open Casual stroll

Lucid_Nightlight · September 24, 2018

@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 · September 25, 2018

@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 · September 25, 2018

@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."

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@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 · September 25, 2018

@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?"

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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 · September 25, 2018

@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 · September 25, 2018

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 · September 25, 2018

@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 · September 26, 2018

@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 · September 26, 2018

@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 · September 26, 2018

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 · September 26, 2018

@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.

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

@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.

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

@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?"

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

@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.

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

@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 · September 26, 2018

@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 · September 27, 2018

@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 · September 27, 2018

@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 · September 27, 2018

@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 · September 27, 2018

@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."

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

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 · September 28, 2018

@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."

Rising Dusk · September 28, 2018

@Blitz Boom

While it was rather easy for Rusty to get the attention of the yard, from anywhere in it, but Felicia was the one holding all their attention. So far it seemed to be going well as Dusk looked at ponies and their expressions. Luckily it looked like Scoops in the crane was nice enough to break the silence that fell over the yard. Scoops was now the oldest pony that still worked the yard since Rusty's father retired. Head features? Okay, that one required a bit more of translating on his part. He was pretty sure she wasn't referring to the hard hat he was wearing, which left really only one feature left.

"She thinks you have a nice mustache," he translated for the older pony in the crane. Scoops nodded his head in her direction with a smile that was mostly covered by his mustache.

"We got Las Pegasus order almost done ther boss," the older pony told Rusty before pulling his head back through the window of the crane and started it back up. The engine puttered to life and he went back to picking from piles of the scrap to start loading up the crusher.

Nodding her head in the direction of the other ponies, she started walking over to them. Rising Dusk followed, looking up at the sun for a moment to help gauge what time it was, as they should probably be heading back to the workshop soon. Cloud Dust started up the crusher again before turning to meet the group. The younger mare offering up a warm smile to them offering up a hoof in greeting.

"Cloud Dust," greeted, raising his own hoof up to bump her's in greeting.

"Hello Detective. Gee, this isn't quite what I was expecting when coming to work this morning," she admitted, moving her hoof in Felicia's direction this time.

BloodDrops · September 28, 2018

@Blitz Boom

The Sphinx glanced down at the drone and gave him a curious sniff. She glanced at him and then at Onache who was much bigger then him and then back to the drone slightly confused. "She blinked at Onache, so this is the drone you want to build a hive with? he is rather small isn't he?" she asked her with a frown. She tilted her head, she expected Onache's mate to be bigger, though she didn't push the issue.

She turned her attention to the drone. "So, Happy is it? Do you agree to follow the rules I gave to Onache?" she asked him. She was still trying to understand why Onache prefered something so small. She would also let Onache explain ther ules to him, her eyelids were starting to get heavy, besides,

She just didn't get changelings.

On 9/26/2018 at 11:40 PM, Lucid_Nightlight said:

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?"

The Sphinx blinked at him. "Every time you threaten someone with something the reverse occurs to yourself. So you might be down another 50 bits" she said to him blinking amused.

She flicked her tail, "Well we Sphinxes were not always bound to our temple, however after a certain incident it was decided we should have some limitations to our powers so we were bound to our temples to prevent the incident from occurring. So the power is mien but for the sake of fairness, since I make the deals. It has to be measured by the tempel to make sure it wasn't bias towards myself. Though there is always a loophole that can be used." she remarked.

"So its my place to sleep and a power sink. I could just decide not to use the temple to funnel my power but then well. I might make a deal that turns out to be catastrophic" she giggled.

On 9/27/2018 at 1:14 AM, Storm Shine said:

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.

The Sphinx smiled and sat on the large pillow getting sleepy from sitting on it. She nodded at Discords suggestion for the crystals. "Well they are made of lava so they would be hot" she said sleepily. She then laid her head onto the pillow and started having a cat nap.

Deal or no deal, she needed to get her cat naps in otherwise she would be cranky.

On 9/27/2018 at 4:23 AM, Lucid_Nightlight said:

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

"ZZZZZ"

Came the response from the Sphinx in the form of snoring. She was happy having a brief nap on a pillow. She hadn't hosted this many guests in a long time and it was hard work for sure.

Blitz Boom · September 28, 2018

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

Onache grew silent, and her jaw clenched so hard she could almost fell her fangs bore into her gums.

She hated what she were presented with now. Back when she had taken over her hive, it had been easy: Chose between your people, or your prey. That one hadn't taken her a second to decide on, and she had relished in that path for ten years since then. But now? She had to chose between becoming an abomination that she loathed the look of, or to fail those she would be raising. Damnation to an endless hunger that hardly ever let up... This were not a choice between her hive and her victims this time. It were one between the hive, or her pride.

"...Happy, do you think I should even consider this ludicrous ideal?"

He could not lie now. He would tell her the truth, if he wanted to or not.

"I know it is not what you want to hear from me, my queen, but for the sake of the hive, I think you should do it.

We lose too many as it is. Culling eggs, scouts not coming back, the exiling... Yours is a hive of strength my queen, but we're forced to keep our numbers low so we won't starve, and even I see how it affects the others. They're hungry and hateful, and I know you loathe Thorax, but wouldn't you only share an appearance with him this way, in exchange for never worrying about feeding us? We are all about changing how we look, but this change could at least keep our bellies full, and cause the hive to thrive. Just imagine how adoring the others would be if-"

"The hive is gone. Chrysalis took it from me, in a battle of queens. You are all that is left of it."

Happy felt like he had been slapped in the face. With a spiked mallet. The hive were truly gone? No wonder he had not received words for months on end. There were nopony there to take his letters, or to return any new orders.

"Then we will rebuild it my queen, larger and stronger than ever. No matter how long it may take."

Onache met his eyes, and Happy knelt before her, though without ever breaking eye contact.

"And what would you do if it failed?"

"Follow you to the bitter end, as I always have, my queen."

The two stared at one another intensely for a few seconds, before Onache finally looked away and towards Lucid with annoyance in her voice.

"Fine. How is this foolish transformation done?"

Meanwhile, Happy fell back on his rear, and took a deep breath. Locking eyes with his queen had always been an intense affair, but this time, he had almost felt the air turning electric around him. As grave as the situation were, and as much as he had to get used to being changed too through whatever was gonna happen as well, these looks had a habit of taking all his attention in the moment, and then make him feel as if the air had been drawn out of him the next. He could even feel his heart pounding away like he had been running a marathon.

Still, he did not miss the question given to him b y Fluttershy, and sadly, he had to be truthful when answering this. Otherwise not a question he tended to be that about, since it did not sound all that well in the beginning. Yet here he were, turning towards the Element of Kindness herself, and opened his mouth.

"I used to be just a regular human, working my vineyard. Then there was this strange sound, as if the air tore itself apart, and then there was just darkness.

When I woke up it was hot and dry, and I was being poked at by changelings. They took me to Onache who made me tell her everything I knew, which were frankly nothing. I was still trying to fathom talking bug ponies.

After she were done, I was drained, and put in a cocoon, to see if I could convert. It took a while, but I did, and I've followed Onache ever since. I don't have to, since I'm not in the hivemind, but I feel like I owe her. What I am now, these powers she bestowed upon me... They are a great gift.

That was what, five years ago now? Maybe six at this point. It's weird, but it's a far better world than where I come from. Far too polluted and dulled down by the sheer lack of any magic. And I can still work as a wine maker, so there's that going for me. Far better than having to rely on that swill you ponies call cider. I'm sorry, but how anypony can drink that and not need a whiskey to down the taste is beyond me."

While Happy went over into his small stab at cider, Anomaly gave up with the cake she had attempted to take up as part of the bet, and just settled on the other one. Once it was up, she sat it on a small table and wait for somepony to take a bite. There'd be knives nearby they could use to cut it if it were.

"Naughty temple who doesn't want cake here. Well, there's this one then, eat up little ponies and others. Sphinxy can have a slice too, eh?"

She glanced at the sphinx, and pointed at the cake, suggesting that she'd take a slice. Not the whole thing preferably, but Discord just gave her a nice, big, fluffy pillow. Surely that would make her calm and happy. She was a giant cat for Celestia's sake. How wouldn't it work to give her a comfy seat?

As said sphinx began to talk, a few of them actually had to respond to her now. That'd be a good way to see the mood she were in, and it started with... Happy it seemed, who were a bit confused at what the sphinx said.

"I follow any rule my queen does, but what do you mean I'm small? It's only my disguise that is that. I still have the general look of a human. I'm taller than the pony princesses for crying out loud."

He'd likely not get an answer, seeing as the sphinx had taken a nap now, but he'd stick to it. Onache were about as tall as Luna, and having seen measurements of the pony royals, Happy could tell that he were a head taller than them, and a few centimeters above Celestia. Must be the angle the winged cat looked at them from.

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

@Catpone Cerberus

"Alright, that's fair. No more fish nicknames, Nada."

Nadanna Adratina... Pretty cool name actually. Sounded kinda like a spell being spoken out loud, at least in the weird school plays she had been roped into when she grew up. Berry wouldn't do them now of course, since she knew it was just a way to teach foals to follow orders from an early age, so the impulse were there when The Conspiracy began telling you what to do, but still, Nada's full name had sounded like a kind of spell they'd use in those plays. Kinda neat.

"Okay, let's get moving this way a- No, no wait, that's where the desert is. Forget that one, we'll take the other river."

The pony turned on the spot and started wandering in the opposite direction, where she knew a ton of sand and dryness wasn't happening. It was a very weird thing to have stumbled over before Nada, but who had time to investigate that, when mind control devices were potentially in the game? She had to keep some focus here.

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

@Catpone Cerberus

"Yeah, funny how those who cross the wrong sort of folks always seem to *take a trip* somewhere. Must be all the stress."

Okay, something was definitely wrong with this mare. This sort of behavior was totally normal for something like a dragon, but a pony? They usually didn't get this way unless they were involved in some shady business in general, or were crazy. Ruby hadn't tried to bite them yet, so she wasn't the obvious kind of crazy it seemed, but there could be some other variants. Like the one she hinted at now, which were more towards the psychopath kind of nutter. Perhaps she should watch her back for the time being.

Then again, she couldn't be too much of a hypocrite. She was in the shady business, and profiting off that and keeping that a secret at the same time, hadn't exactly been a route filled with hugs, moral high ground, and sunshine. No, a lot of beatings going on there. Like, a massive amount, along with threats, extortion, blackmail, and all the other fun spices of life criminals used.

"It's good to know we're all on the same page then. Of course, it's all just hypothetical, as you ladies so clearly stated. No evidence to support it being anything by friendly stories between new colleagues.

Fairy tales aside, perhaps you would like to lead the next topic, Ruby? We're getting closer to our destination, but it will still take a little time."

It went pretty quickly when there wasn't any animals causing trouble, yet Marley were starting to think that Ruby had something to do with that. She had a dark side to herself that perhaps some of them could sense, although it were still weird that nothing tried at all. Sensing were one thing, but not even a desperate, hungry wolf would attempt? Something wasn't right.

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

@EQ_Theta

"I agree. If the tides are up, we'll have to take somepony who can hold their breath the longest down to check."

"I don't breathe."

"...Well, that's fortunate. Can you swim?"

"No. I walk."

"We'll put some rope around you just in case there's a strong current, Omen. Thank you for letting us know."

How strange he was acting now. Omen never really knew how the bat pony saw her, especially because the mask normally made it hard to guess what was on his mind, but his words were kinder. Whatever had happened before must have been important and changed him. Was this bonding? She had heard of that sort of thing before, but wasn't sure what it were. Something that made better friends, though every time she thought she may have figured it out, the situation that were perhaps bonding were different. It confused her.

When Lin asked her to come over to the fire, Omen put those thoughts aside for now. There's be time mulling over them, as well as everything else, during the night. Perhaps. It kind of depended on whatever Lin would prefer to talk. She was still new to not needing to sleep, and the last time she had wanted to chat for a while.

Considering she was so close to the fire already, she figured that perhaps Lin meant that she should stand in the campfire itself whilst Lin went on, but she barely got a hoof near the fire before Lin started to talk, so she just froze in place, thinking that this was the right spot for the talk.

Lin had gotten good at telling things in a way that Omen understood. Not a lot of complicated details, mainly the points that mattered, and the goal. However, some extra things did get added that confused the mare in question some.

"Who is Scarcity? What are tides? Where is Filigree going?"

A saying she didn't get, a name that didn't register with her, and something related to the unstable Equestria she knew. Considering everything, Lin had really done a great job reducing it to just those three, mostly minor details. Especially considering how relatively shortly they'd known one another.

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

@Rising Dusk

Felicia met the hoof with the tip of her right front leg, and surprisingly gently led the hoof up and down, in the closest thing to a hoofshake that Felicia would ever be capable of. At least in her current chassis, though she did have plans to pester Molotov when he got better at things to make her a body more suitable for interacting positively with others. Blades could be hidden instead of being her actual legs for example, soon as he figured out how to work that and not slice through anything important. She suspected he may be able to do so already though, but since Felicia had never been designed with the intent of going outside, he hadn't bothered, and her freedom was still too new to make a case for him getting off his flank and working on it. She'd need more positive interactions first.

"ℍ𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕠 𝔻𝕦𝕤𝕥. 𝔻𝕠 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕓𝕖 𝕒𝕝𝕒𝕣𝕞𝕖𝕕, 𝕀 𝕒𝕞 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕒𝕟 𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕖𝕣."

She did like the names of these ponies so far. Rusty was close enough to Rust for her to just say that, and Dust was a word she had in case of dirt getting into any of the machinery in the workshop, so that were covered too. It wouldn't last in the long run, but she'd manage in one way or another. Long as she didn't meet somepony with a weird name like Engelbert Humperdinck. She would be completely lost on something like that, and have to go with nicknames.

"ℙ𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕖 𝕕𝕠 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕡𝕦𝕥 𝕞𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕞𝕒𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕖. 𝕄𝕪 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕤 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕝𝕚𝕞𝕚𝕥𝕤."

The mare may have understood the attitude Felicia had to the crusher already, from the fact that the spiderbot made sure to not get anywhere near it for any long period of time, in case she would somehow end up falling or being pushed in, but it seemed important to mention this for her, just in case they thought she were attempting a flanking strike of some kind. An effective strategy if need be, but one that would most certainly get her pushed into the crusher.

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

@FanOfManyShows

"I never get used to those things."

Emerald kept her tongue until the creature were well out of range of them, to not draw suspicion. Whatever these creatures and their masters were, they were not to be alerted of their presence, or the sisters would be in big trouble.

Emerald had more or less fallen over this place once, when she wrote one of the signs on the door wrong before going away. She had supposed to go to a remote part of Dragon Land for some lava rubies, but then ended up in this place instead. An amazing discovery she thought at first, until she tried to pluck something and the wardens came after her.

She hadn't been fast enough, and ended with a pretty bad wound then, but she made it through, and on returning here, had been more careful. Keeping out of sight, watching more than trying to take anything herself, and trying to keep her wheezing breath down some. It had left her with some understanding of this place, and had given her the chance to find that this orchard carried within it several plants that Sapphire and her's old books mentioned, but which hadn't been around Equestria for a long time. Such as the flower they were after now, which resided in the heart of the orchard, if this place were still as orderly set as it were back when Sapphire and her had gone here. From how things looked now, it seemed to be. A plus, considering how painful it would be to search this large place again, rather than rely on the mapping she had once done.

Well, she didn't remember everything about that either, but the flower she could. It had been a little something she had known she needed for Sapphire's resurrection spell, and even when the two were fighting, Emerald had intended to keep her word of bringing her back, albeit for other reasons.

"Okay, the coast is clear, but keep an eye upwards. If we're spotted, it could be days before we can try this again."

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

@FanOfManyShows

Benny carefully picked up the feather between two claws, curious about it, yet unsure if whatever magical runes had been inscribed into it would do... Something, once he picked it up. It turns out that nothing did happen, though that didn't less his curiosity as he reached it up in front of his face and turned it around some so he could really get a picture of how it looked.

"You know, I was thinking they were pulling my leg when the twins said that you had these magical feathers, and that they had replaced some of them, but this is... Man, who even comes up with stuff like this?

I'll try and direct the guys to finish up the axe and giving it a polish before inscribing this sort of thing later, then come around to see how you'd do with it. It's a strange concept, but we'll give it our best. If that doesn't work, I'll try and figure something else out."

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

@FanOfManyShows

"So an old fashioned home invasion then? Welp, we're already in the deep end, so why not? Let's do it. I can work on crushing the door if you folks can grab as many books as you think we'll need. Are ya game for that?"

So destroying their way of transportation, and stealing any book that seemed like it were valuable/could give them some intel? It sounded like a fine start, even though there were no way that the two of them wouldn't know that they were being watched then, so they had to make it good before they got proper countered and left in the dark.

But hey, perhaps them books could tell them how to get past that too? Who knew what sort of twisted things the sisters had hidden away between pages back in the day.

"We gotta make sure to watch out for traps though. You sense anything at all, we're out of there."

Edited September 28, 2018 by Blitz Boom

Lucid_Nightlight · September 28, 2018

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

The poquus didn't appreciate the temple stealing from him. Now he was gonna take that money back regardless of Discord's offer. He wanted his bits and he was gonna get them!

"Alright, since Twilight is a princess, I'll have her put sanctions on your land until you give me my money!"

He turned and looked at Twilight.

"Hey, can you put several sanctions on the sphinx's land until I get my money back? Pretty please!"

The thing about the temple and limitation of power made a bit of sense to Lucid. Now he knew that there was a threat either way, so he had to do something... or did he? Perhaps things weren't as complicated as he though, of he could also be wrong.

"Well, hypothetically speaking, if someone made the temple powerless, you'd be the leader of your own land. Also, deals wouldn't matter because then all someone would have to do is take you down and the deals that were a major threat would be nullified. Of course, I have no idea how to do that and I doubt you'd go for it even if I did know how."

He heard the question Onache asked, he had an answer.

"In order to change to this form, you must change your heart. You must reform, be friendly, and be non-aggressive. If you do not do that, you cannot hope to have a successful hive. This also means you will be left with no choice to give up your hatred towards Thorax."

Lucid decided to talk to Anomaly, he wanted to figure out what to do after this whole sphinx thing was finished.

"We should throw some kind of party after this. What do you think?"

Edited September 28, 2018 by Lucid_Nightlight

Pr0m4NV14 · September 29, 2018

@Blitz Boom

Mike found a handy Lectern to to read his book. He was looking at the index of GREAT HEROS OF ANCIENT EQUESTRIA (VOL. II), when he stumbled upon his own surname.

“McGuffin? W-wha?” Ejaculated Mike in suprise. Flipping through the pages to the number of which the index entry labeled.

~~~HOVEDPERSON MCGUFFIN~~~

Hovedperson McGuffin was the hero that lead the path to victory against the dark folk of Tchächulí in the great Shadow Wars before the kingdom of Equestria was founded. Hovedperson faded into obscurity, though there were sightings of him around mining camps in the Crystal Mountains long ago.

Mike looked at the entry. Was that it? Surely there could be more, right? He went back to where the Dragoness was stacking all the books, sliding to a stop before her.

“Um.. Sorry, Ma’am.” Said Mike, with a nervous tone.

“Do you know where Miss Sorrow went? She might know something about the Great Shadow War, seeing as she has that cool ghost necklace. Surely one of the spirits in one would know about it, right?” He inquired, looking around the vast isles of books around him...

EQ_Theta · September 29, 2018

@Blitz Boom

"Scarcity is this unicorn who agreed to help us bring Filigree to justice, make her answer for imprisoning you and those poor miners in crystal. She asked us to do this in exchange for her help. If anything, we really could use someone with her kind of influence since I doubt anyone will be willing to listen to us over someone living in Canterlot. Whatever will happen to Filigree, I hope it's somewhere she can think about what she's done. Frankly, I don't know where but hopefully some place where she won't hurt anyone anymore."

Where to begin with tides, though? This was one area where the siblings have no clue about. The most they know about it is that it involve bodies of water, large ones. The kind that they probably never saw with their own eyes, maybe even bigger than a lake. At least that's the impression the word had when put in context with what Scarcity mentioned. Given how they are heading to a fishing village and how much water might actually be there, it's something they had to go with.

"I don't know about the tides. It might have something to do with water rising or falling. Scarcity mentioned the temple might not be visible if the tides are high so I am guessing the water might be too high for us to reach the temple. Hopefully come tomorrow we won't have to worry about this."

Perhaps Rosa might know more and clear this one up with her and Omen.

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

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

Admittedly, that little comment from Happy about the cider came off a little offensive. Fluttershy liked Apple Family cider! She might not like the hard stuff but then again, she probably hasn't had anything harder than what her friend makes. Do ponies know anything about giving their cider more kick? Or maybe Applejack knows but she's deliberately hiding that from everyone else. A secret the family will keep hidden so long as there is a market for it, not that the pegasus would know...

But back to the matter. Thorax and Starlight had come to the realization about what exactly made the changelings metamorphose into their current forms. They had to share love, but they were already in the midst of other changelings. That task was simple for them. If Onache were alone, it would probably be next to impossible. Good thing Happy is here, and his devotion to Onache is one freely made. It might have a chance of working.

"Thorax said that he shared love with the other changelings, causing them to change as well. All of them did. I guess we could try the same thing. Happy should start. You said you owed her, yes? You know what it is that your hive needed, and you believe it can grow again. We could start with sharing positive emotions with your queen."

Catpone Cerberus · September 29, 2018

@Blitz Boom

"Desert?" Nada asked curiously, now that she knew how long it really had been, desert appearing somewhere didn't sound as impossible as it would have few moments ago "I guess little bit more has changed than I imagined." she flew after Berry keeping a small distance between them, it felt surprisingly nice to be out of water for once, even if it made her feel very vulnerable "So....is there anything else I should know that has changed?" "Change in rulership? big environmental changes like the aforementioned desert?"

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

Ruby just nodded at Spicy's comment, she was satisfied that Spicy was smart enough to get the meaning behind what she said, it made her respect this pony just a bit more, though she still didn't think her as anything special. When Marley asked Ruby if she would like to lead the next topic, Ruby started thinking, dragons weren't really the chatty type, so she wasn't big for meaningless small talk, but at the same time, there really wasn't anything she wanted to know that came to mind. After a second she came up with something that, she didn't necessary care about, but that was something pony in her place would possibly ask "There is something I'm curious about." "You said earlier that ponies always leave valuable things in places like our destination, so that got me thinking, how many times exactly have you done this?"

Victoria Sponge · September 30, 2018

@Blitz Boom

Raspberry was worried by the prospect of encountering Pinkie again, especially if it meant her meeting her timid husband. She could see herself potentially getting in a fight if she refused to leave them alone, as much as Citrus's shy behaviour annoyed her she would always stick up for him if necessary.

"We'll figure something out with Pinkie Pie, as for my baking skills... baking isn't really my forte. You'll notice that I and my twins have taken a rather different approach to the rest of our family. Even Red would rather stick to wedding cakes and snacks than bake a batch of cupcakes or something of the sort. That's not to say I can't do it if I want to, knowing Lemon you've probably heard the story of the battenberg and Victoria spongecake that she decided to name her children after for whatever reason, but baking is definitely below flying and jam making in terms of fun and my own abilities."

Raspberry had always been keen on doing things her own way, even as a filly she had been very independent, her attitude was evident not only in her interests but in the side of the family that related directly to her. As she had mentioned, two of her daughters were not named after cakes and had taken on non-baking professions with flower arranging and chocolate making being their specialities.

When Benny addressed the approaching pegasus she appeared to be startled by his words, or maybe it was his toothy grin. Her eyes widened and she let out a muted shriek before stumbling backwards and tripping over her tail, landing firmly on her rump. She didn't get up again but instead began to shrink into her self, getting as close to the ground as possible, wanting to get further away from that which had surprised her.

Raspberry snorted with a chuckle.

"Good luck with her, I used to think my sister was easily frightened until I met this filly."

Strawberry had buried her head in her hooves and was breathing quickly, while Raspberry, despite beginning to look a little more concerned, did not make a move to help her, Lemon had finally noticed her friend's attempts to introduce herself and quickly trotted over to help. She sat down between the pegasus and Benny and stroked her mane, encouraging her to look up, making eye contact with her.

"It's ok Berry, he doesn't bite."

She giggled slightly but stopped when she saw the panic and fear that remained in Strawberry's eyes. She stood up and helped the pegasus to her hooves.

"Come on, if I made friends with the dragon then you definitely can. Nothing to be afraid of."

Raspberry nodded and took a deep breath, letting it out with a sigh. With Lemon's help she managed to get closer to Benny. Lemon glared at Raspberry who shook her head and looked the other way, she then turned to Benny.

"Sorry about this, Strawberry is trying her best, it was actually very impressive that she got as far as she did. You can introduce yourself now Berry."

She nudged Strawberry who slowly looked up at Benny, her mane falling to the side and finally revealing her whole face, which was still in an expression of terror, her eyes wide and wet looking directly into Benny's as she struggled to find her words.

"S..."

She gulped, the words couldn't quite find their way.

"I-I-I'm S-so..."

She suddenly looked away, burying her face in Lemon's mane. Lemon hugged her friend and smiled at Benny apologetically.

"If you thought I was scared of dragons you haven't seen anything yet."

A quiet and muffled voice emerged from Lemon's mane.

"I-I'm sorry Mr Dragon... I... just..."

She pulled her face away and slowly turned to look at him again, breathing slowly and deeply she tried again.

"I-I don't m-mean to be r-rude..."

Her face seemed a little more relaxed now, though the rest of her body was still as stiff as a plank, her legs stuck out at awkward angles and her tail flicking nervously behind her.

"I-I'm S-strawberry... Spr-sprinkle."

The poor thing was so nervous you could practically hear her heart pounding in her chest as she continued to breathe rapidly and stand in place as if she were made of stone.

"I-I'm so sc-scared of d... dr...."

She gulped again, trying to swallow the lump in her throat to allow her to speak more clearly.

"D-dragons... b-but y-you seem to b-be nice... m-my daughter l-likes you a-a l-lot!"

Her right hoof suddenly shot up, in a very robotic manner, it seemed she'd just about managed to muster up the bravery to shake his claws.

Lemon stepped back a bit, ready to stop Strawberry from attempting to run the second Benny reached out to shake her hoof, but she kept one hoof around the stiff mare, gently stroking her in an attempt to calm her.

"Just be slow Benny, once she warms up to you she'll be much friendlier I promise!"

Lemon and Raspberry hadn't been friends for the longest time, only a few years but like Battenberg and Sprinkles the two had quickly become inseparable. It was clear Lemon had had to deal with Raspberry before, every move she made seemed to calm the shaken mare more and more. Lemon hoped this would help her friend overcome her dragonphobia at least a little, in the same way she herself had begun to warm up to the idea of dragons and ponies being friends.

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