open Casual stroll

[EQ_Theta 416]

@Blitz Boom

"It's a packed snack for travelers who are moving between villages in the forest where we reside in, but the dried fruits are produced in a region that is more barren and warmer than most villages the longma settle in. If I remember correctly, there is a village comprised of scavengers who rely on this type of food and easily produces them whenever a traveling trader would stop by their area. It is a very long trip but I wouldn't know how to get there. In exchange for some goods and plants found in the thicker forests, they would provide large amounts of dried foods like these, along with any interesting things the find that might fetch someone a good deal elsewhere." 

To be honest, Lin mentioning this part promptly had her thinking what else could be beyond the most distant villages by the forest edge. She has heard the the soil isn't as fertile, much drier, and sand-like in texture. The cool breeze that passes the open fields and into their own village is a familiar feeling, and imagined just how different it is in the more distant places she has never visited. There have been mentions of the deserts in Equestria but she wouldn't know if the two are similar. Perhaps the weather and environments worked a little differently back home, partly after learning about the pegasi and their role in influencing the weather. Last she heard, everything was just naturally occurring where she is from.

"Embrium is very common around the parts where brother and I are from, useful in medicinal purposes when combined with another ingredient called dawn lotus. The two would make a potent potion when mixed with a little bit of water and some elfroot. Otherwise, it is mixed with other edible plants commonly found back home, like river cabbages, certain weeds, and the like."

"River plants like watercress are also fine but it depends on when they were picked. The mature ones have a very strong bitter taste. Also, watch out for things like odd-colored food items like red and white mushrooms, or plants with seeds enclosed in pods. Or anything with spines on them. Those aren't safe to eat."

Sen threw in some of his knowledge on the matter, a little more relaxed now that he had his fill. it wasn't a lot, just enough give him a boost of energy. He gave the same spiel to Omen when he introduced her to the plant in case she wanted to find some on her own. Even if it didn't serve any benefit now or in the immediate future for Rosa, a little bit of knowledge on wilderness survival helps. 

It would only be a few more hours till the sun begins to set, but at this time, the heat would be the most troubling part of the journey. Annoying and a bit prickly, but enough years spent wandering left the two siblings little more used to it. 

[Pr0m4NV14 837]

@Blitz Boom

Mike shot an annoyed look at Sorrow for poking him. “Right, right. The hospital. We should be going there. Yes.” He said, before heading out to the street on the other side of the alley. He paused to let Sorrow take the lead. He had no idea where to go, and she was his guide. “Which way do we go, Miss Sorrow?” The young Earth Pony quieried, watching a group of fillies in the distance make fun of a colt without a cutie mark. “I should break that up. That kid isn’t doing anything wrong.” He noted to himself...

[BloodDrops 762]

On 6/23/2018 at 10:35 PM, Blitz Boom said:

Lyriel fell lower and lower with each word thrown her way. Reprimanding her, painting her as a failure to her creator, and the forest itself... And where it not true? She had tried so hard to make everything well, blend in with the ponies and preserve a harmony here, and what had happened when the first major threat appeared? She gave it a day to leave, causing plentiful of innocent creatures to fall to Droppy's voracious, unending hunger, and then when she tried to fight off the sickly mare, the dryad had failed. She couldn't get this mare out of her forest, and if they were coming here, it seemed as if her dragon friend couldn't either, or were reluctant to hurry the creature out.

It would just lead to mare animals dying pointlessly, more imbalance and suffering... All because she were too weak, and now had the audacity to ask questions where they did not belong? To the one being who could set this all right, and for what price? To alter some of the forest? What were that, compared to fixing that which the dryad could not? To remedy a plague that could engulf the entirety of this country that had been so open to her, and turn the ponies she wished saw her as a friend, into nothing but husks?

The sphinx's last comment especially stung, as it touched the fear that Lyriel had about being what she had escaped. Of the mad, crazed siblings that had done such a horrendous act, and seemed to revel in it. It were as much a fear to the dryad, as it were to touch polluted or too pure water. She couldn't fall for the same, corrupting addiction they had, and she couldn't do what they did. Even when she tried to end Droppy, it were an action she did with sadness in her heart and as a last resort. Doing it on a far greater scale, like the sphinx threatened Lyriel would be responsible for...

"...Do what you must, if it means saving them. I... I accept the deal."

"Lyriel! Don't listen to her!"

Lyriel heard the dragon's voice, but didn't turn to look, too ashamed of herself to face anyone right now.

Nerzhei hadn't broken in, but the sphinx and the dryad hadn't been too far inside the temple currently - as if it were that big to begin with - and the sphinx the beings spoke loudly enough for the dragoness to hear it. She didn't hear Lyriel'd response, as the dryad couldn't find the strength of will to raise her voice too much as she accepted what were likely going to be an ill-fated deal, and if Nerzhei had, she would likely have not waited at the door, not wanting to break into this place as she weren't suicidal.

 

Droppy blinked up at Nerzhei and then back at Lyriel, "What did she agree to?" she asked the dragon quietly as she heard the Sphinx laugh, she didn't like it one bit. She blinked as the ground turned into sand, she stared at the floor confused and gave some of the sand a kick. "I don't like sand" she said after awhile to Nerzhei, though when she looked up it wasn't Nerzhei in front of her but the Sphinx. She blinked confused as she was levitated up into the air, then there was nothing she could remember past that.

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

The Sphinx grinned and cackled evilly as Lyriel accepted her deal. she slammed her paws to the ground causing the air to shake from the vibration. The temple turned from it forest setting the plants dried out and died turning to sand before solidifying and turning into sandstone pillars. The ground turned from dirt to sand as she began to change her temple ground from its forest setting back to her beloved desert scene. She glanced outside and smiled evilly at Nerzhei and the plauge walker. "Now then, lets get to work. You just wait right there Nerzhei, I'll deal with you in a minute" she growled. First she had to deal with the plague mare, she did so by levitating the problem creature up and towards herself ignoring the mares wiggling. "Your usefulness has ended, time for you to end" she growled at the mare.

The Sphinx grinned as the plague walker glowed then turned into a pile of bones, they dropped neatly to the floor then eroded into dust. Then vanished entirely. She brushed her paws together since she had solved that problem, once and for all. "Now were caught up to the present, how should I deal with you Nerzhei?" she asked her with a small smirk. "After all your a dragon and dragons do like to ruin there own ecosystem, so any last requests? Decapitation?, Slavery? Anything take your fancy?" she giggled sitting down, she enjoyed playing with her food, especially since she now had the power to do so.

The Sphinx smirked, "I like banishment, do you like banishment? If not im sure I could arrange you getting eaten by lotus, that would be a sight to see" she laughed glancing over to Lyriel, "you see this is how you rule Lyriel, you have rules and if those rules are broken then you punish the rule breakers with such evil tasks. Come to think of it, you probably do know what I mean, wasn't exactly hard to trick those stupid twigs to drink from the sacred water in the first place. Bet those dragons didn't see that coming" she smirked before turning back to the dragon.

"Unfortunately for you, I don't like dragons, and guess what? Your a dragon" she laughed, oh she could have so much fun with her newfound powers. 

 

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

 

~In a village long ago and far away~

 

Drops started to pull her cart full of crops, mainly beats and some carrots, though she was good at pulling carts, she didn't think much about it, rather happy with it. She didn't get paid alot for it though she got enough to get by. Though something made her pause by a bridge at the edge of town, she had a strange feeling about the bridge, though she didn't go near it. Suborn as she was she always knew not to leave the town, after all something might happen. She instead turned around and walked back into the center of the village, she didn't know why she had even left it in the first place. 

 

[Rising Dusk 26,099]

@Blitz Boom

Rising Dusk was once again impressed by the intellect of the mechanical spider.  She didn't even attempt to communicate with him on her own, instead going for the other stallion to do it for her.  She knew she couldn't.  He watched as Blitz tumbled to the floor as Felicia approached and the shock of Molotov as she 'sounded the alarm'.  Heck, after a wake up call like that even he would probably haven been all hooves on deck to defend the fortress workshop.  It was rather curious that the place was referred to as Workshop 05.  Was this really the fifth workshop, or just some random number to make it sound cool.  He'd have to remember to ask Molotov sometime about it.  Once his coat wasn't ninety percent charcoal.  The artistic hyper mind of a young explosion obsessed filly now present on her older brother.

"Good morning Molotov Boom.  I called Felicia out and she seemed to actually respond."

Dusk chuckled and rubbed the back of his head as the large spider roused her translator.  Amused as when he went off track with his translation earned him a smack upside the head.  Creation has entered those rebellious teenage years, so to speak.  Felicia was pretty straight to the point, which seemed rare here in the Boom household, evident in Molotov rambling as he had a short argument with his creation about what he wanted to be called and not call.  And something about being shut down that seemed to amuse the spider more than it probably should of.  If Dusk had to guess, Felicia had disabled that ability of Molotov's and let him keep thinking it was possible.

He couldn't help but raise his eyebrow at her comment though.

"Prison?  Who are you the warden of?"

He asked, curious on the spider's perspective in her surroundings.

[Victoria Sponge 1,014]

@Blitz Boom

Victoria was pleased with the reception, even if it had had some questionable moments.

"I appreciate the compliment Benny, but I would be careful what you say sometimes, some ponies might get the wrong impression. I probably would have done some damage to you myself if I hadn't changed so much."

She chuckled at the thought, though it were not as ridiculous as it sounded, she had fought with dragons before, just for fun really, but she had been easily able to pin down some of the smaller reptiles.

"It was rather apt though, I do like cooking."

"And you're looking better than ever!"

Heather piped up excitedly and Victoria blushed in response.

"It still amazes me how you're able to do all that without magic Victoria, you're pretty talented, could be a secondary profession for you."

It was a decent idea but Victoria knew how different each pony's style was and though she had hers down to a T, there was no way she'd be able to help other ponies with their looks without upsetting them or getting upset herself.

Vicky gently and playfully shoved Battenberg away, having had enough of their embrace now and not wanting to get overly emotional. Battenberg looked a little startled, she often forgot how strong her sister was but she quickly began to smile knowing that Victoria had made sure not to hurt her in the slightest while pushing her, something that had not been the case last time she had done so.

"You two have any plans now?"

She gestured towards Benny and Pop.

Edited June 30, 2018 by Victoria Sponge

[Sekel 685]

@Blitz Boom, @Lloyd

KARMIC FATE

"I'm good," Karmic grunted as she stood up and shook each of her hooves. She rested her weight on her back left foot and winced at the pain. "I can work through it, let's go. Or do you want to be caught?" she hissed at him and ran in the direction Zhu had come back from.

@Seamore Sandwich, @Blitz Boom

TWILIGHT SPARKLE

"Oh, Spike must have bit his tongue again from eating too many gems. I left him in charge with the filly looking for friendship help," Twilight giggled and was thankful for Last to provide a quick cover story and sat down. "I don't think I've had a chance to ask what brought you here, though, Princess."

[Blitz Boom 4,429]

@Dji @Lloyd

"Your responses changes rapidly. Are you loosing yourself to the entity?"

It was especially the hissing that Zhu took notice of, before he had bridged the gap between Karmic and himself again. If anything, ponies tended to show displeasure through growling, whereas hissing were more a thing for snakes, serpanthers, and changelings. Considering the thing Karmic had meddled with were known to have association with changelings - through name at least - it were starting to look like she could be loosing herself to the entity, or that they were mingling enough to start a full on conversion.

It would be unfortunate if that was the case. Something told him that it would be more trouble than it was worth to keep Karmic as a piece in the grand puzzle at that point, unless he could somehow find a way to separate the two beings again. Perhaps he could find how they had originally got the thing sealed down in the first place? It would be harder than simply ending Karmic, but it again seemed like she could play a major role in things to come. For better or worse he couldn't say, as lurking through her futures were spotty, though it gave him some incentive to try and think of what to do, rather than handling the situation in a more violent manner, and have her sealed somewhere for everyponys good.

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

 

@Rising Dusk

"Urgh, this again?"

Molotov rolled his eyes, which one again earned him a smack from Felicia. She were not amused by his antics, or his dismissal of what she thought about this place.

"Fine, fine. When Felicia talks about being a warden in a prison, she means that she's trapped here, keeping an eye on Blitz and me. She's jealous of how Carmen can go out, but she needs to stay in here, and doesn't like it when I tell her that she were made to protect this place, and that's why I put the wires in her back. It keeps her topped off, and unable to just skedaddle out into the world.

Try to imagine if I hadn't. How far between folks seeing a large, mechanical spider, and me being run outta town with pitchforks? Ponies are afraid of what they can't understand, and no offense to your town folks, but the average pony is pretty dumb when it comes to technology."

The older Boom sibling already got funny looks going with Carmen, and she were pretty much harmless. Now if the same happened with Felicia, that were a whole 'nother story, as the larger being were clearly not meant for just a small companion for a strange pony. Even if he didn't walk with her, it wouldn't be hard for the ponies in town to figure out who made it, and then in came the pitchforks and torches.

"And you know, there ain't a reason to say our full name. Blitz and Molotov are fine. We ain't some of them fancy horses."

Felicia started to *talk* again, frankly not caring much for what Molotov said, but didn't smack him since it mostly related to what she were trying to get through to the officer. Though she stood ready to bat her creator down again if he tried to get testy with her. She wasn't as entranced by him as Carmen were, and saw little reason to not make it clear to him that she wouldn't hold the same standard of *never hurting him* that he wanted. She might need him alive, but that didn't mean that a headache wasn't fair game.

"This one's getting tricky. Gonna venture some guesses here. *If I wasn't meant to want freedom, he shouldn't have given me life. My creator should have made one of his brainless machines do his guard duty instead.* Hey, I just told you, they'll come right up here and- What do you mean you don't care? You need power to stay active, which includes the wires in the ceiling. If I'm run out, you'll be collecting rust in days."

The large spider looked directly at him and slowly *talked* to her creator, in a way that seemed to make Molotov cringe.

"Jeez, point taken, no need to get testy."

Felicia had heard the excuses from Molotov before, but she didn't care for them then, and she didn't now either. She wanted- no, deserved to have freedom as much as Carmen did, and what might happen to Molotov as a result were inconsequential to her. Let the meat bags bicker about things as much as they liked, it wouldn't change that she wanted to see the world she were being kept at leg's length from.

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

 

@Moonlit

"Now there's something I didn't expect. How fascinating."

"..."

Neither Briar, nor Brittle, had expected to find what they had as they glanced past the last few trees into the open field. A giant wolf, wrapped in chains and starring up towards the sun? How did such a creature even wander around in the first place without the ground trembling? More importantly, what was it doing here?

Brittle didn't care much. She wanted to turn around, and bolt away as fast as she could, but she found herself unable to move. Frozen in place in pure fear of the creature that looked like it could make the both of them little more than toothpicks to clean it's large fangs.

Briar on the other hoof, had some degree of caution to him, but at the same time, he didn't think this was a regular wolf. Not simply because of the size difference, but also because this one hadn't gone through any of the behavior he would associate with one. No pack, no growling, no apparent awareness that the two of them were there, which should have at least given him and Brittle a warning growl, to let them know that they should back off.

Perhaps a cautious interaction would be in place, to see what sort of behavior it would give them? Certainly, Briar wouldn't be able to win a fight with this one, yet he were confident in his ability to ensure Brittle and him escaped, in case it took chase. It's large shape would have issues galloping through the thick woods without falling constantly, so long as they did not go too near,t hey had escape options.

Briar took a few steps forward and cleared his throat, whilst looking up towards the large wolf with a big smile, and the light glistening off his razor-sharp teeth.

"Greetings, great wolf. How fares your day?"

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

 

@Victoria Sponge

"Heh, alright. Perhaps the guy's at work isn't always to be trusted then."

Benny looked several kinds of awkward as he said this in the face of being told he could've been eaten up if Victoria hadn't changed. He had been pretty sure that this were not the brightest idea, but how would he know if he never tried? Now he knew for sure, and he even got through this lesson without getting slapped, kicked, scratched or something else. Sure Pop looked a little embarrassed at what he did, but it wasn't the worst thing she had facehoofed over. He could mention several things and stories that would make her blush up like a tomato as well, though he knew not to. Some weird moments should remain between the two of them.

He'd rather focus on the good, family moments in front of them too. Heather and Victoria were talking really well with eachother, and Battenberg seemed to really connect with her sister too now. Being pushed playfully like that were a pretty regular thing for siblings, even for dragons too. Difference where that they usually didn't stop at a playful shove, but ponies were more peaceful creatures too in general. it was more playful here, and it seemed to be taken well too by Battenberg. That little smile of hers didn't escape Benny's eyes.

"You know, Heather haves a good point. You're pretty good at putting makeup and stuff on yourself. Have you ever tried on anypony else? And we don't really have anything planned. I figured the meeting would take all day, so we didn't plan stuff until tomorrow. We're gonna get some stuff and have a picnic in the park then, and see some museums. You ponies have some really weird things in those places."

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

 

@BloodDrops

"And you're a self-righteous, hateful furball with a chicken for a mother!"

It weren't the logical thing to scream at the Sphinx who threatened Nerzhei to her face, but the dragoness were too furious to focus on that.

The way that the sphinx had said that she would cure Droppy, just to end up killing her instead, had been taking it too far already. Even if Nerzhei wanted to do that herself if given the chance, she had at least tried to find out a way to cure the pony and tried to be honest about what she would do, instead of deceiving the mare like this overgrown cat had done.

Even then though, Nerzhei should have been able to deal with things, yet with what were happening to Lyriel, the dragoness were getting close to going over the edge.

After the soil turned to sand, the dryad began weakening. The leaves and flowers on her started to fall flat and slowly wither, whilst she slumped to the ground, halfway squirming in agony, and halfway crying from what the sphinx had told her.

There had been no great creator, nor any purpose. They were just tools to use by the sphinx, and any promise the sphinx had made were likely broken too. There were no salvation for her brothers, the forest had begun to die around her feet, and the creature she had just used her power on, had shown her true colors as nothing more than a vicious tyrant, only wanting what was best for herself. That those she impacted and created suffered, apparently played no role.

Seeing her friend like that, and guessing somewhat what she were going through, were what made Nerzhei now stand defiantly against the large feline, and growl straight up in the creature's face, whilst smoke billowed out of her nostrils.

"You will get what's coming to you, monster."

She rose her good hand from her bag, holding three brown slivers of gems in it that she had fished out whilst the sphinx had rambled on. Research material mainly, containing tiny slivers of earth magic for her studies. Or as it were in this case, things to drain to take back the magic she had once put in them, as she were going to need it herself now. A waste of materials, as it would likely destroy the crystals, but she had little choice right now. Her reserves were low, and she needed to act fast.

Taking back what had once been with her, she felt a small surge of magic, and slammed her hand into the ground. Normally this could take some time to get something really good done, but the sphinx had placed herself on sand. An untold number of tiny rocks, and placed them underneath the feet of a geomancer. It wasn't a wise decision.

A pillar of rock slammed up around Nerzhei, shielding her, whilst several spiky pillars began rising towards the sphinx and her temple. It should prove no problem to remove them for the flying feline either, but that wasn't the point here, which the feline would figure out if she removed the rocks shielding Nerzhei. The dragoness would be gone by then, and traversing far away underground, getting out of the sphinx's reach.

She would attempt to get Lyriel with her as well, but the sphinx might be able to stop that, though if Lyriel didn't get some fertile soil under her hooves soon... Her kind couldn't survive without having at least some contact with nature. Even on concrete, as unpleasant as it were, dryads could still find a connection. But this slice of desert had been ripped of all life, including an oasis. There weren't anything here, and if that didn't change within the next ten minutes, there wouldn't be a dryad left.

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

 

@Pr0m4NV14

"Hey, it's not *miss*, just Sorrow, and I'd just straight to the hospital from here. Seems like there's a road we could follow easily enough."

They could even see the hospital from here, but Sorrow pointed it out anyway. Might be hospitals looked differently where Mike came from after all. Some parts of Equestria were kinda weird in their designs, so she didn't hold t against him. Might be he were also pulling her leg, but it was hard to say for sure with ponies sometimes. Mike didn't look like he was joking currently though. Doubly so when he saw some foals meddle around a little away from them. Seemed like a blank flank was being pestered by a few other foals.

Why some foals did this were beyond her. They were blank flanks too at some point. Shouldn't they try to help, if anything?

Well, the two of them were evidently, from what Mike had said. Honestly not a bad idea, if she had to be honest. Poor foal might need a hoof, and didn't get anypony else to give it since the adults were so busy with the town, or distracted by some of the repairs.

"Sounds like a plan. But be gentle, alright? They're just foals, they probably don't know better."

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

 

@EQ_Theta

"I don't know what half of those plants are, but I'll keep them in mind."

Dawn lotus were the one that sounded the strangest to Rosa. He had never been much of a botanist, and only knew about plants to the extend of what were edible and plentiful, and what were considered highly toxic. For example, they were urged to show caution around any kind of mushroom, and only get those who were sold at stores, if the need arose. Far too many were dangerous to consume to take the chance, unless you were willing to spend extra hours learning about plant life like that. Usually that didn't happen unless you were the foal of a tracker or farmer, and Rosa had been neither.

The knowledge he had needed at the time were simply what were edible if he were required to stay in the woods for a while, not a wide variety. The few stews and such he could make were mostly from watching one of the kitchen maids where their training ground had been. A shame how she ended up, but it wasn't as if he could have done anything.

"Considering how you can teleport now, have you considered looking for that village you speak of, Lin? You could provide a good way for yours and their leaders to meet, and perhaps discuss a trade route between your settlements. It might seem like little, but politics are important. It expands and grow bonds between others, to the point where you have allies to call on, in case something goes wrong.

Much as anypony would like to think so, the world is not safe enough to just rely on yourself. With what you can do, and your apparent comfort being outside your home's boundaries, you could help build a few bridges."

Whilst he couldn't talk well about plants, and life in an area he knew little to nothing about, Rosa could impart some wisdom on the concept of politics, and how Lin might be a valuable piece in that for her people. Sen could be too, since he had also been in the world and were open-minded enough about things, but Lin were the one who could teleport. She could visit a place, set a meeting, and then transport either party to the others location. It could be quite important, unless her people were more isolationists than Rosa anticipated. Sort of like a cult ground.

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

 

@Storm Shine @Lucid_Nightlight @EQ_Theta

"Oh please, they're harmless. If I put something dangerous here, the princess would stone me or something. I don't wanna have that happen to me.

The fruits are perfectly okay to eat, taste kinda good - never completely sure what ponies like of flavor - and they're just doing small, weird things. Like turning you orange for an hour, or make you blow bubbles outta your nose. Nothing last, and everything's fun. Come on, try one. Or are you perhaps a big pansy, Lucid? Widdle lil' pooqus afraid of the big bad fruity-wooty?"

The babyvoice Anomaly used at the end frankly deserved a slap, though the author wasn't doing it this time. He were tired of these small, annoying things in the story to break through the fourth wall and annoy him for doing things, so they could frankly sort this themselves, far as he cared.

"Lucid being chicken to the side: Discord, are you saying that all haunted houses are them messing with things? Isn't it kinda cruel to make dead ponies walk around like that? Or do you mean like, the foal haunted houses with the jump scares and stuff? Those can be kinda creepy. I was in one by the sea, right? And I got so startled, that I accidentally began snapping at things. And I might've changed a few things by accident.

Fun fact: Living plastic skeletons? Bunch. Of. Crybabies! Kept moaning about nonsense and not even trying to scare others anymore. One of them started to recite all kinda of weepy poetry even. How lame can it get, right?"

She sadly didn't manage to see much of her siblings through the rift Discord made (meanie pants...) but she managed to wave to them at least. One of them seemed to wave back even. Or make some sort of rude gesture? It were waving tentacles, and those things were hard to interpret. Octopi could be pretty rude in her experience.

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

 

@Lloyd

"If I went the other way, I would be following them. Pretty sure the idea here were to let them think we let 'em go, right? Besides, I wanna make sure the kid are alright. She seemed like she'd faint of a weird sound at night."

Void were far from something that Tidal wave would consider *soldier worthy* at least. The handicap were one thing, but being so timid, and freezing in the face of something attacking you? If she didn't even have a proper fight or flight response, she were a lost cause.

That being said, leaving her behind hadn't been good on any of them, especially not since she might've gotten hurt. The general would rather not have a civilian death on her cape. Metaphorically speaking of course, as her cape had been eaten before she headed for Canterlot. Not that she cared honestly. The thing got in the way, and it being *tradition* were a load of horse radish.

"Any idea where catsnake and co. are headed yet?"

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

 

@Lloyd

"Well uhm, as you say, the magic itself could likely be excused, under the right circumstances, but you did do a whole lot of uhm... Well, bad things. If the statue part is counted as your prison service for whatever happened in the past, and we only count the new things, you could technically end with up to twenty years in jail, depending on the mood of the princesses or generals. Assaulting the army, breaking apart pieces of the castle and threatening civilians is kind of a hard rep to avoid for you, no offense.

But, with the proper programs and proven progress, the sentence could be shortened quite a lot. The generals or princesses needs to be convinced you can change though, but uhm... I could be connected to helping you? I mean, i-if you want me to? You'd need a case officer anyway..."

Hogweed might be setting herself up for a total disaster, but if she truly believed that everypony could be helped, she'd need to prove that, and it wasn't like she thought any other guard would try to keep track of Warlock. After the amount of guards he hurt, she couldn't blame them either. Yet she still wanted to try and save him, even if several of her friends got hurt. It would give her a lot of flak, but... Somepony had to try, right?

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

 

@Lloyd

Whilst Iron had a thinker on things, Chow scraped the book off his face and placed it on a table or chair near him. Darn thing had given him a good boop it felt like, but it was fine. Not the first time he had gotten a swollen nose, and if he ever got allowed back home to Griffinstone, it likely weren't the last either. Brawling with griffons tended to get him a slam in the face more often than not.

"So what you're saying is that there's one book in Equestria that won't only slam me in the face, but be a cranky doodle whilst doing it? Well ain't that just a delight to think about.

Look, I ain't aware if I'm a magnet, and neither do you apparently, but it seemed to only mess up if I ain't focusing so far. Could it be one of them... What's the name... Psychological things? Or am I just repelling when I focus? Trying to understand the magic here, and frankly, this whole thing ain't helping me look any less like I'm wearing a blindfold in traffic."

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine

Lucid wasn't exactly going to allow anyone to talk to him like that. He stomped his hoof and a bronze cage appeared around Anomaly.

"Wanna treat me like a kid? Two can play at that game! Now, you sit in timeout and think about what you have done."

Was this childish? Yes, yes it was. Was it worth it? Definitely.

"Hey, Discord, is my friend in that afterlife?"

Edited July 2, 2018 by Lucid_Nightlight

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@Blitz Boom @Dji

Sapphire looked ahead, down the tunnel. "Yes, the hope is he can't sense my tracking method, but they seem to be still chasing Emerald." She turned her head back, still walking. "They are heading to the two sisters castle, or in the general direction of it at least." She looked ahead.

Astral walked up next to her. "If he could sense it, is it possible he'd be looking for a way to get rid of it."

"Yes, but I would rather assume he's just looking for Emerald, rather than that." She let out a sigh, her pace of walking speeding up by a bit. "But let's focus on finding Void first."

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

@Blitz Boom

Warlock smirked slightly. "Quite the impressive reputation, and a lot to forgive isn't it?" He looked up. "Would've been easier to forgive me if all I did was lengthen the night by a few hours." He said, haven lived through Nightmare Moon's extensively short rule. "But I will take it, if it means I get to live a little more, easily." He looked down a bit, a look of acceptance on his face. He did want to live free from dark magic, because then he'd be more focused on his goal, rather than power.

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

@Blitz Boom

He thought to himself, this was quite the tricky thing to figure out, but he did have one theory to it. "it only happened twice, for all we know, your expectation of the book hitting you is the reason it continues to."

As Iron Star explained it, Misty was standing next to where Chow set the book, as it hovered over the table by a foot, the magic field was black and white, striped much like Misty's own fur coat. "Woah, cool!" She said to herself, with the smile of excitement on her face, she looked to Chow. "Surely you could do it too, especially since you're older!" As she spoke, her concentration broke and the book landed back down with a loud thud. "Ah!" She stumbled back, falling backwards. "Yeah see, I am so inexperienced." She giggled to herself, watching the book, expecting Chow to try again.

"Well, she's right. And think of the book when trying. Focus on it, if it happens again anyway. It's definitely something within you that's causing it. But there's usually a solution to it." There was a pause after, Iron Star looking away slightly, almost to Misty. "Usually."

[Seamore Sandwich 470]

@Blitz Boom 

@Dji 

 

“Oh?  I haven’t had the chance to meet many of your students yet, Twilight.  Let’s just see how their doing,”  Celestia seemed excited to meet one of Twilight’s students, but this couldn’t be a worse time.  Time was definitely the problem here as the Princess continued walking, closer to her future self with every step she took.

 

@Blitz Boom 

@Dji 

@Moonlit 

 

“The other me has to believe the two of you are Twilight’s students.  Otherwise, I could meet my future self and time could collapse in on itself!”  Future Celestia was panicking now.  She had no idea what the effects of time travel would be, but Luna wasn’t worried at all, which was a reverse of what the situation was earlier.  “We already know from Twilight’s experience with time travel that that won’t happen.  She met her future self, and time was not destroyed,” Luna said confidently.  “But the difference here, is that I  have no memory of meeting myself,” Celestia said, matter-of-fact-ly.  “That’s a good point.  We should definitely try to keep the two of you apart.”

Edited July 3, 2018 by Seamore Sandwich

[Pr0m4NV14 837]

@Blitz Boom

Mike did see the hospital down the street it was huge! How much money did PonyVille put into health care?“I see the hospital, mi-err Sorrow.” He said, making sure not to bump into someone on the street. He advanced towards the group of children. “What am I going to say to them?” Ran through his head as he tried to look relaxed. He quickly glanced back at Sorrow and flashed her a smile. “Hey, you kids! What’s the matter?” He fillies stoped harassing the young colt and stopped to look at him. “What did that guy ever do to you to deserve that kind of treatment you’re giving him?”

[Sekel 685]

@Blitz Boom, @Seamore Sandwich

TWILIGHT SPARKLE

“Oh boy,” Twilight whispered underneath her breath and looked over to Last before glancing back at Celestia. “Of course, Princess. I’m sure they’re excited to see you too,” she nodded with a smile and stood back up only to stop the Princess from walking any further. “Last, can you go ahead to where we left the student to inform her the princess wants to see her and bring her back here, please?” She didn’t know if Last would choose Serenade or somepony else but at least this way, she hoped both Celestia’s didn’t meet.

@Blitz Boom, @Lloyd

KARMIC FATE

”Yeah, I’m perfectly fine, Zhu,” Karmic replied and shook her head and spat some green goo to get a strange shell taste out of hermouth. “Gah, What was that?”

‘That, host, was changeling goo. You must be more willing than either of us think if that’s happening so quickly,’ the voice inside her head spoke softly in a thoughtful tone. Karmic shook her head again and breathed slowly before continuing on.

”You still need a name,” Karmic replied and managed to avoid rocks and branches that littered the pathway.

’How does Atzy sound?’ the voice finally asked.

”I can’t keep calling you ‘Voice’ so Atzy is perfectly fine,” Karmic murmured.

@Moonlit, @Seamore Sandwich, @Blitz Boom

AURORA LIGHTS

Aurora sat down by the doorway and opted to look about herself and realeased she had no idea where she was. “Man, this castle is confusing,” Aurora muttered with every wall looking the same to her.

[Moonlit 593]

@Blitz Boom The wolf's ears twitch, and he slowly drags his face away from the sun. He stares at the two...ponies? He cocks his head to one side, "Sombra, his face black, his eyes red. Fionrai on the ocean. Beezen at court, the court of silence"

 

@Dji @Seamore Sandwich @Blitz Boom Serenade shakes his heads, and walks toward the door, quoting her favorite book. " Time travel. Since my first day on the job as a Captain I swore I'd never let myself get caught in one of these godforsaken paradoxes - the future is the past, the past is the future, it all gives me a headache." She pulls the door open and walks outside. 

[EQ_Theta 416]

@Blitz Boom

Lin chuckled, though not to show anything mean-spirited about Rosa's comment. It was more about her leaving out a key piece of information that must've left Rosa with an incomplete idea of the village she just mentioned. 

"Oh, I guess the way I put it didn't come out right. The village is a longma village; we're familiar withe them and the traders who come and visit the various villages in the forest where we make our home; they've been trading with the villages for decades now. I wouldn't be able to create a gate to that place though since I've never been there. My father did business with the traders who come from that place whenever they stop by to exchange goods. He had a lot to say about them: rugged, tough, darker hide... and a lot of nice pieces up for grabs. Artisans would be the first to take their pick of gems and scrap that they can turn into jewelry. The craftworkers have a lot of good things to say about them, my father included."

"But you're right, Sen and I have been trying to work on our kind's distrust of others not like us. I can't say the same of other villages but ours has a... difficult situation. Our elder supports our efforts to change our views on interacting with outsiders but many are still hesitant, some more violently opposed to it than others. I suppose it was about an account in our history, a promise of land and wealth for our kind but it never came to be. A promise broken, and our ancestors fled into the deep forests to hide and eke out a living in isolation, lesson learned: outsiders can never be trusted. It only grew worse with recent events, namely us bringing Omen to the village and revealing the true nature of our previous elder."

Sen caught up to the rest of the group, falling behind somewhat but able to maintain pace once he got a boost of energy from the quick meal he just ingested. 

"The story goes that our ancestors were a sedentary tribe who were approached by a foreign group seeking aid. In exchange for our help in building their nation, our ancestors would be given a place in it, with riches to share amongst ourselves. The former kept their end of the deal, but the latter went back on their word, driving the longma out with force. The thing is, the details tend to change between retellings so I am a little skeptical about the truth of this account. The general idea is the same but because there is no actual written account of the event when it first happened, no one knows what really went on. What I just told you is the most widely accepted version that was eventually kept on record after someone decided to do so. Sometimes I doubt this, or any version of this story, really happened. One of the pitfalls of oral tradition..."

"Can you tell us more about this... politics you mentioned? Sister and I have never heard of that. Maybe we could tell our village elder about this."

Edited July 3, 2018 by EQ_Theta

[Seamore Sandwich 470]

@Blitz Boom 

 

 

“Let’s get a move on!  We don’t have all day.  Actually, we do.  I don’t know why I said that, but we should hurry up anyway.  I want to get there sooner rather than later.”  It seemed the negative energy of Vivid’s magic was affecting Charlie in unforeseen ways.  Charlie’s mood did a complete 180° from cheerful to grumpy in an instant.  The high amount of magic in the stick, as well as the malleability of Everwood magic, was likely to blame.  

 

@Blitz Boom  

 

(Continued from page 278) 

“The cream I added is basically a mixture of sugar, soy milk, flour, margarine, vanilla extract, and concentrated magic.  That’s what’ll help us take larger items with us.  Usually the cream is used much more sparingly because it takes quite some time to make that much, but at least we won’t have to use it both ways, unless something goes wrong.  Which reminds me, maybe I should bring some of the cream just in case,” Penny said, putting the jar of cream in her bag, then a second jar of the same thing.  They were going to transport a cake stand, so it might make sense to bring some extra cream frosting, just in case the one they needed information from had a use for it.  

[Rising Dusk 26,099]

@Blitz Boom

This relationship Felicia had with the Boom siblings was rather deep and this was getting rather intriguing.  Her perspective on the position of a warden in a prison was rather interesting.  Considering that a warden was suppose to be the one watching over the prisoners, which he assumed meant the Boom siblings.  Instead though, she was the prisoner.  From a deeper perspective though, a warden could also be a prisoner within their own prison if they become too connected to the other occupants.  That might be giving the large spider too much credit for such a deep thought, but at this rate, even he might not know.

The root of the problem between Molotov and Felicia was pretty evident though, at least to the detective.  Her dislike for Blitz though he might not understand as clearly.  Dusk's mind worked quick, and was probably over stepping his bounds having only be the Boom family a day ago, but he decided to speak up.

"Well Molotov, I think I know the problem here...  You created an overqualified guard.  Being a guard might have been your intent, but you made her too smart to fill the role.  She's too big, intellectually, for the box you've placed her in.  Wouldn't be all that different than if you were born for the simple purpose of turning a wrench in a single direction."

He basically concluded.  That was really only a third the problem though, as evident by the mention and complaint about the leash that tired her to the workshop.  Reaching up, he tapped his chin while his eyes glanced around the workshop in thought.  So those cables gave her power... power power power, think think think.  If he knew the spell to make a light bulb appear over his head, he'd have done it.

"Could you not adapt that gem that powers your wings into something that could power Felicia?  Solar power was it?  Make it bigger?  I'm not going to pretend to understand all the mechanical stuff, but from a magic stand point, I think the modifications I can do the storage and output formula should help."

Alright, possible answer to problem number two.  Problem number three.  Yes, city ponies on average wouldn't be really considered book smart, but if anything, we were street smart.

"I think you should give us city ponies a little more credit than that.  Seeing a large mechanical spider might be unsettling, for a week or so.  But as long as Felicia follows the laws like anypony, they'd get over it pretty quick.  Little surprises the city anymore.  And I've seen more strange things from a blue stage show pony before, believe me.  We'll adapt."

The midnight blue stallion chuckled, rubbing the back of his head again.

Edited July 4, 2018 by Rising Dusk

[Blitz Boom 4,429]

@Rising Dusk

Felicia made a nodding motion towards Dusky as he argued her case, and hit the points that the spider had failed to do herself so far. She were too smart for being chained like a simple bundle of gears, and had the right to go outside and get to see the world like Carmen did. Sentience were wasted toiling away in here by force.

It seemed that chosing to take a risk with the interloper had paid off for the spiderbot, though she wasn't done gaining allies, as Blitz bounced over from pulling screws out of her mane to join in on the conversation as well.

"Yeah yeah, let Felicia roam too. It'd be fun, and she can protects us out there too!"

"Are everypony just gonna gang up on me here? Carmen?"

Molotov looked around for the small spider, who he found skittering across the floor, scaling up on Felicia, and then standing on her head, joining in on the several amount of eyes from everypony that were starring him down.

"Lil' traitor... Okay fine, I'll do it. If you're all gonna be on my flank about this, it's not worth it keeping this up."

Felicia rose her front legs slightly and let out a (hopefully) joyful screech.

"But there's some ground rules if you want to go out there. First off, no attacking the citizens. Not unless they've really deserved it, and if you're not sure, don't try.

Second: You'll come back here for check-ups and repairs whenever something happens, no matter how small. They can't fix you if something goes wrong, and I'm not letting you fall into the hooves of some crazy pony.

And third: Unless you're with us, you keep this place safe when we're not in town until I can build a replacement system. Something with no AI this time.

Play nice and by the rules, and we won't have an issue. Be real good, and perhaps I'll go back to working on that voice box design I have been keeping on the backline for the last month."

Felicia took some time thinking on it as Molotov rambled on. It were some irritating limitations set on her, especially the last one, but considering what were to gain from following suit... The voice box especially, as she would have the intelligence to use one of those properly, unlike Carmen, who had a far more limiting AI than her...

The spiderbot reached a metallic leg towards the pony to try and emulate the *shake on it* kind of deals ponies apparently liked. Molotov didn't touch the leg too much, as it were kinda sharp - had to be, so she could cut her own web properly - but he did a small shake of it, and let out a long, drawn out sigh.

"Alright then. Dusky, mind following me? I'm gonna need an extra set of hooves to get the power source out here.

Oh, don't anypony give me any looks. After what happened to Center Zero, I needed to make contingency plans. That includes a power source for Felicia, in case we had to run away from this place in a hurry. It's not solar, but... Well, I can't tell any of you what it's getting juice from. Trade secret. Just gonna say that Carmen runs on it too, and keep it at that."

Molotov really didn't want to share what this were worked from. Not just because he wanted to keep some secrets, but also because if they started to ask too much, things could get awkward. The side effects of breaching the containment were mostly kept in check, but there was always that small chance that something could go wrong, and well... Putting it mildly, if it happened to Carmen, she could level a street, and Felicia needed a larger power source than that.

If Dusky would agree to follow, Molotov would start heading for the back rooms, or living quarters if you would. He'd need to get them to the safes.

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

 

@Seamore Sandwich

Scarcity listened with more intensity than she appeared to. The recipe sadly didn't inform what the concentrated magic were, but it seemed to be connected to the cream, as Penny were taking a few jars of those with her as she described a need to be prepared. It were a small thing, but any bit of information were helpful when it came to a fascinating new thing as this.

To imagine, teleportation cream. What a strange and fascinating world they lived in sometimes.

"You can never know what might happen, so planning for an emergency or change is simply efficiency. I expect no less from you, considering what I have seen so far."

It were a genuine compliment, as Scarcity would admit that overall, Penny had a good grasp of things. A few hiccups here and there, but it took hard work and a constant focus for years to perfect things, and even then, failures would happen. It were how you dealt with them when that happened that made your true meddle stand out, and Penny had shown to handle herself rather well. Perfectly? Heavens now, but on the good end of acceptable? Most certainly. She could gain a gold star for that.

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

 

@EQ_Theta

Ah, so it were already a tribe that they interacted well with then. Seemed like the smart thing too, but you never knew with isolationist groups. Some of them could get really intense on not letting any outside contact happen, or at best very irregularly. seemed like he needed to soften his look on how the longma village ran already.

What came next he did know something about though: History. No, not the particular one told, as he were not anything resembling a history major, but more the concept of history being warped depending on what side you were on. It either got harsher and harsher, or in the case of the winners, softened and bland, taking out much of the bad things that side did to make it seem more okay. History tended to be written by the victors, but the losers had their own tales, and especially with oral history, it were easy to warp it to make their side seem more understandable and justified.

"I can understand your ancestors kept to themselves then, but times change, and everypony needs to change with it, or eventually disappear.

You should try and examine if you can find any such history on the other side, and see what they said about the battle. I doubt it will be encouraging, but perhaps there are a few pieces that correlates with your history, and you can filter some truths from the lies.

As for politics, it's a lot of things for a lot of beings.

The easy way is to see it as a working relationship with other nations and/or races. If you can get diplomatic ties with them, you can exchange goods, have allies in case of emergencies, send and receive students who wants to broaden their horizon, quench potential wars, and so on. How it's gotten depends widely, but mostly it's sending diplomats towards the other nation to speak on their people's behalf, and then arrange for meetings, ground rules, potential wants for allies, and other things of that nature.

At some point, a deal which both sides can agree on can be gotten, and the interaction between the two parties can then begin with citizens.

If your kind for example, made contact with Equestria, you would have some longma sent that represents you well, to meet with diplomats from the castle in Canterlot. If things went well, both parties would be allowed to trade and travel to the others area, long as they kept the country's laws in mind. Some of those laws might get discussed too, but it's usually not until a proper connection have been established for a while.

A village in itself could try and make contact too, but it would hold more weight if it were a nation. Perhaps if your people's elders met to chose somepony to represent them as a whole, that could be a strong start to have ties with other countries and move out of the shadows.

Currently, I've been trying to tutor King Thorax of the new changelings to deal with these kinds of things. He doesn't have diplomats yet and does the formalities mostly on his own, so he needs to understand the basics. If needed be, I could give some pointers to your elders too, if they'd even listen to me."

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

 

@Pr0m4NV14

Sorrow kept a little away from Mike and observed what he was doing. Partly because she wanted to see if he could handle it, and partly just out of general curiosity. Not everypony did well when addressing foals.

He seemed to be starting off good. Addressed the foals calmly, asked into what their deal were without being hostile... This might end up going really well! But then again, this were just the start, things could go wrong.

heh, perhaps they'd need to go to the hospital for another reason than to look for his sister too, if something went really wrong. They might end up duking it out with Mike and winning the fight. Which would be equally parts hilarious and sad.

Or okay, perhaps not equally. Depended on how hurt he'd get off course.

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

 

@Lucid_Nightlight @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine

Anomaly didn't seem to be the least bit concerned about being trapped in the bronze case. In fact, she looked absolutely thrilled.

Nudging her head to the side, she chomped down and tore a good piece of bronze bar out of the cage side, and proceeded to munch on it like it was a crunchy pork rind. Sure it wasn't covered in spam, which would've made it even batter, but bronze were still delicious, and it had been time for a lunch break anyway, surely. Even draconequui needed a dose of food now and again to keep energetic and on their toes, or at least she kept telling herself that. Anomaly generally didn't let herself go hungry for long.

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

 

@Lloyd

"Kinda disturbing to me what his whole plan is with her. Seemed like he wanted to avoid too many getting in the crossfire somehow, but why? And with what outcome? I'm starting to wonder if he isn't angling for you two to finish eachother off."

They'd soon get out of the tunnel, just to get back to the main room where all the items locked up or stated to be locked up, stood silently. There were no dust on the floor, no signs the container it had been in had ever been there, and no Void.

It wasn't all perfect though. There were a scorch mark in the floor that showed where the storm had unleashed its energy, leading to a bundle of boxes up against the wall that Tidal Wave could see might be almost standing as they were before, but there was lacking a box on top. Likely one that had gotten smashed, or were used to contain the dust and the container it had been in before properly, in case the lot of them returned to cause more trouble.

"The guards must've taken her to the infirmary when they cleared the area. If the marks are anything to indicate at least, I'm guessing she might not have gotten out of this without issues after all."

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

 

@Lloyd

Hogweed seemed to brighten up a little as Warlock seemed to be okay with her being his case officer. It would be her first time doing this, as she were normally mainly handling her division of the field medics, but she were going to do her best to make this work.

"That-That's great! I'll get to work on some things when we're uhm, *done here* eventually. And don't worry, if we make progress, I'll make sure to speak your case at every hearing. You'll see, you will have plenty of years as a free pony once we get you helped."

A red tint spread on her cheeks, and she fell down a notch, when she recalled the currently silent pony were watching them too, and likely having his own thoughts on this whole thing.

"I mean... L-Let's wait and see what the princesses or generals says first. The years I put in was just a neutral estimate. They still hold the ultimate judgement, now that the princesses are out of town and the ambassador is bed-ridden. We'll have to run everything around them."

Several things needed to be run by the generals, but so far, they weren't responding to Captain Hailstorm who stood outside and tried knocking on the door again, to see if he got any answer.The information he held likely would play a good deal into the evaluation of Warlock as a whole.

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

 

@Lloyd

"Well alright, I'll give it another shot and try to think of other things that could happen. Ain't gonna be upstaged by Misty without a fight."

So back Chow went to try and focus on the book, and channeling the magic through to make it lift. It were still one hay of a weird process, but the book seemed to shake a bit less this time, so he did show a bit of progress. ALso firt time he focused on his own magical aura, which seemed to be a mixture of brown and dark red, looking like something out of a lava lamp.

Keeping the focus, Chow made it float around a little near where it stood, before getting it down again with a big, triumphant grin on his face. Looked like he could do something after all, though this here had been when he kept concentrating. Losing focus had been what made the thing smack around the other times, so, up the book went again to take another test. This time, keeping it up, then suddenly let go of the magic like what happened the other times. Now they'd see if it would smack towards his head again, or if something else happened. Might well be that it would just fall down, since he tried to keep his thoughts on a doughnut.

What? It had been a long say, and he was hungry.

Might be the book would also fling in another direction, and Chow would end up being some sort of magnet alright. With both sides of the polarity swinging for him. Good for fetching things in the middle of a fight, or throwing them away. Less good if he had to transport stuff like porcelain or the like.

(your choice what happens now)

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

 

@Seamore Sandwich

A little personality change. Not the worst effect Vivid had ever experienced from her magic, considering the roots in demonic magic it had.

Generally speaking, she didn't corrupt anything just by touching it, but some beings - like Charlie it seemed - could get influenced by the energies and react rather erratic. Usually they turned darker until she let go off them, and the shadows began to lift from their minds, so whatever effects this had on Charlie were likely just temporary too. If not, at least it inly affected his mood, though it'd likely be better if they got to the castle sooner, rather than later.

Not long after that, they did indeed reach the old castle, which Vivid still didn't understand the state it was in. This seemed like an important part of history, so why not renovate it and keep it maintained, if for nothing else then tourism?

Perhaps she should ask of this when she would one day meet another princess than Candence. Hopefully it would be Twilight, and it wouldn't take too long. Vivid missed feeling the sun on her coat.

It wasn't too far away from the entrance before they got to the room Vivid had sealed up to contain the body. The dark purple tendrils and web of pale magic still made sure that nothing entered, so the body should be ready for their meddle. Soon as Vivid removed this of course.

It looked fairly impressive when she had originally made this, but dispatching it were fairly lackluster. It was simply dissipating it, causing it to deteriorate into smoke quite fast.

"We're ready then. Any last words before your new life?"

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

 

@Moonlit

And it could talk too? This wolf were getting more and more fascinating. Or well, it were for Briar at least. Brittle on the other hoof, just cowered further behind him, trying to avert the gaze of the large wolf.

"I'm afraid that I don't know what you speak of, Mister Wolf."

Briar had heard rhyming talk, old school, posh, accents and even knee a few words in Arabian, but the way that the wolf spoke perplexed him. Certainly there were meaning in it, but what it were, Briar had no idea of currently.

"Please, allow me to introduce ourselves to you. This is my dear companion, Brittle Buzz, and I am Briar Trapjaw. A pleasure to meet you."

He gave a gallant bow to the wolf, before looking up towards it again. Brittle just kept covering for the time being, but it were expected. The dear filly did not do well around people she didn't know and/or those who looked like actual threats. The wolf pretty much hit both effectively.

"Excuse her please, she does not fare well around strangers.

May I perhaps inquire about what brings you to this area, Mister Wolf?"

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

 

@Seamore Sandwich @Moonlit @Dji

Cherish wanted to ask questions to what she heard, but she still had to stay hidden until the princesses said it was okay, so she just had to stay queit, incoporeal, and invisible for now.

There was some weird things going on though. Like, what were Serenade talking about? It didn't seem to fit what she had been saying so far, or perhaps the spirit just didn't understand it fully.

It wasn't like there were much time to think about it, or what Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had said about the apparent time traveling antics of Princess Twilight. Serenade were opening the door and would go out in a bit, and since the siren in disguise carried the piece of the old castle that kept Cherish from being torpedoed back to the ruin, the specter would have to follow, willing or not.

Hopefully nopony could tell that she were there, as that could lead to some weird and potentially harmful situations for Cherish. Plus, being undetected meant she might be able to help out a little if it was needed. Pushing something here and there wasn't all that difficult, though the less she had to do, the better.

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

 

@Dji @Seamore Sandwich @Moonlit

"Right away, your highness."

As sarcastically as it would likely sound from others, Last didn't say it like that, or showed it to be even remotely seen as anything but seriously. The tone had stayed steady, no eye rolls, and she even saluted the young princess before going down the hall to fulfill the order she had been given.

Last would admit that it felt strange to take orders from somepony younger than her, but Twilight still held the title of royalty. As odd as it felt currently, Last would follow her orders when they came from the crown.

Perhaps she could learn to get used to it, if Twilight didn't dismiss her when everything was said and done? Last couldn't handle too much inactivity, but this town were the center of a lot of turmoil. She'd have something to do, and the castle were woefully unprotected...

Last shook her head as she neared where the shriek had come from. She wouldn't beg for a gig, as her pride wouldn't allow it, so it were up to the princess. Though, what would the princess of magic realistically want with somepony like her? Last weren't magical, and her social skills were laughable. Who would...

No. It wasn't productive to think like that. She should focus on the task at hoof, not her fear of being useless. That was what was important.

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

 

@Dji @Lloyd

"How tight are the influence's grip getting, Karmic?"

Spitting a gooey substance were one thing, but changeling goo? Karmic were not as unaffected as he had at first thought it seemed, if she had the ability to exert something like that from her being.

His guess would be that she were beginning the conversion process, though instead of being asleep in a cocoon, she were going through it whilst awake and lucid.

It could prove problematic for the future of the mare, yet the question were still if her mind were her own anymore. If the body were affected, he could only wonder what was going on in her mind.

Perhaps he could make Emerald test this when they reached her? It was a possibility, and one that were nearing as they were almost at the gates to the old castle.

Edited July 4, 2018 by Blitz Boom

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@EQ_Theta @Blitz Boom @Storm Shine

"Right, I forgot you could do that."

Well, that was a bust.

Pringle climbed the tree when Lucid was busy with Anomaly and is now chowing down on one of the fruits which turned his claws purple.

"I guess that isn't too bad."

[BloodDrops 762]

On 7/2/2018 at 9:13 PM, Blitz Boom said:

"And you're a self-righteous, hateful furball with a chicken for a mother!"

It weren't the logical thing to scream at the Sphinx who threatened Nerzhei to her face, but the dragoness were too furious to focus on that.

The way that the sphinx had said that she would cure Droppy, just to end up killing her instead, had been taking it too far already. Even if Nerzhei wanted to do that herself if given the chance, she had at least tried to find out a way to cure the pony and tried to be honest about what she would do, instead of deceiving the mare like this overgrown cat had done.

Even then though, Nerzhei should have been able to deal with things, yet with what were happening to Lyriel, the dragoness were getting close to going over the edge.

After the soil turned to sand, the dryad began weakening. The leaves and flowers on her started to fall flat and slowly wither, whilst she slumped to the ground, halfway squirming in agony, and halfway crying from what the sphinx had told her.

There had been no great creator, nor any purpose. They were just tools to use by the sphinx, and any promise the sphinx had made were likely broken too. There were no salvation for her brothers, the forest had begun to die around her feet, and the creature she had just used her power on, had shown her true colors as nothing more than a vicious tyrant, only wanting what was best for herself. That those she impacted and created suffered, apparently played no role.

Seeing her friend like that, and guessing somewhat what she were going through, were what made Nerzhei now stand defiantly against the large feline, and growl straight up in the creature's face, whilst smoke billowed out of her nostrils.

"You will get what's coming to you, monster."

She rose her good hand from her bag, holding three brown slivers of gems in it that she had fished out whilst the sphinx had rambled on. Research material mainly, containing tiny slivers of earth magic for her studies. Or as it were in this case, things to drain to take back the magic she had once put in them, as she were going to need it herself now. A waste of materials, as it would likely destroy the crystals, but she had little choice right now. Her reserves were low, and she needed to act fast.

Taking back what had once been with her, she felt a small surge of magic, and slammed her hand into the ground. Normally this could take some time to get something really good done, but the sphinx had placed herself on sand. An untold number of tiny rocks, and placed them underneath the feet of a geomancer. It wasn't a wise decision.

A pillar of rock slammed up around Nerzhei, shielding her, whilst several spiky pillars began rising towards the sphinx and her temple. It should prove no problem to remove them for the flying feline either, but that wasn't the point here, which the feline would figure out if she removed the rocks shielding Nerzhei. The dragoness would be gone by then, and traversing far away underground, getting out of the sphinx's reach.

She would attempt to get Lyriel with her as well, but the sphinx might be able to stop that, though if Lyriel didn't get some fertile soil under her hooves soon... Her kind couldn't survive without having at least some contact with nature. Even on concrete, as unpleasant as it were, dryads could still find a connection. But this slice of desert had been ripped of all life, including an oasis. There weren't anything here, and if that didn't change within the next ten minutes, there wouldn't be a dryad left.

 

The Sphinx smirked and glared down at Nerzhei, "Well maybe banishment is too good for you, though I've considered your life as poultry to be rather comical." she growled stepping closer to the dragon intending to deal with her, she paused as some spiked rocks came out of the ground and flew towards her, she rolled her eyes and roared causing them to shatter to the floor. She was the one that could only do magic in her temple, not some dragon. "I don't think I gave you permission to use that magic here" she growled.

She glared at the dryad and snapped at her, "Stop your wailing, servants are not allowed to wail without permission" she growled at the tree thing before going back to the dragon. "You trying to hide? That won't save you" she growled before sending a large shard towards the pillar of rocks that was hiding the dragon, not noticing her or Lyriel escaping not even thinking they would do so.

The Sphinx let out a loud roar as she discovered that Nerzhei had gone, she glanced down the hole and then turned where the other hole had appeared where her servant had been, she let out another angry roar and stamped her paws on the ground, causing some more of the forest to turn to desert. She would have to go find them, and remove them, or she could think of another way to get back at them for running away.

 

 

 

[EQ_Theta 416]

@Blitz Boom

Sen and Lin were delighted to hear about Rosa's offer. Sure, it's just one elder who is amenable to learning more but he's got some ideas to share to the other elders. The last time they met, Ghilan had plans to leave for other villages and present some proposals to the other elders. Normally, an elder sends a messenger but he seems content to be the one to send the messages himself. It wasn't unheard of back then but having the elder do the legwork was an uncommon occurrence. Still, it was some semblance of change even if it is only one elder setting an example. 

But finding the truth behind their kind's history, that was another matter entirely. There was no record of who exactly made contact with the longma in the centuries when that tale began, no information that could point to even the slightest clue. That was, until Lin was showed that book back at Scarcity's shop... and even that was merely grasping at straws. Without a way to confirm the contents of that book, it was just another lead.

Sen and Lin didn't need to think about what Rosa had offered, and simply jumped in with excitement and glee. Sen moreso, quickly replied with the kind enthusiasm Lin frequently saw as children whenever he got a chance to learn something new from the hunt masters.

"That sounds good! We didn't have a word for what we were trying to achieve with broadening our kind's horizons and perhaps education might just be the thing that can get them to slowly come over to a new way of thinking. Elder Ghilan is always looking for ways to make this work. He'd be more than happy to welcome you to the village and he would love to learn from you!"

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@Blitz Boom @Dji

"I'd not attack her now if he expects that, we need to talk, for once." She looked around the room, for signs of where Void could've gone. "But if he gives her the power of an element of disharmony, she'll never turn to my side again. Even in a time of crisis."

Astral looked to Sapphire, standing near the blast marks on the floor. "You can take us straight to him if you sense him doing that." Astral looked to the general. "I assume we'll check if Void is there at the infirmary before we do anything else, right?"

Sapphire sighed to herself, glancing to the general, a look of concern in her eyes. The weight of what Zhu had planned weighed on her a lot, as well as the concern that this general was only a house for Emerald to watch Sapphire's movements. She turned to look. "Yes, let's do that."

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

@Blitz Boom

Warlock found a smirk and light chuckle exit him. "They won't like what case I'd have to present, miss. I am the reason they banned the magic I use, after all."

The guard next to him, gave him a glance of surprise, trying not to break his stance.  "Surprised they haven't banned unicorn magic yet, then."

"They are born with it, the magic I use is something you learn."

He chuckled to himself. "Right, unicorn magic is learned too."

Warlock looked back to Hogweed. "What are your thoughts on this matter?"

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

@Blitz Boom

The book only swayed around, Iron Star watching it tilt towards Chow. as it's movement only accelerated towards Chow, His own magical field enwrapping it before Chow could adjust. His eyes widened, Iron Star ducking as the book then flung over him, ripping it out of Chow's magic field. "Definitely something other than a magnet if that happened." He looked to chow, gasping softly as he pieced it together.

"You didn't let him practice long enough! That's probably it."

He looked down at Misty. "Misty, Chow's magical field is just unstable it seems, even if I let him practice, it would've fallen apart entirely when casting powerful spells." He pointed to Chow. "So from what I see, your magic field is two separate fields, judging from the two colors, which would cause the magical fields to battle for control." Iron Star returned to a standing position. "But unless Emerald left some of her magic field in you, there would need something else creating it." He leaned forward, walking close to Chow. "Can you think of anything?"

[Rising Dusk 26,099]

@Blitz Boom

At this point, Rising Dusk was starting to feel like he'd have a calling as an Equestria ambassador.  The jest of course made him chuckle to himself.  He was quite happy with his calling in life.  Sure, the work could get dirty, more figuratively, but really anypony's job could in it's own way.

"You were the one wondering yesterday about the feelings of your creation.  Well now you know.  So, it's more and win win."

The midnight blue stallion chuckled as Blitz Boom joined in onto Felicia's side.  Maybe their relationship wasn't as bad as Dusk assumed it was.  Granted, now that he though about it more, Blitz Boom probably didn't have the attention spam to really be all that bothersome to the large spider.  Felicia could probably just toss a spring she's been holding onto and it might completely distract the small filly in an instant.

When Molotov started listing off his conditions to finally release Felicia from her duties as guard of Workshop 05, Dusk felt like he needed to add in his two bits.

"And let's make sure we follow Equestria Laws as well.  So yeah, no pony hurting."

Probably a bit more of an added kill joy to Felicia's sense of freedom.  But an officer of the law is an officer of the law.

When is assistance as asked for, he couldn't help but be curious on why Molotov was asking Dusk for help and not somepony more mechanically inclined like his sister Blitz.  When he was about to bring it up though, something else caught his attention.

"Uh... Molotov.  You might want to shower first.  You may have become the unwitting canvas for Equestria's new rising artist."

Dusk pointed his hoof at Molotov's charcoal covered coat.

[Moonlit 593]

@Blitz Boom The wolf cocked his head to one side "Midnight Castle, it's gates open and unbarred. Paradise Valley, unlit but for the moon". 

@Dji @Seamore Sandwich @Blitz Boom Serenade stops as soon as she exits the room, and spots Aurora. "Um...Hello"

[Blitz Boom 4,429]

@Lloyd

"I'd be more comfy if you talked whilst she were in chains, but we'll look at that when we get there."

Tidal had the feeling that the two witches weren't gonna bring her along once the big battle were gonna happen. Not for safety reasons, but to try and talk some sense into this Emerald chick that seemed to be the focal point for what was going on right now. Tidal might be an unconventional sort of general, but Emerald was a criminal, and as such, chaining the parasite up good were the option that she'd go with. Something Sapphire and Astral would know, unless they had been smacked a few too many times in the noggin these days.

Getting out of the room they were in the conventional way, Tidal took notice that one of the guards were missing, and turned to the nearest one.

"The mare that were in there before, did you folks take her to the infirmary?"

He'd nod, but didn't talk. How in the world this group got through the day when it rarely seemed like they talked, Tidal had no idea about, but she assumed it involved some kind of fanaticism with their job. The psychotic levels of loyalty to the throne you could find sometimes were staggering, even among the guards and varied heroes spread around Equestria.

"Seems like she'd there alright. Follow me, and we'll be there in a few minutes if nothing goes wrong. Any bets on how likely that's gonna be?"

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

 

@Lloyd

Hogweed opened her muzzle, but paused. It was a pretty difficult question that was asked of her here, in parts because it involved some degree of justification to Warlock's magic. A magic mind you, that were currently outlawed, and had been for a long time for a likely good reason, seemingly involving the chained up stallion himself.

"...I uhm... What I mean is..."

Even when she had thought on it for a bit, she still stumbled over things, trying to figure out how to put this. How she had ever gotten a rank above field medic when she had moments like this were beyond herself sometimes.

"I think that the magic is okay, if it's used kindly and responsibly. Magic itself isn't evil. It's how you use it that can be.

Even sacrificial magic can be good, by giving a little of yourself to save others for example, and that is a kind of magic that's even forbidden to unicorns.

If you can prove the magic can be used responsibly and in a way that helps others, as part of your reforming efforts, I think that perhaps the case could be made to the princesses that it is time to give the population a chance again. Or perhaps just let a group learn, and see how it goes from there? It's up to them, though I think it's going to take a little while before they will try and embrace that. They'll have to both see you making personal progress, and proof before things goes on.

Though the uhm... I can't remember the names. Other witches? They used it to help capture you. Perhaps they're going to prove earth pony magic can be better utilized than banned?"

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

 

@Lloyd

So it wasn't just smashing after him then it seemed, but more random folks's heads? What was he, some kind of pinball magician? Should he wander around with a helmet and rubber balls to just boop everything around all the time then?

Considering how many head injuries seemed to want to happen right now, the helmet might not be a bad idea actually...

And then came the kicker in the stomach Chow really should've been expecting: The notion that something was conflicting with what magic he might be able to use. A sort of influence that ere fighting with him over control in the matter. Emerald were finally out of his head, and yet she seemed to still be messing things up for him.

"I'm gonna go ahead and say that it's Emerald that have left something behind. I had her stuck in my head for years, and it's not like this is the first sign that she didn't leave me clean either. Here, lemme show you."

Taking the sharp part of what was left of the spear he had been polishing before, Chow brought it to his left front hoof, and made a small cut in the flesh right above the hoof itself. It wasn't much, and he didn't even twitch doing it, but then again, Chow were used to cuts and bruises, so it'd have to be deeper if he were gonna get all weepy about it.

From the wound came a small drop of blood, that rolled down and hit the floor, where it then started to sizzle at the stone it had landed on. It wouldn't go straight through and keep going, but there were a clear mark where it had dropped before the effect went off and it just dried up to a small, inactive spot.

"Noticed this when Astral and I got chained together earlier. Used it to sizzle through the chains and make a run for it, though I can tell you straight up you that I've never been able to do this before. Blood's always just been regular ol' blood, until Emerald got out of my skull. Looks like she left me a few more *presents* than I first saw under the tree this year."

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

 

@Moonlit

Briar tilted his head to the side, pondering what to say to that.

The wolf could talk, that were a given, yet the words it chose didn't make any sense to him. At least not in the context that were presented, which could seemingly just be random words mashed together. Kind of like a parrot, testing what it had learned to say, though broken up into random bits.

Yet... There seemed to be some kind of meaning behind it. Granted, he hadn't the faintest clue, but what if this were just an olden way to speak? He had heard Princess Luna's quotes here and there, and they seemed very old fashioned. What before that though? Could this have been a way to speak back then? If it were, this wolf had either found some really old books... Or he were ancient himself? Giant wolves weren't exactly common from his knowledge, and it could talk, so how could he say for sure?

"I'm afraid that I cannot comprehend what you speak of. Midnight Castle sounds as if it could be connected to Princess Luna, yet how it connects to the valley you speak of or why it carries no light, I haven't a clue about."

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

 

@Rising Dusk

"Huh?"

With everything going on, Molotov hadn't had the time to think of frivolous things like how he looked or personal hygiene. The small bit he had seen on his hoof barely registered the brief moment he had seen it, in parts because of the ganging up on him that were going on, and in parts because he had fallen asleep on a machine. Some soot were pretty common when that happened.

Now that it got pointed out to him though, he had a closer look, and could see that he wasn't mostly covered in random spots. It was crude drawings, made in charcoal, almost covering one another in an attempt to cram as many unto him as possible

"Gosh darn it, Blitz!"

He turned on the spot to face his sister, who fell on her back and held her stomach as she laughed at him. Times like this, he started to fall back into the old times, before the family and their town were gone, and Blitz lost her memory, as this were exactly the kind of thing she had been a fan of doing. Molotov had to lock his door in seven ways eventually, just to keep her from sneaking in and doing weird stuff like drawing on him, or place his hoof in a bowl of lukewarm water. Completely innocent to her, and just a way to pass time when she couldn't sleep, but a nightmare to her older brother who needed the energy and didn't like waking up looking like a soot goblin.

"Just you wait until I tell mo-"

Molotov had started to raise his voice and fire off the usual sentence to Blitz, when reality hit him like a truck, and caused him to just stand there with a raised hoof and a hanging jar:

There was no mom to tell Blitz on. Heck, his little sister didn't even remember her, no matter how much Molotov had tried to jog her memory with pictures, stories or songs she used to play for them. They were alone now, and the only one he could tell about Blitz being after him that really cared, would be himself. Everypony else were gone.

His hoof fell and his ears slumped as he turned around from the giggling filly. There was no point in getting angry with her. She were just a filly, and literally didn't know better. Every scrap of that kind of memory had seemingly been lost, along with what had happened at Center Zero, and anything that Molotov could do to try and make her remember, were too dangerous to test on her. Far too experimental, and could end up causing him to lose her again. This time, by his own hooves.

No, he had grieved enough over her. It was better to leave her in ignorant bliss than to take any kinds of risk like that.

"I'll... Take a shower when I've shown you the power source, Dusky. It shouldn't take long..."

The spiderbot behind him started to go off on a tangent again, needing a translation before the depressed-looking Molotov left the room.

"Felicia says you need to show her the laws. Get her a law book or something when you have time."

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

 

@EQ_Theta

"When this is all over, and I've been to the orphanage to see if they can help me locate my brother, I'll see if your elder will listen to me."

It would be a strain on his time, but honestly, he doubted King Thorax would mind much, since the time spent went to a good cause that he, if anypony, could relate to. Plus, on a personal note, it would be good for Rosa to do this, since he still felt like he needed to make up for all the damage he had done. Helping a village elder the ways of politics seemed like a good way to carry out some more of his penance, though it depended on whatever or not the longma elder would listen to him. Even if they didn't have spies there, isolated people tended to be less trusting of outsiders in general, so it was likely not open hooves he would be welcomed with.

"It will take time though. Politics have changed from back int he day, when it could be resolved with a duel or an arranged marriage. The nuances are vast and he'd likely need to be told of it over several times.

Would I need to infiltrate the village, or walk straight to his door? I can stay out of sight when needed, and if the locals doesn't trust outside influence, I'd likely have to, whilst you lead the way to whatever building your leader resides in. This is also a part of politics: Making sure you still have the people on your side. A leader is only as strong as the support they have from their people, unless they're a demigod like Discord."

Of course, there were also the case of dictators and tyrants, but they still tended to have some support. Granted, a good deal were through the few they benefited and/or an indoctrinated people, but it were still a factor, and Rosa doubted the siblings cared much for hearing of politics in a fascist government.

Funny how he had taken those courses on politics as a last minute elective to avoid music classes, and it actually turned out that it ended up being a useful skill. He couldn't play a guitar or sing to save his life though.

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

 

@BloodDrops

The pain was growing more intense by the minute...

Nerzhei used as much energy as she could to make for her and Lyriel's escape - who she had been lucky enough to drag with her - but the overuse of magic and the injuries the dragoness already had were getting to her, as she tunneled through layers of rock and dirt, and collapsing the track behind her as they went on as best she could.

She tried to keep her thoughts on other things to get away from the pain, but it were getting harder and harder to focus on anything else.

It had started with her praising her luck that she had taken her book with her when she had left the cave, as the sphinx were likely going to destroy it now in retaliation. Countless hours of work, slivers of crystal that had taken her months to collect and fill with small amounts of magic, and up to years of research notes would be gone, but as long as she had the book and Lotus, she had the most important things with her. Everything else could be remade, relearned or rewritten.

Then the thoughts had gone towards Lyriel, who had started to squirm a little less as they finally broke through the sand, and got into more fertile soil. The Dryad were still encapsulated in rock, but it brought her closer, so her pain eased a little. Well, her physical pain at least, though Nerzhei suspected that the emotional trauma were going to take a good deal longer for her to get past.

A few other things regarding Lotus, the book, what she were going to do now and so on also came and went, but the pain in Nerzhei's head and bad arm increased to a point where it started to be hard for her to even navigate, or move anymore. She didn't have a choice, they had to get to the surface. And quickly, lest they get stuck down here.

Breaking the surface would cause a bit of a stir, since they were in Ponyville at the time, though it were thankfully not in the main street, where the majority of the guards were. Sadly, there were still a couple here, who approached the dragon and the weeping plant pony wrapped in rock with raised swords.

"Halt! Let go of the mare."

They hestiated somewhat, seeing how the dragoness had one arm in a noose, and the other were clutching her head, doing a poor job of disguising the amount of pain that were going over her face right now.

"B-Bag. Hnngh! .. Elix-Argh!"

Surge after surge were going through her head, combining a migraine attack with the aftermath of using too much magic at once, to cause her a mental pain unlike any she had tried before. Frankly, the dragoness would be attacking something out of pure instinct if she had the ability to move much right now.

The guards weren't sure what she were going on about though, and just kept their weapons on the ready. Thankfully for Nerzhei though, there were someone who understood what she were on about. A pink little someone, opening the top of the bag she had been in, and reaching a bottle of strange liquid up towards Nerzhei.

The dragoness quickly took the elixir from the bunny and gobbled up the entire bottle in one go. It was more than she had ever done at once before, but it were how much she had to drink before she could feel the pain starting to subside, and she had the capacity to let go of Lyriel again. Her arm still felt like it was burning, and pearls of sweat were showing on her brow, but she were somewhat lucid again now, and glanced over at the guards that were holding her up.

"The princess. Where is she?"

"State your name and reason for keeping that pony restrained."

The two were more focused on the dragoness than the pony, so they didn't notice the flowers growing on her - a few things were poking through the crackling rock shell - which would be a hard argument against the mare being an all out pony, though that were semantics really. It would still look like a hostage situation no matter what kind of creature had been brought up like that, wrapped in stone.

"There isn't time. She needs to be warned."

"About what?"

Nerzhei looked the most talkative of the two guards straight in the eyes, as she took a deep, raspy breath.

"The sphinx that's taking over your forest."

That seemed to get their attention, though they weren't the only ones who bit notice in this. Some citizens began to talk too, and would spread the word whilst the guards eventually would help the dragoness to her feet, and assist in leading her towards the castle.

Not everypony who listened in had worried thoughts about what they heard though. One in particular, instead eyed an opportunity and began making her way towards the forest whilst everypony were occupied with their own things. The only one following the tall, well dressed pony, were a small, blue mare, who looked like she hadn't slept in a few days, but went on with a smile on her muzzle regardless, as the tall one lead the way towards an unusual situation.

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

 

@Lucid_Nightlight @Storm Shine @EQ_Theta

Whilst Anomaly was munching on her snack cage, the dracolisk curiously followed Pringle into the tree.

Watching the smaller lizard, and the effect some of the fruit had on him, the dracolisk cautiously sniffed one of the fruits to see if they smelled like actual food, or if Pringle just ate weird things.

The smells differenciated wildly he found, ranging from sweet, to sour, spicy, and so on. None of them really smelled like the food he ate though, until he went over to the side, and smelled a smaller fruit, around the size of a mandarin, and striped like a candy cane.

Oddly, it had a strange odor of fish, a food that the dracolisk did know. So even if this didn't move and wriggle like he were used to, it were good enough for him to try and follow what Pringle had done, and chomped down on it.

Half of it got down before the dracolisk spat the remaining part down on the ground below, where it got absorbed by the ground. While it smelled like fish, it had tasted like chocolate, and even though the dracolisk didn't know what that were, it knew that it didn't like it. Something sweet were perhaps okay, if it were akin to a ripe pear perhaps, but he liked meat, and had expected meat. That thing had been far from it.

Nothing really happened the first few seconds after that, as the dracolisk tried to get the bad taste out of his mouth, until suddenly, he sneezed, and let out a stream of bubbles. Each time one of them popped, a piano tune softly played, causing a weird bucket of noise to come from the two dozen bubbles that had gotten out.

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@EQ_Theta @Blitz Boom @Storm Shine

"Well, he didn't explode, so I guess it's fine."

Lucid looked at his little lizard, he was so adorable!

"Well it seems Pringle has a new friend. I gotta ask though, how does the dracolisk think like an adult lizard if it just came into existence?"

Edited July 6, 2018 by Lucid_Nightlight