open Casual stroll

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine @BloodDrops @Dji @Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich

Lucid took note of Anomaly's request. He saw Anomaly leave, he wasn't too worried because she'd probably be fine and be able to find return with the drone, but he called out to her anyway, which would probably be heard on that cube if she's too far.

"Hey, if you get lost, have trouble, or need me, or want to tell me a funny joke, just use that cube I gave you! You can use it to communicate with me and/or open a portal if you need or want to!"

He knew she'd back soon. Lucid had a question for Onache.

"So, since his name is Happy Hour, does he drink a lot? It really sounds like he drinks a lot."

He got to the sphinx's question.

"Well, as Fluttershy said, there was some pony of shadows, they were stopped, and all the pillars are back, which includes Somnambula."

[BloodDrops 762]

12 hours ago, Dji said:

“As much as I would love to learn all about these books and what they contain, I kinda can’t be trapped here for all eternity, and neither can my friends,” Twiligjt told the Sphinx despite looking around at all the books around her. It was sorely tempting I crack a book open and start reading. If given a set limit, she old most likely get through maybe a quarter of the books within a weeek but even then she wouldn’t know what to do with all the knowledge. She managed to squeeze through a couple towers of the books and looked through the bars at Onache. “You’re getting flustered, Onache. Maybe now you realise being like Thorax isn’t a bad thing?”

The Sphinx blinked and looked at her with a frown. She was a very strange purple pony indeed. "Fine, you can read them at your leisure, at your library, they are waiting for your return" she said with a snort. The books disappeared and instead teleported into Twilight castle, some pony would notice them eventually when they opened the door at the very least. She blinked and thought about something before flicking her tail at her words. "Well shes either flustered and want to change into a colourful more powerful bug, or she is thinking about the problem we now face" she said with a grumble.

 

10 hours ago, EQ_Theta said:

"Somnambula is very much alive," Fluttershy added, pouring a cup of tea, still warm despite all of this time locked up and talking. 

"Twilight needed help to defeat the Pony of Shadows, and so she brought the Pillars of Equestria back from Limbo. Somnambula doesn't look like she's worse for wear and looks fairly young. I couldn't say the same about Prince Hisan though."

*Grumbles* "Well this throws a spanner in the works" she growled

The Sphinx let out a sigh and sat down before reading a scroll out from thin air. She then levitated a map of Equestria and started staring at it. "hmmm, hmmmmmm, Interesting" she remarked. She then smiled and shrugged tossing both the map and scroll over her shoulder. "Seems that the kingdom doesn't exist anymore, well that's fortunate otherwise my deal would be invalid" she remarked.

"Though I'm only banished from the kingdom, and since your ruled by princesses. That would make it a Queen doom or Princessdom in this case" she giggled. She liked finding loopholes in things, she glanced at the temple and it seemed to have agreed with her logic. "Otherwise I wouldn't be allowed to be making deals here, or even be here technically" she smirked.

She flicked some sand, "The Prince wasn't a pillar, so hes dead along with his lineage otherwise I wouldn't be allowed here, whole banishment thing and all" she remarked. "Good thing too, I hate going back on deals due to a technicality." she growled. She flicked her tail she was half tempted to go and see what had happened to her temple, though she wouldn't with this deal with Onache, how irritating. 

 

1 hour ago, Blitz Boom said:

Onache was too furious at the ponies to really get scared of the sphinx right now. The large feline were not the only of these beings who threatened to squish her, and there were only so much you could shake at a threat before you began to get somewhat jaded to a similar or lesser threat, such at the sphinx.

She were about to give a response to said sphinx, and explain what she had meant about the deals and who she were truly blaming, when the threats ended, and she were plunged towards the sand beneath. A situation magic could fix easily, yet right now, that were not possible, and the angle combined with the relative short height meant that she would end up with a face full of sand in just a moment now.

Just before she hit the ground though, something popped up from the sand and softened her fall. A large, leathery flower, sprung by the draconequus who had now finally figured out how to alter herself enough for the time being to be able to use her magic again, despite the large gem hovering in the air. Granted, Anomaly had also grown a bulbous green maw on the tip of her tail that tried to snap at different folks, and a swan wing on her left side, but that was side effects. Couldn't have everything all *perfect and easy*.

"Got you, grumpy bug lady. Want me to go find your friend too, so you can talk about how you're gonna be all colorful and happy now?"

"...Fine, fetch Happy Hour if you are able. At least I shall have a trusted being with me then."

"Yey, this is gonna be a real party! I'm gonna go find sneaky bug pony. But first-"

She streeetched over to Lucid's side and talked excitedly in his ear.

"This is gonna be real special, so special food. I want something fun, like a ball of nectar, dipped in pure honey, milk chocolate and anti freeze. It's so sweet it will melt through your stomach, but it's sooooo good! See ya."

Anomaly licked lucid on the side of his face with an over-sized tongue, grinned, and then dug herself into the ground and went away to see if she could find the drone in question. She were pretty sure she'd heard the name in Ponyville, so it was gonna be a piece of cake.

Uuuh, she should bring cake back with her. That would be great.

Onache rose from the flower, with the thoughts flowing through her head on what to do, and what it would mean to try and go against everything here, and run off to make her move elsewhere.

First off, there wouldn't be an escape. As had been obviously started by the sphinx, you could not leave the desert without a deal, and if Onache ran from her current one, she would have none. Either the desert would take her then, or she would just end back here, beaten and desperate enough to make a less favorable deal.

Then were the option that she could stay, and simply not take ponies as prisoners and food source, yet what were the odds of that working without issue? There were limited numbers of beings outside of ponies, with griffons being the main choice as dragons tended to be more trouble than worth, and the formerly mentioned avian species could be a big issue as well, with their innate violent tendencies, and general strong will. It would take a good deal more out of her to keep them down, and for what? Their love were not as easily accessible as what ponies could give, so she'd need a big flock just to break even. and changing ponies would go against several parts of the deal, for the sphinx as well as the changeling. She were being backed into a corner, and her options seemed dim with every step her mind took.

Urgh, she needed Happy here... His intelligence were not as high as hers, but she knew that she could trust him. He might put some perspective on things for her, and help guide her for once. About time too, considering how long she had led him for.

A fleeting smile vaguely showed on her face as her last drone's face got into her mind. The one she had the least control over, yet by far her most loyal subject to date. He followed her willingly and didn't question her orders, no matter what she had asked of the former human, and not once had she needed to exert force over him to make that happen.

As little joy as it may bring her to think of this little sliver of light in this gloomy setting, the weak smile didn't last long enough to likely even be seen. There were important decisions to make eventually here, yet before that, she had to mend a little scorched and salted ground. Especially with the sphinx, who seemed... More furious about something other than the changeling's attitude? A pony by the sound of it, who had taken her former temple from her. And one who were still alive, nonetheless? Interesting.

"I don't drink tea, but fine, I will partake in your... Gathering. And do not think that I am flustered, and suddenly swayed to think that Thorax is better, princess. I listen because I have lost, and humor the thought on what I may have to become because I may have starving subjects otherwise, but I have yet to be convinced that your passive ways are the right one, or even a possible one. Far as I know, your *reform* includes having to regret what you've done, yes? A hard sell to a changeling queen."

She held back the snarky tone and settled on a more *dignifying others opinions matters* attitude, in case her persona would cause more ire to the sphinx. For a large feline that were clearly not shy of holding herself above others, it was impressive how sensitive she were about others doing the same, honestly.

As for the excuse for the comment regarding the deals before... This seemed like a bad time. Perhaps later, when this strange pony they spoke off were no longer such a hot topic.

Over at the regular tables, the bunny and the dracolisk were currently munching on a few things. It helped Lotus relax a little, whilst the dracolisk honestly just wanted something to eat. He'd have a nap on a dry, hard surface as soon as he were done tasting a few things more. Lotus would instead keep hoping that they weren't all set on fire by the sphinx in some way.

 

The Sphinx was back to reading a different scroll and frowned, she had just realised something and it made her smile. She smirked and looked at Onache, "About that whole lack of feeding on ponies. Yeah you can actually do that. I can't enforce any deal which prevents you on feeding on prey species during times of food stress, which you would undoubtedly be under since you can't eat most things like normal ponies." she said reading the scroll some more.

"huh, that's a new one. You can't wear hats inside when its raining. I will keep that in mind...... Ramsey 1st pharaoh of the Late Southern Equestrian Dynasty... Interesting, wonder what else he has agreed. Free food for the sphinx on days ending with a y. Well that's rather thoughtful of him, after all i'm sure he couldn't spell correctly. Though he did break this deal eventually, however due to that famine. Hmmm, probably doesn't apply though since she wasnt a pony" she smirked.

The Sphinx thought about it and smirked. "Well since Onache is a changeling, she would be entitled to this since her kind didn't break the rule, the ponies broke this and thus they do not get the right to eat." She flicked her tail it was flawed logic but it seemed to suit the temple so she didn't push the subject too much, after all she wanted to get the deal broken so she could vacate to her old temple.

That one at least had decent plumbing. 

 

1 minute ago, Lucid_Nightlight said:

"Well, as Fluttershy said, there was some pony of shadows, they were stopped, and all the pillars are back, which includes Somnambula."

 

The Sphinx rolled her eyes, "couldn't you just leave them in limbo? Well I suppose they had their use in the past, protecting all of equestria from all those beasties that are not as pleasant as myself. Technically Somnambula was only a pillar after meeting myself so you could say that I saved all of equestria and deserve some of the praise and rewards." she remarked.

She liked that idea, "Like a lifetime supply of food. Though not a McDonald voucher or some like, those places are worse then KFC. Too much salt" she grumbled, she blinked at the ponies. "Well suppose your not quite at that level yet" she smirked.  

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@BloodDrops @Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine @Dji @Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich

Lucid corrected the sphinx on his intentions to make it known that no rule was broken.

"Actually, I did not try to remove any ability to feed from the changelings. I merely tried to make it to where they had to find an alternative to ponies to feed. Therefore ponies are still allowed to eat."

He heard the sphinx talk about how she wants free food and something about too much salt.

"What do you have against salt?"

As for the terms, there were things to discuss.

"Ok, so what are the current terms we have? I wanna speed this along because you're boring."

Edited September 23, 2018 by Lucid_Nightlight

[Storm Shine 1,196]

@EQ_Theta @Blitz Boom @Dji @Seamore Sandwich @BloodDrops @Moonlit @Lucid_Nightlight

Discord rolled his eyes, floating the tea Fluttershy so thoughtfully poured over to the Sphinx. "As much as I'm enjoying the chaos, I believe both sides should be allowed to eat. I have warped minds and twisted beings, but I have yet to take away one's free will.. Simply warped them into making different choices with that will." He coughed into a talon, "Anyways... the point is that the changelings should be free to stay the way they are if they so choose. Taking that choice away will only make them hate it all the more, and if they are both hateful and no longer in need of ponies for a food source.. Well, I'm fairly certain we can all guess where that would go."

The Chaos spirit snapped a talon, conjuring a glowing pink stone about the size of a teapot. "I have a proposal of sorts. I can create a stone of love energy that will refill each day, allowing you to feed you and your changelings enough to live and defend yourselves but not enough to go out and cause problems.. On the condition that you take no hostile actions against the ponies unless it is in self-defense." He offered to Onache, not really caring about the outcome one way or the other but still curious how she might react.

[EQ_Theta 459]

@Blitz Boom 

"We're so sorry to hear that, Rosa. Hearing about this 'dementia,' slowly losing memories and learning about your father..."

Both Sen and Lin looked to the bat pony, saddened by his tale. For a moment, they forgot about their own worries and listened intently. Losing memories over time, not being able to do a lot about it, that left the siblings speechless, wondering what it was like. There were bits here and there that Sen remembered from their talk, with Lin picking up on the things he did in his line of work. She remembers telling him about how he's changed, how he didn't stick to doing what he did once he learned the truth, then running off to seek asylum with King Thorax. Now here they are, sharing their stories and sharing the pain that came with those experiences. Lin looked to Sen, both seemingly knowing what the other was thinking: Sen had the tendency to extend a hug to Omen whenever he was filled with big and heavy emotions. Back then, he couldn't seem to control himself, just giving one whenever he felt like he needed to get something off his chest. 

Now, perhaps it was a good moment. Even Lin wanted to do it, and so both walked up to Rosa and gave him a warm and tender hug. It was as if they wanted to tell him that things will get better. Rosa's past couldn't be changed, and it still haunted him. They couldn't tell him how to fix it since they didn't know what it was like to be in his place. All they can do is give him comfort in this difficult time. Though maybe the invasion of personal space is unwarranted, it was the one thing they knew that could help. 

"You don't need to apologize to us, but if it helps, we forgive you," Sen calmly replied. "We can't make this pain go away with just a few talks, but we believe you are still good and you can make things right to the best of your abilities. If helping you find Stargazer can ease your worries, you only need to ask." 

The two were honestly winging it as far as helping Rosa goes. They knew they had to help but weren't sure if this was the right way to go about it. What is true is that they know what it is like to be the ones asking for help but not receiving a response adequate enough, until they met Omen. It felt good, and who knows just how many others needed this kind of support when they had no one else to turn to. Maybe they had to start small, but they had to do something. Hopefully it was enough for Rosa right now. 

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@Blitz Boom @Storm Shine @Lucid_Nightlight @Dji @BloodDrops @Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich

"Discord, can you conjure up another teacup for Onache please?"

Fluttershy waited but for now, she opted to continue speaking with the changeling. She might be on to something with how things are going at the moment. 

"Admitting you're at fault and feeling regretful about it is hard for anyone who is proud, or has too much of it. The first step is admission, and that what you're going through led you to making a decision that wronged somepony. All I can ask is that you give yourself a chance to try another way. If not for you, then for your subjects. I'm sure they'll appreciate it."

Though Discord's suggestion was a fairly sound one, the pegasus preferred Onache would follow Thorax's example. It was through naturally realizing just how bad things are for the changelings to remain starved for love that they choose to become who they are now than to stay in their old forms. It wasn't a favorable choice to some, as Onache so put it, but it was a choice freely made. 

 

Edited September 23, 2018 by EQ_Theta

[Storm Shine 1,196]

@EQ_Theta @Blitz Boom @Dji @Seamore Sandwich @BloodDrops @Moonlit @Lucid_Nightlight

 

"Of course" Discord agreed, bringing another teacup into existence for Onache. "Hmm.. Do changelings drink tea?" He briefly wondered.

[Rising Dusk 27,763]

@Blitz Boom

Rising Dusk though that he understood what the spiderbot meant by clanks alone, denying the fact that it'd be washed off and instead was automatic.  Of course though, Dusk was given another demonstration of Felicia rather quick and crafty was to get something across.  Even if she didn't have the necessary voice box to help with speech, at least she would spell.  Carving out a message in the ground right before Dusk.

"Even better, it goes away on it's own," the midnight blue stallion relayed to Rusty as the group continued on with the tour.  He was sure to Rusty, that was a much better outcome than having to wash the web away.  Which would probably end up being his responsibility somehow.

"Although it seems temporary, that web could still be quite useful."   She was basing this off the assumption that Felicia used these webs like a regular spider, which would require the material to be very strong to hold that much bot metal to a wall or ceiling.  Rusty could think of several things around the scrap yard Felicia could help with.  Oh, even with a few of the upcoming community projects later this month.  Issues for another time.

She led the trio through a few more rows in the scrap yard until they were entering the central area.  Finally revealing to Felicia that Rusty wasn't the only pony that worked here.  Up in the crane, a gray pony with a thick mustache was pushing levers to and fro.  The cane spun and lifted the large scoop of the crane into various piles of scrape and dumping them onto trailers or into the crusher or into the furnace.  Following a slip of parchments with today's orders hanging from a clipboard on the window.  Other big strapping stallions moved those trailers to other parts of the yard for other purposes.  Another mare and stallion were collecting the cubes of crushed scrap and loading them up onto other trailers or putting them into different piles.  An orange colored mare loaded molds into the furnace so that the melted metals could be shaped into their new purposes.

Stopping as she entered the central area, she waved her clipboard at all the activity going one.  "Well Felicia, here is my crew."

[Blitz Boom 4,629]

@Lucid_Nightlight @Dji @Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich @Storm Shine @EQ_Theta @Lucid_Nightlight

The changeling queen glanced at the cup of tea, but made no move to actually touch it. While she could drink water, or certain beverages close enough to it, changelings in general tended to only be able to consume love. Food and most beverages were an issue, depending on the changeling in question, and left most to only be able to take in water, and get sick by attempting to ingest other things. She had seen firsthoof what that looked like, when she had been under Chrysalis's employ and seen desperate drones trying to get something in that could quench their thirst.

Now, Onache was not a pleasant being. She would openly enslave her own kind if needed, and exile the weak from her hive. And that wasn't even touching on what she were willing to do towards ponies and other lesser beings. Yet even she had found herself feeling sympathy towards them, and further distaste against Chrysalis for failing to feed them. That so many had become dissenters even before the Thorax incident were hardly a surprise really, considering that.

"Changelings can rarely drink tea without suffering from it.

Happy is different. He cannot eat, yet he can drink most things. Including some of the alcohol that he creates. A useful craft from before his conversion that he maintains proficiency in."

She didn't outright tell that it was because it was useful for him to keep at that, because he could then infiltrate towns easier, but it shouldn't have to be said either. They were changelings after all, and their real trade was acquiring love. So she used him as a scout to find good targets for them, or occasionally to send individuals back to the hive that he thought she may find interest in. Being able to drink along with others and keeping a jovial, happy exterior made him a valuable asset, over the scouts that she had used in the past, who had occasionally not come back as they copied somepony else that then returned, or they messed up the interactions with others.

"I have answered, now I want to see how you will attempt to convince me to follow your way. As I see it, with Discord's generous offer, there is now two hurdles set in the way of your plan.

Firstly, I can get all the love I need from that heart, and all I have to do for it is to follow the deals that have already been made, so why would I need to change?

Secondly, you speak of regretting things, yet I regret nothing. The only thing I feel over my accomplishments in trapping and bending the will of ponies, are pride, and I find it doubtful that you can change that. Caring about the feelings of my prey is as if a griffon cared for the fish which they feast upon.

Begin with this, and let me see if you can convince me to *turn a new leaf*, as unlikely as I find the notion."

She was a vain, egocentric being who cared only for power, and keeping her subjects fed. If the feeding were no longer an issue, then she could focus on power, which were likely a good place to strike at her for this. Relying on the gem would just make her a chained pet, among other things, and when strength were all that was left to matter to you, being locked down were an issue.

Though of course, there were many ways to go at this, as well as the second point, and the beings around had seemed capable to nudge her towards if not reforming, then at least to isolating herself and not causing any trouble. And really, to her, even if she changed forms, it wouldn't have to mean that she would be good either. Just that she would have to utilize those she captured in other ways than as food.

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

Siren's sure felt different than Berry had thought. Something more like a soft dragon that had been in the water for a while, rather than a more slimy eel kind of situation. Probably for the best really, as otherwise she'd now be covered in slime, which never tended to be good. That stuff just got everywhere, and cleaning your ears in a lake was a hassle.

It might have taken away too from the majesty of watching the siren float out of the water. Sure, Berry had seen some old pictures like everypony who had history in school, but actually seeing it? She could feel almost feel the lights of wonder sparkling in her eyes at the sight. Gave a good full view of the siren too, and yeah, she still wasn't scary to look at. Small siren like this shouldn't make folks all that concerned, right?

And speaking of concern, it seemed like Starswirl had sparked up some of it. She were sure that wasn't the first time that had happened, but that was a beef with him and his goons for another time.

"Yeah, they're back, and get this: They've been stuck in limbo for all this time. Ironic, right? The mage and his goons got themselves banished after doing the same thing to so many others. Don't worry though, they're not in charge of this place. If the princess got your back, any sort of attack they do on you makes Them the villains. Besides, feeling the other side of the medal have got to have done something to their self-righteous attitude, right? If not, me and Mr. Hammer will have a talk with them."

Considering what she just said, smiling gleefully was not really helping Berry look any saner, but come on, she couldn't make a little joke now and again? Lighten up, world.

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

Ruby would there to be quite a bit to talk about. 723 bits to be exact, in bags of a 100 each plus one opened in the compartment in said wagon. There were also a small bag of rubies, some dark pearls, three silver rings and a necklace with a sapphire locked up tight. The dragon in disguise even managed to scout out the ace of diamonds, low-grade silver playing card, with the encrusted diamonds in the right spots. A gift that Spicy had long since come to think of as her lucky charm, and had locked up better and more securely than anything else in the wagon, even if it was the least valuable. You could make something like it for around 10 bits if you had a bit of skill with tools.

And all the while the things were being called out, Spicy had gotten progressively more surprised and awestruck in her expression. Her jaw even began to slack a little, whilst Marley were more subtle in his response, with a raised eyebrow that indicated that he was impressed.

"That... Fairly impressive, Ruby. I've traveled far and wide, and met all kinds of creatures, but I've never seen anypony who could literally feel valuables like this."

She paused for a moment to compose herself again. Ruby had certainly gotten her attention now, and the implications of somepony with skills like this were pretty far reaching. Just imagining the sort of things that the gold-feeler could be used for were sparkling ideas into Spicy's head already, which was mostly followed by the sound of jingling coins falling into their hooves and claws.

"Y'know, I don't normally go around and advertise this sort of thing, but if we work well during this job, I might know a way or two for you to utilize your gift to really rake in some tangible dough. Not just a goof chunk from sweeping old tombs that have already been raided to see if there's something hiding behind the walls. Which we're definitely going to be doing this time around, that's for sure.

No, I'm talking the big times, where the bits are so plentiful that even if you roll with the hundreds, it'll cover you head to toe in no time."

"Boss, calm yourself here. Ruby have shown a r emarkable skill, but let's not jump into things without knowing her a little better. You wouldn't want to rely on Her to get us out of the fire again, right?"

Spicy cringed slightly at the warning, knowing full well the situation and pony in question. What a nasty situation it had been to be in that relied somepony like her to bail them out.

"You're right. We'll see how this goes first, though I'm hoping we can count on you to the end of our current arrangement, Ruby. Don't go and get soft on us or anything. Trust me, you'll understand what that means later."

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

 

@EQ_Theta

Rosa were not one to cry much. When life became hard, he tended to respond to it by wandering away for a time, or as had been the case with his fathers condition, drink his cares away. Crying were not something that he normally partook in, and especially around others, so the tear from before had felt pretty big for him.

That were dwarfed when the two siblings embraced him and tried to comfort him though, and an actual stream of tears began to fall from his eyes. He tried to hold it back, but the more he tried, the more they just seemed to push through, and he soon found himself unable to just stop the flood from falling as they stood there, even after the siblings had let go of him, Rosa couldn't stop it, and just fell on his flank whilst the tears rolled down his silent face, turned towards the ground.

Omen went over at that point, and with the half-burnt apple in her muzzle, patted him slowly on the shoulder. Hugging seemed to make him cry, so that seemed bad, but she had spotted other ponies do this before in response. Didn't do a whole lot, but it didn't make it worse either, so it were somewhat of a success for her.

"H-Heh, it's... Special."

Rosa half-whimpered this as a smile spread on his muzzle and a chuckle escaped him.

"I've barely done anything good for you since we met, and yet you keep helping, and even forgive me when I brought your lives in danger. I don't know how you have the strength to do that, but I thank you. Not just for the words. For everything."

Rosa wasn't sure how to go about this as he began to try and compose himself again, with his tear-filled face shaking under the chuckled and Omen's continued patting of his head.

"Sen, Lin, and Omen, I don't know how I deserve to have the friendship of any of you, but I thank you with all my being for it, even if I ended up sobbing like a foal. Somehow, I think I needed that."

"You needed to cry? Does something hurt?"

Rosa shook his head whilst chuckling a little harder for a few seconds at Omen's question, and patted her hoof back, which confused her enough to stop all movement and wait to see what would happen.

"Yeah, something hurts, and it's always going to. But it's okay, Omen. We're all suffering from something in our past, but we're not forced to stand alone with it. It helps easing the pain."

He'd get hold of himself soon enough, and tomorrow he'd likely go back to being a stoic, sort of to the side emotionally pony, but right now, Sen and Lin had broken some bounds that had left him in quite state, and for the first time in a long, long time, he didn't feel bad about not having his emotions under control. Those two were something special alright, and hopefully one day soon, he could be as helpful to them, as they had been to him the last few days.

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@Rising Dusk

So this were how the scrapyards inner gears functioned.

Felicia was fascinated by the efficiency by which these ponies proceeded taking care of what to most must simply look like a heap of trash, indistinguishable from one another. Nothing seemed delayed as she looked at them. Everything were almost automated in a sense actually, showing that these ponies must have done this for a long time, or at least learned quickly.

The cubes made her give out a small whir of approval more than the rest. Moving scrap around were one thing, but when you just needed the metal, focusing them into that form were a great way to both save space and make it more transportable, eventually saving on time needed for removal. It was a high degree of efficient, solid work that would have made her purr if she had the capability. This were how things were supposed to work. Orderly, and with distinct purposes by all the parts that made the big machine.

The gears - or workers, as Rusty called them - hardly seemed to take notice off them too, if at all. In regards to the crane, she felt better with it being that way, as looking at that, combined with the crusher... She liked the efficiency, but she did not enjoy the thought that she may be given an up close, involuntary demonstration on how it worked. The furnace where they remelted the metal was less likely to bring her harm than the crusher, honestly, though that too were one of those things there were better being fascinated at from a distance.

"𝔼𝕩𝕖𝕞𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕣𝕪 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕜. 𝕐𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕡𝕠𝕟𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕞𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕣𝕦𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕞𝕤 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕒 𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕖."

If Molotov would have been here, he would have said something about the looks or the like potentially, but Felicia didn't care much for that. She focused on how effective they were, and saw that as something that were to be praised, rather than begin talks on looks via her limited words on that subject.

To try and appear friendly - as somepony would have likely noticed the three of them sooner or later - she rose a leg up and did an an awkward wave. It were about the best she could do with her current limitations, and would hopefully not be seen as an attack, and give her some instantaneous enemies.

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

 

@Pr0m4NV14

"Just call me Nerzhei. And watch out for these."

She bend down on a knee and picked up the book that Mike had just shaken off, and closed it properly.

"Literature isn't around forever if it's not handled correctly. Who knows who might need this book at some point in the future, but cannot find it because it have been mishandled or destroyed? I'm sure the princess wouldn't want her collection to be out of order either."

Suddenly, a large mass of books suddenly fell down behind Mike from seemingly thin air, and scattered around some of the floor in the huge library. Something which made the draconess cringe, as much like Twilight, she were a bit of a stickler about order in your literature. This right here was a mess, but at least it gave her something to do in here, other than worry about Lotus constantly.

"I'll get those sorted, though you're right. This library should be somewhat large, so perhaps I can find something in here that will help regarding the sphinx... Perhaps I should just put these to the side for now, and then sort them through afterwards."

She wandered into the room, and suddenly felt her jaw slacking. From the outside, this room had seemed to hold quite a few books, but inside... It was vast, at least for her, who had not even seen a proper library in her entire life. Tome after tome filled the shelves and while this may be mostly for public use, so it wouldn't be anything too exciting for most, Nerzhei had not had access to all that many books in Dragon land, so any amount that were publicly available like this were a potential treasure trove for her. When all this were over, she would have to talk to the princess about how long one might sit in here and read in a given day, and then take full advantage of whatever time that would be. Provided that dragons had the same rights here as others that were, though she suspected that long as she followed the rules and didn't become a nuisance, things would be fine.

Sorrow on the other hoof, focused more on Mike himself, as she didn't read all that much normally. A few novels had gone by in her lifetime, but it was just so boring reading about the outside compared to going out and actually experiencing the world. At least in her opinion.

"You're not hurt Mike, right? Sounded like you had a bit of a hard encounter with a shelf in there."

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine @Dji @BloodDrops @Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich

Lucid knew one thing, no matter how evil one could be, everyone had a small by of sympathy, which also creates empathy. Perhaps he could use this to prove a point to the changeling.

"Let's switch things around. What if someone decided to enslave or destroy your hive and all the changelings in it simply because they hated your outlook on life? Wouldn't you be angry since your way of doing things is none of their business?"

Lucid continued with his point.

"Now, let's switch back the roles again. You don't like Thorax's outlook on life. And even though nothing about Thorax is your business, you want to invade anyway. For that reason, what you're doing is wrong and outright hypocritical."

He made another example by pointing over to Discord.

"You see him? He's happier reformed than he was before he was reformed."

Then he pointed to Twilight.

"At one point, she didn't care about friendship, now she has some great friends and she is way happier now."

He then pointed at Onache.

"Now you have the chance to live a happier life. Are you really going to deny yourself that?"

 

 

Edited September 24, 2018 by Lucid_Nightlight

[Pr0m4NV14 839]

@Blitz Boom

Mike shook his head at sorrow's concern. 

"Us Earth Ponies can take quite the beating. I'm fine." He picked up the book Nerzhei took from him and flipped open to the index, under the "M" category. He was particularly interested in the book due to the title.

"I'll just read this while we look around in here. it might take a while, seeing how it's so big and all." Mike said to Sorrow with a small smile.

[EQ_Theta 459]

@Blitz Boom

"It's okay to cry," Sen stepped back though still maintaining a calm veneer. "I like to think of it as a way to release all those pent-up emotions building up inside. It's not healthy to keep it all in, especially because it makes us to questionable things. Feels like a weight is lifted when you let go; it feels good."

"Don't sell yourself short, Rosa," Lin added. "What you saw in the swamp hurts, but what you're doing now is a good thing: stopping Filigree so she doesn't hurt anypony anymore. Take it one step at a time. We're here, and we'll make sure she goes away so no one else will ever experience the pain and misery she caused."

It was these kinds of moments that the siblings didn't think they'd see. It made them glad to see Rosa feeling better despite being unsure. Going from feeling scared and uncertain to relief at seeing the fruits of their concern... they had considered how rare it was to see such a thing out in the world, much less being a part of it. It could help Rosa sleep better knowing he's in good company now. Even the words Sen remembered from the anecdotes started to ring true. That a sad soul can make someone smile... proof of that is already here.

Tonight is a good night for the longma siblings, especially for Sen. Perhaps he can sleep better knowing the events that had just transpired. Good dreams were sure to follow, and he was surrounded by positivity. Friends and good memories will certainly follow. Whether they wanted to discuss plans for the next day now or later, it was up to Rosa. The siblings would give him time to process his emotions and will go at his pace. For now, they'll finish up their dinner, as Lin passed a full flask of water towards Rosa.

"Take your time, Rosa. We're here if you need anything."

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

@Blitz Boom @Storm Shine @Lucid_Nightlight @BloodDrops @Dji @Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich

"Feeling proud about bending the will of your prey? Feasting on them? They're just nameless and faceless to you?!"

It was here that Fluttershy began to channel the kind of energy she had whenever she cared for her animal friends. Only this time, it seemed to carry over to being concerned, growing ever so slowly, about other ponies. Or possibly other creatures the changelings feasted on. It got the pegasus' blood boiling, enough that she put down the tea she was pouring for Onache and prepared to let out her anger.

"To you, ponies are just food, but have you ever considered who you were feasting on? A father, a mother, a friend, anything? They meant something to someone, and you taking them away is... is like taking away their positive emotions. You feed on love, but leave everyone else unable to feel that; all they have left are fond memories of someone they will never see again! You are slowly draining away your source of sustenance because you don't care about what happens to others, so long as it keeps you sated at the present. How can you not feel regretful about that?" 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,601]

@Blitz Boom

Welp, this pony is insane, Nada thought after the pony's hammer comment and smile, she had figured it to be the case, but this only confirmed it, "I wish they would have stayed in that limbo." she said with sudden flash of hate mixed in with the fearful tone "And I know you're trying to make me less worried, but the fact that they'd get punished won't do much if I'm already trapped somewhere." she suddenly felt tempted go back underwater and never come up again, but she pushed it to the side, she knew and understood that she needed to at least try to get back to civilization, she had already wasted too much of her life hiding from ponies. "Can we stop talking about them before I change my mind about this whole thing?"

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

It took all Ruby's self control to stop herself from just turning into a dragon and just stealing the whole wagon as she sensed more and more things that she hadn't noticed earlier due the gold of the bits fully taking her attention, this was better to pay well or Spicy would be seeing a red dragon visiting her wagon at some point, because now that she knew how much there was inside the wagon, she got more and more irritated that it wasn't hers. 
Though the little praise she got for her skill was nice enough.

She listened patiently as Spicy started talking about the big source of income, and she was visibly annoyed when Marley interrupted Spicy and made her stop, by suggesting that Ruby is untrustworthy nonetheless, and her tone also mirrored that "Don't worry, I may be greedy but deal is deal, and that goes to both ways." she looked at Marley "And sharing information is a trade too, information for information, and you are the ones owing me at the moment." she looked forward again "And just a fair warning, you'll waste your time if you try any mind games with me." she may have been good playing pony, but she was still a dragon, and dragons weren't known for their patience, even if they had practiced keeping their calm.  

Edited September 25, 2018 by Catpone Cerberus

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine @Dji @BloodDrops @Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich

"Fluttershy has a point. It's pretty messed up when you really think about it."

He looked to Fluttershy.

"I know what will lighten your mood! Let's make a bet. I bet 50 bits that Anomaly will bring a chocolate cake with copper bricks!"

He then spoke into his hoof, which would probably be heard through the cube Anomaly was given.

"I don't have 50 bits anymore, please bring a chocolate cake with copper bricks so I won't owe money."

Edited September 25, 2018 by Lucid_Nightlight

[BloodDrops 762]

On 9/23/2018 at 1:45 AM, Lucid_Nightlight said:

Lucid corrected the sphinx on his intentions to make it known that no rule was broken.

"Actually, I did not try to remove any ability to feed from the changelings. I merely tried to make it to where they had to find an alternative to ponies to feed. Therefore ponies are still allowed to eat."

He heard the sphinx talk about how she wants free food and something about too much salt.

"What do you have against salt?"

As for the terms, there were things to discuss.

"Ok, so what are the current terms we have? I wanna speed this along because you're boring."

The Sphinx blinked, "I live in a desert, too much salt" she grumbled. She then flicked her tail, "besides its bad for your health in too much quantities" she said with a smirk. 

The Sphinx blinked and tilted her head, "have you not been keeping a list?" she asked him curiously. 

She blinked having forgotten the terms, "Erm. Onache can live here in peace, and you can't attack her. Them sort of terms" she asked him.

She then lifted the tea she was given and sipped it, she decided this was a good time for a break.

On 9/23/2018 at 7:10 AM, Storm Shine said:

Discord rolled his eyes, floating the tea Fluttershy so thoughtfully poured over to the Sphinx. "As much as I'm enjoying the chaos, I believe both sides should be allowed to eat. I have warped minds and twisted beings, but I have yet to take away one's free will.. Simply warped them into making different choices with that will." He coughed into a talon, "Anyways... the point is that the changelings should be free to stay the way they are if they so choose. Taking that choice away will only make them hate it all the more, and if they are both hateful and no longer in need of ponies for a food source.. Well, I'm fairly certain we can all guess where that would go."

The Chaos spirit snapped a talon, conjuring a glowing pink stone about the size of a teapot. "I have a proposal of sorts. I can create a stone of love energy that will refill each day, allowing you to feed you and your changelings enough to live and defend yourselves but not enough to go out and cause problems.. On the condition that you take no hostile actions against the ponies unless it is in self-defense." He offered to Onache, not really caring about the outcome one way or the other but still curious how she might react.

 

The Sphinx drank the tea and thought about the proposition. "Yeah I like that love stone idea more. Let discord do the deal" she remarked taking another sip of tea that seemed to keep replenishing itself.

She sipped on the tea, "Have the stone break if she breaks your agreement as well, or turn into something amusing like a lava lamp" she purred. 

 

On 9/23/2018 at 8:25 AM, EQ_Theta said:

"Discord, can you conjure up another teacup for Onache please?"

Fluttershy waited but for now, she opted to continue speaking with the changeling. She might be on to something with how things are going at the moment. 

"Admitting you're at fault and feeling regretful about it is hard for anyone who is proud, or has too much of it. The first step is admission, and that what you're going through led you to making a decision that wronged somepony. All I can ask is that you give yourself a chance to try another way. If not for you, then for your subjects. I'm sure they'll appreciate it."

Though Discord's suggestion was a fairly sound one, the pegasus preferred Onache would follow Thorax's example. It was through naturally realizing just how bad things are for the changelings to remain starved for love that they choose to become who they are now than to stay in their old forms. It wasn't a favorable choice to some, as Onache so put it, but it was a choice freely made. 

 

The Sphinx took another sip of tea, "unless of course she doesn't feel regretful for her actions, then your barking up the wrong tree" she remarked with a small smirk, she took another sip from the tea and contemplated that it was indeed good tea. She let out a low yawn at the argument and flicked her tail, "unless her subjects feel like they want to feed off others, then your argument is invalid" she smirked.

She then helped herself to some sandwiches and took another sip of tea. It was only polite after all. 

 

21 hours ago, Blitz Boom said:

"Changelings can rarely drink tea without suffering from it.

Happy is different. He cannot eat, yet he can drink most things. Including some of the alcohol that he creates. A useful craft from before his conversion that he maintains proficiency in."

The tea was instead drunk by the Sphinx, she enjoyed tea and it was after all politely refused by Onache so she decided to drink from two cups. Though when the second cup didn't refill she dropped it to the floor and instead drank from her larger cup. 

 

21 hours ago, Blitz Boom said:

"I have answered, now I want to see how you will attempt to convince me to follow your way. As I see it, with Discord's generous offer, there is now two hurdles set in the way of your plan.

Firstly, I can get all the love I need from that heart, and all I have to do for it is to follow the deals that have already been made, so why would I need to change?

Secondly, you speak of regretting things, yet I regret nothing. The only thing I feel over my accomplishments in trapping and bending the will of ponies, are pride, and I find it doubtful that you can change that. Caring about the feelings of my prey is as if a griffon cared for the fish which they feast upon.

Begin with this, and let me see if you can convince me to *turn a new leaf*, as unlikely as I find the notion."

 

The Sphinx burped and blinked at the argument. She liked fish and decided to snack on one of the many fish sandwiches. "well you got food, territory and a image you like. So you don't need to change to please anypony. If you enjoy manipulating ponies to turn them into slaves, that would be ok in my opinion. I draw the line when you get a big ball of yarn and cover it in glue. That would not be acceptable" she smirked.

She clapped her paws together, "Ok lets get a deal sorted, its getting late" she remarked, and lowered the sun slightly so it was late afternoon. She wouldn't want to waste anymore time on any foolishness, besides all that tea had made her sleepy and she needed a cat nap.

 

21 hours ago, Lucid_Nightlight said:

Lucid knew one thing, no matter how evil one could be, everyone had a small by of sympathy, which also creates empathy. Perhaps he could use this to prove a point to the changeling.

"Let's switch things around. What if someone decided to enslave or destroy your hive and all the changelings in it simply because they hated your outlook on life? Wouldn't you be angry since your way of doing things is none of their business?"

Lucid continued with his point.

"Now, let's switch back the roles again. You don't like Thorax's outlook on life. And even though nothing about Thorax is your business, you want to invade anyway. For that reason, what you're doing is wrong and outright hypocritical."

He made another example by pointing over to Discord.

"You see him? He's happier reformed than he was before he was reformed."

Then he pointed to Twilight.

"At one point, she didn't care about friendship, now she has some great friends and she is way happier now."

He then pointed at Onache.

"Now you have the chance to live a happier life. Are you really going to deny yourself that?"

"Hope your not talking about myself, after all anyone wouldn't be able to simply walk in here and destroy something. the great temple is always watching. Thought next you be wanting to reform me, and tell me that I don't have to enslave others with deals" she growled.

She continued to sip her tea amused at the notion. 

 

3 hours ago, Lucid_Nightlight said:

@Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine @Dji @BloodDrops @Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich

"Fluttershy has a point. It's pretty messed up when you really think about it."

He looked to Fluttershy.

"I know what will lighten your mood! Let's make a bet. I bet 50 bits that Anomaly will bring a chocolate cake with copper bricks!"

He then spoke into his hoof, which would probably be heard through the cube Anomaly was given.

"I don't have 50 bits anymore, please bring a chocolate cake with copper bricks so I won't owe money."

"You got to pay 50 bits to have it transported into my realm, Sphinx tax" she purred amused.

She wouldn't let others profit on her land.

Not yet anyway

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine @Dji @BloodDrops @Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich

"Unhealthy? You're just mad because you have poor metabolism!"

There was also the sphinx saying something about how the temple is great and watching. He scoffed at the idea.

"Great? I can name many things more powerful than this dirt shack! One of them and the one that we actually have here is Discord. I'm not sure about myself though, it's a maybe."

Now about the stupid tax.

"I'm not a citizen of your land which means you can't tax me. I'm technically a citizen of both the Equestria in this world and the Equestria in the universe I live in since I was born and raised in this universe. But regardless, I am not a citizen of your land and I'm 17, which means I am not legally an adult, so I cannot be taxed."

There was something else he needed to say to the sphinx.

"Why do you let this stupid temple rule over you? You claim to be happy, but I have trouble believing that your life is all that great. You don't even rule over your own land, the temple rules over it! Are you really going to allow this temple to limit or even take your freedom? Only a fool would allow themself to have their life dictated by an oversized house."

 

Edited September 25, 2018 by Lucid_Nightlight

[Sekel 694]

@Blitz Boom

KARMIC FATE

As Karmic stared into Enzio's eyes, she got the feeling that she should say something but couldn't bring herself to do so. Her eyes glowed a toxic green as she opened her mouth but when she spoke, her voice wasn't her own.

"If I had my own body, I would put you in the ground you sniveling sand demon," Atzy spoke out of Karmic's mouth, having forced Karmic herself into the back of her own mind. Even though Karmic didn't put up resistance, it had still taken all this time to get control of Karmic's vocal cords, at the very least.

@Blitz Boom, @BloodDrops, @Seamore Sandwich, @Moonlit, @EQ_Theta, @Lucid_Nightlight, @Storm Shine

TWILIGHT SPARKLE

"We set out to try and get you to go away. You got us trapped and are now talking about rules about a temple that we are inside. How is a temple sentient? It's just a building and as far as I know, they can't be held responsible for ... the temple is an ancient artifact, isn't it?" Twilight groaned in realisation. She didn't think that buildings could be places of power but having run through various religious sites and locations in her head as quickly as possible, she remembered that most, if not all, were inside buildings. So it stands to reason that the buildings were themselves places that held magic rather than magic being used inside it.

"If the temple being an artifact is true, how did a Sphinx get a hold of it?"

[Rising Dusk 27,763]

@Blitz Boom

"She thinks your crew is hard working and effective."

Rising Dusk relayed the message from the spider, not really having to take in all the effort her crew was putting forth.  He'd seen it before and knew well enough that Rusty had one great crew for their job in serving Equestria.  The only two ponies he knew that had changed since he'd visited as a young colt were Rusty's father, and another older pony that retired shortly afterwards.  Rusty took her father's place and that orange maned Earth Pony mare loading molds into furnace had ended up filling the final slot.  Other than that, the rest of the crew were all the same since Dusk could remember.  He watched with amusement as the large spiderbot lifted up one of her legs and waved with the pointy appendage.

"They are an amazing crew," she admired with glittering eyes.  Which quickly narrowed as she sharply pointed her clip board at the two working with the crusher.

"Cloud Dust!  You're putting too much PSI in the rear fold!  It's going to point the cubes!"  Rusty's voice was commanding and projected with a volume that did not match her size or demeanor thus far.  Even with all the equipment running and the sounds of falling and crushing scrap, it could be heard through the whole yard.  The violet mare pegasus working the levers at the crusher winced and looked up at the array of gauges above, noticing that one was reading a bit too high.  A tug and a pull on a few levers later, the pointer on the gauge dropped back into a better range.  Rubbing the back of her head and turning to Rusty with an apologetic smile.

It was at the point that the whole scrap yard went still.  The whole crew stopped in their tracks to look at the boss.  Normally hearing their boss shout like that to be heard wouldn't have broken up their work, but normally the boss wasn't in the company of a large mechanical spider waving at them with a pointy limb.  The engine to the crane puttered out and the crusher equally went dead in mid crush of a cube as the ponies gave them not attention.  There was a long awkward silence that made Dusk's tail twitch.

Soon though, the older Earth Pony stallion with a mustache leaned out of the window of the crane, tilting the front of his hard hat up a bit.

"What'cha got ther boss.  That ther way too perrty to be in a yard like this," the older gentleman chuckled, causing his mustache to wave up and down between breaths.

"This is my new friend Felicia.  She's a sentient mechanical spider," was about all the explanation that would make sense to her crew, just as it had been when Dusk explained it to her.  Her crew exchanged looks with each other.

[BloodDrops 762]

22 hours ago, Lucid_Nightlight said:

"Unhealthy? You're just mad because you have poor metabolism!"

There was also the sphinx saying something about how the temple is great and watching. He scoffed at the idea.

"Great? I can name many things more powerful than this dirt shack! One of them and the one that we actually have here is Discord. I'm not sure about myself though, it's a maybe."

Now about the stupid tax.

"I'm not a citizen of your land which means you can't tax me. I'm technically a citizen of both the Equestria in this world and the Equestria in the universe I live in since I was born and raised in this universe. But regardless, I am not a citizen of your land and I'm 17, which means I am not legally an adult, so I cannot be taxed."

There was something else he needed to say to the sphinx.

"Why do you let this stupid temple rule over you? You claim to be happy, but I have trouble believing that your life is all that great. You don't even rule over your own land, the temple rules over it! Are you really going to allow this temple to limit or even take your freedom? Only a fool would allow themself to have their life dictated by an oversized house."

The Sphinx blinked and frowned, "Im pretty sure I couldn't live inside him though, he is too small" she remarked. "Anyway what else is better then a magical temple?" she asked him with a frown. She could easily tell him that they were not habitable at the very least. 

The Sphinx shrugged, "Oh its already come out of your account. The Temple saw to that after all. If you ask nicely it might get you a receipt" she giggled. 

She blinked and thought about it. He was right after all. "Well, you make a compelling argument, however if I left this land then I would be homeless and would have to find another temple to live in. The only other temple that I know off is my original one in Southern Equestria and im sure that village there will not be appreciative of a Sphinx moving back into her old home" she remarked.

"Besides its probably been converted into a museum or something similar" she added slightly grumpy. 

 

12 hours ago, Dji said:

"We set out to try and get you to go away. You got us trapped and are now talking about rules about a temple that we are inside. How is a temple sentient? It's just a building and as far as I know, they can't be held responsible for ... the temple is an ancient artifact, isn't it?" Twilight groaned in realisation. She didn't think that buildings could be places of power but having run through various religious sites and locations in her head as quickly as possible, she remembered that most, if not all, were inside buildings. So it stands to reason that the buildings were themselves places that held magic rather than magic being used inside it.

"If the temple being an artifact is true, how did a Sphinx get a hold of it?"

 

The Sphinx blinked, "Well any building that I reside in, becomes magical and sentient to how I was at the time of occupation. The construction of it is also rather important in how it functions" she remarked with a smile. "This one I build myself for my current short term goals and as such its moving towards that aim" she giggled. "Though I suppose it couldn't hurt to tell you the tale of the origins of it" she explained.

She blinked and frowned at her tone. "Well my original temple was build for me by the first Pharaoh" she began. "in those times there were no Pillars, this was back in the dark ages of your species, now before you had the old kingdom you had many different tribes fighting over space and land. Until they decided to merge and be ruled by the first pharaoh. During this time they decided to give their leader a crown however it turned out to be a ancient artefact that gave knowledge to its holder. Unfortunately that led to them being attacked by a creature that wanted it for itself. Being stronger it would have got that artefact until I decided to intervene and prevent such a calamity." she added. 

The Sphinx smirked, "Now me being much larger then you small ponies and even Ahuizotl. They wisely decided it wasn't a good idea to fight over the artefact so I gave them a very nice riddle and whoever solved it could keep the artefact. Ahuizotl being the brute he was couldn't solve it which eventually led the Pharaoh to guess correctly allwoing him to rule over his people rather then that tyrant Ahuizotl." she smirked. "Because of my help I was given a temple " she finished.

"I think that artefact is in a museum now. Along with many other artefacts however my temple being one that isn't however it isn't a artefact really since its only magical because I live in it" she added.  

[Blitz Boom 4,629]

@Lucid_Nightlight @Dji @Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich @Storm Shine @EQ_Theta @Lucid_Nightlight

"I don't like Thorax for several reasons, many of which I have already stated. I see no point in repeating myself as to why the queens are reluctant to his presence. But if you want another, then let it be that as a king, he cannot lay eggs. His hive is the largest, and it's going to wither away as he cannot provide life for them himself. I saw no queen nymph being hatched when I was there, so that is the inevitable fate, unless he assimilates an actual queen and make her hatch for the hive. Either way will see him interfere with the lives of our race as a whole, and potentially destroy our culture in his happy daze. If you learn nothing else from this, then be it that his situation is my business, as it is the business of all hives, as it may well dictate our kinds future.

As for your examples, I will not comment on Discord, yet I find myself questioning whatever your princess is actually any happier than she would be without any of you. Even if she were, what works for one of them, is not what is important for a changeling queen. My duties is to feed my subjects, and keep us alive. Hers are relegated to wandered in a dress and talk about hugs."

Then came Fluttershy... Now, Onache didn't flinch as she had been talked angrily towards, but just stared indifferently at the pony whilst answering Lucid, amidst Fluttershy suddenly getting a more aggressive side to her, which her appearance didn't support her having. She may not be in possession of her magic by now enough to sense the emotions of a pony this close by, but she had expected something would have to stir eventually with this one. Considering her outlooks on things, it had to, though she had expected it to come earlier. If the situation had been different, Onache may have used her powers to bore into the pony's mind and rummaging around a little to see what would happen if she overrode the pony's tendency for kindness, but being under Discord's protection, she wouldn't risk that. It would be a kinder fate to set herself ablaze.

"As for you: Do you know what happens to a queen who cares about those she hurts? She goes soft, and lets the prey escape, so the hive goes hungry and starve to mindlessness or death. I'm not weak like them. I embrace the role of predator, with you being my prey, and nothing else. I don't think of you ponies as individuals with families and somepony who cares for them, because it is between my hive, and you.

So you tell me, little pony, who would you let starve, if you were forced to pick one? One of your pets, or your own young? Because that is the choice you're asking me to feel sorrow for making."

She had a few more words she had wanted to toss their way, but at that point, the sand near them began to bulge. Up and up it went, until it slid to the side and with no surprise, revealed Anomaly. She sure hoped they were surprised, especially since she had been real quick, but it were unlikely, as she with a big grin looked towards Onache.

"Hey, is this him?"

A large, leathery flower bud burst out of the ground in front of her, before unpacking and briefly showing off a very disoriented, very confused pony.

It were but a few seconds though, as the disguise flickered out due to the gem, and before the pony could even talk, his disguise had fallen completely, and his true self were shown off.

(You have to imagine the holes and claws)

Being a human changed into a changeling left him as a rather strange peculiarity, what with being tall, having more feathery wings than the normal insectoid ones, and you know, the whole human thing. It wasn't common for anypony but the queen to have actual hair and a tail, but considering his circumstances, he had always just brushed it off as being what happened.

For once though, he didn't really feel like the odd one out as he looked up at the large feline with wings, and then around at the gathered ponies, Discord, this weird pumpkin-headed creature that had come up from the ground and pulled him into what he thought was a large leather satchel, and then finally, at his queen. Sitting at a table among most of these creatures that seemed to have a tea party.

"So this is it then. I've finally gone mad."

It was the only logical explanation to this in his mind, because even with all the weird and strange creatures, why would his queen sit down at a tea party? The Onache he knew would sooner smash it and cause havoc with the porcelain shards than to sit and indulge other creatures like this. Especially ponies. Double up since he could see Fluttershy, who were about the archetype of the perfect prey. She was also the only one who may have seen Happy like this, depending on whatever or not she had been out the night before in Ponyville, around the food court, and seen him getting his disguise faltered by that weird pony, before trying to fly away, and Pinkie stopping him with a pair of party-like bolases, shot from her canon. Just before sitting him at a table and half-forced him into a miniature party.

Man, thinking over it, perhaps he lost his mind yesterday actually?

"I haven't given you permission to go insane. Rise up and approach us."

Well, crazy or not, his queen had asked him to do something, so he would. He kept an eye on the curious pumpkin thing though as he got to his feet, straightened out the tattered pants a little, and made sure that the two golden sickles down his left side were still there. Thankfully they were, though he doubted they would do any good if a fight happened here, considering the beings he were around. He didn't know how strong sphinxes were, as this were the first he had ever seen, but it were likely powerful, and if not that one, then Discord for sure.

Happy ran a clawed hand through his hair to pull it back, then slowly approached the table.

While this went on. Anomaly had gotten out of the ground, and followed him with her eyes. She also seemed to try and drag something up though that didn't seem to want to get past about a meter down or more, like some sort of barrier prevented her from pulling it up.

"Hey, who's messing with me? I brought cakes. Let them In!"

"Ignore her."

"Yes my queen."

When he were over there, and had cast about a half dozen nervous glances towards the sphinx who he thought might try to eat him, Happy stood still next to his queen. The sunlight glistened off his exoskeleton as he awaited further instructions from his queen, or the delusion of her in his potentially shattered mind, depending on whatever or not he were just seeing things.

"Among arrangements for our new settlement, and the deals that are being finalized, these beings are attempting to convince me to follow the path of Thorax.  I want your opinion on things, am I clear?"

"Crystal."

Happy gulped. Trying to face his queen with potentially reforming, or at least change into a shape she detested? This was going to end poorly, and with her in a severely sour mood.

"Tell them if the hive have ever starved under my reign."

"It have."

He mentally kicked himself in the teeth for that comment, not knowing why the truth had been forced out of him rather than something else. Were this place enhanced with truth serum in the air or something? Whatever the reason, the glance he got from Onache made him want to crawl into a small hole. He might not be able to join the hivemind, but he didn't need to either to get what that look meant.

"Explain."

"I don't feel it that much since I'm always around ponies, but I know the others do. A constant, unending hunger, that only sated when they're actually feasting on somepony. Soon as it stops, they can feel it again. Not as much as before, but it's still there all the time in some capacity. They just don't show it because they're afraid you'll think they're weak and punish them, and because they know the nymphs desperately need it more than them so they don't grow up into mindless husks."

While he stood squirming, and Onache in a mixture of being stunned and angry, it may be a time to interlude with something, or ask further questions to Happy. He seemed to know more about how the hive truly went on, as opposed to the ruler.

As for what the sphinx were on about... Onache didn't want to cause more ire by asking, Happy had no idea what she were on about,and Anomaly was still trying to drag her cake out of the ground. One of them being what she had heard Lucid's voice in her head go for, and the other an actual cake with pink frosting and everything. Nothing toxic or inedible in it at all, since she wanted to make it so the ponies could munch on stuff too.

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@Catpone Cerberus

"Yeah, I can see why you'd want that. No more on them unless you ask me for it, promise."

Berry drew a cross in front of her chest to signify that she swore on it. She could have gone for the whole *Pinkie Promise* that a good chunk of Ponyville now used for the strongest promises, but the siren wouldn't get it, so what was the point? Perhaps she should teach it to her before they got to town eventually though? Yeah, that might make folks a bit more relaxed. Except for the tourists though, and the outside workforce, who wouldn't know what it was about either, but the locals were the important ones right off the bat.

"Now come on Mrs. Grumpy Fishy, we got a river to find."

It shouldn't be too bad seeing the siren eat hopefully. Back in the psych ward, there had been a griffon who needed her proteins now and again, so Berry had been exposed to it, but there were a difference between something with a beak and well, the siren. With her big, gaping maw of sharp teeth and ouchies. Might be over quicker, might be a whole lot messy and make her want to look away, but they'd see soon enough. Although, it was getting kinda silly to think about her like this.

"Hey, if we're gonna be friends, we should share names. Mine name's Berry Swirl. I'm a barista."

That's what it were now at least. The only ones who still called her Loopy Layers were her parents when she received mail from them, and perhaps some case workers in the ward talking behind her back, even when she wasn't there anymore. It'd be just like them.

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

"Different information hold different value. You gave some intel on an incredible skill, but it doesn't carry the gravitas of what we've got.

Though if we were to say something, then hypothetically, I could be talking about the black and grey markets, where somepony of your skillset could really make a killing in ensuring that everything got paid correctly by sensing out what was there of coins and the like, as well as checking to see if something was made of real valuables, or some fake knockoff. Among other things.

Some beings claim that we have a few contacts here and there that hold connections to those markets, and could work together with others that are proven trustworthy and useful to fatten the pockets of everypony involved, but you know, folks talk. Who's to say what's real?"

If Ruby had any semblance of a brain - which she clearly had in spades - she would get what Spicy was hinting at, though just in case this was a cop of some kind, nothing in the sentence had been proof of anything. They'd still need to know Ruby a bit better first before introducing her to the sleazy underbelly of Equestria, and run her past a few associates of theirs who knew every law enforcement officer in the country, just to make sure. If Ruby were a rat, then... She'd *have an accident*. A sad story, but there were no fairy tale endings in that kind of life.

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@EQ_Theta

Rosa nodded, and started to wipe the streams from his face. Such a strange feeling it were to just truly let go like that, and to share his story without judgement, but these three were something special. Even Omen, who he knew had likely little idea about what was going on, had tried to soothe him in some way.

She reminded him of Thorax a little really. Hay, they all did. They had his heart, and his want to make things better, and a belief in second chances. That things could get better, even when the day seemed the darkest.

He had to remember to apologize to the changeling king when next he returned. Rosa had said some things about his believes not being true, and that reality were a harsh, unforgiving beast, ready to devour the naive. Perhaps he had a point in his views after all.

Looking down, Rosa sought the piece of peace that he hadn't chomped down on yet, thinking to eat it, but found that amidst everything, Shrimp had slithered to the ground, and hovered over to take hold of it. Hostile, hissing little thing, though it seemed even he understood that something was wrong, as he just glanced up at the bat pony, chirping vaguely and pointing at the fruit slice. For once this little thing reminded him more of a puppy begging at the table, than a snake needing a leash, and it made him shake his head and chuckle a little more. How strange this all had become.

"Keep it."

He didn't have to say it twice, as Shrimp snapped down on the fruit and slithered away again to eat the fruit over near the others. A clear gem sat next to it, drained of color in its entirety, yet without a single chunk eaten from it. It were as if these Refractions didn't need gems like the dragons, but rather just something inside them. A mineral perhaps? Who knew, but it were certainly interesting. Doubly so when it then otherwise seemed to enjoy fruit. Might be a lack of introduction to meat, but he wouldn't be surprised if this thing were in fact vegetarian. A nightmare to feed when it grew older he could imagine.

The thoughts on this helped him clear his head a little, as he absentmindedly went on with drying his eyes and cheeks. You could still clearly see that he had cried, but soon as he took the mask on again, he woul-

Rosa stopped himself as the thing went up towards his face, and looked down on it. A protective wear that helped him filter the air, keep things out of his eyes, and blend in with his surroundings. Yet it were still a mask. Meant to hide his face, which he had used it for for a while now. Too embarrassed and guilty to show himself to anypony, including himself in the mirror.

His eyes went towards the group. Sen, Lin, and Omen. Beings who he had told his sins to, and who had comforted him, rather than throw him away or chase him off for what happened in his past. They had seen him as vulnerable as he would ever be, and hadn't turned away in disgust.

Perhaps... He wouldn't need this thing so much anymore.

Throwing the mask over to the base of the tree he intended to hang his tail on later, he made his short way over to the others, silently praying that one day, he'd be able to repay them for everything. No matter the cost to him, as long as he could help soothe them, as they had soothed him.

"You're right, we should talk about tomorrow. I think we can reach the beach around midday if we keep our pace, but what to do then, I'm not sure. I think we need to check the state of things first, but what're your thoughts?"

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@Rising Dusk

A confused grind came out of Felicia when Rusty's voice began to boom across the scrap yard.

In her eyes, ponies were confined to roughly the sound they made when normally speaking. Sometimes a little louder when yelling, or whiny and irritating when they screamed for whatever reason. Being able to carry a tone that seemed to belong to a far larger and more intimidating being like this however, were unexpected.

Rusty had seemed like a somewhat soft-spoken pony so far too. A little louder, sometimes even quieter, but this? No, nothing of this matter. This voice belonged to somepony who were clearly in charge, and even Felicia felt an irrational stop of motion when it boomed out, as if she were the one who had done something wrong, and now had her superior scold her for it.

Honestly, if she had not seen the pony in question talk like this with her own eyes, she would have assumed some sort of giant creature lured behind one of the metal stacks, and would have frantically look around. Rusty had far more layers to her than first expected it seemed, and it would certainly make Felicia more weary of getting on her bad side. Something told her that being the direct target of this mode of booming, commanding voice, were going to feel substantially worse than a brief confused state of wondering what she did wrong.

This kind of authority clearly had an effect on everypony else too, and especially those who had been the subject of Rusty's ire, who promptly did as told. Something which seemed to satisfy the beast within for now, but also got eyes on Felicia too. Several gazes, silently going over the metallic frame of the spiderbot, as she awaited the first to say or do something. Seconds ticking by one by one, until finally the one in the crane addressed the situation. With a compliment no less. She had to respond in kind to him in some way, as well as correct Rusty a small bit. Nothing major, but she had to correct others sooner or later and hope the correct term would catch on.

"𝕀 𝕒𝕞 𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕦𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕒𝕟 𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕚𝕗𝕚𝕔𝕚𝕒𝕝 𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖. 𝕀 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕕 𝕗𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖𝕤. 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕗𝕚𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦."

She pointed towards the crane controller as she said the last bit. She had little idea how his work were in general, so as a backup solution, she went with complimenting his mustache instead. Appearance had been what he had complimented her on, so in a way, it seemed to fit to return that in kind.

As for the artificial intelligent comment, it was more because being called a sentient robot, made her sound as if she had suddenly sprung to life by possession or some unknown means. Her being alive were very much intentional, and as the name suggested, were artificial. Created, rather than grown via biology, such as how it were with ponies, who had evolved over countless millennia to get where they were now.

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@Pr0m4NV14

"Not that many earth ponies in my family, so I'm never sure how much they can take. Really, the family tree is like, 95% unicorns. Old family that's going way back into the segregation times, and most still tend to fall for unicorns. I think it's because they understand the whole *soul side* a little better, so things goes smoother? I don't know. Dad says it wasn't like that for him though, but grandma claims it definitely tends to be a part of it.

Anyway, gonna see if I can find some kind of funny book. Legion might like a few jokes here and there."

So going towards the C for Comedy aisle, the group were now pretty split up around the place, each looking over their own thing. Mike with his book, Sorrow searching for puns, and Nerzhei picking up the books that were littering the floor and stacking them in piles, only reading a few now and again. She'd prefer to just get them off the floor first, before focusing too much on what sort of books this were.

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

 

@Dji

"And if I were a millennia older, I would have cut a deal with your hostess to tear you out and trap you in a jar for the rest of your existence. Are we going to keep tossing pointless insults at one another, or do you want to try again, and actually say something useful for once in your worthless existence? And don't feel too sure of yourself, parasite.You may not have a body to harm yet, but if you overtake this one without considering your host, or you escape it and make a new one, I could crush you like the bug you are."

Enzo tried to take this somewhat calmly, but he did not like to be insulted, and it could be heard. If only he had grown among his own instead of locked up in that ghastly temple. The things he would be able to do to this little insolent influence would have caused him great delight.

Yet for now, all he were going to do were to maintain the close-up eye contact, and try and assert his dominance. Be it through violence or not, would depend on how things went from here.

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine @BloodDrops @Dji @Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich

The temple basically stole 50 bits from him... just great.

"Oh well, I'll just steal it back from the vault or what ever the temple uses to store money later."

The explanation made sense.

"Looks like the source of the temples power is linked to you. Judging by previous discussions... it's probably your funny hat. But now the question is... what's causing it to give power to this temple? Why wouldn't this power be yours and yours alone?"

Now he was talking to Onache again.

"Well, their appearances have changed, so I have plenty of reason to believe that their means of reproduction has changed too."

He looked to Anomaly and opened a small portal beneath the cakes so they would appear safely in front of Anomaly.

"Guess the temple doesn't like cake. It doesn't surprise me since it stole 50 bits from me, which I'm going to steal back."

He looked to this Happy Hour guy, he looked funny to Lucid. He listened to what he said about the changelings starving. He then said something to Onache.

"He has a point. If your changelings are starving and Thorax's changelings are not starving, does that not mean that Thorax is right and you are wrong? And as I said, there's a good chance that the new look comes with alterations in means of reproduction. And do not be mad at Happy Hour, he may not be telling you what you want  to hear, but he is telling you what you NEED to hear. Your hive is suffering because you want to stick to the old ways. If you truly care about your hive, you will follow Thorax's path."

Edited September 26, 2018 by Lucid_Nightlight

[Storm Shine 1,196]

@EQ_Theta @Blitz Boom @Dji @Seamore Sandwich @BloodDrops @Moonlit @Lucid_Nightlight

Discord chuckled to himself as he sipped his tea, enjoying the constant shift of the conversational flow and the bits of confusion sowed into the mix. "Would you like a pillow?" He offered the Sphinx, conjuring a soft silk pillow with a special comfort cloud filling of a proper size for the Sphinx to lay on. "I personally enjoy that particular kind of pillow when I feel like a snooze."

 

Discord tapped his claw to his chin, at the Sphinx's suggestion "Yes, I was thinking something similar. Should the deal be broken, the crystal will shatter and each fragment shall form tiny self-sustaining lava lamps." The chaos spirit sipped his tea, "And you'd want to be careful about touching them, Lava lamps get hot after all."

 

He had to roll his eyes slightly at Lucid's attempts to constantly one-up the sphinx and temple, deciding to pitch in after reading a bit of the script "I'll spot you the fifty bits later Lucid, there's no need to cause trouble for our host or retaliate on her temple, she's really been very patient with you all." He didn't include himself in that as he had, after all, been on his best behavior... Mostly. Thankfully the bits of chaos and the current conflict have been helping him to control his urges to do much more than just relax and enjoy himself. Not to mention the presence of his dear friend Fluttershy, even if she is just a tad bit aggravated. 

Edited September 27, 2018 by Storm Shine

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Storm Shine @Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta @BloodDrops @Dji @Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich

Discord's offer to give him 50 bits was nice, but Lucid assumed that Discord didn't want him to cause too much trouble.

"Alright fine, but just understand that the tax she gave me was illegal."

He looked to the sphinx, he had a question.

"Uh... where's the restroom? I really need to use it!"

Judging by his obvious grin, he probably just wanted to shove a tennis ball into the toilet and flood the restroom.

Edited September 27, 2018 by Lucid_Nightlight

[EQ_Theta 459]

@Blitz Boom @Storm Shine @Lucid_Nightlight @Dji @BloodDrops @Seamore Sandwich @Moonlit

"You don't have to see yourself choosing one or the other," the pegasus shifted, calmed herself, and returned with a quieter tone in her voice. "If it was your hive and us ponies, why not take a third option? Thorax doesn't need to worry about his hive going hungry. I'd always put my animal friends' concern over mine but if I can avoid it and find another way, I'd take it. No one needs to go hungry, not the animals, not my hypothetical young, no one."

The kind of question posed to Fluttershy got her silent the moment she heard it, but for the most part, it didn't sting as much as she would've expected. Having to choose one or the other, a difficult choice for that matter. Even so, Lucid got her once before, but this one was different. Hypothetical was the word, though she'd honestly keep in mind that her animal friends were about the closest she had to running anything like a family. She sees herself more as a caretaker at a shelter more than anything. Still, that what if situation got her thinking. Thorax pretty much has the best outcome: his hive is no longer going hungry and the worries of predation are a non-issue. Why would Onache dislike this?

Fluttershy then looked to the new arrival, calming herself down further to avoid coming off a little too heated from the previous exchange. "You're Happy Hour, right? Can you tell me how long you've been around other ponies? And why were you around them to begin with?"

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

@Blitz Boom

"I figured it might be best to head straight for the temple if it's there. I don't know about the tides but we should make do with what time we could spare if it means we can finish sooner. I guess we'll find out when we get there so, probably might be a good idea to come up with a backup plan. Which reminds me..."

Lin turned to Omen, still remembering that little checklist she's been making in hear head since they left Canterlot. The barrage of questions towards Scarcity was leading up to this, mostly for personal benefit but with Omen here, it would bee good to let her in on the plan. Wouldn't want to get left out of the loop and jeopardize things for everyone. Besides, she and Sen owe it to themselves to look after her. It was already hard enough to imagine anyone trying to go after Omen to hurt her, not after what happened at Mother's realm. It's all vigilance and security, especially if anyone ever caught wise to the possibility of using her to get to Mother. That kind of power is dangerous to greedy, power-hungry maniacs.

"Omen, come by the fire. We've got something do discuss."

"Tomorrow we'll be heading out to this place called Salty Breeze, a fishing village if I recall correctly. If it the tides are low, we should see this temple out by the water. We're going there to recover this granite statue with three figures on it. It's called the Three Sisters' Symphony and I'm told they look like sirens. Some kind of aquatic creature with equine features. This is what we'll be bringing back to Scarcity as part of an agreement to help put Filigree away. According to Scarcity, we should be able to find it in a chamber containing a gold statue and a box in the middle. That's our landmark but we shouldn't touch it. Avoid it at all costs or we're all going to be in a lot of trouble."

For the most part, it sounded like it would be easy. In reality, Lin thought it couldn't be as simple as Scarcity made it out to be. A temple out in the water, mysterious artifacts that they should avoid. If anything, it came off as a little too convenient for her leave out anything else they should be expecting. Sen had his doubts but the most he'd expect is booby trapped floors and walls. And how would Scarcity know what to look for or what was in it? It was an unsettling thought, but perhaps she likely had been in there before, or someone else did and relayed that information to her. Either way, time enough will tell them what is true, and for them to speed things along. Their deadline was coming up close.  

[Catpone Cerberus 23,601]

@Blitz Boom
Grumpy Fishy, Nada repeated in her head, normally she would get offended by getting called a fish, but this pony was acting so friendly with her that she knew that she hadn't meant it as an insult, and even if she was, it would be stupid to chase away the only company Nada had had in millennium. 

"Berry Swirl" Nada repeated after Berry had introduced herself, she had forgotten that pony names were often just combination of already existing words, many times describing their talents, job, appearance or personality, so it sounded a bit weird to her. She wasn't sure what barista was, there was lot of pony things she was unaware of.

"My name is Nadanna Adratina, but Nada is just fine." "But please, don't call me a fish again."

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Like to be expected Ruby could tell right away that this hypothetical situation wasn't hypothetical at all, she didn't know what grey or black market exactly were, but she could tell from the way Spicy said it that it most likely was something that ponies would call...illegal.

Something else Spicy said made Ruby think though, how be she had never thought about using her 6th sense as tool to make treasure, because even though she herself didn't give a slightest crap about the value of her collection, she could use her ability to tell them apart to 'help' ponies against scammers, and maybe even threaten scammers to help her.

"In that hypothetical situation, I could arrange a deal where I would use my sense to help with the mentioned action, for a pay of course." it would be a perfect deal for Ruby, not only would she get something from just doing it, in theory she could get extra if she managed to make it so that she would get the fake ones too, because like said, she didn't care if it was perfect gold or just a specially shiny piece of broken glass, she wanted it.

 "But to return to our point about the value of information, I never said I require something more secretive, just information for information, though I'd say you underestimate the value of knowing about my skill." Ruby talked with rather cold tone  "Many have tried to use it against me or for their own gain...." ".... though all of them have....left town." she purposely emphasize the words in a way that it was clear that she didn't mean moving, or leaving in that matter, "My point being, I'm taking a risk by telling about it." she kept a short pause and continued with a smirk "But I would say were are now even."

 

 

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@Blitz Boom

Sneaking through this place would dig up some memories of doing this before, staying under the mushroom. She knew her sister had done this longer than her, even before her entrapment mostly before she tagged along. Staying quiet as she waited for the figure to clear before walking ahead to new cover.

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

@Blitz Boom

His eyes lit up, a strange, devious part of him was exceptionally excited about that prospect. "Yes that is possible." He said turning around. "Here." One of his feathers slid out of place, hovering in front of him, before dropping to the ground. The runes that previously glowed when it was manipulated, eventually stopped glowing. "You could use this one to replicate the runes. I would suggest carving them on the handle, not the head, makes leverage easier." He said, very obviously excited as his expression was a bit gleeful at the idea.

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

@Blitz Boom

"I can think of one thing, they have a one way door that leads them to wherever they desire, we could destroy that. It'd take too long to repair, giving us time to get ahead of them." He said, as his tone got more focused. If they did do this, it'd give away that they were onto them, even if they were already sure of it.

"Yeah, best thing we can do."

He nodded. "We could also take their magic books. Some of which Emerald wrote herself, which could give us an idea of her power set."
===================
@Dji 

He smirked, and in a mischievous tone, yet serious he said "I want to get her attention." he said, gesturing to Crystal, who was behind Watts. "I asked long ago... But now I want to try something other than just that, it is strange, I'm aware of that. But if you want to help, that'd be the most effective way."