open Casual stroll

Catpone Cerberus · December 9, 2018

@Moonlit @Blitz Boom
"See you later." Nada shouted after Serenade, she looked curiously at the piece of stone she had put down, but quickly guessed what it was since Cherish didn't go anywhere. She listened as Cherish talked, the thoughtfully replying "First about...well, you, I don't know much about...death, but somehow it makes sense in my mind that you're bound to something physical, in this case a castle." "And for my plan...I don't know really, I probably have to take some time to learn trust ponies again before I'll go out public wandering, then I would probably try to figure out what has changed since I last saw ponies." "After settling in...probably what I did before I went hiding, sing to those who care to listen." "What about you?" she didn't mind Cherish not being best at conversation, because neither was she.
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@Blitz Boom

Ruby again just followed the situation, she could only agree with Marley in this one, his logic was sound, and she wasn't even going to act like she knew these things better than these two, after all, intelligence didn't beat experience. She shrugged "Sure, let's get this over with." she felt that part of the reason why Marley wanted her to come with was so he could keep his eye on her, though she didn't blame the bird for this, she wouldn't have trusted herself either.

As they closed towards the city, Ruby kept her senses open, in cities like this, her risk of getting revealed was biggest, because ponies being in peace with most creatures made it so that other dragons or other creatures capable of sensing her could be here, and even non-sentient creatures like dogs could be a problem, because pony that was scaring all the dogs around her was surely going to gain attention. Cats seemed to be fine though, oddly enough they seemed to like her more than anything.

PickFairy · December 10, 2018

@Blitz Boom

Her eyes read the sign and she slightly mumbled it to herself,"Circle Pop's Treats and Delights" She quietly smiled, Seems to be the right place, indeed. She thought to herself as she raised her hoof... planning to knock again but noticed the door was ajar from her initial knock. She instead extends her hoof to open the door wider and was greeted with the delighted ring of the bell. She adjusted the strap from her guitar case as she entered. Her eyes adjusted to the dim lightening and she heard a slight voice. Then, as if by command, the lights flashed. Her eyes searching her surroundings as she saw the little shop was not so little from the inside, and simply had wonderful treats on each side. Simply delicious ones, one might add. Though her candy making mind stumbled upon a few she recognized and thought about how her recipe for them might differ from Circle Pop's recipe. A slight giggle of excitement escapes her as she looked about more. Though she gasped as she saw the register. One of these models was hard to come by, as she recalled. Though could be wrong, as who knows? Perhaps Circle Pop was quite the handy mare. As she admired, a figure rounded the corner and she came face to face with her.

It seemed she was recognized, and smiled brightly in response. She set down the box with the ribbon from her mouth so she could speak,"Yes, I'm Butterscotch. Butterscotch Pudding, at your service miss." She said right before Circle continued to explain that her day had been quite long and most likely a bit hectic. Oh, it must have been busy for her. But if she recognized me, surely my letter reached her. Oh, but oh golly I feel as if- no, no... I can't back down now. I'm already here. Oh, but.. oh..

A part of her did a small gulp as her thoughts raced with anxiety a bit, but she gathered herself to properly reply,"It's perfectly fine, it's a pleasure to meet you. Especially in your shop, seeing it yourself is more rewarding than just hearing about it. Thanks for having me, even after such short notice."

She moved her suitcase towards the side, then looked over to the box with the ribbon. Okay, good. Now, simply...

"I hope it's okay, but I prepared a gift for you. Please accept it." She says handing her the box.

The box was a white box with red stripes across it, the bright red ribbon tied in a way that was easy to carry with. Once opened, inside was a small letter that read," To Circle Pop, may these treats help brighten your day and treat you to a wonderful evening. From, Butterscotch Puddin'." Then inside the box, was wrapped pieces of blue and white taffy, and black and pink licorice similar to Butterscotch's cutiemark. Her special recipe where it's dark but sweet, and to help remind Circle where it came from. There was also a chocolate shaped star candy, which was wrapped with a red wrapper as it sat at the center of the box.

Butterscotch smiled shyly back towards Circle as she stepped back to fully present the present.

Seamore Sandwich · December 10, 2018

@Blitz Boom

“I...” The smile that had just started to grow on Charlie’s new face quickly turned into an image of utter agony as “he” fell to the floor, writhing in pain. The screams that began to echo through the castle were two tortured voices coming from one mouth. Whatever magic Vivid had used to tether Charlie to this body was being violently torn apart. The Changeling body was rejecting Charlie’s Everwood soul. This was due to the nature of their magics conflicting with each other. There was a conflict here on many levels, wether it be how Changeling magic takes from others where Everwood Magic only gives, or how Everspirits use dreams to reveal the truth where Changelings use illusions to make others believe a lie. Charlie and this body were simply incompatible. The two were being forced apart by this conflict of magic, and Charlie’s soul was breaking away in such a way that there were two faces, the body and the soul, each trying to pull away from the other. The screams would also echo throughout Queen Allure’s hive (@Denim&Venom I thought you might like to know when your characters are mentioned), and to Dr. Xeno.

@Blitz Boom

Though the elders could barely be considered old by their actual age, their bodies had definitely been worn down over the years, so when Brute stomped, they were all startled. They all quickly (or as quickly as their bodies would let them) got up and proceeded towards the banquet hall. There, when Marcus saw them he spoke loudly at first, “Elders! What is the...” pausing mid-sentence. “Wait, your eyes...” he said, moving closer then pulling an elder’s eyelid up with his hoof to examine his eye. This particular elder seemed too tired to care, honestly. “How did I not see this before? It’s clear that none of you have undergone the Reawakening. Has the Sacred Spring been lost? What enemy has captured it? Tell me at once, and I shall reclaim it!” One of the elders, a faded brown stallion whose coat was so faded that there were even gray spots with his mane clearly dyed to an over saturated black by the name of Jagged Lithos (or Elder Lithos as others would call him), spoke up, “We know not of these ‘Sacred Springs’ you speak of. What are they? What is this all about?”

Edited December 10, 2018 by Seamore Sandwich

EQ_Theta · December 10, 2018

@Blitz Boom

Lin didn't question what Rosa was up to, not openly at least. She was desperate for some solution, and she wasn't sure what a paper bag was. At that moment, all she wanted was to see her brother alright. Although Rosa's method was a strange one, Lin allowed it. Secretly, however, she didn't exactly approve of the method behind the solution; it looked like Sen was being strangled in a very awkward position. In a few short moments, she would see the fruits of this endeavor. Little by little, Sen's breathing slowed, the sight that would've likely followed with convulsions didn't come to pass. His eyes rested shut and after about a minute or two, he looked like he had drifted into sleep.

It was a moment of reprieve. One tense moment transitioning into another but like the first, this one had passed. In the last moments before Sen appeared to be stable, Lin took one claw and placed it on one of Rosa's forelegs, letting him know it was time to ease up. She didn't want to say anything, always holding her breath that this might be the moment to see if Sen was doing better.

"Thank you so much, Rosa," Lin quietly said, wiping away some tears streaming from her eyes. "I... I wouldn't know if- if he... Thank you."

Within the next five minutes, Sen would open his eyes. Good thing there was quick response from Lin and Rosa, or the side effects would've been more pronounced. In the meantime, Sen would look around, still dazed and unable to see straight. It felt like his strength were sapped, barely able to lift himself up from the ground and confused about everything happening at once. One moment he was looking out to the temple by the sea and now, here he is on the ground with his chest and head pounding like mad. For a moment, he couldn't recognize everyone near him, staring and trying to study them.

"Sen? Are you alright?"

"I-I'm... no, I'm not. Why am I hurting all over? What happened? Omen! Is she safe?!"

Lin quickly placed her claws down on her brother, keeping him from suddenly getting up. "She's here and safe. But what happened to you?"

"It was the strangest thing, for a second I saw those memories... Our family being separated, Mother's wailing when legion was rotting my body away, Terrible thoughts, all of them. I... Can we discuss this later? My head hurts just thinking about this. Just leave me here and get the statue. I'm just going to slow you all down anyway."

With that, Sen returned to resting his eyes and mind, closed his eyes and tried to keep himself from thinking some more. Even that last sentence, though intended for everyone, was seemingly meant for Rosa, as he had looked to him in the hopes that he would respect his decision to remain behind in favor of getting their task done. Lin slumped back and looked at the open gate to the temple. They had their task, but she questioned whether it is worth leaving Sen behind for now?

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@Blitz Boom @Dji

Seemed like the stare was a little too much, though she didn't intend for anyone but Angel to see it. But, what had transpired within the last few seconds was what it is and there was no denying Nerzhei and Lotus caught a glance. Even so, Fluttershy never intended the stare to be used on anyone capable of thinking and feeling, rational or otherwise, when there were other ways to communicate ideas and requests across. It was an unorthodox method for sure, but if even Discord could be cowed, this talent must have some effect even the pegasus was not aware of. It was only after that the unintended were noticed, and the pegasus had to answer for them.

"I didn't realize you two noticed; I only used the stare as a last resort and only for misbehaving animals. I'd never use it to get what I want if I can help it."

Fluttershy panicked at the thought that maybe she might have broken that rule. Even her body language seemed to reflect something off with the growing anxiety. It was subtle but evident with her crouching low and arching her back up, making herself appear smaller with her shame growing.

"It's just a stare I use when animals are getting so rowdy I have no other options. I didn't know it could do more than that. The last time I used it on a dragon was when I convinced it to move its hoard of jewels away from Ponyville because the smoke it was belching was worrying everyone in Ponyville. And just to make sure I didn't mean to hurt its feelings, I comforted it after."

It wasn't just her who was troubled by this. Even Angel bunny seemed to feel a little remorseful about having to put his owner through this. He hopped over to Nerzhei, seeing both the dragon and Lotus in view and squeaked, rubbing the back of his head. A little surprising to see Angel admit something all on his own but Fluttershy would be proud of that, although it wouldn't be recognized given how she is worked up about the whole incident.

"Sorry about having to see that. That was my mistake."

Blitz Boom · December 11, 2018

@Moonlit

"Yeah sure, sure, I can wait a teensie bit. They're still coming to this party though, right? We're having a *The town is rebuild* party! Everypony will be here."

Whoever wasn't in the hospital, but that wasn't something Pinkie chose to dwell too much on right now. She were busy getting ready for a party to make the whole town feel better again, right after the grumpy forepony had inspected things, and everypony should be feeling better after that. She just needed to get everything, ready and then see if she couldn't get Last to join in on things. She sure had been grumpy the last time the party pony tried to make her smile, but that just meant she had to try extra hard! Like with Serenade's friends, ones the two were ready for their welcome party. Would be fun if that coincided with Serenade getting a reveal party, but they'd see, they'd see. All hush hush stuff there.

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@Catpone Cerberus @Moonlit

"I want to find a reason to stay in this world again. Whatever kept me from moving on a long time ago, I don't know anymore, so I'll have a find a new purpose. I think I helped ponies back before I died, so I could do that again, but I still need to find out in what way."

She had some vague memories of laughter, and remnants of emotions of joy when she thought about others being together, but the details were foggy and unreliable. There was something in her that said that once upon a time, she had helped ponies with love in some regards, but how? Why? She'd have to rediscover this, which had to start after she had accepted that everypony apparently got along in this age, instead of preferring the old ways of segregation. Perhaps once she accepted that full, she could look at everypony and see what she once saw. Memories had risen when looking at others and their behavior before, so perhaps it would suddenly come back to her. If not, perhaps she could find a new purpose, because she didn't feel like wanting to leave. She should have, a long, long time ago, but it just didn't feel right when she thought about it. Unfinished business she guessed.

"Your idea sounds nicer. Singing for others should bring them a lot of joy, and I listened in earlier, when you couldn't see me. You have a great singing voice. I'm sure that a lot of ponies would be happy to stick around and listen to you. S-Soon as they accept you that is, yes... We have to hope that that goes through. But since Serenade already have a pass from the princesses, it shouldn't be a problem, r-right?"

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@Catpone Cerberus

The road to the city were rather uneventful. They got stopped at the entrance to town, where a guard who recognized Marley wanted to ask some questions, which were answered quickly and apparently to satisfaction. As for the knife under Marley's wing, he informed the officer that he had come to town to get it evaluated by the pony the two were actually going to see, so it were given a pass too, long as he made sure not to remove it from the scabbard. If it were seen, it would be confiscated immediately. A little more tense than usual, but perhaps something had happened recently again then? That would undoubtedly get everyone in a tiff.

The travel through the town and towards the area they needed to go didn't carry much wonder either. For some reason, the pets around seemed to get riled up whenever Ruby got near them, with the dogs pulling their leash and something growling, whilst cats for some reason seemed to be stalking them, as their small, curious eyes could be seen following them from nearly every alleyway and building, but as it were apparent from the rebuilding efforts that something had indeed happened to town, there weren't any questions asked. The owners just figured that their pets were confused after the attack, or that someone else in the large group of folks wandering everywhere were to blame for the critters attention. It weren't like Ruby were the only dragon in town either, and she didn't look like one by any standards, so she didn't stand out as much.

As for said dragons, a few turned heads when they saw the necklace she were wearing, but so far none of them had approached her. It were to be seen if that kept true, yet for now, they were here. A beautiful, rustic facade with the sign declaring this to be *Scarcity's Antiques* in elegant writing above the large door.

Inside, the large store were pretty welcoming, with warm tapestry, soft lighting, and the items on display set in such a way that the more important ones got clearly highlighted, with the most expensive ones clearly being the ones hid behind transparent barriers, to ensure that nothing got accidentally damaged. Most things still got a clearly marked minimum range of protection though, and the store were easy to traverse even if followed to the letter.

Ruby would perhaps mostly bite notice in them being followed soon after entering though, by a pegasus in armor bearing some resemblance to Solar Guard armor, though either reforged or heavily personalized, to avoid issues with the law. On his back were a spear, and though he didn't say anything, his unblinking gaze were like iron, and hard to miss when you first bit notice in the red and grey stallion. There weren't suspicion in his eyes though. He simply followed their every move without judgement, seemingly awaiting something.

"Ah yes, that would be Brick Wall. And if he is near, then I suspect that his boss is not far behind."

"As delightfully aware as ever, Marley."

The voice came from their right, but Ruby would undoubtedly have heard the mare wandering towards them before that, or smelled her exotic perfume, so it should hardly surprise her when they were interrupted.

Her shoes seemed to be made of pure silver, as were the necklace that had the large sapphire stone embedded in its front, which might also have been the thing to tip off Ruby honestly, considering her sensors when it came to precious metals.

"What brings you to my less than humble store? And who, pray tell, are your new friend? Have you ended up finding a new employer?"

"No, I still work for Spicy, madam. However she had to watch the wagon for the time being until we could come and show you something we found that may be of interest to your store."

"Is that so? Very well then. Let us go to my office, shall we not? I trust that will not be an issue, will it... I'm afraid I didn't catch your name?"

Scarcity were talking to Spicy at this point, who she looked at with quite the interest in her narrowed, seemingly relaxed eyes. So far, she didn't appear threatening in the slightest, and more like a lower bracket noble, who clearly had plenty of means, but weren't scrubbing themselves with soap every time they got anywhere near a commoner. She wasn't of noble blood at all though. Just a simple business mare who had done well for herself. Titles and royal blood carried no real value to her.

There were a glimpse of amusement going over Scarcity's eyes as she saw the necklace, as well as at least some degree of recognition, but she didn't mention it. She simply waited for Ruby to make a response, whilst planning a few steps ahead in the seconds that passed.

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@Lucid_Nightlight

Henry stopped punching and heating up as the hatch opened and his small friends showed themselves again, though he didn't speak more as since they were safe now, he listened to what they said to try and learn something. From the sound of it, that he had been wrong in thinking they had been eaten. They were apparently in something called a machine, which Henry repeated as he poked to the metal to get a feeling for it, so that he may remember it another time.

At their request, Anomaly also popped up, and stared at her giant, apparent offspring.

"Yeah, we're fine, don't worry about us. Worry what we'll do to everypony else, hehe.

Come on, let's show him what this funny thing can do! I'm way curious too."

With that, she'd dive down again, and this time, Henry wouldn't stop them again, unless they shot at him.

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@Seamore Sandwich

The scream were deafening to Vivid, as she heard not just the body scream, but also the spectral voice mingling in with the shared physical one. Or perhaps the noise were just so intense that she had a hard time finding out what were what.

One thing were for sire though: Something were wrong, and Charlie were in intense pain from it. A sound of such anguish that it reminded her of several layers of the accursed realm of Hell. Though this time, that anguish were caused by her.

"No! Charlie!"

Panic and desperation settled in as Vivid forced herself to her hooves, and through pain of her own, began to work her magic to try and fix whatever problem she had caused. Doing so this close to a massive amount of magic being used would have consequences, for her, but this were her mistake and she had to fix it.

Her eyes glowed pale and her horn a deep ourple, as two large hands with sharp claws - one made of veil magic and the other soul magic - would tear into Charlie and began working on separating the soul again. Basically, it would involve the veil hand tearing away at the bonds that kept Charlie locked down, while the soul one would grab and drag him away as more and more of said bonds got destroyed.

It should eventually get Charlie back to his stick, and leave the body alive, but without a soul and likely in a coma. She didn't know, and right now, she couldn't focus on it either, as the backlash from going through this process in a weakened state were tearing at her.

If she hadn't worked as diligently in making sure the soul were extra locked down in Charlie's new body, this might not have been as much of a strain, but dealing with her security measures were putting a stronger and stronger pressure on her, and causing her agonizing pain. It made her method for separating Charlie less than gentle in return, but he were already in pain, so it would be nothing compared to that.

She'd be a mess afterwards. On the floor, squirming, screaming silently in pain with bursts of excess, uncontrolled magic twitching her body around erratically, and bleeding from her tattoos, which were glowing red hot. This might end up resulting in another death to her, but she could get back again. Charlie were another question entirely, although if she did end up having to resurrect herself once more, it were going to take time. Might be better for Charlie in a way, as she'd be more on his turf by then. That being the spirit world.

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@Seamore Sandwich

"It is as I once told you, elder. The scriptures are wrong, and we die for nothing more than a falsehood."

Belladonna saw no reason to introduce herself to the elder, as the - for this place - old pony should remember her, even if her appearance had gotten far more healthy and up stage than it were when she left this place in anger, after refusing to stop her inquiries and spreading of doubt in regards to their scripture. She would have spitefully thrown it in their face that she were right, if it were not for the fact that seemingly, the lies had started before their time. Much as she disliked their behavior when she had last been here, they too were victims, and not ones with much time left by the looks of things.

"You are not looking too well, Elder Lithos. Considering how we parted, I should find joy in this, but I find nothing than pity for you, and those who remains of elders past. You were mislead as much as anypony else it seems, provided that your words are not lies. Yet if you speak the truth, this should be a joyous dag for you and the others. You may be proved wrong, yet your lives may yet be saved, depending on whatever or not these springs can be retaken.

I wish to make you aware now that I am no fighter, so I cannot join you in your likely endeavor to retake the shrine, Marcus. If you need outside information though, I can provide plenty. If your quest ends up being successful, I can imagine your need to catch up with society in general may require such a link."

"You go do that, but I'm not here to sit on my hooves. I'm here to do some fighting, and it sounds like we know what the mission is going to be now."

Brute had stayed silent so far, not having much to say as the elders had followed slowly, but willingly, and then apparently seemed like they hadn't been aware of their salvation at all either. As the topic got on fighting though, she could contribute, and since taking back this spring sounded vital and at least somewhat urgent if they wanted to save lives, she cracked her muscular neck and gave her two bits on the whole ordeal, preparing for them to likely take off soon. Though there had been options on what to do before, it seemed as if the party most likely now had their target.

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@PickFairy

"It's no problem, really. I'm just surprised and thrilled that somepony wanted to come visit me for a change. And thank you for the kind words about the store."

Pop were still a little flustered, but really, having a visitor like this who actually seemed to care a great deal were a delightful change of pace. It was just nothing she really went through before,and combined with everything else, it threw her a little. Though as Butterscotch were so far, it looked like it were going to be a great time, and not something that would be tainted by a certain ego-driven arrogance, which could sometimes be an issue when dealing with any business-ponies. Even confectioners like themselves, who you'd think should mainly be kind beings who were as sweet and welcome as could be considering the line of work they were in, had some really bitter ones in the mix. But there were extremes in any line of work, and really, she weren't even sure why this thought crossed her now of all times.

She were thrown once again when the gift came into play, and she looked at the offered box with a great deal of surprise, yet her curiosity also made it incredibly enticing to go over and find out what were inside of it, so after looking at it for a few seconds, Pop got a larger smile on her face and began slowly unpacking it.

What were inside were somewhat as could be expected, yet the candy were - at least visually - more stunning than she had thought, considering Butterscotch had seemingly wanted to come and learn.

Many places went too overboard with these things, and just focused on filling it to the brim with varied things rather than the elegant side of things, yet the presentation in this were spot on. Not so little that you might feel cheated by buying it, and not so much that you may as well have bought a full bar of chocolate, as only a half inch or so would separate things. And this wasn't in layers either, which were a huge plus in Pop's mind. She weren't much of a fan of those kind of boxes, as she liked for somepony to open up and see everything right there in front of them, rather than hiding away some under an extra wrapper. She did make something like that, but the boxes were always transparent with that, so that it could at least tease some of what were to come beneath the first layer presented.

She picked up one of the taffies first, and inspected it with fascination shinning from her eyes, yet she didn't say anything right away. Instead, she went on to check the other things one by one, ending with the star chocolate, before chuckling a little and meeting Butterscotch's gaze once again.

"Your presentation is beautiful, Butterscotch. And I really have to give you points for the coloring on these. It's far too rare to see these kinds of colors on especially the taffy, and it fits rather well here. I can't wait to try a taste, but... Just hold on a moment, please."

She scurried along, and soon after would return with a small gift basket, wrapped in cellophane and with a rainbow-colored bow holding it closed at the top.

Inside, varied candies wrapped bags and tall, thin boxes of her shop were stacked side by side, with some of the taller ones behind, but never covered so much that it were not possible to see at least the top half of each item, to allow for a full visual of what were in store.

The variety in this were wide ranging, going from orange-flavored sugar balls and purple/yellow striped hardened sweets, to a selection box of five chocolates with a flower theme, where three of them had varied fillings that were written on the side of their box, and what seemed like a pink cloud with a straw attached to it. All in all, there's be around eight different things in this, with a description of what each thing were written in flowing text on each individual item, and a small warning on the bottom of the basket of main ingredients that might cause allergic reactions. She had found that to be needed after a small incident with somepony buying one for a friend with the wrong kind of nuts in them before. Thankfully it hadn't been too bad, but it had prompted her to stray on the safe side since.

As for the basket, presentation and taste-wise, it carried a good warm summer theme, with flowers, clouds, rainbows and even a bunny-shaped caramel toffee. A little out of season, but they had barely entered autumn, so hopefully it should not matter much.

"I had wanted to prepare something specifically for you before you showed up, but I sadly forgot it in the work load. I hope this selection box of summer candies will do for now, though I have plenty more things I'd hope you will try when you're here. You should really give the chocolates a try especially. They're made of Saddle Arabian Butter Milk, and that really does give the best, creamy taste to chocolate in my experience. It's a shame you have to basically know somepony personally in the country to even have a chance at getting any of it in the first place, and even then it tends to be limiting, but it's really worth the hassle in my opinion.

Now, let's see... I have to try the taffy first. It looks exquisite."

With that, and her own gift presented, Pop would try to take up the taffy, unwrap it, and take half of it in a bite. She'd slowly chew through it, taking in the flavors and trying to get a feel for how it were. She wouldn't say anything about it, but considering the smile on her muzzle, and how she munched down the second half of it instead of putting it away or something similar, she looked like she found it pretty good.

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@EQ_Theta

"Strange to hear joy over somepony being put in a headlock, but I guess there's exceptions to anything. I'll teach you how to do this another time if you want, so that you're ready for it in case it happens again, or you need to silently pacify somepony for a few hours."

In the aftermath, Rosa were being plagued with thoughts about how this might have ended if Sen's neck had been weaker than it looked, and the bat pony wouldn't have been able to control his own strength, so he didn't feel like a savior of any kind, as much as just a lucky risk taker. Thankfully nothing bad had happened, and it had seemingly helped, but things could have gone wrong considering his state of mind, and that were the entire issue here. It weren't a smart move, though perhaps teaching Lin this could end up being so. A well placed headlock had made his infiltration jobs much easier more often than he could count, and as it seemed now, it could potentially work on hyperventilation. It just had to be done with a calmer mind to not take risks.

He'd offer it to Omen too, but something told him that she might end up doing a lot more harm than good with this, so it were better to skip her. At least for the time being.

At the notion that it were best to leave Sen behind - on his own accord perhaps, but still - Rosa looked over a the longma, then nodded vaguely and directed his eyes towards Omen.

"Keep the gate open until we've passed through, then close them and keep Sen under guard. If anything happens, come in after us right away."

Lin had good gates and access to that place where they could dump excess water if needed, so she were essential for this temple, whereas Rosa knew his way around traps, so he could be useful inn spotting them in there. Omen had done well in getting them inside, but it were best if she stayed here and kept Sen safe, just in case.

Besides, her or Shrimp might get curious and touch something they shouldn't, which wouldn't be helping things in the slightest.

"Okay. I'll watch him."

Omen weren't really sure what were going on, but it seemed to be better now, so she probably shouldn't think too much about it. She did get curious though, about the memories that Sen mentioned had come back to him before he said it was best if he stayed here. They sounded like bad memories that he didn't want to talk about, yet also kind of important. Hopefully he would share more of that later, though for now, she would keep her eyes on him and just literally watch him, unblinkingly, until she heard something else being told her by Lin or Rosa. They seemed to be in charge right now.

"Whenever you're ready Lin. And Sen? You don't need to worry about her. I will make sure that Lin gets back out in one piece."

He didn't know if that were going to suffice, but his word were literally all that Rosa had to offer in this regard. A thing of questionable value, but for what it was worth, he'd offer it now.

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@EQ_Theta @Dji

Nerzhei did notice the way that Fluttershy's stance changed while she stalked, but the dragon waited until she were done talking before saying anything, as she wanted to see how bad it might get with her apparent guilt trip over this little misstep.

"Ease yourself, pony. We were surprised that you could do this, but we're not judging you poorly on it. if anything, I wondered why you didn't use this more often, yet your reasoning have some merit to it. Among ponies anyway. And remember, it was us that looked at you in the moment, not the other way around, so we put ourselves in the situation. You have nothing to apologize or feel bad for here."

Honestly she wished that it were an option to just smack the mare right now and get her guilt to move on to something else, like shock or anger, but that sort of thing likely wouldn't fly among the ponies, so she'd have to try and use reassurances and facts to get Fluttershy to ease up, rather than look like someone stood ready to beat her up.

"Yeah, what she said. And I'll get you for it another time Angel."

Lotus playfully pulled her tongue at Angel, and thought of a few ways she could even things out, as she weren't as easy to just forgive as Nerzhei here. She were just going with the flow so that she wouldn't end up seeing a pony cry or something. That would just be painfully annoying to be faced with, and Fluttershy was an okay enough pony, so it wasn't like the bunny wanted the mare to cry.

As for Angel, she'd think of something at some point. perhaps push him into a barrel or something small like that, as this hadn't been the greatest offence. If it were, she would be on him already, and giving him a beating he wouldn't think possible. Better to just get it out of the system and teach a lesson if something went really wrong, right?

Nerzhei sat down on the floor slowly, making it so that she had less of a presence over the pony to both see if it would help ease things, and to rest her legs a little again. There were still some way before the dragon were anywhere near full strength, much as she didn't appear as weary as she actually were, so easing her muscles a little weren't a bad idea.

"Tell me more about this dragon you say you made move away. It had its hoard here it sounded like? It's uncommon for one of us to take that near settlements of others, even other dragons. Had something happened to its former home? Were it seeking something or someone perhaps?"

Perhaps redirecting things to one of Fluttershy's success stories might ease things a little further, rather than lingering on what had just happened, but they'd see. Ponies were harder to understand than her upbringing made her believe at first, so this might end up differently than that. They'd see soon enough though.

Edited December 11, 2018 by Blitz Boom

Moonlit · December 11, 2018

@Blitz Boom "I'll ask Pinkie, as I said, they are skittish, and new to Ponyville." Serenade narrows her eyes, she didn't trust the Pink One. She shuddered a bit, then straightened up. "Okay Pinkie, I know that look...so I'm gonna bow out before I end up on stage, singing. I've got two more stops to make before I head back. See you later" She gave Pinkie a nod then headed off to see Ziggy.

Rising Dusk · December 11, 2018

@Blitz Boom

Rising Dusk had sadly fallen victim to the power of convenience, letting a lot of his culinary abilities fall to the work of food vendors and restaurants. Sure, he had plenty of cook books memorized to put a good amount of effort into the kitchen, but simply knowing the recipe wasn't always enough when it came to skills developed by muscle memory. Something he should really look into picking up. Especially if he planned on settling down some day in the future. Okay, probably far future, but fair enough. The detective nodded to Molotov's logic, or at least his aunt's logic, "Good way to cook by," he chuckled.

Oof, 94% were still pretty good odds, or so he's been told in the mechanical world. Heck, even in the world of law those were pretty good odds. Although, considering these were new designs for possibly allowing a pegasus to fly again, we wouldn't want them flying high in the sky only for the wing to fail and they plummet to their death. The though sent a shiver down his back just thinking about it, and he didn't even fly! It was enough of a start though, at least to bring up to Void and see if this is even worth pursuing.

With the aid of the pancakes he could feel more energy in his body now that should aid in his return home. Even if his visit to the Boom family was a short one, he needed the rest for the events he could already sense he was to be going through tomorrow. With a smile he addressed his friend, I'll be sure to pass along your estimate my friend. Thank you again for lunch, but I must rest." Turning about he raised his hoof to the ceiling where Felicia was probably observing, "Farewell Felicia, stay classy." Putting his hoof back down he walked past Blitz Boom, "Have a good day little one." With his farewells out of the way, the detective departed with the goal of his apartment in mind, his cozy fire place and the most likely event of him just crashing on the couch. His limits were going to be tested more tomorrow and he wasn't going to let the sisters down.

Catpone Cerberus · December 11, 2018

@Blitz Boom(@Moonlit)

Nada listened quietly as Cherish told her answer, and nodded in understanding after it. Sudden joy raised to her face when Cherish praised Nada's singing voice, for anyone else small praise like that was probably whatever, but for Nada it was extremely nice to hear that somepony had enjoyed her singing after so long time of singing alone without anypony to listen, but it went away when Cherish brought up the situation. "I hope it won't be a problem." Nada replied "But Serenade got a pass and a disguise, and I don't want to be forced to wear a disguise." "And being allowed to live among ponies doesn't necessary mean I can sing...." she sighed "...because they may think I'm using my magic." she didn't necessary blame the ponies for being wary of sirens' songs, after all, like her fear of ponies, it was just reaction to something that had happened.

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

@Blitz Boom

Ruby ignored any attention she got to best of her ability, she knew that if she would react to all of it, it would only make her more suspicious, but for dragons that paid attention to her, she sent a warning only they could notice to make sure they didn't get too curious, though it also probably helped that she was carrying an eye of older dragon on her neck, after all, it was rare and possibly unsettling to see a dragon carrying something like that with them, since even those who took trophies took usually horns and claws.

Ruby indeed was able to tell that they were followed when they got inside, but naturally she didn't react to it, not sensing threat from him yet. She had also sensed Scarcity right away when they had entered, but it wasn't a sound or smell she had first noticed, but it had been the shoes and necklace she had sensed first, and it didn't take genius to figure out from their shape and movement that someone was wearing them at that moment.

But though Ruby had sensed Scarcity long before she showed herself, she didn't show it for obvious reason, so she faked a small surprise when she revealed herself. She observed any and all expressions and other movements Scarcity did to get a general picture of who she was dealing with here, and she noticed her reaction to the necklace and just casually threw back a look that said 'Mine', but when she finally replied, her tone was surprisingly respectful, though it still made clear as well as did her posture that she didn't think Scarcity as someone above herself, instead that she saw her as equal...at best, it was minor, and in no way disrespectful, but for anyone who could notice such things it would be very clear...."Ruby Shine." "No issues."

Lucid_Nightlight · December 11, 2018

@Blitz Boom

Lucid closed the hatch and started driving to another house. He was careful to point the barrel away from Henry even though he would likely be fine since it only fired soap.

"We are very business ponies. This will raise my credit score for sure!"

"Let's fire it threw their window."

"We will be known for our fast soap delivery!"

Edited December 11, 2018 by Lucid_Nightlight

Blitz Boom · December 11, 2018

@Rising Dusk

"𝔾𝕠𝕠𝕕𝕓𝕪𝕖, 𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕝𝕠𝕡𝕖𝕣. 𝕎𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕘𝕒𝕚𝕟."

Felicia were the first to really react to the officer starting to leave the building, giving her response from the darkness of the ceiling, with nothing but the faint glow of her eyes even giving away that she were up there.

"Goodbye police pony! Have lots of fun."

Blitz were the next who'd say goodbye, lifting her head from the half-finished plate and grinning at the officer with a waving hoof and a muzzle full of syrup. She hoped he'd be back again one of these days, but who knew? Perhaps she'd break out of here one of the next days and run into him again in town.

"Get some rest and get back on your hooves tomorrow Dusky. You're looking like you need a long rest and a 9 volt battery. Hehe, you know what I me- Oh darn it Carmen, not again."

Molotov were about to ramble on again, until he saw Carmen skittering down from a shelf and landing next to the syrup bottle, where she'd try to make it tip over. It wasn't much she could have in her system, but she liked to fill her small stomach with interesting tastes, and this were one of the better. Sadly she couldn't get on top of the bottle, so she'd try to just make it tip over so she could take a little of it. It made logical sense to her, but to Molotov, it were just a right mess. Served him right for forgetting to set out a thimble of it for her he guessed, but still, she could've waited, or asked. Felicia were having a bad influence on the little creation.

With the group saying their goodbyes and attempting to stop a small spiderbot from messing up the table, Dusky could go home safely, and get the long rest he deserved after this day. A shame he'd have to get right back on the proverbial wagon tomorrow, but it'd be fine. Probably. Depended on if he got eaten by something Null and Void carried around, crushed by a monster attacking town, or beaten up on the streets by some thugs with a grudge. You never knew what might happen in Equestria these days, though in this part of the country, he'd probably at worst have a snow cone dropped on his head by a clumsy foal. Oh the sticky, sweetened horror.

EQ_Theta · December 12, 2018

@Blitz Boom

"I know you will, Rosa." Sen smiled though didn't want to open his eyes at the moment. Even looking at anything causes some discomfort but that pales in comparison to getting their task done even if it meant leaving him behind. He had his full confidence on both Lin and Rosa now.

But there was little time to waste. Lin was content with the plan, and with the way things had gone. She couldn't afford to be picky about what ifs and why nots but seeing as there was little left to do but to get the actual task done, there was little in the way of holding them back. If they could get this done sooner, maybe Scarcity could also be done with her task. Admittedly, there was some uncertainty behind her methods and how this whole deal is supposed to go but it is what it is.

"Alright, we should get going then."

Lin went in first through the gate. On the other side, she was greeted by perhaps the strangest dry chamber of a submerged temple she thought would never see. There was no doubt she was completely unfamiliar with temples and their construction but being submerged underwater, this whole place should be inaccessible. And yet here she is, wandering in a place that defies her understanding. Suppose it isn't too surprising now; she did venture into a place where the sky is below her feet and the mountains were above her.

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

@Blitz Boom @Dji

"That dragon... if I remember correctly, it seemed like it wanted to just store its hoard of gems in a nearby mountain. By the way that cave looked, it was very spacious, a perfect place to store a large trove of gems and gold. Even the dragon was content with it; a place large enough for it and its treasures with lots of space to move about sounds good for a place to live. I never really got the chance to ask why but after calming it down and reassuring it, the dragon was convinced to move elsewhere."

That was from a time when the pegasus was a lot more naive. A young pony who was afraid of her own shadow and was a lot more inept at working with unfamiliar creatures. Back then, dragons were very little understood. Most ponies shy away from them and, apart from Spike, dragons were very much feared based on their appearance and behaviors. It wasn't unheard of for ponies to shudder at the thought of having to be in the presence of a dragon. How times have changed indeed.

"I usually avoid using the stare for most situations because of how easy it is to misuse. If I didn't restrict myself, I'd be using it to get anything I want regardless of how anypony else felt about it. That's not who I am and I don't ever want to see myself become that kind of pony. I've already been corrupted once and I don't want to ever be that way again."

Though Angel seems to be content with the way things are going, just the mention of Fluttershy losing her own restrictions and kindhearted personality once to Discord's corruption was a lot to take in. Simply saying it was bad was an understatement. The pegasus was someone completely different without anything weighing her down to reality. No more niceties, an abrasive attitude, insults and threats with every sentence. There was malice in her voice and the way she went about looking after the animals was more of keeping them obedient through fear and a bit of violence.

Even he wasn't spared the painful treatment, and the look on his face right now was an indication of many things. Respect and fear, mostly the former but the latter remained to an extent. As much as he is exasperated by Fluttershy's excessive meekness and lack of self-confidence, he prefers this over her other self. At least this version of Fluttershy is still lovable.

Edited December 12, 2018 by EQ_Theta
Forgot to add color for Fluttershy's dialogue

Rising Dusk · December 13, 2018

@Blitz Boom

Much to his prediction, the trip home was very uneventful, no sticky horrors from projectile snow cones to report from the detective. His home was cozy for the detective, and could most likely even serve a roommate should one be needed as it was plenty big enough. Without the feather in his hoodie pouch, Rising Dusk had free rain to use his magic about the apartment. Still being the afternoon he pulled the curtains, with his magic, over the windows and sliding balcony doors to block out the sun. Casting his home into darkness, save the orange glow of his horn. With perfect memorization of the layout to his apartment, the detective didn't need light to move around. Sitting down for a moment, he pulled his hoodie over his head and draped it over the back of one of his dining room chairs. Walking over to his couch, he took a moment to levitate a match from a box by his fire place, striking it against the stone to light it before tossing it onto the wood. Climbing onto his couch that sat before the fire place, laying on his side to facing the quickly growing flames as more of the wood caught blaze. Watching the dancing flames made his eyelids heavy. Using his magic on late time to pull the blanket draped over the back of his couch to tuck in around him. Finally the glow of his horn extinguished while he snuggled in, letting the heat of the fire and warmth of the blanket lull him to sleep.

Dreams. Dances of lights, murky murals painted and stitched together from past experiences. Narratives put on by the subconscious both with reason, and without. The realm tread upon by the Mistress of the Night herself, Princess Luna. Rising Dusk's dreams were always so vivid to him. What would fill his tired mind this time? Would he dream of pleasant days past or a story of terror?

A dark room, with a neutral light from an unknown source up above shined down upon the detective. Sitting alone upon the floor that was neither warm or cold. Dressed once again in one of his beige hoodie, but it felt lighter. No sound, no flow of air, nothing he could sense around him. Then a whisper. Unintelligible. Another a moment later from a different direction. Then another, and another. Always just on the edge of his hearing. Focusing did nothing and he knew looking about would be meaningless. The detective merely stared forward. Movement just beyond the small circle of light he sat in. Slithering movement, tall and massive. A blink and more took shape. Oily strands more black than the dark room he was placed in coiled and riled about. Oozing in a foul mass as it stretch up beyond his field of vision. Bubbles formed and popped just as quickly like looking at some tar pit. A gruesome tar pit, as these bubbles were not the round spheres a pony would expect. No, they took on the shape of ponies. Each popped bubble produced an unintelligible whisper. Ponies he didn't know, not personally anyways, ponies he felt hours ago in the basement of the O.M.I, ponies freed.

Blitz Boom · December 13, 2018

@Lucid_Nightlight

Henry kept following them with several sets of his eyes, although a few were looking elsewhere, taking in what he could see around him. For the time being though, he didn't attack the machine again, and as he was not cold anymore, he didn't return to the pyre for the time being.

Instead he kept most of his focus on seeing the machine move around, and heard the faint noises of Novia and Lucid going around inside the metal machine, whilst Anomaly were just cackling like a mad scientist. As the barrel of the tank suddenly turned towards a building, he put an extra eye on this, thinking that he'd need to make sure he followed in on what were about to happen, whatever that may be.

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

@EQ_Theta

Omen closed the gate behind them as Rosa and Lin got fully through, leaving them in this dark room where no light fell.

This wasn't an issue for Rosa as much, after he removed his mask, as night vision were pretty good for bat ponies, but it might be for Lin. That is, if this place had been as he had expected.

Instead, a strange, lime-colored glow seemed to come from further inside than this small entrance room they were standing in, which had some dampness to it, but considering this place were underwater, not nearly enough. It were more akin to a sauna without the heat really. It didn't light up much of this room, yet it were enough for the bat pony to be able to look in here, and see a pale barrier between the water outside, and the entrance which Omen had likely entered through. It appeared as if there were some magic to keep the water out of this room then, though what about further in?

Rosa signaled Lin to follow his lead, as he slowly moved further on, through the small room, keeping his eyes and ears peeled, whilst poking ahead with the spear Sen gave him. It didn't seem like a trap were here though, and soon enough, they'd be at the entrance to the next room, where another barrier separated them, and a large amount of water.

The room were quite large, and completely submerged in sea water, algae covering several walls and objects that were too crowded by the plant to guess what were beneath it. Throughout the room, several species of fish swam lazily around in the lime-colored glow, likely seeking shelter from whatever predators such as sharks might wander outside, until the tide would force them to leave again. The holes in the walls and the ceiling weren't massive enough for those kinds of creatures, but these smaller ones had no real issue, long as they did not enter one of the several small, semi-dry rooms such as this that could be watched from this place. Some of them with stone crumbled enough to see that it were lining to match the sizes of the small, rounded rooms, giving a good air bubble to sit in, all aimed towards the center attraction of the room: The statue of the three siren sisters they had been sent to look for, which gave off the strange glow that covered the room.

It were as they had been told. Detailed, of about the same size they had been described, though strange not as guarded. For some reason, the golden statue they had been warned off didn't seem to be in sight, though there were a pedestal that had clearly been meant for it nearby, and a couple of cracked tiles to show that it had been moving.

"I think I get it. The statue is infused with some kind of magic or gem that gives off light, so that even when the temple is submerged, the cultists could stay in these bubbled and see their masters. I think we're standing in a prayer room.

Some historian might find interest in this, but I'm more concerned with the lack of the guardian. Either it left, or it's hiding at an angle we can't see. Either way, it's been activated. I don't think it's a good idea for us to enter the room."

They couldn't even go by shadows currently, though of course, there were one way to lest this.

Rosa poked his spear out the bubble, the way that would lead to the statue, and pushed it for a little more until suddenly, a large, meaty hand made of gold came from the side, and crushed it. Rosa let go of it at that point, as the remnants of it were taken to the right surprisingly fast for something moving in water.

"Now I know that it's not. Do you think you can open a gate under the siren statue leading to that place you spoke of from this distance, Lin? Otherwise, we're going to need to think of a distraction.

And please, whatever you do, try not to let it drop out of the sky. Make the statue hit as close to the ground as possible. The base might seem wide and solid, as well as the statue being in remarkably good shape, but I don't want to risk it tipping over and crushing to pieces."

There were a three meter distance up there, and the base of the statue were as wide as Lin were long, tail included. If Lin could reach it from here, they'd have a better time with this, as she could just dump it, and some sea water, into the barren area, where they could take it from there. Question were if for once they could have a lucky break like that, or if their usual streak of bad luck were going to persist.

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

@EQ_Theta @Dji

On 12/12/2018 at 3:29 AM, EQ_Theta said:

"That dragon... if I remember correctly, it seemed like it wanted to just store its hoard of gems in a nearby mountain. By the way that cave looked, it was very spacious, a perfect place to store a large trove of gems and gold. Even the dragon was content with it; a place large enough for it and its treasures with lots of space to move about sounds good for a place to live. I never really got the chance to ask why but after calming it down and reassuring it, the dragon was convinced to move elsewhere."

"That makes more sense. Caves are good for defending against attackers, and store your hoard safe and dry. Far easier than to build something of your own at least.

I think I know the mountain you speak off too. When I were looking for a cave, or suitable place to make one in the Everfree, I did see a rather large entrance in a mountain. I believe I saw a sizable bear sleeping in there, so i looked for something else. Usually I would consider such a creature dinner, but it doesn't tend to be a smart move to attack something several larger than yourself."

She could've also sworn that it seemed to be covered with the light of the night sky, but she were still not sure if she had seen that right. She wanted to go back and study it when hibernation season began, and the chance for it to wake up all of a sudden were lesser, so she had just marked the area in her memory and been on her way. There were no reason to risk being eaten without a proper reason, and truly, a bear this size might be quite rare, which made her even more hesitant to even approach it fully. She couldn't imagine large packs of these were common sight at least, or the nearby town of Ponyville would have been better fortified, or just demolished from a relentless assault of hungry, giant bears. At least if said bear were anything like the ones she knew, and the one she had been attacked by in the forest.

On 12/12/2018 at 3:29 AM, EQ_Theta said:

"I usually avoid using the stare for most situations because of how easy it is to misuse. If I didn't restrict myself, I'd be using it to get anything I want regardless of how anypony else felt about it. That's not who I am and I don't ever want to see myself become that kind of pony. I've already been corrupted once and I don't want to ever be that way again."

"I... See your point. Even though I would think it useful for more situations, I look at things from another perspective than you, and I am starting to grasp that in general, you ponies doesn't seem to like using fear or violence, effective as I find it can be."

Nerzhei had paused as she started her sentence, not certain whatever or not to ask about what the mare meant when she talked about having been corrupted before, but seeing how timid she were and how she didn't appear to like even remembering being rude to others, the dragon got the feeling that although the mare might answer, Fluttershy would end up feeling worse and get squirmish, which weren't really helpful. They were supposed to build the pegasus up, not kick her down and stomp on her. Figuratively speaking of course.

Besides, it might be a highly personal matter, and they didn't know one another well enough to share things like that.

"Angel? Are you okay?"

Through this, Lotus instead kept her focus on Angel, and saw him making a pretty strange face when it came to talking about how Fluttershy had once been corrupt. Sure she had seen this face on enough other bunnies to know what fear looked like - even though Angel hid it far more effectively than those she had met - but what exactly were he afraid of? Had this corruption involved Fluttershy being mean to him? Whatever the reason, she jumped down from Nerzhei's hand and to the floor, where she could be more in level with the local bunny. Easier to see what were going on from there.

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

@Rising Dusk

Far away from Rising Dusk, and even Equestria, an elderly crone starred into her crystal ball, observing the street which the officer resided in. The spell were hard to control from a distance this great, so she had only just gotten it stable a few minutes past, and sadly, it were not precise enough to show where he were. It wouldn't be enough to track him down, find out what he looked like or even what he were named, and if she couldn't figure this out soon...

Her hoof shook and the spell became erratic again.

Cursing in an ancient tongue, she began stabilizing it once more. She had to stay focused here, or it wouldn't work, and she couldn't afford losing the track now. The remnant that were left behind when her bear were destroyed were clinging on with the help of some residuals from another object, which seemed to have harvested far greater returns than her own creation, but it weren't going to last forever. Sooner or later, it would be gone, and there would be nothing left to track on the pony who had gotten involved in her business.

Well, not Her business per se...

Like most others, she worked for someone else, and that someone had not been pleased when she had first told him that this bear had been stolen away by some meddling brats that for some reason had been immune to her magic, and who had then been chased out of their country. The locals who had started that upheaval had not been met with kindness by her master. She would have felt pity for them if she cared, and hadn't been fearful for what would happen to herself. The harvested life energy were meant for him, and without it, she had become a failure in his eyes.

Thankfully his thirst for vengeance carried more than his disappointment in her abilities, so he ordered her to focus her magic on tracking them, and returning the bear to him.

She were sure he too knew that it had been cleansed by now, which meant that she needed as much information as she could get, or his wrath would surely fall on her.

She had done the same before, the other times when the sisters used the bear to their own ends, and the magic nullification stopped for long enough, but something were different this time. This time around, they had brought it to someone who had destroyed her magic. Why would they do that, for a thing they had used before? Perhaps it had been stolen by them? But then, it wouldn't fit that there had been more than one thing released, would it?

Well, it mattered not. All that did were to find this pony whose magic were not hidden, and then deliver his location to her master. Perhaps she would yet be granted a chance then, and more years to add to the few she had left in her.

The spell stabilized again, and this time, keeping her focus, she managed to lock it down in the scrying orb. So far so good then. Now she had to try and find some cl-

The creaking sound of someone stepping on the floorboards in the abysmally small and fragile cabin she had to live in since her blunder echoed throughout the room, and she froze.

"My formerly exemplary student. I trust you know why I'm here?"

"Yes my liege."

She bowed her creaking neck to him, as he stood motionless and gazed at her.

"Anything to make me reconsider punishing you?"

"The sisters have sought out help. Another pony, from Equestria. He dispelled the magic and let the energy out, but there were more than what were just stuck in that. Something else spilled over too, and clings to his form. It seems the sisters are working with him."

The stallion wandered over to the orb, silently watching it and the street it were focused on. His silence concerned the crone, though as his face turned into a cruel smile and a small chuckle, her eyes widened. Were this her chance?

"You have two days to find me this pony that removed the life energy. Fail me and your withered being shall power my next spell. Succeed, and I will make sure that everything gets back to how it should be."

He put a hoof on hers, and for a brief moment, she saw the wrinkly skin on her leg grow firm and healthy once more, infusing itself with life as the years just seemed to melt away. yet as quick as his touch had been, as abruptly were it gone, and the effect with it. She were but the crone he had judged her to be for her failures.

"I won't fail you my liege."

The stallion chuckled as he started to exit the building.

"I know you won't. You have too much potential to remain a failure."

With that he left, leaving the crone to her work as the promise of salvation made her resolve burned brighter than it had in years. Rising Dusk may find that though he could not see it, the hoof he bit when he started to let out the life of those harvested, wouldn't be as far over the horizon as he might think.

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

@Catpone Cerberus @Moonlit

"I guess that will be a problem... B-But I'm sure that if they're given time to see that it isn't affecting them, they'll be more okay with it? Even if they're afraid at first."

That did sound like kind of a large issue actually. If sirens were known for magic songs, how to make everypony convinced that Nada weren't doing anything to them? If they covered their ears and couldn't hear her, then nothing would have changed, so they had to somehow try and show them that no magic were involved before anything could do that. But... How?

"Perhaps there's some kind of way to stop magic from happening, so that they could see that you're not doing anything? It's a whole new world compared to the old days. Whose to say what they've made and done since then? I guess the word of the princess could work too? Oh wait, no. T-They'll just think you got her I guess. Sorry..."

Cherish darkened a little, but she weren't going to lose herself like before. This had just been a little awkward, nothing too bad. It'd take a small bit more to make her throw things around again, which were one of her concerns when it came to meeting other ponies again, face to face. Judging by Ziggy's reaction earlier, ghosts were still seen as scary, and potentially dangerous, so there were some prejudice to get past there too. Though in this case, it were reasonable, as Cherish had after all ended up hurting the zegasus.

*sigh* This whole process were going to be a long walk up hill.

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

@Catpone Cerberus

"It's a pleasure to meet you Ruby. And worry not darling, I have no interest in your necklace beyond how fascinating it is to see anypony carry such a thing. Dragons can be such... Vindictive creatures if they wish to be, and a true dragons eye as such? My, I would be assaulted merely for owning it, much less selling or carrying it. You must be a brave pony to carry a burden which tends to only be worth it for our scaled neighbors themselves."

Scarcity gave a small chuckle, and turned around to lead them to her office. However, as she did, there were a moment when her eyes would be set fully upon Ruby, and in them she carried the message back that she knew something that she were not letting on. This were not uncommon for the antiques mare, but it might irritate the dragon in disguise some, considering this now counted two beings in her vicinity that gave her knowing looks.

Still, whatever it were, Scarcity said nothing, and simply lead them behind the counter, and down the hallways that lead to her office. The hall had several locked doors leading to other rooms (some of them carrying riches which Ruby should be able to feel) paintings on the wall, and a nice light coming from the chandeliers lining it. Nothing too extravagant, but she enjoyed the atmosphere it made, leading into her office at the end, which opened up to a large room with plenty of light from the modern light hanging above them.

Everything from the typewriter, to the bowl carrying chocolates on the desk were high end, modern style. The only thing which didn't seem to be so, were the large, engraved oak desk, which carried the style of something from a bygone era, even if it were clearly not as old, considering the state of it. Likely a custom made recreation.

She waved a hoof towards the two soft couches on one side and went over to her spot, whilst Brick entered the room, locked the door, and put himself in front of it, barring exit.

"Have a seat please, and don't worry about being heard in here. Every inch of it is sound proof against physical, as well as magical espionage. Snoopers are detestable creatures in our world, hm? And do feel free to sample the treats. They're imported from Neighpon.

Now then, let me hear what this is about. I got the distinct impression that you and Spicy were loathe to come back to me unless there were no other choice. I take it one of your other contacts have fallen on hard times?"

There that look were again, though this time towards Marley, who weren't as affected by it as she might wish him to be. He already knew she were aware of far more things than he'd think any single creature had any right being.

"Almost twenty large pots of Bad Dragon."

"Oh? Now isn't that fascinating. Brick? Be a dear and send word to Bit Bouncer. Inform him that we have a guest with some rare, fragile vases for me to inspect, and then ensure that goes with you to the entrance and escort her here."

Brick grunted a confirmation, unlocked the door, and then went on his way after closing it again.

"The paperwork for escorting her without getting searched will be done within the next twenty minutes, and I will be able to inspect the goods personally. Perhaps we can find something to pass the time with whilst waiting, yes? As a topic: Is the eye around your neck that of an elder dragon, or more of a newer one, Ruby? It can be dreadful to tell at a distance if you are not a dragon yourself, even if I can easily say that that is authentic. Tourist knock-offs are mockingly bad imitations."

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

@Moonlit @Seamore Sandwich (just in case)

Pinkie would wave enthusiastically as Serenade left, and went right back to the party preparations. The last thing Serenade were likely to hear were the party pony yelling something about the color of cupcakes, but it likely wouldn't make all that much sense.

In the hospital, Ziggy were still where Serenade had left her, with her leg laying up and looking at Doctor Xeno. They seemed to have been in a conversation when Serenade would get there, and the zegasus rose a working hoof and waved at the siren in hiding with a big smile on her face.

"Heya Serenade! Did Fah'lina find you? She went out of here like, 10 minutes ago I think? I think she got bored here."

Lucid_Nightlight · December 13, 2018

@Blitz Boom

Lucid hit a button and a bar of soap fired out of the tank through a window that quickly shattered.

"That was Lumen's 5th house. You know he's going to get revenge on all the turkeys for this, right?"

"The turkeys had it coming."

He turned to Anomaly.

"The turkeys will face his wrath for sure."

Edited December 13, 2018 by Lucid_Nightlight

FanOfManyShows · December 13, 2018

@Blitz Boom

Iron didn't like this, not at all. He lost complete connection to Sapphire and Emerald, though for some reason, he regained it the moment after. "You do need rest, but something is wrong."

"What is it?"

"Lost my vision on Emerald."

Astral looked to Chow. "Let's go to Canterlot then, Emerald's clearly up to something." She said, before resuming walking. "Canterlot should be plenty safe for us if she heads our way."

===============================
@Blitz Boom

Sapphire could tell pretty fast that something was off, being able to see outside the astral plane helped there, since she saw the pony enter and soon noticed Emerald's smoke outside of the plane, exiting the plane, forming a sword in her hoof, but instead of using it, she kicked the stallion across the room away from Emeralds cloud, pointing the sword to them. "You better leave, now."

Edited December 14, 2018 by FanOfManyShows

Catpone Cerberus · December 14, 2018

(@Moonlit) @Blitz Boom

Nada listened to her usual manner, but realization took over her face when Cherish mentioned the princess, she hadn't actually even thought about it like that, but now that it was mentioned, it did make sense, there was the risk that ponies would just think that she had control over their princess, and that would just make things even worse. Her face returned to neutral state when she spoke "Well, there is already something in place to stop the magic..." "...and it's the fact that I don't have any magic left to use." "So until my singing by itself has the power to effect the minds of ponies outside my control, I'm incapable of mind control."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@Blitz Boom

Ruby acknowledged Scarcity's words with a blink, and wasn't really that bothered by her suspicion, and there was few reasons for that. Firstly she knew that Scarcity couldn't know the truth, sure she may have a suspicion that something isn't like it seems, but there was simply no reason to believe her first conclusion would be that Ruby was a dragon in disguise, since that wasn't exactly common.
Second, she was fully aware she didn't exactly give out the picture of 'I'm perfectly like everyone else', since she was a mare walking around with a box on her back and eye of a dragon on her neck.
Last reason, was simply that she knew what type of pony she was dealing with, there was no doubt that someone like her would try to get information by reading the reactions of those she interacted with, and what better way to get reactions than claim that you knew something you shouldn't.

Naturally Ruby didn't give Scarcity's look a reaction, she just met her eyes with unfazed coldness, and as to be expected, she stayed like that until she was directly spoken to. She also ignored all the treasure to best of her ability, since she knew she couldn't steal it, being in middle of a city.

"Elder." She simply stated "At least a thousand years old, most likely more, if not closer or even over second millennia." she wasn't even going to act like she had made the thing or killed the dragon that it was made of, that was a lie that was hard to keep up, but she had another idea, since she knew she would need some kind of story, hoping that Marley didn't ruin it before that.

Edited December 14, 2018 by Catpone Cerberus

EQ_Theta · December 14, 2018

@Blitz Boom

Lin followed closely, only using her senses to get by with Rosa leading ahead. Even in darkness here eyes aren't completely designed to see in the dark. Sen might have better luck with this because of his training. Or maybe it didn't, he might not have gone through that part before his exile. But light was shining forth from the statue, enough to let Lin see ahead. With Rosa testing the way ahead, it is a sound idea to push through with simply moving the statue away to another place. In relative safety, of course.

"I might be able to try something. If I could get my gate moving around the statue, I won't need to open a large one, just enough to get the whole thing in and with little risk of damage. I've only done it once though, so here's hoping I can get it done right."

Slowly, Lin opened one gate behind her just to get an idea on where to drop off the statue. The place was just as barren as it was before and around it, a storm was brewing. A big one, but if they were fast enough, they wouldn't need to worry about it one bit. This is the tricky part. She could, in theory, move her gate instead of having the object move instead, saving time and only requiring effort on her part. The problem was keeping the opening steady. There was no telling what could happen if a gate's opening were to suddenly shrink. Probably cut some part of an object, and Lin didn't want that happening. She attempted to move the gate's opening forward and backward, up and down, slow and steady. This might just work. Confident enough in her little experiment, she closed the first gate and opened a second one just beneath the statue of interest.

The other side of this gate opened to the ground itself. Excess water will pour out around it but the statue itself will be unharmed. The longma widened the opening until the width of the statue was slightly exceeded, and began to steadily move the gate upward. This, unfortunately, required a heightened state of focus and concentration, not to mention effort on her part. It looked like the time she first started learning how to open and close gates, potentially leaving her tired. This first attempt had to be the one that gets it right.

"I think I can get it through, Rosa. Just need a little more time."

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

@Blitz Boom @Dji

"I'm okay. Really, I am."

The bunny wouldn't want to talk about an aspect of Fluttershy that really made his skin crawl. Lotus already had a perception of the pegasus being timid and kindhearted but it may be better to leave her with that impression. Besides, if dragons had built a reputation of being tough, Fluttershy's corrupted persona is a lot worse than the worst a dragon could ever hope to be. Just thinking about that caused him to shiver, but it is better to divert this to happier thoughts or anything that would get Lotus' mind off it. Thing is, it's really bothersome and Angel didn't come off convincing enough to drop the conversation.

"Okay, maybe not. But I can't talk about it here."

"It's not in my nature to be violent, Nerzhei. If there is another way to resolve a problem, I will always prefer to take that over the stare. I guess the most a pony will ever resort to is intimidation but I've never met a pony so evil that they'd jump to violence to get what they want. Well, apart from one... but it's best we don't dig that one up."

If there was anypony she'd consider utterly evil, and is a pony, it would have to be the king. Just seeing the crystal ponies react as if their past was just yesterday is not a burden anyone should have. But their history was already mired with such pain and misery that Princess Cadance's rule on the throne is considered unanimously better in every possible aspect. Good thing too since her loving nature always puts them at ease, and her humble demeanor makes her much more approachable. Kind of like a Princess Celestia for the Crystal Empire; everypony loves her despite her admittedly funny title.

"If you don't mind me asking, how big are the dragon lands exactly? Spike tells me the dragon lands look like a massive expanse of rocky landscapes and volcanos. Is there more to it?"

Edited December 14, 2018 by EQ_Theta

Sekel · December 14, 2018

@EQ_Theta, @Blitz Boom

TWILIGHT SPARKLE

Twilight took in everything that was said between Nerzhei and Fluttershy. She was content to listen to them prattle on but what stuck in her mind was still the matter of dragon magic. It was completely unknown to her! She knew she had to learn everything there was about it but for the time being, she was fine in taking her time about it. She's got lots of it after her ascension, after all. In her mind, she figured that Spike was still the only dragon that had access to a special kind of magic that lets him send and receive letters but it may not be the case anymore, depending on what she would eventually find out. Her ears perked up at hearing talk of the dastardly king that was previously in charge of the Crystal Empire and a shudder ran through at the memory of having to use corruption magic just to get to the Crystal Heart. She was about to ask for a change of subject when Fluttershy did it anyway. She latched onto it with a smile and was seemingly brought back to life.

"If you remember, Rarity and I did go to the dragon lands to help Spike in the dragon lord gauntlet. Although, admittedly, I believe we only say a small portion of it if Nerzhei is to be believed about there being plenty of other dragons in the dragon lands," Twilight said and tilted her head in Nerzhei's direction in an apologetic manner. "Sorry, I didn't mean it to sound like I did. Can you enlighten us, please?"

@FanOfManyShows

WATTS MECHANO

Watts grinned and waved her hoof in small circles in the air. "I'm sorry, I don't quite believe you're from Ponyville. I see lots of ponies in Ponyville walk by my stall in the market area and check out what I have for sale, but I have never, ever seen you there before." Watts laughed to herself and scratched the back of her neck. "If you had moved to Ponyville while I was on the train today, that would be a poor excuse too because it takes a couple of days to get everything right in a residence."

@Blitz Boom

AURORA LIGHTS

Aurora managed to gulp a small bit and cowed slightly, leaning her front towards the ground at seeing Onache sit on her throne. When Happy leaned in, Aurora gave off a small 'eep' and began shaking like a leaf. She was feeling intimidated by the pair but didn't want to exactly run away either. Something was making her stay in the hive's general area of the temple.

"Um ... I .. well ... I kinda lived on my own as a changeling for as long as I can remember ... maybe that has everything to do with me not particularly wanting to be part of a hivemind?" Aurora ventured a question, doing her best to stand tall but was unable to from the intensity of Onache's and Happy's looks to her.

@Blitz Boom

KARMIC FATE

Karmic gasped with an 'oof' when she landed upon Enzo's back. She watched parchement wrap around her limbs but didn't struggle. "She ... I think she has stopped, Enzo," Karmic said breathlessly, resting her head on the back of his neck; feeling relief at not feeling Atzy pound on her skull for the time being. "Wh-where are we going to go?"

Moonlit · December 14, 2018

@Blitz Boom Serenade smiles "Oh she found me....and a new friend...eeh" She grimaces, remembering Fah'lina's teeth. "Also I gave her one of mom's cinnamon balls. She'll be in a sugar coma for a few...minutes or hours." She shudders "Also, I had to speak with the Dreaded Pink One. How are you feeling?"

@Blitz Boom @Catpone Cerberus as the pair are talking, a puff of magic deposits two scrolls. Both have dark blue wrappings, one is labeled MOONLIT SERENADE, the other is laballed FOR SERNADE'S FRIEND

Rising Dusk · December 15, 2018

@Blitz Boom

Rising Dusk wasn't that particularly adept in interpreting dreams, or nightmares in this case. If it was a nightmare. There was too much evidence that this was all going on in his dreams though. The oily mass that slithered about before him and outside the circle of light he sat in took on the shape of the magical weave from the cursed bear he dispelled early in the day. It was too big now though to be a spell, well, at least a spell of this degree anyways. The spell work that kept Nightmare Moon imprisoned on the moon stretched across the whole surface of the celestial object. Next, there was the part of the spell, that he could see in the foul mass a few hooves away, that was suppose to compel him to touch it, wasn't doing anything. The focus of what was going on seemed to be the pony shaped bubbles that blistered from the oil and popped with whispers. Male, female, those differences he could tell, but not what they were saying. Why this was having such an effect on his subconscious to dream about it, he couldn't guess. While he was happy to have freed the poor souls eaten up by the bear and rid the world of such a disgusting artifact, he'd done such things before and didn't have dreams like this about it. Not feeling in any danger, he didn't see any point in calling out for the Princess of Dreams, whom was vastly better at reading such things. That and considering he fell asleep in the afternoon, not like she'd be around to help anyways.

Thus far he hadn't been able to use his extra sense while in this dark room with the foul oily mass. Suddenly though, the hair on the back of his neck stood up and his ears flicked alert, he could feel something, like he was being watched. To his left? His right? His head shot up and looked into the light that was cast down upon him. Nothing. Rising Dusk shot his sight forward again toward the oily mass to suddenly see tendrils finally cross into the circle of light toward him. His horn ignited in orange and black wisps instantly appeared in the mix, while he pushed with his front legs to move himself away from the oily mass and adrenaline filled his veins.

THUD!

Rising Dusk was in a different dark room. He could feel temperature again, his upper body much cooler than his lower half. His back was arched with his shoulder blades and head laying against a rug, the rest of him was at a higher elevation and laying on at soft cushion but still covered in his blanket. Looking around, he saw the low glow of embers from his fireplace in an inverted position. Pulling his legs off the ouch to join the rest of him on the floor of his apartment, he worked to rouse himself. "Oww..." he exclaimed to the empty room in a more annoyed tone than injured. Swinging himself sideways to get onto his front and into a sitting position he finally took the moment to rub his head.

What time was it? It usually take a while for the wood of his fire to get reduced that low. Getting to his hooves he crossed his apartment toward the closed curtains over his balcony. Using a hoof to pull half of it to the side and let in some rays of light. The sun was still up, just peaking over the tress in the park he lived next to. He blinked a couple of times. That wasn't right. The sun rose on his side of the building and set on the other side. The sun was rising? Pushing the curtain open wider to let more light in he looked over at his clock. It was morning... The next day! That dream felt so short, it was hard to belief he'd slept more than twelve hours. Taking a quick inventory of his physique, he could say he was indeed quite refreshed. He guessed claiming that his day was long yesterday wouldn't be fair since he slept most of it now. If he didn't get his rump in gear though, he was going to be late for work.

The detective quickly shoveled in some breakfast and pulled on a clean hoodie from his closet. Stuffing the pouch with his badge and head off to the office. Rising Dusk had an appointment for round two with the sisters of Troy.

Blitz Boom · December 15, 2018

@Lucid_Nightlight

"I'd personally blame the chickens for this. Just like them to ally with the ducks and fling soap through windows. It's a conspiracy I tell you!"

A pointy tinfoil hat popped up on her head as she said this, whilst she had a good laugh over it. It were fun having folks to be around who were just crazy and weird, instead of telling her to stop being like that. Guess this was a perk about hanging out with draconequui and related species like that, and something she'd totally have to do more often in the future.

"Hey wait a minute, is this the Lumen you told me about earlier? The pony you said made all sorta strange statements?"

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

@EQ_Theta

Rosa held his breath and kept a couple of daggers from his belt on the ready, in case the golden guardian would interfere with this. Since movement seemed to be the thing that got it riled up, it could be expected to react at least, yet through all of this, it didn't seem to do anything. Not even as water poured out of the room and down the hole, landing in the dead dirt as the statue would follow. Unless something happened with Lin's concentration of strength, this should hopefully work.

The bat pony weren't going to say anything at least, and risk it. The less damage that could be done here the better, which entailed that he should keep quiet and just wait and see what were going to happen here. Either they'd have a statue, or they'd have a statue and some parts, then hope that it were repairable, so that Scarcity weren't gonna have them chased down and dealt with. Rosa might be good at avoiding capture, but from his first meeting on, he already knew that if she wanted to find him, or anypony he might trey to hide, she would. Might be an hour, a day, or perhaps even a month, but sooner or later, somepony would come knocking on his door. Something which he didn't want to be the last thing heard from either him, Sen, Lin or Omen, though the last of those should be safe. Scarcity had not met her.

Meanwhile, outside, Omen kept her eyes on Sen, but took a few glances towards the top of the temple, and wondering how things were going in there. Had they gotten the statue yet? The water seemed to act strangely around it for some reason, so perhaps they were draining it or something?

"The sea acts strange. Do you think they got it, Sen?"

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

@EQ_Theta @Dji

"Around the edges of our home, or up on the active volcano's side, you will mostly just find just the same, rocky or scorched areas where idiots fail to realize that we actually need to have vegetation to get by with, or the ground doesn't allow for it. Sporadically, you will find some areas of forest that haven't been destroyed - in parts because mostly just fire-resistant vegetation grows there - where either the area is filled with large monsters, or some dragons run it like a farm. Growing the area, making sure there's enough animals there to keep the population, while also having some for... Other purposes, that sort of thing. Earth dragons tend to do this more often than the others, though the water dragons apparently have their own variations near the shore, with forests of kelp and fish farms. I haven't seen one up close, but the few talkative ones I've met claims it is so.

The Dragon Lord traditionally also live in an area with no vegetation, which tends to be because of tradition more than anything, but likely also have to do with especially the dragons of old liking to have a place to rule from that made them look intimidating. Not as easy to do if you reside in a tree.

Regardless, there is also the main areas for animals and wood, which are in the inactive volcanoes. I could spent the next three weeks telling the details about how that is, but it will be easier for you to just understand that in time, valley's began growing from the cooling dirt within, and random pollen/seeds carried there by birds and other such creatures. They're kept pretty well guarded against poachers, as well as outsiders, as they are important areas for wood, meat, and the likes of that.

I were stationed for some years in one called the Silver Valley, which is also were Lyriel is from. Despite her being calm and docile, this particular valley is a dangerous area with no animals to speak of, but the trees grows exceptionally quickly, so the risk is generally worth it for those around the area."

Fluttershy sounded as if she had another topic mentioned that carried painful memories, so yet again, currently forbidden territory, which were why Nerzhei had just gone on to answer the rest of the inquiry instead, though she did give Twilight a narrowed look for a brief moment when she said that her and Fluttershy had been to the crucible, and to help a dragon for all reasons. Not very traditional for that to happen.

"I want to know why- No, How a couple of ponies were at the most sacred of dragon rituals, and didn't get themselves caught. It might be against our laws to eat or scorch ponies, as we don't want an open war with Equestria, but you should still have been imprisoned and then banished by the new dragon lord, at the bare minimum."

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

@Rising Dusk

While far away, the crone kept working her magic to locate Rising Dusk, in the immediate area, the officer would find that there were somepony waiting for him at his office already, leaning up against the wall and looking from side to side to see if they could spot him. That part became obvious at least, when the pony noticed that he were there and wandered directly towards him.

"Uhm... H-Hello officer."

Void raised her hoof and gave a slight wave.

"Null is inside. We... Finished the i-inventory list. We figured we'd c-come and give it to you, so... I-It's in there! With Null."

She were feeling fidgety and unsure what to really do with herself, or how to approach things without Null here, but she had wanted a bit of fresh air, so she stayed out. It weren't supposed to be more than a few minutes after all, and she hadn't expected that the officer would show up just a little after they did.

"So... A-Are you okay, o-officer? Did you get r-rested? You look a little u-under the weather, so perhaps it was a l-long night after all?"

A quaint meeting, yet the sister being here, outside with Rising, would mean that there were a particular pony that - whilst they had yet to tell who it were that the sisters had worked with - would soon get a fair view of one of the more prime targets regardless, as her tracking were following in a very wide spectrum from Rising and the remnant that slammed him. Still, a busy day outside, a long time tracking and old eyes... Perhaps they were lucky. Depended on so many things.

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

@Catpone Cerberus @Moonlit

"Well, we know that, but how do we convince everypony else? Perhaps Serenade knows some kind of way. She's been around in this time and age. She would know what is happening."

The sudden appearance of scrolls out of nowhere stopped Cherish from going further, and almost made her fizzle out of sight from the sudden movement. once the shock had subsided though, and she saw that it were only scrolls, she managed to calm down and get her erratic form back in check.

Having a check, one were clearly meant for the resident siren, but the other one... No, who were she kidding, she knew who that one were too as well.

"There's one for Serenade, and one for you, Nada. Here you go."

She supposed that it might be Luna who sent these, which were a quick response for certain, so that was good for the sirens. Still, Cherish couldn't help but feel a little left out, considering everything... *sigh* Perhaps the princess just figured that the spirit were doing well enough, as she made no indication of anything else that one time they had met in the castle. Either way, as she floated the scroll over to the siren, she did hers to put her happy face on and try to focus on being happy for Nada, who had a worse deal with all of this anyway. At least Cherish could vanish from sight if something went wrong.

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

@Catpone Cerberus

"An elder dragon's eye? What a peculiar find. I take it that this and the perfume have a common place of origin?"

"We found it in the same location, yes. Can you believe that these things were not found by the intruders?"

The mare let out a pearly laughter.

"To think what can be left behind in the mess is staggering. Yet one beings loss is another's gain. Now, how much of a gain we will see when the time is right, but I know just the auction for this particular inventory, so you will soon be counting your ill-gotten gains. It is such a shame that the elder dragon's eye is not for sale though. It could net quite the profit."

"May I ask when an auction can take place?"

"Four hours, give and take 30 minutes in case of attendance issues."

Marley looked surprised over hearing this, which just made the mare smile even more.

"I am a busy mare with many irons in the fire, and it just so happens that your product lands at an opportune time when I had other clientele who wished for a gathering. Provided that the wares are real, this should prove quite the attraction for some of them."

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

@Moonlit

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Just kinda bored sometimes. I'm not used to laying around like this. Doctor Xeno makes for good company though, hehe.

But I wanna hear how yours went! Sounds like it got really eventful, and you made a new friend! Who is it? Anypony I know?"

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

@FanOfManyShows

"You think Sapphire's trying to find a way to keep her hidden from ya?"

It was not a pleasant thought to Chow, but what really had been for a long time now, when it came to that family? He liked (most of) 'em, but they were a mix tape of crazy with a sprinkle of malice here and there. Now the ones with him right now, he were sure were generally some good folks, but Sapphire... That was a bit more iffy, and he were leaning more towards her being like Emerald by the looks of things right now. perhaps not that much in the deep end, but getting there. So he wouldn't be surprised if she were trying to work er tricks to get her husband from snooping where she didn't think he should.

Well, either way, they had a goal to go for now, so on their way to Canterlot they'd go. Unless the folks teleported them, Chow would take the lead and get on the way there. if anything in the forest tried something funny, it'd get a face full of spearhead, though he'd actually feel sad about it if it were. He couldn't take anything with him right now, so it'd be a big ol' waste of meat.

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

@FanOfManyShows

The stallion didn't make a sound as he were kicked, and stood up again as if it were nothing.

"So, the infamous sister have returned, albeit barely."

The gears on his boots turned a notch and suddenly he were back where he stood before, and bashed his hoof into the floor, sending a wave of magic Sapphire's way to return the favor of being knocked back.

"You're just a ghost, clinging to life by hiding in a rock. What a lackluster usage of dark magic, though I'm not surprised. Equestria doesn't have enough darkness seeping through its core to show true horror and malice. Here, have a taste."

He manifested a line of see-through shields in front of him, held by ghastly specters so twisted that it were impossible to tell if it were ponies, changelings,. griffons or some other quadruped, and kept an amused look on the pony. Or the ghost of one in any case.

"Keep her. Sooner or later, you will come and find me, and where I reside, there will be no salvation for you."

The stallion held up the gem he had tried to push Emerald into, to show a part of her essence had actually made it in, though he didn't say more before the gears on his boots turned again, and he vanished into thin air, along with the rift he had shown from.

Emerald would still be there in her mist form though, and would try to thank her sister, if she could manage to make a psychic connection to Sapphire. She didn't feel right though, with missing something of her, though what had been taken she didn't know. Hopefully nothing too important.

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

@Dji

"Hey, relax there Aurora. I ain't scary. I'm just your garden variety human turned changeling. Ain't nothing strange or spooky about that."

Happy let out a chuckle and sat down, to be more in head height with the shaking changeling.

"You've been alone and away from a hive for a long time. That's alright, I can relate to that, and it makes a whole boatload of reason that you don't wanna change that. That doesn't have to mean you'll need to be afraid we'll force you. I would like asking what it's like being a changeling among griffons though. I only tend to hear our kind going for ponies. What's the life and story of your meddle? Got the same tendency to get really up in your face and confrontational like they do?"

Onache didn't say anything, but just looked, and listened in as Happy took the word for now. As he were among ponies regularly, he tended to have a better way of talking with others than she did, as her interactions with the lesser races tended to be... Less than kind. So she would let him speak, and see where this lead.

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

@Dji

"We are going to the temple in which I were once imprisoned, to seek knowledge of what have befallen you. I refuse to bring a pony to the great city of the sphinx for answers, as our punishments would be great."

What the sphinx considered to be lesser races (basically everyone in their eyes) were not welcome in their capitol unless they were servants or in chains, and if one of them brought one around that were not secured or bowed to their every word, there would be repercussions. Both to the being who had the audacity to think they could simply come there for answers, and to the one who brought him or her. A small loophole were there in case they had lost a bet and were forced to, but even then, it were highly frowned upon, and more often than not, the one who were brought there wouldn't get any actual help.

Now, the temple he had been locked in he recalled had some books stashed somewhere, as the dragons who once lived there to also protect the element needed things to do, and if at least some were still there, it may carry knowledge. If not, they could go back to Canterlot, and demand access to their libraries.

"The travel will not last for long, so arm yourself with patience."

The wrappings around the pony loosened and vanished into thin air, as Enzo flew along. It wouldn't be possible to see from Karmic's angle, but a smile were actually on Enzo's face for the time. It had been far too long since he could enjoy the open sky to its fullest.

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Lucid_Nightlight · December 15, 2018

@Blitz Boom

"Chickens. Those things are always chasing ponies. I'd blame those things too."

"Especially that orange one that can't fly."

"Lucid, you are a comedian. You should know that the whole joke about Scootaloo being a chicken has gotten old a very long time ago."

"Who says I was referring to Scootaloo? Have you seriously never seen an orange chicken?"

As for the whole thing about Lumen.

"I'm not sure if Lumen is here or not, the guy has like five houses in different universes. Just leave a note for him or something."

Catpone Cerberus · December 15, 2018

@Moonlit @Blitz Boom
Nada jumped a bit when the scrolls appeared, but she calmed down right away after seeing they were just scrolls, and she rose a bit from the water as she curiously looked at them. When Cherish said that one of them was for Nada, she rose more from the water and shook her hooves as dry as possible, not knowing if magically appearing paper was waterproof or not. She took the scroll from the air, assuming it was Cherish floating it, thanked her with a nod, and after few spins of the scroll in her hoofs and embarrassed smile later, Nada finally got it open and started reading it silently.

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

@Blitz Boom

Ruby was glad that Marley had taken the conversation over, she didn't really care for having useless chitchat. When the necklace was mentioned, Ruby kept her expression unchanged, hoping that the mare wouldn't keep pressuring her about it, because she wasn't exactly happy about having to keep it either. Sure it was nice to have such a symbol of strength hanging or her neck, but she would have been more than happy to change it to bit of treasure, if it wasn't for the fact it was unbearable to even think of not having it. Though she was naturally prepared a little story in case she needed to inform her that it wasn't coming off.

She stayed quiet.

EQ_Theta · December 16, 2018

@Blitz Boom

Sen looked to the sea for a second, only seeing ripples but he didn't catch on to anything that looked out of the ordinary. Probably chalking that one up to lacking familiarity with the sea. As much as he would want to know the answers, this one felt elusive. His reply came off with a tired tone, dry and heaving some heavy breaths in.

"I don't know, Omen. I hope they got it." There was a quiet moment of hesitation, looking like he lost his breath for second before looking back to the sea in contemplation. "This has to work... because I don't know what we'll do if it doesn't."

Back at the temple, things seemed to be going smoothly. No distractions, no setbacks so far. The gate was just about to reach the tip and with a few more seconds, the gate was completely over the whole statue, moved from one place to another. With the gate closed, Lin sighed and opened a second one just behind herself and Rosa. She still deemed this part a little too convenient to not notice something going on. It was eerily too good to be true, but wouldn't want to break this streak. She tapped Rosa on the back and pointed to the gate she had just opened and gestured him to slowly follow, whispering all the while. There was still some energy left in her to move this gate around, preferably towards them as she walked towards it.

"It's time we leave. Let's do this nice and quiet, yes?"

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

@Blitz Boom @Dji

Sounds like there was something to look forward to, seeing a place with dense vegetation. Maybe not the best place to be when exploring but being devoid of animals might not be an accurate statement. Perhaps there are animals but just too small to see with the naked eye. There would be plenty of avenues to learn about this Silver Valley place, but out of respect, Fluttershy decided to keep this to herself. Better to leave these places pristine instead of bringing it up only for some enterprising individuals to take advantage of this knowledge to the detriment of anyone living there.

Really, the whole idea that there is a thriving ecosystem that she doesn't know about has her thinking about what sorts of creatures could be living there. Admittedly, it was still premature to say Fluttershy wouldn't be confident enough to venture into a new locale heavily populated by dragons but it was a nice thing to think about. She smiled throughout Nerzhei's explanation, being wide-eyed throughout the whole thing. As long as it wasn't a life-threatening situation she was getting herself to, maybe she might take up joining an expedition there. Maybe...

But there was that other query Nerzhei had. It was directed to Twilight, but the pegasus could offer some form of explanation despite having limited knowledge about the incident.

"I wasn't there myself but I guess Spike was able to leave a good enough impression on Dragon Lord Ember to leave them be?"

Moonlit · December 16, 2018

@Blitz Boom Serenade nods "Good, because you need to be well enough to travel. Mom wants me to come by and well, you need a vacation. As for the friend....well, she's just like me" Serenade flicks her eyes over to the Doctor then back to Ziggy.

@Catpone Cerberus @Blitz Boom It has come to our attention that another Siren has entered the Lands of Equestria and wishes to entreaty with us for a meeting. Moonlit Serenade has vouched for you, and I will arrive in Ponyville soon. Where were your preference for meeting be? at Sereande's house, at the Castle? You may reply via this scroll by writing your message and rolling it up again. I await your reply.

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