open Casual stroll

[EQ_Theta 415]

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

"Well... I guess that is a sensible way to put it. And you say she is your dragon? Alright, I guess I should give it a try. After everything that's happened here, I guess she might be willing to hear me out."

The pegasus was still unsure, but perhaps hearing this from Lotus gave her some semblance of confidence. Or at least a different perspective. It was strange to hear this from a bunny who lived closely with dragons. It could explain the attitude but then again, Angel was assertive and sometimes abrasive, aggressive at worst, but he didn't grow up with a dragon with a matching personality. It was the opposite, actually, with Angel commanding a domineering presence over Spike once. Back when he wanted to earn some bits looking after the pets. Seemed like Angel caught on to his less than altruistic motives but things eventually worked out in the end for everyone. Well, almost everyone. 

Fear still gripped Fluttershy. Despite this, she asked the one question that she might regret later down the road. She knew she was outnumbered two-to-one, and ironically, the bunnies have more spine than her. 

"So, where do I start looking for her?"

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@Blitz Boom 

"Take your time Omen. We'll work with you at your own pace."

It is the strangest thing. If Lin knew who she would befriend many years into exile, she wouldn't expect Omen to be that one friend that left the biggest impression on her. Between the unconventional method of communication and the unorthodox appearance, there was nothing that could come close to her. But she opened herself to the experiences from the past few weeks and saw how much changed from then until now. Even she couldn't be more surprised at how much her patience was stretching. Back then, she just wanted answers, solutions, a way to get back no matter how much she had to risk. Now? A dramatic change... she felt just like her mother, always giving her room to grow at her pace. Learning was quick and curiosity ruled her mind, pushing her forward in the pursuit of knowledge. Now she stepped back and saw a little bit of her mother manifesting in the way she spoke. Gentle and kind, tempering herself as she would work with Omen's way of processing information. The world no longer revolved around her and her wants. That time has long passed. 

Lin turned to Rosa, who had awoken looking a little worse for wear. Maybe she should've woken him up?

"I guess you can say it went well, but you don't look to good. Did your nightmares keep you up? Or were Omen and I making too much noise? I apologize for the latter."

At that time, Sen's tent started to rustle with movement within. The longma emerged looking fairly drained with eyes half-open, slouching a bit while walking forward. 

"Nightmares got you too, Rosa? I think I spent a good portion of the evening rolling around trying to keep myself from waking up. I've already left Lin worried about my nightmares and I didn't want to drag you in too." 

Sen wouldn't elaborate further, though being around Rosa long enough meant he might be a little more willing to share about what he saw in his mind the previous evening if anyone asked. Frankly, as much as he hated having Lin wake him up from his nightmares, speaking to her left him feeling calmer with her to reassure him. It was better than the years spent in exile where he would wake up in a cold sweat and hoping for someone to talk to. Maybe Rosa could use some reassuring. 

"I know this might sound strange but... would you want to talk about your nightmares?" 

The longma seemed unsure about having asked that question in hindsight. Even he was hesitating before the popped the question but Lin would be ready to listen nonetheless. 

[Emperor Azurailo 1,091]

@Blitz Boom

It was another wonderful day in the city of Cloudsdale. The weather factory was functionning well, just like any other day. Now, with a closer look at the eastern end of this city made out of clouds, a rather big house could be seen. It was home of Equestria's best train Engineer and designer, Blue Trainsfeather. This Pegasus had a wide knowledge on railway features and rolling stock, knew close to everything about how a locomotive works, and many other things. At this time he had finished working and was just relaxing on his couch, reading a book about...trains!

[Rising Dusk 26,085]

@Blitz Boom

While Dusk felt a little bad about leaving the Boom siblings to clean up this mess, not the kind of pony that didn't want to give a helping hoof, he could also understand the pride Molotov had about the issue.  An older pony wanting to teach the young filly he was raising the consequences of her actions without relying on another pony, at first at least.  It was actually a familiar lesson Rusty and Dusk had taught Felicia earlier that day about needing to let a few bumps and scrapes happen so that a pony could learn from their mistakes.  Now she'd get to watch it happen first hoof.  The conversation shifted to Molotov preparing to go out in the near future and harvest more material for them to have at their disposal.  So, it indeed sounded like Molotov had another big project on his hooves to work on while trying out different cage designs as well.

It was also at this time that he learned Workshop 05 was indeed part of a series of workshops and not just fancy name Molotov came up with.  Like those ponies who add random big numbers to the name of their goodies in hopes of making it sound more fancy and important.  It was rather interesting that Molotov listed off Workshop 05 again as a place to not let Blitz into.  Mayhaps this workshop was a remake of one from Center Zero, or maybe it was the workshop number that the Boom family used.  A detail for another time perhaps.

Turning to face Molotov as he thanked him for his help today and continued interest in helping them out further.  A sense of pride swelled in him and caused a smile to appear on his lips.  While it was true that disenchanting artifacts and going out on patrol of the city weren't the best things to do without a good night's sleep.  With or without the aid of the Dream Princess, Dusk didn't have all that much trouble getting a good rest in each night.

Rising Dusk had to take Felicia's side in the remainder of that conversation though.  He could just wait for the next time he is free to come and visit.  Who knows, maybe Molotov will have a new idea randomly that could improve it further before Dusk could return.  "It's okay Molotov, I can wait," he replied with a smile.  Not wanting to wound Molotov's pride or Blitz's lesson, he finally nodded and decided it was time to head home.  He needed to do laundry anyways.  

"Very well my new friends, I will retreat to my dwellings.  Do give Blitz my best.  Molotov, Carmen, Felicia, until next we meet," the Detective extended his hoof to Molotov and Felicia in kind.  He tried it with Carmen, but would settle for a pat to her fussy top encase she couldn't.  Turning to leave the Boom family to their probably quite busy evening.  With cake batter covered hoodie slung over his back, Rising Dusk made his way to the increasingly familiar path that would take the Detective back to his apartment complex.  It would probably be a good idea to pick up dinner on the way, but it would need to be from a vendor, not really wanting to go into a restaurant with a dirty hoodie.  The thoughts of the coming work tomorrow drifted from the front of his mind while he reflected on the day's events.  Luckily he could recall it with a perfect enough clarity to the point that he might as well have been doing it at that moment.  Hopefully Felicia would improve upon her meeting with scrap yard crew and grow from there, and that the current Boom family overall.  The large spider bot had some contempt for her creator, but hopefully some of the lessons she learned today could help aid in mending that relationship.

[Blitz Boom 4,429]

@Emperor Blu Traincrown

So this here was Cloudsdale, eh? For some reason he had expected more out of it.

Molotov flew in past the gate on his metallic wings, causing quite a few eyes to go his way. He couldn't blame them really, considering that unicorns usually only got here if they cast the right spells to be able to wander on the clouds, but one flying in on homemade wings? Now that was something new.

Of course, he still cast the spell, since even though there were plenty enough sun up here to sustain the use of his wings, he wanted to see if that little incantation in his great uncle's notes held true.

So he cast it, touched down on a fluffy cloud, fully expecting to go straight through - how these pegasi were able to create cities on clouds were baffling to him - yet he stayed up here. Sure, it felt like wandering in a somewhat firm bouncy castle, but that was probably a part of the experience, and just something he had to get used to, long as he were out here in the *street*.

In any case, since it seemed to hold, he folded his wings in, and took a deep breath of the thin air.

"Looks like we made it then, Carmen. keep on tight, you hear?"

A whir of agreement came from the mechanical spider on his back, who promptly clutched his back even more. It got a little uncomfortable, but it was far better than her falling off and tunneling through the skies, towards the ground. He'd be able to grab her again before she hit the ground, but why take the chance, right?

Carmen's red eyes focused on several things as they passed around the cloud city, asking small questions about what she saw in the mechanical language - which Molotov usually called clank - that she now had, with her creator looking like some kind of mad pony for talking to seemingly nopony, or to what to most looked like a large, fuzzy spider pet.

Molotov also saw several interesting things, and used his magic to adjust the lenses in the glass he had in front of his right eye. It gave him a nice range of varied visions, though it also made him seem like he was leering at others at times, which were one of several reasons as to why he tended to get smacked by mares. His poor attempts at pick up lines tended to do the most for that though.

Wandering around and playing tourist, the saddlebag bouncing against his right side made sure to remind him that he wasn't just here to look around, but also to find a specific pony. A pretty interesting bloke from what his great uncle had went on about, though Molotov himself didn't know much. Apparently, the guy was a real wizard at designing and making trains, but to what extend he wasn't sure. Could be nice having somepony give him some tips on engines though, so Molotov had brought some of his own designs as well as what he were here to deliver, to see if perhaps the two of them could work out a deal of sorts.

Rounding a corner, Molotov got pretty sure he had found the right place. Wasn't everything he had expected, though the name on the door spoke up about this being the right place, so he went up and had a knock on the door, or a push on the bell, depending on if Blue had this sorta thing installed.

When the door would eventually get answered, he'd face the resident with a grin on his face, and Carmen sitting on his head, looking curiously upon the train stallion.

"Hey there chief. Blue Trainfeather, right? I'm Molotov Boom, sent here to deliver some papers from Center Zero. You got a bit of time to spare?"

It'd be interesting to see if this stallion even knew about Center Zero in the first place honestly. They were a town made of some of the best and brightest, but the town were isolated and the members mostly only communicated through letters and published papers,  with only a few departments having active travelers. Especially the engineers and inventors were elusive, as the Boom family were the main providers of that sort, and they tended to be focused on working, so they mostly got known through publications of strange, innovative devices. They didn't exactly have a train division however, so Blue might have no idea, but eh, he could be educated about who they were quickly enough. He'd be far from the first that Molotov had to give some details about any of this.

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus @Moonlit

"Vauw. You got a pretty good voice there, Nada."

When Nada had suddenly begun singing, it had surprised Berry quite a bit. She had only ever heard of their kind doing that in the stories, and that tended to also include causing a whole lot of fighting to happen between everypony. But this wasn't anything like that. There wasn't any malice in it, or something that made the mare act against her own will. It was just... Fairly beautiful, actually.

Berry weren't one for music most of the time, as it distracted her thoughts, but the low, fragmented song that her new friend here were firing off were frankly enticing. Not mind controlling, as she could still keep her weird, paranoid thoughts, but it made her slow her pace and look up at her new friend with awe.

She were about to talk to Nada about how she should try and work with her voice and be a singer or something, soon as she got into society properly, when the weirdest thing happened. Somepony else started to sing back.

It wasn't close by, that much were sure, but the faint sound that were growing louder sounded like somepony were either really giving it their all, or that whoever were the one Nada had a song contest with were getting closer. The words were even starting to get into things, which made Berry's ears twitch a little.

"Is that... The Skye Boat Song?"

Berry were baffled by hearing this song in these parts of Equestria. This sorta song had been sung in the village that her grandmother had lived in, before her untimely passing, and whenever the old mare had been for a visit in Berry's younger years, the old mare sang sea songs like this to lul the filly off to sleep. It didn't have her raspy voice, and there were less pauses as whoever were singing now had an easier time catching their breath, but the tune were unmistakable. She could even hum along, though for some reason, it felt wrong to even try right now. Like she'd be disrespecting the singer for meddling in this with her own, rather bad song voice, which had several times been linked to a frog throwing up at the bottom of a barrel.

At this point, Berry wouldn't even be walking anymore. She'd just listen in, and hear the songs between Nada and this unknown voice go off, feeling somewhat mesmerized, though if Nada took off, Berry would manage to snap out and run after her.

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

On the way down there, Ruby should be able to hear the last parts of a conversation between Marley and Spicy.

"- are you serious?"

"Quite. If she were sneezing much harder, she would have flown backwards."

"Huh, to think that this was all just allergies... And that amulet she ran off with?"

"A dragon eye in a sparkly container. Likely what got the one buried here torched in the first place, but relatively worthless for anyone who cares little for gory jewelry, or seeks vengeance for a fallen comrade. From what I could gather, it appears she simply likes it because it is a unique kind of shiny. I figure we each take a piece from what's left in the coffin, then sell off the rest together and call it even. Personally, I would advise you to have a good eye on the leg band. It seems quite a bit more valuable, and may fit you if you ever actually cared to go to any social gathering."

"I do. It's called a poker tournament."

"Hardly a social gathering like what I had in mind. There is barely anything worth ones time at those casinos."

"And the shrimp cocktails?"

"...Your tournaments may hold some merit."

"Hah, freaking addict."

They'd either hear or see Ruby at this point, and turn to face her, with Ruby sporting a great big grin that was almost going into laughter as she imagined the mare just cleaning out her lungs rapidly outside, whilst Marley gave more of a general smile, and a knowing look.

"Ah, our dear companion have arrived. Worry not, I have informed Spicy of your allergic reaction to the perfume, as promised. We will make sure not to open the jars around you again, just in case it may flare up again. As for your newly-acquired trinket, we have come to an agreement that to commemorate this first partnership, it seems only fair that we each take a piece of the jewelry for ourselves, then sell off the rest and split that. And if I must, I'd say that this fits me rather well too, hmm?"

Marley lifted his right wing, and showed off a jewel-encrusted, silver dagger that had been situated at the belt area in the coffin. It would require a polish to truly shine, but the blade were sharp, the scabbard quite beautifully crafted in fine leather, and the ornate, rose gold handle were quite comfortable for his big hand. It were a bit showy, certainly, and the scabbard were more or less headed straight for the trash as soon as he could replace it, as it were really showing its age, yet he overall liked this, and if not for this little detail of them each taking a thing that he were trying to spin here, he would likely have spend some of his own profits to buy this, instead of sending it off to an auction somewhere. There was just an elegance and brutality in knives like this that spoke to him, and it were not a bad thing to show off to potential mates either. He knew quite a few griffon ladies who enjoyed a man who was ready to gut dinner on the spot, though sadly, all of those mentioned were married already. Unfortunate really.

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

 

@FanOfManyShows

"Right, if we can't force answers outta this book, then what sorta things would we do to get it to work with us? Thinking it might not be anything pleasant though, considering how Emerald are. For all I know, she could've fed blood to it or something."

It would somehow not surprise him, though Chow had no idea if that'd even be a thing. Blood seemed bad for a book, but then, this was a talking magic book. Regular rules didn't exactly apply here, right? And if it wasn't that, what then? It wasn't likely that Emerald could've written poetry or hugged kittens to get it to work with her. Plenty more reasons to think it involved doing something macabre. Yet, what sorta thing were they talking about? The book would know, but the odds seemed slim that it'd spill the beans, and the only one who might know, might just be an illusion brought on by the Element of Deceit, which made Sapphire's testimony to this sorta thing unreliable at best.

Chow cast a glance towards Astral. Poor gal were sounding kinda defeated in it right now, but who could blame her? Things were going up a certain creek with no paddle right now, and there didn't seem to be much of an end to it, even if they managed to slow down Emerald and Sapphire a bit. With everything else, and dealing with her mom perhaps just being an illusion... It was amazing she kept up her chin, but Chow just wasn't sure what to say to her to try and make things better. Promising to try and help was basically the best idea he had, as emotional situations weren't really his strength. if it were, he'd had grown a spine and hugged her a few times through this or something. Regular ponies seemed to like that in the right situations.

"Look, whatever we're going to do, we need to find a place off Emerald's radar, before we get a retaliation strike. Emerald's snooped around my head for a long time, so my place in Canterlot, and the hovel here, ain't gonna work much. Same with the tree in the woods you used to live in Astral. She would know about that too. Your place might be in trouble actually, Iron. We wrecked her home, and if she learns where your place is through... Uhm, *methods*, she might go there to have a bash at wrecking your home.

Anypony got any ideas?"

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@EQ_Theta

Before Sen got out of his tent, Rosa managed to answer the question that Lin had asked, though barely.

"Omen can't yell, and you didn't speak too loudly."

It at least seemed like Omen couldn't. Every single interactions so far, with her voice transferring into the head of him and others, he had always only heard the exact same volume of whispering, yet clearly audible voices. Considering that, he just assumed that she only had this one volume, in parts because of her way of communication. It had interfered with his nightmares though, which made a few parts become... testing, as hearing the strange, mare-like creature, had inserted her here and there in situations similar to what the swamp had thrown in Lin's and his faces.

As for Lin, she had spoken calmly the times he had heard her voice, though what she had been on most of the time he didn't know. Something about teaching and pain, which were disturbing in a sense, but he were aware how out of context and likely far apart those two things had been, so there weren't much that made him worry about waking up, roped up like a mixture between a sausage and a pinata, and about to be swung at with a bat.

As Sen arrived on the scene, looking worse for the wear as well, Rosa let go of the branch he were on, and fluttered down to the ground in an uneven pattern that made clear that he hadn't found his balance after the terrible night's *sleep* he had gotten. Sen looked a good deal worse than him though, which honestly surprised the bat pony. He had not been in the swamp, so what haunted his nightmares? Whatever they were, it seemed to predate Rosa meeting the trio, though an opportunity to find out arrived shortly after, as Sen asked if perhaps they should discuss their nightmares. Or was it only Rosa's? Urgh, his mind must really be scrambled by tonight for him to not be certain about that kind of thing. Though if he worked under either possibility, it still involved spilling the beans of what haunted his rest. A grim thought, but Rosa had long lived by keeping things to himself, and what good had that done him? He could try to share and see if it helped.

Letting out a large yawn that exposed his fangs - and caused Shrimp to hiss at him from where the refraction had rested near Lin - Rosa would try and rub the sleep out of his eyes to no avail, before answering the inquiry.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt.

I found myself wingless in a graveyard. All around me, where countless graves with names I couldn't focus on, but they all felt familiar. As did the mourners present at nearly every stone, who ignored me for the longest time until suddenly, they came after me. Tearing, biting, howling and screaming, all demanding to have vengeance for what I did, and angrily wanting me to answer to those I took away.

So they dragged me to an open grave, threw me in a waiting box, and began throwing dirt down upon it. I woke up around when I heard the moaning voices and scratches from bony hooves get closer to my wooden prison.

Cheery, isn't it?"

He hadn't known what part of that nightmare were the worst, but it certainly made him queasy about returning to sleep for the time being. He'd be better off just staying awake from now on until he passed out, and didn't have the energy left to dream, or at least remember what they were on about. It wasn't healthy, but neither was it to be assaulted by dread and untold visions of Omen's crystal-encased being broken on some of the tombstones, whispering about needing help. A little detail that he most certainly didn't feel comfortable sharing, even considering the rest he had told.

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@Rising Dusk

The gang would say goodbye to Officer Dusk the best they could. Molotov with a shake, Felicia by meeting his hoof with the tip of her leg, and Carmen would lean into his hoof like a cat, and whir a goodbye. They'd all meet again, but it were going to be a bit of time for the lot of them.

(4 months 2 days later)

The last few days had been productive for the Boom's. The workshop were cleaned up as well as one really could considering what they worked with, everything that had been damaged had been prepared, and they had a bit of time to breathe and get to work on a few other things the coming day, when they had been by themselves. Molotov had granted the design he made some thought, but beyond putting it together and running it through some physical pressure tests, he hadn't tinkered more with it. It handled the regular pressure tests fine, but he wouldn't be able to see what sort of resistance it might have without Dusk being present. Carmen had examined the runes he made carefully, and Molotov may be able to remake them, but this wasn't his kind of magic, and the marks had been a little lacking at places, making him think that they were incomplete, so he hadn't wanted to risk it.

As for the spiderbots, things had gone somewhat well.

Carmen had needed her fur washed several times, which meant that after she had been powered up again after her in depth cleaning, she had been hiding for most of the previous day. She didn't like being seen without her fur on, even by Felicia, so she had used small crannies and the like to hide in whilst she waited for things to be ready. Since the washing machine had to be repaired as well, it took a little longer than were ideal, but during last night she would've gotten her fur back and be able to follow the lot around, looking cleaner than she had in a long time.

As for Felicia, the spiderbot had went for a visit tot he scrap yard again yesterday, but she kept her interactions to a minimum. When approached by some of those who worked there, she would write responses in the dirt, but most of the time she scuttled on top off and around the piles of metal, soaking in the atmosphere, and observed everypony closely to learn some more about ponies. Even the ones who came looking for something, though she made sure to not be seen when they were around. It were still far too soon to be shown to everypony at that point.

1 pony had seen her though, on the way back to the workshop, but he had also been rather scruffy and gulping down a foul-smelling liquid, so it were unlikely that anypony would believe him, even if he did tell others about his encounter. A strange reaction he had really, with just blinking, then pouring the rest of what were in his bottle out on the ground, and then wandering off with a strange look in his eyes. A peculiar thing to do in Felicia's eyes, but she supposed it were better than him screaming and calling for help.

To return to the current day though, in the hours of around 10 AM, Molotov were whistling and working on the insides of the robot he had been sleeping on when Dusk had last been around. The outside were complete now, with a pretty basic, three ball-like designs, with two sensory organs on top of its head, legs down the sides to accommodate the travel of both it and whatever it may need to carry, as well as a large, open hole in the elongated ball-like form in the back, likely meant to carry the motherlode.

To be completely honest, it was a large, metallic ant, but every time Blitz confronted Molotov about how he had a weird thing for creepy crawlies, he went on about how this was just the best design for things and yada yada, until she wandered off, bored and wanting to do something else.

Blitz had also been working, yet she were being monitored for any kind of baking ingredients, just to make sure that she didn't mess up the place again. What exactly it were were hard to say, as it kinda looked like a foal-sized lollipop, and she didn't want to say. She just snickered or started talking about lights, at which point she were usually left alone to keep tinkering with it since it even gave Felicia an error that would feel like a robotic version of a headache from listening to her babbling.

All in all, it were a perfectly nice, calm day for them. They hadn't even caught anything on fire yet.

(Start here for Molotov and the gang, or at Dusk's office for magical misconduct with Null and Void)

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@EQ_Theta @Dji @Storm Shine @BloodDrops @Lucid_Nightlight

"She's back at the castle. She was hurt and couldn't come with us."

Fluttershy should've remembered the dragon there, but perhaps it had slipped her mind, or Nerzhei just didn't make much of an impression in the moment, since her interactions were mainly with Twilight. Either way, things were getting somewhere now, so that was good, though it would get bad if Nerzhei had to return to the hospital while they were gone. She had gone through an invasive test sample to figure out what might cause her migraine attacks, and were told that she'd hear back as soon as they knew something. Perhaps this went really quick and they took her back in? Or she had been really hurt, and she were now in there in a bed, in pain and wondering where Lotus were.

The bunny shook her head at these thoughts. Worry wasn't gonna help her right now, and her dragon was tough. She'd get through this for sure, and at worst she'd just need more gauze. Weren't any large kitty that brought Nerzhei down.

Before she could question that thought, Lotus spoke up again to sorta try and distract from this, and in general to see where they'd go from here.

"Soon as you're all done with the big one, we can get going, and you can talk with her. Just remember to stand your ground, and don't talk down to her. You'll be fine."

Meanwhile, Anomaly had also slapped Lucid with the fish her bat had turned into, wanting to see if it kept turning into other things, and if so, would keep hitting him with what showed up until either something didn't change, or it were a duplicate, at which point she'd lose interest. She'd still talk whilst doing this though.

"I dunno, Ponyville have all sorts of weirdos, but not sure if they're my kind of wonky. Plus most of them have families who'll just get all up in a tip about their relative being swiped away and messed up. This is why it's so much easier to nick somepony from a loonie bin, they're not missed as much, and I can fix their heads, so it's all going to be better. It's just biology, you know?

Just like with my old ear. I have no idea what it's gonna mutate into, so is it good? Bad? Will it stomp on Neighpon and rest in the sea? No idea. That's the fun part.

Kinda boring that things aren't different in your world by the way. I had expected something craaaazy, since your loonie coltfriend came from there too, hehe. But nope. Same old, boring stable place, just with draconequui families... Huh, that is pretty weird. Never seen one around here before. Unless your parents aren't draconequui? Uuuh, that sounds like a story. Common and lemme hear it Novia. Are you the only one, or are your parents like, jigsaw beings too?"

 

Edited October 22, 2018 by Blitz Boom

[Emperor Azurailo 1,091]

19 minutes ago, Blitz Boom said:

@Emperor Blu Traincrown

So this here was Cloudsdale, eh? For some reason he had expected more out of it.

Molotov flew in past the gate on his metallic wings, causing quite a few eyes to go his way. He couldn't blame them really, considering that unicorns usually only got here if they cast the right spells to be able to wander on the clouds, but one flying in on homemade wings? Now that was something new.

Of course, he still cast the spell, since even though there were plenty enough sun up here to sustain the use of his wings, he wanted to see if that little incantation in his great uncle's notes held true.

So he cast it, touched down on a fluffy cloud, fully expecting to go straight through - how these pegasi were able to create cities on clouds were baffling to him - yet he stayed up here. Sure, it felt like wandering in a somewhat firm bouncy castle, but that was probably a part of the experience, and just something he had to get used to, long as he were out here in the *street*.

In any case, since it seemed to hold, he folded his wings in, and took a deep breath of the thin air.

"Looks like we made it then, Carmen. keep on tight, you hear?"

A whir of agreement came from the mechanical spider on his back, who promptly clutched his back even more. It got a little uncomfortable, but it was far better than her falling off and tunneling through the skies, towards the ground. He'd be able to grab her again before she hit the ground, but why take the chance, right?

Carmen's red eyes focused on several things as they passed around the cloud city, asking small questions about what she saw in the mechanical language - which Molotov usually called clank - that she now had, with her creator looking like some kind of mad pony for talking to seemingly nopony, or to what to most looked like a large, fuzzy spider pet.

Molotov also saw several interesting things, and used his magic to adjust the lenses in the glass he had in front of his right eye. It gave him a nice range of varied visions, though it also made him seem like he was leering at others at times, which were one of several reasons as to why he tended to get smacked by mares. His poor attempts at pick up lines tended to do the most for that though.

Wandering around and playing tourist, the saddlebag bouncing against his right side made sure to remind him that he wasn't just here to look around, but also to find a specific pony. A pretty interesting bloke from what his great uncle had went on about, though Molotov himself didn't know much. Apparently, the guy was a real wizard at designing and making trains, but to what extend he wasn't sure. Could be nice having somepony give him some tips on engines though, so Molotov had brought some of his own designs as well as what he were here to deliver, to see if perhaps the two of them could work out a deal of sorts.

Rounding a corner, Molotov got pretty sure he had found the right place. Wasn't everything he had expected, though the name on the door spoke up about this being the right place, so he went up and had a knock on the door, or a push on the bell, depending on if Blue had this sorta thing installed.

When the door would eventually get answered, he'd face the resident with a grin on his face, and Carmen sitting on his head, looking curiously upon the train stallion.

"Hey there chief. Blue Trainfeather, right? I'm Molotov Boom, sent here to deliver some papers from Center Zero. You got a bit of time to spare?"

It'd be interesting to see if this stallion even knew about Center Zero in the first place honestly. They were a town made of some of the best and brightest, but the town were isolated and the members mostly only communicated through letters and published papers,  with only a few departments having active travelers. Especially the engineers and inventors were elusive, as the Boom family were the main providers of that sort, and they tended to be focused on working, so they mostly got known through publications of strange, innovative devices. They didn't exactly have a train division however, so Blue might have no idea, but eh, he could be educated about who they were quickly enough. He'd be far from the first that Molotov had to give some details about any of this.

This front door Molotov saw was actually decorated with an original lable, a very original one. In fact, the name would be written on a somehow railroad crossing sign, with BLUE on a plank, forming a cross with the other plank on which TRAINSFEATHER could be seen. But the original idea didn't stop to that: as Molotov pushed the bell button, a sound similar to a railroad crossing bell would sound, and the sign's red lights would start to alternatively flash. This thing kept going for ten seconds, not to say the least. Meanwhile inside the house, in the living room, the pony Molotov was looking for snapped out of his book and gave a confused glance at the door. "Huh? Who could that be? Didn't expect any visitors today." But that didn't refrain him from being polite and come open the door.

As he did so, he smiled to the...Unicorn with homemade metallic wings and a spider on his head? Whatever. He wasn't the kind of pony to judge a book by its cover. "Hello? How can I help you?" As the pony introduced himself, the Pegasus smiled. "Yes it's me. Center Zero? Never heard of that name, but please come in." Blue said as he stepped aside to let Molotov enter his home.

The front door leading to the living room, it was obvious that the first room Molotov would see was this particular room. It was a large, but tidy room, with almost everything being where it should be. Things to notice were pictures of trains all over the walls. All kinds of trains were there: steam, Diesel, Electric and even High Tech and High Speed trains. 

"Please make yourself comfy. Want something to drink? I have lemonade and apple juice. But if you want water, I'll go with that. Anyway, what are you been up to?"

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Moonlit@Blitz Boom

When the response song reached Nada's ears, her eyes lighted up and her mood seemed to soar to happiness, at this point she didn't focus on Berry anymore and thus missed what she had said. She didn't recognize the song, but she could tell right away that the singer was other of her kind, she stopped her short paused tunes and burst out to an actual song, and now that she was really giving it her all, the millennia long practice time really shined through her voice. She didn't take off towards the newcomers voice, since even though they were still some distance away, she could tell they were coming closer, but that didn't mean she stayed put, as she started dancing in the air to the song she was singing.

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@blitz boom

Ruby nodded in understanding after Marley finished, she was very surprised that Marley had actually lied to Spicey about her reaction, and not only that the explanation of allergies was what she was going to go with too, but she had had backup lie prepared if that didn't work either, but now that Marley for reason or another had her back, she didn't need to worry about that. It did slightly annoy her that she couldn't have the dagger that Marley was showing off, as it was quite shiny, but she thought it as payment for his silence, since she would for sure had stolen it if the truth had came up. "That's fine by me.." she shrugged "..but I'm not the boss." though she wanted to say more about the amulet, since it had really nothing to do with her being a dragon, since it did something to her sense, which was unique even for dragons, she looked at Spicy. "I apologize for my hurry with this amulet, I hope I didn't destroy anything..." "..It's just that it seems to intervene with my sense, as in, it overpowered everything else when I didn't have it." "I have no explanation for it, it could be a curse or some kind of other kind of magic, I don't know since it's something that has never happened before, but I just felt that it's something you may like to know, in case I come across overprotective."

 

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine @Dji @BloodDrops

"The loonie bin thing sounds illegal. Fun, but illegal. Ever considered speed dating? You can meet a lot of strange ponies that way."

As for Novia, she had a good response for Anomaly.

"I guess there's one difference in my universe. If you are in public long enough, someone will probably boop you. It's a friendly gesture. As for my parents, they are normal ponies who adopted me when I was a baby. I have no biological parents."

[EQ_Theta 415]

@Blitz Boom

"Huh, I guess we both have our share open burials. The mourners, aggressive and relentless... nightmares have a way of twisting our deepest worries and make them even worse."

Sen paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. Nightmares like these often leave him unable to grasp reality until he could breathe and let the rest of the tangible world around him solidify its presence over the dream. What Rosa saw, he himself saw before. Once in the village but having heard about what Lin saw in the swamp got to him. A familiar sight but one that doesn't get easier to hear the second time around. 

"It doesn't get any easier but there is always a way forward. We believe in atonement, we believe in second chances, and we believe in you."

Lin stepped up, smiling and nodding, as she handed Rosa a small pouch with some dried herbs in it. Small brown roots, thin strands with bits flaking off of them. They looked like they were ready to fall apart at any moment. Sen reached out and pulled one of those roots and showed it to Rosa. 

"This is called dread root. Very bitter but guaranteed to give you a lot of energy, not to mention keep you awake for a while. Hours maybe, but I only recommend taking a tiny bite out of it. Eat a whole root and you'll be awake till tomorrow. Happened once to someone in my village who accidentally added this instead of some other root while preparing food. The look he had the next day, pure regret."

Sen munched down on one end of the root he grabbed and went on to put his tent away. As for Lin, she opened a gate and grabbed some rations, handing one over to Rosa while setting aside a few for herself and Omen. She slid one over to Sen's tent while she was at it.

"I suppose we'd be off to the fishing village soon. You think the temple would be completely submerged?"

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

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

"I suppose things here are stable and I probably won't need to stick around any longer. I just need to settle one more thing."

Fluttershy stood up and looked around for their other companion, though perhaps the others would prefer its company. Maybe Pringle would like to have the dracolisk stay with him instead. Either way, it was up to the creature to decide whether it wants to stay or leave. If the pegasus wasn't mistaken, the dracolisk was still mingling with Pringle; she lost track of them both while imprisoned after all. She found him eating some fish on the table, apparently a little more active with meeting a new friend.

"Hey there, little dracolisk! I see you're comfortable being around Pringle. Do you still want to come with me or would you want to stay with your new friend?"

Edited October 23, 2018 by EQ_Theta

[Moonlit 593]

@Blitz Boom @Catpone Cerberus Serenade smiled, and decided to switch up. She stopped singing, and looked around, then settled on the song she had found in one of her adopted Father's songbooks. She took a deep breath, and poured all of her Siren magic into the song

 

Edited October 23, 2018 by Moonlit

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@Blitz Boom

"I am doubtful Sapphire would be the one to reveal my place's location, So her homes are more likely." He said, pointing to Astral. "Even if she's been there while trapped in the gem. In which case Emerald only knows the location of your new home as well as my place." He said, still looking at Astral."On the other hoof, it's possible she convinced Emerald to not deal with us, and Sapphire is going to go after us herself."

"So let's head to my tree house then." Astral said, turning around to the forest. "Don't think Sapphire would hurt us anyway."

Misty stood up. "Makes sense she'd check there anyway. Not like we're familiar with where our new home is." Already she was walking towards the forest, Astral shrugging and following her.

Iron held the book close as he looked to Chow. "I don't think we give stuff to this book, if Emerald convinced it we're bad news... Then showing her true intentions with it will be more efficient."

"Surprising! She said you'd do something like that!"

With a bit of a groan, Iron kept carrying the book into the forest. "Let's just go, this place is closer. Whichever of them was sent to deal with us, we can end this soon."

[Rising Dusk 26,085]

@Blitz Boom

The journey out of the East Side of the city on his way home was pleasant enough.  One of the most lovely of things about Equestria is how predictable the weather was.  Short of there being any big problem that arise to throw off the schedule.  The paper this morning called for clear skies and a light breeze, and sure enough it is what the city got.  Dusk always had to give credit to those hard working pegasi on the city's weather duty.  He passed a food vendor selling cherrychangas, some sort of invention that came out of Ponyville, but they were pretty darn good.  This would serve as his dinner for the night, using his magic to eat them while finishing his trip home. 

Home sweet home, the large multistory apartment complex on a mostly average street with plenty of stores that he didn't need to go very far for the things he needed.  As average as it could be though when living in the same community as Rusty and all her events.  Ascending the stairs up to the eight floor with the clops of his hooves on wooden stairs that echoed off the painted walls.  His own apartment as at the end of the hallway when taking a right, being the room on this floor that had a great view out over the nearby park and the rest of the city beyond.  Entering his apartment, he turned on the lights before pulling the cake battered hoodie from his back and tossed in the laundry basket with five other matching ones, minus the cake batter of course.  Yep, his wardrobe consisted of the same beige hoodies.  Why?  Because they were affordable, comfortable and functional.  One wouldn't believe how often he has to replace them with his work in law enforcement.

Igniting his horn to bathe the basket with his magic and lift it from the floor, he left his room and went down to the other side of the hallway and into the laundry room.  Spending an hour or so washing the six hoodies while he though about what tomorrow might bring him.  The events of today didn't escape his mind though.  The failed cage experiment.  The scrap yard visit with the large spider bot.  All ending with a cake exploding kitchen at Workshop 05.  Take all this and add it to the pile of strange cases he's done, the midnight blue stallion ends up with a weird life.  He sighed, oh well, better weird than boring.  With his laundry done, the sun and moon switched places and Dusk was off to bed.

The next morning came rather quickly and his morning routine remained unchanged in his breakfast habits.  Pulling a clean beige hoodie over his head, it was time to head off to the office.  With his week at the front desk over, it was finally time to pick up some cases, he hoped anyways.  The O.M.I. office building wasn't anything as spectacular as say, the main police building or the fire fighter station, but that was to be expected with only fourteen of them working.  A double door entrance with the open spell book logo sitting above it was really all that separated it form what might be some sort of law firm.  Pushing the right door open it was time to get back to work.  A larger white earth pony sat at the front desk, head hidden behind an open newspaper.  The light chime of the bell that informed the office somepony had entered was enough to make him pull down a corner of his newspaper to see who entered.  A grunt for a greeting as all that Dusk got before the paper was returned and the pony went back to reading.  No pony liked front desk duty, the mood was understandable.

"Morning Bash," Dusk greeted as he walked by the desk and through the chest high swinging doors that served as the only real barrier from the entryway to the back office.  Behind the front desk were an array of ten cubicles that was where they worked.  Toward the back, a more official office where the chief was.  Off in the back right corner was another door that led to the basement where the vault was kept, along with two more cubicles.  Dusk's desk was the the first one on the left.  Taking a deep breath, he poked his head in to see how high the stack of papers might be in the basket labeled 'Open Cases.'  To his surprise, there was only one folder.  Huh, must have been a slow week while he was at the front desk.  Or it came in yesterday.  Letting out the long breath, he walked into his office and sat at his chair, going for the case folder.

[Blitz Boom 4,429]

@Emperor Blu Traincrown

"Thanks. And no worries, Center Zero's a pretty isolated place so not everypony knows about us."

Molotov stepped in and felt Carmen on his head stretch her legs and look around at the place in wonder. The spiderbot had barely seen a train yet, with the two of them mostly flying around unless it were a great distance they needed to travel, so seeing this many plastered around the walls were very interesting to her. As a machine, other constructs were always a curious thing that she wanted to see and try to interact with, though she knew that most of them didn't have a mind. Her trying to talk with the coffee machine back home had made Molotov teach her of her and her sisters uniqueness.

She looked down on Molotov, and let out a series of wirs and beeps, which made her creator raise a hoof to pet her fuzzy little head.

"Let's get him to know us before you start exploring, alright Carmen?

And lemonade sounds grand Blue, thanks."

Molotov would follow Blue and have a good glance around at the impressive collection of train pictures. He wasn't gonna judge the pony on being obsessed with his work, as that'd be the kettle calling the pot black, and quite honestly, he liked this look. Sure it might seem eccentric and crazy by some, but Molotov just saw a very dedicated worker who resolved his life around his favorite thing. He could understand a pony like that.

Once he had a glance around the room for a minute or two, using his magic to effortlessly adjust the smaller levers on his glass to zoom in on particularly interesting trains,  Molotov would get around to answering the big question that Blue had tossed his way.

"Eh, completed a test run with a new design for a mechanical leg yesterday that went pretty well, but I still have to figure out a neural connection that doesn't involve surgery. I swear, connecting metal and flesh can be a hassle sometimes.

Not much else the last few days with my sister running rampant, but you know, it's been a pretty productive time anyway.

Now, as to why I'm here to break you outta train-vana, I've come to deliver these, first and foremost."

Horn aglow, Molotov fetched a sealed file out of his saddle pack and floated it to the nearest table.

"Center Zero used to hold the best and the brightest scientists, researchers and inventors that wanted to work for the betterment of Equestria, but without all those noisy folks snooping into our business a d breaking our concentration.

So a few generations ago, they build a large town for science way out in the wildness up north, and started to get some real work done. We've been behind lots of research on everything from metal to biology, microbiology,  weapons, and yada yada. We had a lot of ground covered basically, and sometimes a few would take their projects out and present them, whilst most just sent out papers for publication if they felt like they really had something.

Few months ago, the town were attacked when I was out for a bit. No trace, no forced entry, but everypony were taken.

Emergency protocol are clear. In case the town suffers a calamitous loss of lives, any and all research done by the affected individuals are to be sent off to designated beings in the same field, or nearest match.

My great uncle Calamity Boom, was an engineer. Loved tinkering with engines in particular, and trying to find out the next big thing. He was working on something he called a *Repeat Usage Tank* but he never had a chance to finish his work before he were taken, and as per protocol, I'm here to deliver his papers to somepony that he thought were the best in the business. Ain't sure what caught his attention before, since I don't read much on trains,, but I'm starting to understand his inclusion of you as his fail-safe now."

If Blue would have a look, he'd see about twenty pages detailing a kind of engine that would recycle the intake of fuel to a gas, which would then be reused later on in said engine to ensure less waste and pollution, whilst providing a cheaper cost of running the thing.

It wasn't complete though. There were page up and down with attempted and failed concoctions of what said fuel would have to be, and some concerns about the stability of the core tank that had apparently been revised six times so far, as well as had numerous references to needing a special alloy to deal with the pressure, but the basis were there for somepony to perhaps one day finish it, or at least use some of the innovations that Calamity had made to eventually create something special. Could be years, could be never really, but the old stallion had been sure that if anypony could use anything that he made, it'd be Blue Trainsfeather, and Molotov wasn't gonna question his great uncle on who he picked, no matter the result.

Okay, if Blue burned them and spat in his face, they'd have words, but that seemed pretty unlikely.

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus @Moonlit

And now Nada was dancing too? This was getting all sorts of weird, but in a nice way. First the sea song, then Nada showing off, and now Berry's siren friend were adding dance and more confidence into her musical number. If this was a theater, Berry would currently be ready to throw roses at the scene and getting ready to whistle as soon as the performance would end. Yet she didn't want this to end. It sounded and looked absolutely amazing, and then from the other source... This was just insane.

She didn't know this song, but it still sounded pretty good, and like with Nada, there was an incredible amount of talent and beauty in the voice. Yet, it was like there was something more to it. It was drawing her in, and enticing her to fall deeper and deeper into the song. Following every word, almost seeing everything described in front of her, and causing her to get a big, goofy smile on her muzzle.

It was as if her brain had dipped into a sort of calm the mare had never really felt before, and the more she listened, the better it felt to just give up trying to focus on the song all that much, and just fall back into that delightful, warm feeling that were embracing her. Sure made her brain feel kinda tingly, but it was fine. Everything were just, perfect.

Berry stood there for about three seconds more before and erratic look came over her face and she fell to the ground, hooves covering her ears whilst she hit her forehead into the dirt.

"Mind control! The Conspiracy! They're here after us. They wanna invade our brains and make us sheep! I. Won't. Give. In. To. Them."

Each of the later words corresponded to her hitting the ground and feeling the fog lift a little more from her head.

What kind of mind control was this? Audio, clearly, so holding her ears could help some, but what were the source? A radio? The metal box she had been sure were in the lake? Whatever it were it were powerful, but The Conspiracy wouldn't get her. She wouldn't give in to their mind altering trickery, and become just another dull, easily manipulated puppet like the general population.

It had been close though. Reeeeal close. Awh crud, but what about Nada? She were singling along and dancing. Were she lost to their vibes already? No, Berry wasn't gonna accept that. She'd get her friend away and get her head on straight again. She just needed a minute to clear the fog from her head fully, or she might fall prey to this trickery the second she removed her hooves from her ears, no matter how much she hummed something else to try and drown it out.

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

"Huh, that sounds wonky... But long as it ain't interfering with your gift anymore I guess it ain't a biggie. Better keep it on you at all times though. It could be a real hassle if you dropped it and it messed you up again at a bad time.

And don't worry 'bout the urn. I managed to stop it from tipping over. I figure some dragon out there wouldn't mind carrying the last remains of somepony who stole from their kind, just to deal the last trump card."

"I'm certain that Ruby will do whatever she can to ensure that her prized possession remains in her grasp. Now then, if you would please take your pick Spicy, so that you can pack up the rest and begin to look around to see if there is more here. There is still a room left unexplored, and this one may hold something that were undetectable before because of the necklace. I would suggest to perhaps sweep this place some more while I handle the jars."

With that, Marley wandered away and towards the first side room they had entered to pack up the valuable perfume.

"Feather-face is right, we outta get ahead. I guess I'll just grab this here thing and try to figure out what to do with it later."

Spicy reached down into the coffin and pulled out the arm band that Marley had mentioned, which were also in need of some polish, like most everything else they had found, but the white gold and embedded nightmare diamonds - a diamond with which got darker the further towards the center you got - were still looking pretty good, even like this. It had been fit for a stallion's ankle area, so for Spicy, it clasped in better a little above her knee, where her leg were thicker and could hold it in place. A temporary solution since she planned to pack it down later, but it kept her own stuff apart from the other stuff in the coffin, of which there were still plenty. An easy 10 grand if the things were sold as a set. Even without the band that Spicy had taken, it were still a pretty complete looking set that some snobbish eccentric would be thrilled to buy, and there were plenty of those in the shady parts of the world.

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

 

@FanOfManyShows

So Chow saying that Emerald likely knew about the tree house from her time in Chow's head were ignored it seemed. Well, if these folks were sure enough of themselves, then alright, though he reserved the right to be tense and prepared for a quick strike at any time. Emerald might not come for them now, but it were impossible to say for sure when she might go through some locations she had seen through Chow's eyes, so it was best to be prepared. But hey, the gals had the home turf advantage in the tree house, so perhaps that was gonna be a help? Might be some fancy protective wards there too or something like it.

"Alright, let's get going. And watch out for the wildlife. Poor things have been through enough without getting a face full of fireball."

Strange to say this, since he usually had to ask folks going into the woods around the same time as him to watch out, and if they needed somepony to keep 'em safe, but in this situation, the roles were a bit different. Now the wildlife were the poor things that had to watch out, and Chow were the one being protected technically, as these other ones had a great deal of mojo to swing around. Fancy how things change sometime, though Chow wasn't letting go of his protective ideals, regardless of his role as the lowest rung on the food chain. It was a bit too ingrained in his head around this forest at this point.

Iron addressing him whilst the girls lead the charge, made Chow stay closer to the old timer than the younglings up front though.

"Showing that thing her real face is one thing, but what're the odds that that ain't the one the book knows already? If the sorta magic Emerald bounces around comes from that book, it ain't exactly filled with butterflies and fresh down. Might be it's into the whole blood mage thing. Unless you know something you ain't sharing? Sounded like you had some sorta clue about it a few times now."

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

 

@EQ_Theta

"Thanks for the words, but it's okay. It's to be expected that my guilt bash me in my sleep for a while after getting it shoved so forcefully into my face. I won't fall back into looking for an escape at the bottom of a flask."

Their words were kind, and Rosa would like for it to be an easy case of simply doing better, but the bat pony had a lot of destroyed lives to atone for. Guilt were going to be a part of him for years. Perhaps even until he faced the grave himself, and it wasn't just going to go away, especially not after the swamp had visualized it in such a horrid manner.

The past wouldn't repeat itself though. The bottle wouldn't be an escape this time. He'd face things, and thankfully it were going to become easier to do so when he had the claws and hooves of these new friends of his. It made things tolerable to go through, rather than an uphill road with a broken leg, and that they tried to console him now meant a great deal. Yet as he said, he'd be fine. This were just going to take time.

He were pretty surprised to then be offered something that were actually going to help with the main issue though. That being the lack of energy he had after the unsteady night's rest.

Slowly, he'd reach into the pouch he had been offered and took up a root for himself. Such a frail looking thing, yet this were going to fill one with energy? There would be a crash afterwards it sounded like, but stimuli tended to work in such a fashion.

"The description reminds me of caffeine tablets, but they look nothing like this. The crash afterwards sure sounds familiar though. Such a peculiar thing to find from a raw root..."

Going at it like Sen had said, Rosa would take a small bite out of the root and chew it down. Bitter was frankly an understatement, as it reminded him of biting into an extra sour lemon, just without the liquid, but the effect were more akin to the caffeine tablets he used to take on long duties back int he day. Yet the root were far quicker to get into his system it seemed. Impressive little thing that one.

"Thank you. I needed that. I'll get to work clearing the traps."

Better to get it done before his newfound energy ran out. Sen may say that there were energy for hours, but the longma body likely took in these sort of things differently than a bat pony like Rosa, so it were better to get something done as soon as possible, before the crash would start to seep in.

He set down his rations whilst getting that done, opening only to grab a slice of apple within that he could chew whilst working, and left it open for a certain dragon-like creature, who he noticed had smelled the mango as soon as the ration had been taken out. He would have to remember to show Omen later what a mango were, so that she may go for those specifically for Shrimp, along with perhaps some other fruits that were akin to mangoes. Who knew what sort the little thing could go after?

The first strings were about to be cut when Lin started to talk about the temple.

"Possibly, but it depends on the time of day. Submerged or not though, we will need to examine the state of the temple as well as possible when we get there, and see if everything is as we were told. Omen?"

The mare in question rose her head and looked towards him, curious whilst chewing on the bag itself her rations had been in.

"Yes?"

"How well can you hold your breath?"

"I don't breathe."

"So that wasn't just a dream... Well, that's good. We might need you to have a look when we get there then. I'll tell you more when we get there."

Omen nodded. Less extra information in her head were good right now, or she might just shut down for a time again, and find that the others had wandered off without her in the meantime. She could find them easily enough, as she had the 'scent* of all four of them, so it wasn't really an issue. At worst, it would just be strange, and somewhat more confusing for her until the thoughts would have turned fully in her head.

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

 

@Rising Dusk

The door to the O.M.I. rang not long after Dusk had settled into his office, though the ones who came through the door did not look as pleasant or comfortable as the officer did. The one in front looked positively furious frankly, whilst her counterpart fidget along, and scurried into the building as quickly as she could, sending nervous glances back towards the outside.

"I swear, if I ever see those two again, I'm gonna pummel them into the ground."

"P-Please calm down. It's just g-gonna fall back on u-us again..."

The voices matched the look of the two mares. The first - a pegasi around a head lower than a normal adult of her kind, and missing her right wing - were seething with rage, supporting the idea that she were a violent pony, and that her words were not idle talk. As much as she were limited by physique, there wouldn't be any doubt that if it came down to it, this mare would strike without hesitation.

The second mare - an earth pony a head taller than most others of her sub-species of ponies, with a strangely glassy left eye, and with a back right leg that gave off clacks as it hit the hard floor - were far more subdued. Timid, stuttering, conflict-avoided and though the more physically able of the two, were likely to hide behind the smaller mare if a situation arose that would cause her to be scared.

The two were clearly sisters, as their silvery manes, eyes and tails, along with their onyx coat were too similar to be a simple coincidence. Even though siblings were usually different in colors, siblings were of a higher chance to look alike than total strangers, and the way the smaller mare kept standing in front of the larger in a protective manner, were more akin to an overprotective sister than a friend.

Their cutie marks were also eerily similar. Both depicting a swirling back hole - in purple - except swirling in each their own direction.

Both of them carried saddlebags on each side of their torsos, nearly filled to the brim with items that wasn't clearly visible, but did make them come off as gypsies of some kind, or thieves who didn't understand the part about not being obvious.

The smaller mare went towards the front desk, where no matter if the desk clerk were still reading his paper, she'd reach into her bag, pull out a sealed parchment, and slam it on the desk. Depending on the height of said desk, she may have to reach up to do so, but she still would, and wouldn't budge away from there again. She was in no mood to be brushed off by some desk jockey more interested in the sports section than dealing with whoever came in.

"We're looking for some bloke called Rising Dusk. The princess sent us."

The parchment would certainly mark this as being true, seeing as the seal upon it were Princess Celestia's official stamp.

The letter were brief, and talked about it being of some importance that the mares Null and Void - the carriers of the parchment - were given the time to speak with Officer Rising Dusk whenever it were possible, as they carried items of interest to their department. It also went on to explain that the reason for them being sent to see the officer in question were because of his talents being the best suited for the task at hoof.

As always, it ended with a polite notice from the princess, and her formally thanking them for their service to Equestria, before her own signature were written at the end. Elegant and fluid, written with a single, delicate stroke across the parchment.

Null didn't care about that though. She just wanted this to be over with, so that she could either find something to do get some steam off, or just get out of this town all-together. They had not had a pleasant day, what with their auras cancelling out magic ending with quite a stir here and there, and from a few unicorns that wanted to show off near this place, particularly high amounts of ridicule and harsh comments. Null would have hit them until she were arrested or it stopped being funny, if Void hadn't kept hold of her, and dragged her elder sister away from the scene. It certainly hadn't gotten less eyes on them, and neither of them cared for that. Null because she hated most beings because she saw judgement in the eyes of nearly everypony, and Void because large crowds and attention made her nervous, and afraid that something bad were about to happen.

Personal experience had told her that it would be like that, even if Equestria were vastly different than most places they had been. For one, the only being who actually had attacked the two of them, had gotten arrested instead of being cheered on, so that was a welcome change. They also hadn't been chased with spears, put in cages, attempted drained of their abilities, or had a bounty put on their heads at this time, so really, this country were pretty good to them, all things considered.

"Uhm... S-Sorry for my s-sister. It's b-been a bad day..."

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

 

@EQ_Theta @Dji @Storm Shine @BloodDrops @Lucid_Nightlight

The dracolisk looked disinterested up towards Fluttershy, and just stared at her for a time before letting out a deep, guttural croak. Considering the reverberating tone he talked with, translating weren't easy, but it were a rough *Stay*, with Anomaly raising a hoof and waving it to get their attention as she heard the croaking.

"I'll drop him off later, promise."

If the dracolisk got it or not was up for debate, as he just went back to the fish and started to chew one down, head first.

"He's fine. Let's just get out of here already, before the fruit head starts licking us again."

Lotus didn't care much the the desert, Anomaly,t he sphinx, Discord- Basically everyone out here. The dracolisk in the current situation for example, she didn't know why they even talked to. By all accounts, some semblance of a brain was there, but the amount of caring this guy didn't do was staggering. It was like nothing mattered, beyond eating, sleeping, and mingling a little to eat some more. The weird pumpkin thing over there had made him, so that probably had something to do with it, but he just seemed so... Bleak and basic. Good luck turning him into a viable, active pet. Perhaps he'd make a good doorbell though, if he got tied to the doorknob. That'd be a sight to behold.

That mental image made Lotus snicker in her paws. Was it nice? Not even remotely, but neither were her sense of humor sometimes. It could be a little dark.

Meanwhile, Anomaly turned back to her strange companions, and booped Novia on the snout, or nearest equivalent.

"Okay, I'll give your world that. It's more fun than a hoofshake.

Sorry to hear you got no spawners. I got told I didn't either, but got raised after a big, BIG forest fire. You're nicer than I was told I were though, so I'm sure nopony will kill you, and hey, now you can be a spawner yourself one day."

She had a giggle, as she once more imagined the goofy kids that'd come out of this pairing. Adequately awkward, cute, and downright crazy. And that was just the parents! Zing.

"Must be nice to have good adoptive parents though, yep yep. Sounds kinda funny how regular, boring ponies adopts a draconequus though. Did they find you somewhere and figure it'd be good and fun? Oh, or did you raise from something cute, like a field of kittens, and they thought you'd be sweet and fluffy too?

And yeah, you're totally right Lucid. Illegal by the silly pony laws to kidnap mental patients. Buzzkills, right? I can make them all better, but noooo, I'd be a dangerous creature then. They need to think less so things make sense.

Never tried speed dating before though. What is it? Talking over dinner between two rockets firing off down a long road? If not,t hen it's false advertisement. False I tell you!"

Edited October 24, 2018 by Blitz Boom

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

@Blitz Boom @EQ_Theta @Storm Shine @Dji @BloodDrops

Lucid waved bye to Fluttershy.

"I have no idea where I appeared from, but having adoptive parents is still pretty good. As for spawners, there may be a little kiddie after we're married a few years down the line. Maybe a daughter and I'll teacher her the best ways to annoy ponies! But of course, that's a few years away."

Lucid added something to this.

"Oh, if we do get married in a few years, we will need tons of explosives, chickens, and Anomaly has to be my best mare! And if I ever have a kid, I wanna train them in the art of throwing eggs at houses to annoy the neighbors!"

Of course, that would be a few years from now.

"Speed dating is basically where you sit at a table and talk to ponies for a few minutes and move on to the next one. My friend Lone Star did it once, but he decided that everyone there was too weird for him."

"So... who are we down to? You, me, and Discord right? Is Discord here? He's been pretty quiet if he is."

Edited October 25, 2018 by Lucid_Nightlight

[EQ_Theta 415]

@Blitz Boom @Lucid_Nightlight @Storm Shine @Dji @BloodDrops  

It was... something. It's going to be a tad difficult to get the dracolisk integrated into the cottage with the animals living with her being more lively and energetic compared to the newcomer. Angel is going to get his work cut out for him, though if he were to agree to the task, there might be some good compensation there. Perhaps larger salads with cherries on top. Or better yet, more salads per week! He just needs to put himself into a better position to bargain, hopefully before Fluttershy gets wise to what he'll try to do once she get some lessons from Nerzhei.

Speaking of Fluttershy, she waved goodbye to Anomaly and Lucid before setting out back to Ponyville. Hopefully, her meeting with the dragon will go smoothly. She approached the bunnies with Angel hopping on her back and knelt down next to Lotus.

"Alright, you said Nerzhei is at Twilight's castle? Let's head out." So begins the trek back to town, fortunately with little in the way of distractions. Frankly, she hoped Nerzhei would be a little bit like Ember, a head taller with a short temper but amicable to interacting with ponies. Of course this probably will not come true and the dragon she will meet will be much more different than what she could imagine. 

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

@Blitz Boom

Putting away the tent didn't take as long as it did with Sen getting used to the process. Things quickly became routine with him, as did the many years spent on the road acclimating to the myriad of situations he found himself in. To him, this was a nice change of pace. While he still needed to learn his way around, he was comfortable with current company, letting him feel more relaxed and willing to speak up. No need to worry about drawing unnecessary attention to himself when he is surrounded by friends. With his task completed, Sen sat by the empty fire pit and cleaned it out, ensuring no stray embers would inadvertently light something on fire. A quick task summed up by looking and rubbing a rock on anything glowing red to stop it from lighting something flammable. 

Sen proceeded to eat his fill for the morning, working up quite an appetite despite his nightmares. That is not to say he listened closely when everyone else began planning for the day. What would it be like to walk under water and see things below the surface? Perhaps they'd know a little bit more later. As Lin listened in, that last part with Omen not needing to breathe got her curious and a little disturbed. Not being able to breathe? She tried holding her breath but it didn't last past five seconds before she needed to breath in some air. Maybe it is about as strange as hearing Omen speaking in her head whenever they communicated. 

"I suppose we can't say for sure how things will be like until we get there," Lin spoke as she opened her rations and extended another pack to Omen. "Let's eat up first before we leave. Who knows what we'll find in that temple."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Moonlit @Blitz Boom

Nada noticed Berry's reaction, but she didn't seem to care, she heard her to say something about mind control and the conspiracy, but she knew that wasn't true, because she knew she was singing with another Siren, though this siren might still have magic unlike Nada, so maybe it was better that Berry protected her ears regardless, since there was no way of knowing what this Sirens's motives were.

Nada finished her song before joining up to sing the same song in harmony with the another siren, though her lyrics differentiated a bit, mostly just being pronounced slightly differently because the language changes that had happened during the millennia, she had found said song, and several others from different songbooks and scrolls around the forest when she had searched place to stay before finding the lake she had inhabited for most of the millennia, but some of the songs had been taught by ponies back before the siren crisis. 

Nada wondered how close the new siren was now, because due her own singing, it was hard to tell from what distance the singing was coming.

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

@Blitz Boom

Spicy's point about selling the ashes to a dragon surprised her, would Equestrian dragons really waste their treasure to buy some ash? she wouldn't, sure she could take something to remember certain foes after their defeat, but she would rather take their weapon or something than their remains, but what did she know, she didn't know what sold and she didn't know what the Equestrian type liked.

She didn't comment on Spicy's talk about Ruby dropping the eye nor to Marley's comment, not that she didn't have anything to reply, she just didn't have time to until she wanted to interrupt them. After Spicy had taken armband, Ruby ignored her greed towards the shiny thing as she asked "Next room?"

Edited October 25, 2018 by Catpone Cerberus

[Moonlit 593]

@Blitz Boom @Catpone Cerberus Serenade is impressed, this other Siren is harmonizing along with her. Okay...that other Pony needs to calm down, lest he give himself a heart attack. She switches up, this time choosing a song that other Siren may or may not know. Once she's done, she's raises herself out of the River, in her full-grown, mature female Hippocami form. "Hello"

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@Blitz Boom

"It's only assumptions, I've heard little about this book, just legends and myths about it." He held the book back up again. "Some may be true, some not, so I'd rather not share anything if it turns out to not be true. Or I hide what you'd not understand." He said, giving a sly smile at him, Chow did have much to learn if he intended to use magic, but this book was indeed beyond him, especially it's contents.

Misty followed next to Astral as they kept walking, looking back to Iron and Chow. "You think that there's a chance Emerald could recall being at your home from his time there?"

Astral chuckled to herself as she looked to Misty. "She'd not expect us to be going there just to find her. Chances are she'd find it empty, and leave to another place to find us."

"You don't know her though."

She shrugged, looking ahead again. "It's the best case scenario, besides, we've been to a lot of places, which one is she going to pick and wait for us to arrive?" By now they already entered the forest, Astral looking around, sighing a bit. "Alright. Shouldn't be to far now." She continued on as she looked to her neck, it was surprising what she had this entire time was the element of deceit, thinking about it. She was able to harness its power even though she wasn't deceitful, was she? A moment passed before she cast a spell, without lifting a hoof. It was the same spell she used to see if Iron was reading her mind

Being more focused on Chow now., he wasn't, as soon as she found this out she discarded the spell, hoping none of the rest noticed it. "Only thing I know for certain is the books requirements; trust in the user. We haven't earned that yet, Emerald has, so breaking it's trust in her is necessary, as she's made it distrust us already, and all we have is words, so yes, some form of evidence like what she looked like, or is doing with his spells, may work."

[Rising Dusk 26,085]

@Blitz Boom

To the ivory Earth Pony's credit, he hadn't quite managed to make it to the sports section in the paper he was ready.  He needed to make the paper last his whole shift after all.  Even if he did really want to read up on how well Manehatten fared against Las Pegasus in the Buck Ball game last night.  It was hard enough getting to work each morning without the threat of spoilers.  The bell to the front door rang, but he wanted to finish the paragraph he was reading before attending to the one's who came in.  If they didn't come in yelling and screaming, it most likely wasn't an emergency and a few more sentences couldn't hurt.  Well, not that he'd get to finish it before there was a loud slam of a hoof on the front desk and the sound of a rather grumpy feminine voice demanded his attention.  Lowering the corner of the paper again to see the two dark colored mares before him, the taller Earth Pony apologizing for her sister's attitude.

Folding up his news paper he calmly looked down at the elegant looking scroll sitting under the pegasi' hoof.  Perking an eyebrow as he noticed the seal upon the scroll that marked it as official and the real deal.  His attention turn back to the two mares in the lobby, trying to measure up how these two might have an official message from a Princess.  It really wasn't his place though.  The scroll itself was as real as he was.  With a face that was very difficult to read,  Steel Bash really fit that expected stereotype of the officer around the office that just didn't display emotion, he towered over the small pegasus at his desk.  "One moment, please..." he informed the pair in the most monotoned of voices.  Sliding off the chair that was too small for his large Earth Pony body, he collected the letter scroll and walked around the side of the desk and went into the back.  Stopping at Rising Dusk's cubicle out of sight of those in the lobby.  "Detective Dusk, you have visitors," he told the midnight blue stallion before delivering the royal letter.

Visitors already?  He'd barely been at work, not even having the time to get a cup of coffee from the break room.  Giving the letter a quick read.  The Princess herself as asking for his help?  And even acknowledged that his particular set of skills were necessary.  She was indeed very well informed.  Dusk had only met her once, when he was younger and had taken a trip with his parents to Canterlot for his sister's graduation from Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.  The letter was real though and the detective was ready to take the case.  Rolling the scroll back up, he tucked it away in his desk before nodding to the larger stallion and coming out of his cubicle.

Following Bash out of his of the back and into the lobby.  The ivory Earth Pony wasted no time in returning to the small chair behind the desk and picking his newspaper back up to go back to reading.  Moving out from behind the double saloon style swinging doors, he walked into the lobby to find the two mares.  Rising Dusk didn't need to stare or gawk at the unique features of the mares, they were already burned into his mind the moment he saw them.  The false leg and eye of the Earth Pony, and the missing wing from the Pegasus.  Based on their similar appearance, it was easy for the detective to deduce they were probably siblings. 

"I'm Detective Rising Dusk.  How can I be of assistance?" he inquired, offering a welcoming smile.  The letter from the Princess had asked for his aid, but the two mares before him would likely need to fill in the details.

[Emperor Azurailo 1,091]

On 10/24/2018 at 10:52 PM, Blitz Boom said:

@Emperor Blu Traincrown

"Thanks. And no worries, Center Zero's a pretty isolated place so not everypony knows about us."

Molotov stepped in and felt Carmen on his head stretch her legs and look around at the place in wonder. The spiderbot had barely seen a train yet, with the two of them mostly flying around unless it were a great distance they needed to travel, so seeing this many plastered around the walls were very interesting to her. As a machine, other constructs were always a curious thing that she wanted to see and try to interact with, though she knew that most of them didn't have a mind. Her trying to talk with the coffee machine back home had made Molotov teach her of her and her sisters uniqueness.

She looked down on Molotov, and let out a series of wirs and beeps, which made her creator raise a hoof to pet her fuzzy little head.

"Let's get him to know us before you start exploring, alright Carmen?

And lemonade sounds grand Blue, thanks."

Molotov would follow Blue and have a good glance around at the impressive collection of train pictures. He wasn't gonna judge the pony on being obsessed with his work, as that'd be the kettle calling the pot black, and quite honestly, he liked this look. Sure it might seem eccentric and crazy by some, but Molotov just saw a very dedicated worker who resolved his life around his favorite thing. He could understand a pony like that.

Once he had a glance around the room for a minute or two, using his magic to effortlessly adjust the smaller levers on his glass to zoom in on particularly interesting trains,  Molotov would get around to answering the big question that Blue had tossed his way.

"Eh, completed a test run with a new design for a mechanical leg yesterday that went pretty well, but I still have to figure out a neural connection that doesn't involve surgery. I swear, connecting metal and flesh can be a hassle sometimes.

Not much else the last few days with my sister running rampant, but you know, it's been a pretty productive time anyway.

Now, as to why I'm here to break you outta train-vana, I've come to deliver these, first and foremost."

Horn aglow, Molotov fetched a sealed file out of his saddle pack and floated it to the nearest table.

"Center Zero used to hold the best and the brightest scientists, researchers and inventors that wanted to work for the betterment of Equestria, but without all those noisy folks snooping into our business a d breaking our concentration.

So a few generations ago, they build a large town for science way out in the wildness up north, and started to get some real work done. We've been behind lots of research on everything from metal to biology, microbiology,  weapons, and yada yada. We had a lot of ground covered basically, and sometimes a few would take their projects out and present them, whilst most just sent out papers for publication if they felt like they really had something.

Few months ago, the town were attacked when I was out for a bit. No trace, no forced entry, but everypony were taken.

Emergency protocol are clear. In case the town suffers a calamitous loss of lives, any and all research done by the affected individuals are to be sent off to designated beings in the same field, or nearest match.

My great uncle Calamity Boom, was an engineer. Loved tinkering with engines in particular, and trying to find out the next big thing. He was working on something he called a *Repeat Usage Tank* but he never had a chance to finish his work before he were taken, and as per protocol, I'm here to deliver his papers to somepony that he thought were the best in the business. Ain't sure what caught his attention before, since I don't read much on trains,, but I'm starting to understand his inclusion of you as his fail-safe now."

If Blue would have a look, he'd see about twenty pages detailing a kind of engine that would recycle the intake of fuel to a gas, which would then be reused later on in said engine to ensure less waste and pollution, whilst providing a cheaper cost of running the thing.

It wasn't complete though. There were page up and down with attempted and failed concoctions of what said fuel would have to be, and some concerns about the stability of the core tank that had apparently been revised six times so far, as well as had numerous references to needing a special alloy to deal with the pressure, but the basis were there for somepony to perhaps one day finish it, or at least use some of the innovations that Calamity had made to eventually create something special. Could be years, could be never really, but the old stallion had been sure that if anypony could use anything that he made, it'd be Blue Trainsfeather, and Molotov wasn't gonna question his great uncle on who he picked, no matter the result.

Okay, if Blue burned them and spat in his face, they'd have words, but that seemed pretty unlikely.

"One lemonade comin' right up!" Blue happily stated as he flew ten inches above the ground on the way towards the kitchen. He always loved flying, and would fly as much as he could. two minutes later he would come back with two glasses full of lemonade.

When the explanation of Center Zero would come, Blue carefully listened and was now starting to understand why Molotov was here: his ponynapped uncle needed him, the most famous train inventor of Equestria, to finish his project of a pollution-free engine. As he got the book between his wings, he used feathers as fingertips to quickly have a review of the file, before reading it through later. And yes he saw all of these, which got him to think of something as he raised his emerald green eyes blankly to the roof while reflecting. "Hmm, your uncle sure has a visionnary idea, I like it and am sure I can think of something. There is one problem though, as sadly I'm no expert in creating fuel or anything like that. The engine would be similar to a Diesel one but would use a clean fuel if I get this straight. I'm sure your uncle's project will be fulfilled, cause he's sent you to the right pone! Just need to team up with somepony able to create the fuel my engine would need. Hey, I forgot to ask you what do you master. Anyway, wanna visit my lab? I'm actually am working on an engine running thanks to the energy of the sun itself." Blue smiled to Molotov and noticed the spider on his head. "Hey, is that your pet spider? Cute." 

[Blitz Boom 4,429]

@Catpone Cerberus @Moonlit

"Calamity! Damnation! We're all... All... Whuh?"

A minute had turned to several for Berry, as she were unable to keep her composure by taking her hooves off her ears for more than a second or two without feeling her mind slipping again. Especially as the other voice sounded like it were very close now, though nopony or thing were in sight.

So she had spouted off some things to try and deafen it and see if Nada could be brought out of her state, since Berry couldn't exactly drag the siren anywhere, as even a runt siren were more beefy than a simple mare like her. Berry's voice had been spouted with worry and panic, about ready to go through and attempt escape, when the music stopped, and a large creature rose out of the river.

"Wait, there's two of you?"

She couldn't believe her eyes. Another siren, though this one wasn't hug-sized like Nada. This was a proper, big gal of a siren, of a size that made Berry wonder how in the world she were able to run through the river without being seen. Exactly how deep was that thing?

Well, either way, the singing had stopped, and it seemed like for the second time in a row, Berry had been wrong about a sound in the forest. Though in her defense, what were the odds of this happening? One siren was incredible enough to stumble upon, but two? In the same forest? The mind controlling device were more probable than that.

Still, it were happening, and the newcomer had greeted them. Might be a good idea to try and clean the air of all this awkwardness right about now.

"Uhm, well... Hi there. I'm Berry Swirl, this here's my friend Nada. Nice to meet you.

Sorry about the reception, but something was messing with my head and I was sure it was The Conspiracy's mind controlling devices. What're the odds it was a siren instead, right?"

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

"Yeah, we might as well see what else could've been left behind."

Spicy led the charge into the next room, light's ablaze and wondering what perhaps they'd be able to find there. The first room had expensive perfume, the second a coffin full of treasure, and the third? Well... At a glance it looked pretty barren, that was for sure.

It had the same layout as the other side room they had been in, and much like that one, had been stripped down to the bare room.

The pegasus flew up, hoping to find more crevices with perfume perhaps, but there weren't any obvious holes in the wall or ceiling itself, which meant that if anything was in here, it were hidden in some way. Through magic or behind something with no obvious entrance to it likely.

"I ain't getting anything up here. You feeling something Ruby?"

(your choice if there's anything there, and what it would be)

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

 

@Rising Dusk

Null weren't too happy about the nonchalant way this earth pony did things. She didn't care much for his tone of voice, or *towering strong stallion* act in general either. This were important business, in a town that Null frankly wanted to burn down to the ground right now, and the reception to a bleating note from the princess herself, were about the same as if she had just told him that his popcorn were ready. Hay, she were pretty sure he would've cared more if it were that, as he'd then have a snack to his oh-ho-important business of reading his day away!

She might've voiced this too, if he hadn't gone out of the room to finally get hold of that Rising Dusk character they'd been sent to meet. Whoever that were, he better be worth the time, effort and aggravation that the trip here had caused.

When he finally did arrive, Null almost rolled her eyes. This was the guy? This? A simple unicorn were going to resolve the hassle that were the cursed items the two of them were wandering around with? Urgh, if the princess hadn't been so welcoming to the sisters, even when they were from Troy...

"H-Hello, I''m... Void, and this is m-my big sister, Null. The p-princess sent us."

"64 cursed items. That's the tally, and apparently, we're told that you of all ponies can fix this stuff permanently."

Null lead the word again a little after her sister were done speaking, as she tended to do most times. Laying out the cards so to speak and poking the saddlebag on her left side, she were waiting to see what sort of reaction that being told that there were that many cursed items stacked so closely were going to give. She expected the usual whining and panic that mainly came when anypony were talking about cursed items, but if this guy was really something, he'd react differently, surely. Hopefully not by being smug. She hated smug ponies.

"So what's it gonna be? You're actually what you've been talked up to be, or have this just been another waste of our time?"

"P-Please big sis, be n-nice. Equestria is a g-good place. You d-don't need to be w-worried about everypony h-here.

And uhm... S-Sir? The items are s-safe right now, so d-don't be alarmed. P-Please?"

Void really hoped that this pony was all he were set up to be. The two of them had spent so long trying to safeguard these things, and it got tiring to try and carry this burden constantly. Keeping others safe from the items were one thing, but with how much they had to run, it became testing to keep everything in tow, and they had lost several things they couldn't just go back for, mainly through needing to run for their lives, or when it were between using an item, or perishing. Hearing that they could finish this once and for all, were a relief for Void, though she understood Null's paranoia about this. Rising Dusk didn't seem like much , and as a unicorn, he'd soon find out about their anti-magic aura, that affected all magic within a hoof's width of them, and either made it fizzle out entirely, or if it were curse magic, simply nullified the effects until they left the field again.

Unicorns tended to react the worst to what the sisters could do, so when it would dawn for Rising Dusk... Well, things might go badly then. It tended to do so at least, even if Equestria were so far not as horrid against the sisters as most other countries they had fled through the past twenty years.

She hoped this meeting would be different too. Void really wanted for these items to be not just nullified, but actually cleansed, so that they didn't have to worry about them anymore. Hopefully Rising Dusk would be nice about things.

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

 

@EQ_Theta @Seamore Sandwich @Dji

The dracolisk was a little socially challenged for the time being, but to be fair, he were created as a wild animal, not a pet. He were self sufficient when it came to hunting, could defend himself easily, and generally didn't take too much space. The challenge really wouldn't be to take care of him, but to get him to care about others in general. Pringle were a start, but that were a lizard and lizard encounter. It were easier. Birds, bats, bears, etc. was going to be different.

Yet, Fluttershy was a resourceful mare who had handled many a being. This abomination upon reason that she had been gifted by Anomaly would just be a new kind of challenge, that her and Angel were going to handle sooner or later.

Lotus didn't think about that at all though, as they made their way through the forest. Though she had to jump quite a bit to keep up sometimes, the pink bunny wandered on her own, rather than being carried like Angel, so at times she got behind a little. The price of pride in this situation, and it wasn't as if something interrupted them on the way back to town, so things were fine.

She'd direct Fluttershy and Angel back to the castle, specifically to the entrance where Nerzhei had sat last she had been seen, yet now there was no one there. No ponies, no dragons, no nothing. Except for the living benches running on the lawn and bubble creatures in the air. So rather, there were no normal life present.

Lotus went over to the spot and gasped for air a little, before looking at the spot for a bit, then towards the open door. It were pretty obvious what had happened here, and doubly so when the hoofsteps outside were mingled in with a dragon print that were too large to belong to Spike.

"Inside. Come on!"

She signaled the others to follow her as she ran in, then stopped at the first point where a door popped out to the side, unsure of where to go next. Crystal didn't exactly leave good footsteps, and she wasn't a bloodhound. So what were she to do now?

As it turned out, whistling. Loudly, with both paws up to her mouth.

The crystal halls echoed with the large sound, as Lotus stood and looked around, ears up high and listening for anything that would indicate that she had been heard.

She heard the dragon about twenty seconds later, and ran towards the sound of the relatively light steps with the claws clacking on the floor.

Fluttershy and Angel would either see the bunny jump up into the waiting, outstretched palm of a dragon who had knelt down the second she saw her furry companion, or if they were slow, just the aftermath, where Lotus were raised up to the tired-looking dragons neck and held softly, whilst she in return nuzzled against the cheek of Nerzhei.

The dragon wasn't one of the more massive of their kind. She were only about the height of a tall human, and about the same build, albeit more muscular. Not that it would be easy to see, as she wore worn clothes that hid most of her body rather well.

(Something like this. Best representation of the clothes I could find)

Nerzhei were clearly not at her best. The purple dragon with the random patterns of yellow dots here and there, seemed somewhat drained, and her right arm was wrapped in gauze and hung from a sling around her neck. Still, she were alive, and considering the smile on her scaly face, and how the myriad of small spikes that seemed like slick back air on her head stood up, she were happy to see her little companion again.

"There you were. I were starting to worry about you. Did everything go okay? What of the sphinx?"

She spoke to Lotus, though Fluttershy could feel free to interrupt, or Angel for that matter. She might not be able to understand most animals, but Nerzhei had been around a bunny enough to learn that somewhat well at least. It was just a matter of really listening, which most didn't care to spend the time on in her experience.

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

 

@EQ_Theta

Omen gnawed her original ration after she were done eating the bag it came in, whilst Shrimp finished his mango and started sniffing around the new one to see if there was something good for him in there.

"So far, we only know what to stay away from, but beyond that were walking in blindly. That's why it's good to have one who can have a closer look without worrying about being taken under and run out of breath.

We need to weigh our options though, in case things aren't as good as we think.

For a start, if the golden statue is not inanimate, or we accidentally touch it, we need to be able to deal with it. Getting it away through either of your gates would be an option, but we would need a good place to let it away, going under the assumption that it could still move. Solid gold is not that easy to just take apart, but it can melt, so I would suggest a volcano. I can work as a decoy to lure it in, if a gate cannot appear beneath it, or it attempts to dodge.

The other issue might also be if the temple is flooded. It will be difficult moving the statue if we also drag in a good portion of the sea, and I for one am not going to be the one to flood Scarcity's store. I still value my life.

Is there any way that either of you could move the water, or if not that, know a safe place where seawater can just flood the area? Someplace where it won't ruin crops mind you. We could have it drip off there, then move it to Scarcity if needed be."

Rosa did indicate both Lin and Omen, but it was the former his eyes were on the most as he said this. Lin seemed to have the better gates, or portals, or whatever they wished to call them, as she didn't need to have the middle station of wherever Omen came from. Yet the question then came if she were up for this, and whatever or not she knew places where they could handle bad situations being dropped off.

The actual worst situation weren't brought up by him however, as Lin and Sen may notice. The option that perhaps the statue they were sent for, were either already taken, or broken. Something he had thought of, but didn't want to dwell on, as the consequences frankly frightened him. Not just because of the ire they'd get from Scarcity, but because it meant they wouldn't get evidence, and then... Filigree would go free.

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

 

@Emperor Blu Traincrown

"Great uncle Calamity loved to work on transportation devices. From small toys to full scale engines. If it could drive, he'd be game for trying to innovate on it. Whatever his design here is, I don't claim to get all about, but I figure that perhaps you can alter it to fit whatever fuel you have in mind? If not that, then sooner or later somepony will pop up with something. Who knows? Might be one of those I have to deliver papers to out there will know just the thing. Celestia knows that mom's papers would probably be it. She kept working on rockets to get out and see what was out in the great unknown. Never got the rocket made properly before... You know, but she did get rocket fuel made rather well."

Speaking of his mom made Molotov somewhat melancholic, as he missed her dearly, but he had resigned himself to thinking that everypony were probably dead by now. it had been two months without a trace of anypony but Blitz, and the reason she survived were simply because their mother in a last, desperate attempt, shoved the filly into her unfinished rocket and fired it away. A risky move, but it had worked. Though the rocket had crashed, Blitz survived, albeit with a severe memory loss. He had still not been able to make her remember anything about their old lives. It hurt, but at least she were alive. Her memory was secondary compared to that.

When the talk suddenly fell on his specialty though, as well as Carmen, Molotov's mind got clear of his worries and grief, and a big grin spread on his face.

"Carmen ain't just a spider."

He reached up, and the spider climbed on to his hoof, where she'd cling on as she were being put forth close enough for her metallic parts and faux fur to not be clear as day for Blue.

"She is my greatest accomplishment. A breakthrough in the fields of robotics, and not only because of how efficiently she moved, or how she is constructed. No, she is more than that. Carmen is a genuine Artificial Intelligence. Created life, with all the characteristics of a living being, and their individuality of thought.

It took me most of my life to perfect the code required for it, but just look at her, and think of what she represents. Not just a robot with a set programming to follow and never question, but a thinking being, capable of learning. It might not seem like much, yet I can assure you that this is one of the elusive high goals of robotics. Just imagine all the possibilities of creating fully functional artificial life, without the limitations of simple programs, and see for yourself what it could lead to. In your case, say... Trains with their own lives. They could drive themselves, repair as necessary, keep schedules better and adapt to multiple situations, rather than rely on somepony to give them instructions constantly."

Molotov felt and sounded as giggly as a filly on her first day of school speaking about this. He couldn't help himself though. Carmen were his pride and joy, and she sure looked pleased with herself as he gave the sales speech about her. She somewhat puffed her chest forward with a smile on her fanged mouth, and a strange, yet undeniable joy almost danced in her eyes.

"I'm also fond of solar powered energy and applying it with as magic-free connections as possible, so yeah, I'm totally game for seeing your solar engine. Perhaps if I saw one of those up close I could get a grip on how these things work, and see if something pops up in my head about the fuel. Who knows? Perhaps the solar design can work with the other engine if a grid to convert the solar into power in the first place gets integrated? That, or it'd melt, but that's what trial and error is for, right?"

Blue was a pony who liked his work, and were willing to show off his lab right off the bat like this? Now that was Molotov's kind of pony. The sort who got very stingy about showing off what they could were mostly just a bunch of irritating, snobbish folks, who he couldn't wait to get away from. Blue here were willing to show off his toys, long as Molotov didn't try to nick anything. Which were fair really. It was just common courtesy to not steal designs from one another. Getting inspired by and/or trading stuff were fine, but there was an unwritten code to go by when it came to this sort of thing.

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

 

@FanOfManyShows

At the sly smiles, highly vague response he got, CHow rose a hoof and pointed towards the side of his own muzzle, whilst looking at Iron.

"You got a bit of smug there on the side of your yap, Iron."

"Also, noticing there that you didn't address the book already knowing the true her, chief. Perhaps this page-turner already know how much pain she causes to stay alive, the body snatching, meddling with the Element of Deceit, and all that jazz. It ain't gonna be easy knowing what sorts evidence we're supposed to scrounge up to convince the book that she ain't good for it, if we don't have a clue what it already knows.

See, this is why I don't wander 'round libraries. Books ends up being more confusing than helpful more often than not."

Chow hadn't seen Astral magic'ing it up before, so she didn't have to worry about him getting in her grill about having to watch out, before the locals saw her and got their pitchforks.

As for Emerald, she were only now home again, carrying a flower and an open cut down her side that she had to take care of. Things had not gone as smoothly as she had hoped, but at least she had gotten what she came for. Now it were just to get patched up, then find out where everypony were, including Sapphire's new family. Considering one of her primary books were not here, she had to assume that Sapphire had failed finding them and handling this, so unless she showed up soon, with her book in tow, it were going to be hunting season.

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

 

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

"10 bits says your kid is gonna have two heads."

This were a bet that Anomaly felt were likely enough to make, and Lucid seemed to like gambling for bits, so after she had been after him before, she now evened it out a little with something he liked. He had said he wanted her to be his best mare, so there had been a lot of pressure on the draconequus to come up with a nice thing. Perhaps this wasn't enough though? Hmm... What could she say...

"I'll promise to give each head their own vuvuzela, so that they can really start to get on the nerves of others. Nopony likes the sound of those things just blasting away. Or a horribly out of tune trumpet. Something fun for the kids, hehe."

Yeah, that outta do it. Gifting the future kids with objects of great annoyance, which also meant that she approved of their ideas of parenting. A compliment and a nice gesture done the draconequus way.

"Just drag me through to your world when the big day's there, okay? I'm not good with portals.

And yeah, Discord is here. He's just a cardboard cutout most of the time, so it looks like he's here, when he's off sneaky sneaky to think."

That miiight be a lie, and the lord of chaos were just really silent in it for some reason, but who cared about logic? They were chaos beings. Logic feared them, rather than explain them.

"Anyway, speed dating thing, nothing like I had thought. Been sure it were way more interesting, but okay, I can crash that kinda party once. If nothing else, it'd be fun to see the looks on their faces, hehe.

Thooooough, that Lone Star friend you talked about, who's he? Is he still single?"

The look that came over Anomaly's eyes at the last four words could best be described as predatory. Hopefully she weren't planning on literally hunting him and mounting his picture on her wall or something more gruesome, but nopony knew for sure. Including the author, who had a hard enough time stopping her from eating breezies as it were, much less read her mind.

[Lucid_Nightlight 923]

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

"Discord is the weirdest draconequus and he has only one head... I think. So I bet 20 bits that the kiddie will have one head."

"But what if he ends up weirder than Discord?"

"That's impossible, Discord is too weird to surpass in that regard."

As for the Lone Star...

"Lone Star originally came from the human world, the one with Canterlot High. The thing is, I didn't meet him there, I met him in another universe, one where Equestria was messed up by spells that work similar to human nuclear weapons. He was stuck there for a week before he came across me and I got him out of there. He's in his mid-20's I think. He recently moved to this world for some reason. And yes, he's single. Just don't try to eat him or anything."

[Catpone Cerberus 23,428]

@Moonlit@Blitz Boom

Nada didn't know the lyrics, but the tone was easy enough to follow, so she started singing the tone along the other siren, because it was better option than clashing it with totally different song. When the new siren rose from the river, Nada's mouth opened from a shock, a full grow siren, she didn't know what she excepted, but it wasn't this. It felt bit weird though because this siren was clearly lot younger than Nada, yet she was so many times bigger. Nada waited for Berry to introduce them before replying "Actually my full name is Nadanna Adratina, but like Berry here said, Nada is just fine." "I didn't expect there to be any other Sirens left....especially anyone...so young as you." she looked up to the bigger siren, wondering how she hadn't sensed or heard her before. "Nice to meet you?" her thoughts jumped from place to another, she hadn't actually prepared for meeting another siren.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@blitz boom

Ruby focused for a moment, but besides the band, things in her box and some broken glass here and there, she couldn't feel anything, "Nothing." she looked around the room, "One would think there would be even a tiny piece of something accidentally left behind because how tiny it is, but this room is wiped clean, I can only wonder what kind of stuff here was." Mostly she wondered where it was from, because it could be that all treasure once buried here were stolen from the dragon who's eye was now on her neck, it was kind of amusing actually, once a proud and probably strong dragon was now a fashion piece on a neck of an young and just as proud dragon....what a pathetic fate for a dragon.

[Storm Shine 1,195]

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

 

"Oh rats." Discord said in mock disappointment as he appeared next to the now card-board looking copy of himself as a few rats scurried away from.. somewhere, "And here I thought I had you all fooled." He stuck his tongue out at Anomaly playfully and a smaller version of him appeared on the end of his tongue as it unrolled like a red carpet, the mini-discord also sticking his tiny tongue out at her.

[Moonlit 593]

@Blitz Boom @Catpone Cerberus Serenade simple nods at Berry Swirl, the antics of some Ponies no longer faze her. I mean, she is friends with Ziggy, and she had a Pinkie Pie Party when she moved to Ponyville. She regards the Siren, then smiles "Moonlit Serenade....or Serenade is fine. And to answer your question"  She ducks down so only her head is visible "There are...some of us, surviving. Most in the deeps, but a few among Ponies"

[Sekel 685]

@FanOfManyShows

WATTS MECHANO

”I eat, I sleep, I build, I don’t really do much else. Oh, um, does making goggled with access to all of the archives in Canterlot about materials count?” Watts asked nervously, tapping the green-glassed and golden-framed goggles on top of her head.

@Blitz Boom

KARMIC FATE

“She wishes to get rid of me,” Atzy answered with a sigh. She has listened to Karmic rave on about it for a while but never really seemed to want to do anything about it.

@Blitz Boom

AURORA LIGHTS

”Sirens, Queen Onache? They’re in the sea and rivers. There is absolutely no reason for them to be this far in land,” Aurora said in confusion.

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

TWILIGHT SPARKLE

Twilight sighed when the Sphinx didn’t answer so she hesitantly walked around to see how everypony else was doing. It appeared that a lot had happened in the time she had spoken alone with the Sphinx. She waved to Fluttershy and her companions when they left and so she decided to do the same and headed back to her castle in the wake of Fluttershy.