to do with one of the buildings here?"

 

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@,

 

"That won't be necessary."

 

Last turned her head as the familiar voice of the mayor entered the scene. She looked... Oddly happy and pleased by herself, considering everything that had gone on the other times she had met her. That being the first time, when she had to sort out why she had come to town wearing a sword, and then after she got out of the hospital, when she brought news from the princesses about the rebuiling of town. Considering how she looked right now, Last would guess that she had been told that the rebuilding costs were taken care of one way or another.

 

Which way Last didn't really know herself, and she didn't care. All she knew were that Clayton had been sent for personally to offer what materials he could and some workers if needed, though the workers couldn't come until tomorrow. If he were paid for this through the throne, were just donating his time and effort for nothing, or if he would be compensated in some other way, likely regarding taxes, she hadn't a clue, though the first and last ones sounded more likely. One hoof washes the other and all that after all.

 

"And what is it exactly that won't be necessary?"

 

"Several things. We already have set up a location ready that is having things prepared and cooked as we speak by the Cake family, with some assistance from Granny Smith and one of the visitors to our town. The cost of things have been handled, though I couldn't help to overhear that you, Storm Shine, along with your son, wished to help? I'm certain they could use the help to prepare things faster. Especially from ones as close as you."

 

Last stomped slightly in the ground to get the silver-tongued mayor to refocus on her, somewhat annoyed at what she heard, believe it or not.

 

"You didn't think to share this information?"

 

The mayor were unfazed with Last, at least on the outside. The mare still had her ways of getting under the mayor's skin at times, but she had been able to hold her mask under worse circumstances than their interactions.

 

"While we do appreciate the help you are lending to the great city of Ponyville, you are already overworked as it is, especially considering your condition, so I figured I would tend to this minor thing myself. And as you can see, this now presents us with something that is well underway instead of having to be rushed. You know what the doctors have said about that."

 

And now it were her turn to get under the other pony's skin she could see. Seemed like she hadn't expected her to know about what the doctors had suggested, but when you got approached and asked about whatever or not you would sign off on having her chained to a bed to ensure she got the rest she needed, you learned a few things.

 

Sometimes, being in charge really paid off.

 

"Fine."

 

"Excellent. Now if you would excuse me, I have to handle some paperwork, but you can lead them towards the place, I'm sure. It's a sizeable open space near the train station. Usually Pinkie Pie tends to use this space for some parties, but the space made it suitable for this right now. Fare well my dear ponies."

 

With that, Mayor Mare would start to walk off. Last hadn't more she wished to say to her right now, but if Grey or Storm had a want, they'd have a chance now.

 

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

 

 

@@Moonlit,

@@Driz,

 

"Whu- Demons? Meep!"

 

Ziggy had been at the hospital nonstop for a long time now, and though she had managed to get an hour roughly, running around a hospital and helping the injured ponies there made her wings sorta stiff in it. Which had been one of the reasons why she had gotten wing cramp and tumbled down towards the ground. And unfortunately, the ground hadn't been the only thing that she had ended up hitting as there had been a blue mare too that had stood beneath her. Whom she were now in a pile with. Things were really looking up today.

 

She had gotten a bit woozy when she hit the mare though, and had been a bit of a dead weight on top of her, until the mare started to shout about demons being back, at which point her brain had kickstarted itself and gone for the basics. Which were to grab hold of the mare, swirled around so she sat with her like a plushie, and looking around with frightened eyes.

 

"W-Where is the bad things? Up? Left? Right? Down? Noooo, not down, please."

 

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

 

 

@@EQ_Theta,

 

So even their reading materials were confusing. The longma really were a peculiar species.

 

She had tried her best, but the three things Sen had tried to explain here were strange, and asking question she didn't know if there were an actual answer to.

 

The first, where it said that those who jumped at power didn't deserve it were the first to be confusing. She understood that you shouldn't jump for power because you wanted to do bad things, but what about good things? And if nopony should go for power at all, how would it then be given? Accident? Would somepony have to stumble into power? And if so, wouldn't that be bad, as they weren't prepared for it, or knew what they could use it for?

 

Then came the second, that spoke of how liars wouldn't call themselves that, but were happy to mention others doing it. This seemed like something to do with somepony being of two minds on things, which were likely the easiest of the three for her to understand, but it still gave her question to several things. Such as why you would not be able to admit you told lies yourself, or if she had done the same, when she neglected to mention something. Wasn't technically lying to her, but might it be seen as that to others? Where she like this? Odd to think about.

 

Not as odd as the third however, that dealt with those who felt bad were the kindest, which were really the weirdest to Omen because she didn't see the link. How did not feeling good have anything to do with how you were to others? Headaches she had seen made some cranky, but this couldn't just speak of that right? It had to be thinking of another link between those two, but she just couldn't see it. She couldn't even properly question it because of this, just nod ever so slightly if it were brought up again.

 

"I met a robed being once, who said that evil wasn't a problem, but a necessity. He said it played an important part in the balance, and holding it down would only end up turning the scales wrongly, and eventually destroy things far more than a few acts of evil would, in an attempt to even things out. He kept talking about this sort of thing for a while, mentioned order and chaos too as both needing to be part of things, before he left again.

 

He talked of strange things, but it made more sense than what is in this codex. Guess that have something to do with how it challenges you I suppose, but I need more time to think on them."

 

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

 

 

@@Frosty Frost,

@,

 

"But that's boooooring. Parties should be about having fun, and glitter. And cake! And fireworks!!! They liven  up every party, Pinkie says so. And she's right! Everytime I give her some fireworks everypony always likes the pretty sight when she fires it off, and they start talking and look all happy and yey!"

 

Blitz kept giggling and running around the others randomly, almost trampling down Lotus by accident by thankfully missing. Unfortunately, in her hyperactive state, she instead thought it a good idea to pick up the bunny and squeeze her like she were a fluffy kitty. Which, considering the look in Lotus' eyes before she broke free, spun around and kicked Blitz in the forehead, wasn't appreciated in the slightest. But hey, at least Blitz didn't complain. Granted, she were unconscious now though, so... Yeah.

 

Lyriel were quick to scope the little creature up from the sands with worry plastered all over her face,a nd held the little thing closer to her, like a mother carrying her child, before after a little letting out a sigh of relief.

 

"Thank he earth mother, she simple sleeps. She must have run out of energy at the time when she were assaulted."

 

The dryad sent an annoyed look towards the bunny, but Lotus didn't care. She hated being scoped up and treated like that, and usually her kicking didn't do something radical. She were a bunny after all, not an earth pony. Guess it just hit at the right time to turn the lights off for now, though considering the slight print on Blitz face from the impact... it might have really knocked her out. It were hard to say right now, but the foal had needed to calm down and rest regardless, so Lyriel would focus on this silver lining for now, and once more carry her smallest friend.

 

"Regardless, I must insist that we make way towards Nerzhei, if possible, and see if she haves a place ready for us to rest at. Everyone could use some calm too, and the darkness is getting thicker, so I would call this an omen and listen to it's words. Just as I would hope that you will listen to the rest of their words Frosty, and not get yourself bitten. It might look fascinating, but it sounds like it is dangerous too, and I don't want any of my little friends to be hurt.

 

Blue, would you perhaps want to join us? We are leaving this country tomorrow, and perhaps it is not safe for you to stay here, where there are little to no other ponies. At least not compared to Equestria, from what I hear."

[EQ_Theta 330]

@@Blitz Boom

 

Lin and Sen were unsure what to make of Omen's words. On one hand, they made sense. Sen once asked his uncle about it and he recalled being told that without evil, how could one comprehend what is good? The idea of evil and good is tied to each other, one cannot explain without the other. Lin was simply stricken with both awe and regret, realizing maybe she could've learned more; she was grooming herself to be a scholar after all. But that opportunity is long gone, and now she must find a way to come to terms with her new self. Sen, however, tried to help Omen see the contents of the author's claim with a bit of context.

"I understand what you mean but I should let you know of the text's background. You see, the question on the problem of evil isn't so much of evil itself being problematic, but how one answers to it. The old arguments in this codex all begin with an attempt to explain the origin of evil but never a solution. The problem here is that none of the authors provide a solution, one that encompasses every aspect of evil. The conclusion that some authors have provided, however, is that maybe a solution isn't the way to go, but a response. Evil can't simply be given categories; each time evil persists, the answer to it is not to get stuck asking why it exists but what can be done about it?" 

Before Sen could continue, elder Ghilan approaches the three of them with a smile having overheard some of the conversation. 

"Enjoying some reading material, I see? I was hoping to have a few copies of that codex made so more will have access to it; it's an interesting read. Anyway, I've just finished questioning Xin and it seems there were others who were sent out along with him with the task of finding you, Sen. Thankfully, they won't have to feel the repercussions of failure because I will be pardoning them but I will be launching a full investigation on the matter. There is no need for all of you to worry!" 

[Driz 1,552]

@@Moonlit

@@Blitz Boom

 

As soon as Trinket began to slowly regain consciousness of her surroundings, it had been a little too late: the attacker had already taken grasp, seizing her. Frozen solid in fear, the blue mare would've started begging for her life not to be taken away - if the supposed attacker didn't appear to be even more frightened than herself. Moreover, the grasp felt more like a child would hold their teddy bear than anything ill-intentioned.

 

A giant metaphorical question mark popped inside her brain as she struggled to turn her head around in order to try and identify its face. When she finally managed to lock eye contact with the unidentified flying object, the confusion wave gradually vanished, opening space for a little bit of relief.

 

"Huh... Y-You're not a demon at all..." What had taken Trinket hostage had actually been a pink-striped zebra bearing Pegasus wings - something she didn't really see everyday, as a matter of fact. Nevertheless, now with that misunderstanding cleared up, the mare decided to try and defuse the awkward situation since a few curious eyes had noticed the fuss and began gathering a crowd around them.

 

"Listen, uh... Miss... There are no bad things here. Sorry if I scared you. Now if you don't mind, can you please let go of me?"

[Moonlit 593]

@@Driz,@@Blitz Boom, Serenade does her best not to laugh at the sight, and has to bite a foreleg to stop the giggles. She steps forward, "Ziggy, stop scaring the mare, Ponyville been through enough without you acting like the Flower sisters." She offers the blue mare her hoof to help her up. 

[BloodDrops 761]

 

 

"No, but it might have some usable information. It's a book about zebra remedies. These sort of things are impossible to get in Dragon Land, but could prove invaluable to finding out several things, including perhaps something to your cure. Will take some time to go through it and testing needs to be done of course, but it is a fortunate omen."   She had wanted something relating to the zebra world for ages, but had no luck at all in getting it. There were nothing of them beyond rumors in Dragon land, and the vendor she traded with - though he had many things - did not carry anything either. No books, no charms, no potions. Heck, not even a single hair were there. And now she had spotted a book that contained remedies of their mystical kind? How could she resist that?   "With the current speed we will be there in 16 minutes roughly, not countering for any wild encounters. Something you wish to speak of in the meantime? Might as well pass the time."    And with that, she took the first step into the forest, and back towards the cave she had made habitable for herself for the time being.

 

Blood Drops nodded, "Interesting, good thing you can read" she remarked. She continued trotting though she could trot for days on end and still not be tired, though that was probably down to her condition. one of the positive alterations anyway, she blinked she didn't really have anything she wanted to talk about "Nice weather" she remarked blinking, the easiest way of talking to someone. "So if your a dragon, and Ember is your leader, does that mean that you have to follow her orders?" she asked blinking. She never really got the whole dragon rulers of power system yet. "So like why do you have different rulers, what if one of them was like really evil and tried to eat ponies and stuff, would you kill them?" she added. She continued to sprout similar nonsense since she did have sixteen minutes to talk for. 

 

"Also where did dragons come from? Did you live on clouds like pegasus ponies? Or do you live in caves like bat ponies? or did you sleep on the floor like earth ponies? Or do you just invade Equestria to eat ponies?" she asked.

[asdfmovienerd39 55]

stuff

 

"Nah, man, I'm good. I just have...extra-dimensional awareness, let's put it that way." Deadpan explained. "For example, you're bein' controlled by some guy on the internet that goes by the name Blitz Boom. None of our choices are our own, its our roleplayers.:

 

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

 

"Well, Ms. Null, I am Zen Sunflower. I see you're missing your wing. I could help remedy that. Grandmaster Oakwood taught us all a way to heal wounds like that in order to help more." she answered.

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@@Blitz Boom, Astral walked over, lifting a hoof for a hoof shake, hoping Scarcity at least shake it, and not leave it hanging there. Whether or not she'd shake it, she continue with introducing themselves "I'm Astral, she's Misty." Astral explained pointing her other hoof to Misty. "Yeah, we're, new here in Canterlot." She looked to the antique shop. Curious what things she ma- Nah, they had a mission. And that was get a new house. "So I suggested to Chow here, that he could try to get his shop back?" She asked rubbing the back of her head. "But that's his decision I suppose." She said rubbing the back of her head. "We're just here to get a new house, after Ponyville was attacked. I don't know if we'll stay here in the long run though."

 

"Awe! I wanted to!"

 

Astral chuckled as she turned to look at Misty, itching her head with a hoof. "Okay fine so maybe we will."

[dragon4111 912]

@Blitz Boom

"Even then you have to ask their shamans to do it," Draco said as he chuckled. "And you have to prove yourself a man to the tribe," Draco stated simply with a sigh. "Alot of pain to do it," Draco stated with a grin on his face. "But it's worth it. Also another caveat to it the shamans are restricted to their native tongue," Draco explained with a sigh. "Had to learn the whole language to do it," he explained to the older stallion. "But anyhow I better get this package back to ponyville," he said as he ran out of the shop.

[cwhip9 1,078]

 

 

"T-Thanks. It looks... Comfy. Must have taken some time to set up."

"oh yea took me and mac a good 2 months to get the levers working right" he says nodding. "this entire tree house can withstand most anything thrown at it. In fact if you pull the lever next to the sofa its my favorite one." he said  

 

With the comment on noodles cresent decided to show the cat what he meant "how could you not have herd of pasta?" he says finding the noodles in his food cabinet then pulling the box out. of dried noodle's "let me show you some bat magic" he said then grabbing it in his mouth opening the box beginning to turn the hard noddle's into soft eatable.  

 

"ponys say best thing that's in this world is magic, clear they don't know what to do with noodles" he says stirring them in

[Storm Shine 1,195]

@@Blitz Boom, 

 

"Aye Aye Mayor Mare!" Storm chirped cheerfully, giving a goofy salute that was mimicked by his son. Then they both turned to Last, "You don't have to worry about leading us there if you don't want, I already know where it is and I'm sure you're pretty busy making sure everything is going smoothly." the blue Pegasus told her a smile. "I wouldn't want to make things any more annoying or time consuming for you."

[Denim&Venöm 14,286]

@@Seamore Sandwich, 

 

"The Everwood stick. The one Priestess used and the one Luna blasted. Oh I still have to get her back for that..." she thought with some venom. "That blast ended up hurting one of my young and I've been informed that he's still in discomfort from it. So if you could wake the good doctor that'd be appreciated." 

 

 

 

 

"I believe that Princess Celestia will be well in mind to thank you for your efforts, and give you the appreciation of the crown you speak of. She is currently meeting with the authorities of Ponyville, no doubt to make plans on how to proceed from here, but if you want, I could talk to her on your behalf when she is done, and perhaps arrange that you meet at a neutral place? You would of course also all be welcome in town and wait for her there yourselves, provided you don't try and push past the Solar Guards and don't leave your impressive craft over town with weapons aiming towards the last of Ponyville. It is nothing against you, or your crew of course, it is simply for security reasons, and to avoid panic. The citizens are understandably a little tense for the time being."

 

"Best you do that then. There have been some...tensions, between the Subterranean local governance, and the offices of Canterlot.  Your word will carry more weight than mine. And yes, we'll keep our craft anchored outside of town. However since we are here, does the town require any other assistance.  We have an entire platoon on board, including a dozen field medics."

 

@@Mentis Soliloquy,

Star's motherly concern was easing Petey's pain. When she asked, he mustered the strength to weakly nuzzle under chin. 

[P-Jay 1,987]

"I'm not a doctor." Charlie's confused response to Queen Allure would be both spoken aloud and directly into Queen Allure's mind. "Wait, are you referring to the one that visited us in the Grove of the Everspirits? I can sense him. He must be asleep. Should I contact him for you? Talking in each other's heads like this will be hard to get used to. I mean, it might be slightly similar to how my friends and I communicated in the forest, but we communicated with sensations and feelings, not words. That being said, even words are going to take some getting used to. 'Getting used to,' strange how this combination of words has a different meaning when used together than the combined meanings of the words when they're used separately." It seemed this distraction had taken all of Charlie's attention away from Vivid and her guest.

"It's more of a theory based on an actual location. A slight space where dream meets reality that we stumbled upon the last time Charlie came around here. A place that I take it that he knows of quite a bit better than me, which is why it was but a question and a suggestion that I brought up."

 

Whilst she did reply to Phantom, Vivid's eyes focus were mostly on Charlie, as he began to speak aloud about some kind of nonsense. Or more precisely, it did make sense, but how he were talking to somepony that wasn't here were beyond her. At least since he apparently couldn't repeat back with thoughts alone, but had to go on speaker mode.

 

From what she could gather, it sounded as if they might have a dream destination to go for soon though,. A doctor of sorts whose name didn't ring a bell with her. Perhaps somepony that were around after she had went away to handle the crafting and eventual storing of Charlie's new form? Might well be, but they'd see in time.

 

Phantom floated back slightly, thinking to himself. "...Well...It's risky...But this might be a chance to get a soul..." He frowned to himself, "on the other hoof, this might just be a one-way ticket to nonexistence...Geez, I love these kinds of situations, don't you?"

 

He chuckled weakly, seemingly losing his ability to float, landing on the ground with a gentle bump. "...Seriously, though...I don't wanna give this a go if it's not...Exactly, 'stable' for me."

[Mentis Soliloquy 3,008]

@@Denim&Venom,

 

"I'm glad this is helping you a bit little one, just take what you can from me, not too longer the doc will be here and he'll fix you and you can go back to being a happy little nymph." She just continued her best to keep the little one's happy and most especially the one who was hurt.