open Casual stroll

Blitz Boom · March 19, 2020

"The earliest she'd gonna be awakened is in the next... Seven hours or so. And I assume that Diego will then take further of her time, so if you merely wishes to pass time, there are still quite a lot of it to fill out. Odds are that the moon will have risen high before she returns home."

"Hmph. I don't get why anyone would drink themselves into this state, or at all. Alcohol just dulls the brain."

"It is a choice that everyone should be allowed to make. You make yours, as did she."

"Sure. If no one have any idea what to do, couldn't we just head for the ground and hunt? I might as well get some rations stocked up."

She had some with her, as well as water, in the same backpack where she had her bits, but it were running a little low, so why not? Hunting tended to be a good bonding experience between dragons too, so it might make Ruby more happy about her presence.

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@Catpone Cerberus

The dragoness nodded towards the bush.

"Dryad's hide as vegetation. The weaker they are, the less impressive, and Lyriel got hit pretty good. Urgh. And not just her."

She removed her good hand to start getting up, revealing that a large Timberwolf fang were stuck in her. Didn't seem like it were bleeding heavily or anything, but it had to hurt a lot. The worry on Lotus's face as she jumped around on Nerzhei's shoulders and chattered on just made it clearer, as she usually didn't get this nervous about her dragon, unless something were wrong.

"Accursed bad arm caused me to miss a parry. But there's *urgh* No time to talk about this. If she's coming back, we need to get moving. Lyriel's going to be fine like this."

Once up, she'd start to wander into the forest, whilst clutching the wounded area. And Agni? Well, after being petted, and responding to it by putting down the timberwolf stick in front of the siren with a triumphant chirp, the phoenix would flap up again on top of Nada's head. She wouldn't leave unless it seemed Nada were going underwater again, at which point he'd rise up and follow from the air, as best he could.

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@Catpone Cerberus

Straw nodded at the explanation he received. Made sense enough to him, though it were sad that Scarecrow had to hide like this, just because others got scared of him. Surely wouldn't give the best impression of other creatures in the area for Scarecrow, and if he wanted to help out here, it wasn't gonna help that he only got negativity in return.

"The forest could always use another guide to help out in the forest. Like you said, some days it seems it's getting more dangerous, and days like this it ain't safe for your average pony.

Have you ever considered not hiding out here though, and be more visible? The others are likely going to keep being scared if they never get to see and know you well enough. The same thing happened with Zecora, Discord, and a few others I know of, and it didn't stop until folks had gotten used to them, and understood there weren't anything to be afraid of.

Sure it'll scare them a little at first to see you around, but a kind soul like you shouldn't have to isolate himself because of that. That ain't how it's supposed to be."

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@EQ_Theta

The two minute creatures faced one another before it were time to leave, just starring at the others, until Shrimp rose up as tall as he could, and let out a tiny roar towards Hammond. Who then in turn, mimicked the gesture, just without sound, before looking at Shrimp again and waving. Perhaps as the years went on and they both got smarter, there'd be more to speak off between them, yet for now, they were small of mind and couldn't communicate well. Which left their options at something like this, which seemed to work on leaving them on friendly terms for now. Shrimp at least didn't slither back as he made his way up Lin's leg to hiss or try and set a fire, so that were a good start regardless.

When they were all set and done, Rosa would lead the way outside, and when they finally were, he'd let out a deep, heavy sigh.

"That ended up a lot more consequential than I at first expected. The next amount of time between you and her are certainly going to be... Something."

He did not envy them, that they now had to deal with Scarcity and her deals on their own. Yet what were there he could do, seeing as he were soon going before the court, and were likely to gain a lengthy prison sentence? Only his part, for as long as he could, and then hope that they managed to deal with the rest well enough. Hopefully the bauble and its residents were able to help in some regard, seeing how old the five within were. They'd likely been in negotiation situations before, and could throw some pointers to the longma siblings.

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@Sekel

At the request of a towel, the medical assistant went over and grabbed a piece of parchment from a nearby shelf, and brought it to Golden. The injured pony would sign it using a feather and some ink, which were standing nearby, at which point it would be transported to the large table that seemed ready to pour tea into the cups on. The paper would barely have hit that before it were gone then, and shortly after, a couple of towels would manifest. Seemed like the transport route for things were centralized there.

"As requested, Atzy."

He would float them over to the wet gemling, so that she might dry herself on the high end, clean towels, whilst he went on to address Karmic.

"It is a pleasure to know your names, and find a member of a family willing to share their home with one so unlike them. It warms my heart to find evidence of such selflessness., especially in the dark times that have been for changelings in recent years, which I can imagine must have been hard for you all, seeing how closely she resembles them. The close-mindedness of some beings can paint the many into such a dim picture."

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@Sekel

Last would wait until her majesty had returned to provide her with answers to the questions she had. The most prominent being of course, whom this were. And far as Last knew, there were no doubt on the identity. It couldn't really be any other, considering her size.

"I think this is the manetid's eternal queen. Dead after tormenting us with her children for the past millennia. This is concerning."

Cherish manifested looking pretty seasick from being thrown around in this teleport as much as she were, and had yet again, gotten a little washed in her colors. Teleporting did not sit well with her it seemed.

"Isn't it a good thing that she's gone?"

"I'm more concerned about how according to our stories, the Shrine Maiden's who actually faced her, only ever managed to drive her off. Whoever, or whatever, did this, isn't one of us. They're stronger, and they're an unknown in already hostile territories. This whole situation might have just gotten worse than I originally thought."

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@Sekel

So... That wasn't the best way to introduce herself to the new queen on the block. And neither were it when Happy started laughing about it, leaving Thorax as the only one there to possibly straighten things out here before they ended up on a wrong hoof.

"Queen Dia'thiz, I'm sorry about that. They're uhm... Not used to these kinds of things."

"You needn't apologize for them. They made their own choice to react as they did, and we will let it pass."

It werre good for them to hear that there were no mental sway over these, as the hivemind of theirs had once been, back when there were only the queen, without Diamante. Such a system were not one they cared much for now, and thankfully, it seemed as if the first ones they had met were not bound by this.

The first to respond to for them, were likely best to be Aurora, as she seemed the one most affected by their presence.

"Fear us not child. We care not for destruction, or converting the lands as once were. Tell us what there is about us, which you find so wrong, and we may ease your mind with knowledge."

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@Pastel Heart @Widdershins

There were indeed a helper looking out for them. Nature itself.

It sounded odd, but the pony running around would find that thick flora would start to suddenly pop up and block his passage, leading him back towards where the fillies were, unless he were happier running straight into the sort of bushes that had nasty looking thorns semi-hidden between the flowers and berries.

Soon as nature had managed to get him on a good path, there'd then start to be roots popping up, aiming to trip him and start a game of badger bowling. Unless he went in there to help the ones who came to help hi on his own of course. if not, he'd get some helping nudges there, to put it mildly.

Something funky were going on around here for this to happen. Seemed to be for a good thing, but still, it were hard to say for sure what sort of motive nature would have in messing around here, and not just directly do something like drag the badger away, instead of trying to aim a crazy roadrunner towards the area.

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@Widdershins

The mayor simply nodded to what she heard and eased up some. She were still certain that there were something fishy about this family, but so far, Monolith hadn't sold them out, nor over spoken about anything. Just shared some laws and viewpoints on whatever or not a being were able to do horrendous things just in general, which yes, they could. Everypony had the chance to be the next Sombra, or Chrysalis for that matter.

The rest more or less just ignored him, as Monolith's behavior and way of talking made it hard for them to care much for him, beyond wondering whatever or not he might suddenly start swinging. Yet that were mostly thoughts that Alonsus and Chop had. Stare had other things to think about, and really didn't have anything she wished to say/learn about Monolith right now, whilst he had a brother here that were easier to speak with, and whom seemed to be in some degree of distress. A seemingly near-permanent state for him, which likely had a lot to do with the family in question.

"I understand. We used to have a hunter in Ponyville, who grew up among griffons. The way he talked about greetings others sounded a lot like what you're saying, and he also went on about having a tough hide. I guess that's just how things are in rural places, yes? I don't know. I don't like to fight."

She heard the door get knocked on and turned around to go and answer it. The rest seemed occupied, so it were probably for the best that she did this. Might be it were the officer again, back with more family members.

(merging Sekel's group in now)

@Sekel

(just before they arrived)

Months she said? Then this were definitely not from that infection, or the poor little thing wouldn't have any hair left on her body. She sounded as if she were just about to say what were actually the case, when Sunny picked her up and it seemed her thoughts derailed. *sigh* Annoying, yet she could always get her answer later she supposed. It didn't require any amount of haste really, but if she were correct in what the deal were with this peculiar mare, it were something that she knew a few beings might be well interested in knowing about. And which a few other beings should hear nothing about, lest they'd try to swing by and *purge the monster*. Urgh, simplistic, narrow-minded puritans were such a drag to deal with.

(as they arrived)

Opening the door, she would indeed see more family members, as well as somepony else. An elegant mare who had knocked on the door, and at the sight of Stare's eyes suddenly going wide in shock, would move gracefully forward and place a hoof around the neck of her in a small embrace.

"How fortune smiles upon me today, that I would find you so soon, sister dearest."

"S-Scarcity? But I thought you said-"

Scarcity let go of her, and semi-dragged her to the side, to leave room for the others. Well, those who could enter the building anyway. Might be hard for Sunny. They'd see.

"Oh that little thing? I've made suitable arrangements to ensure that's no longer an issue. But we can talk about that later little sister. Do tell, who are your intriguing friends? I can imagine these two to be of Sunny's extensive brood-"

She pointed towards Blither and Monolith. There were no guarantee that these two were whom she thought, but considering she knew well who the other three were, she knew well who it likely were. That she had looked into the other beings in the room were... Inconsequential. At least for their ears, far as she were concerned.

"-Whilst this must be your coworkers. Surely this impressive visage must be Alonsus?"

The stallion in question would give a deep bow with a wide smile on his face.

"That it is, madamme. The great Alonsus wholeheartedly welcomes you to Ponyville."

This earned him a short, pearly laughter behind as risen hoof.

"Ah, how delightfully quirky. And Chop Chop. It's been far too long darling."

She'd get a grunt and a nod in response to that, though his narrowed look said that he had more to share. He just wanted to be done setting up the table first, seeing as the vultures were about arrived now and were likely going to start chowing down soon.

"Hmhmhm, you never change, do you?"

She also saw the mayor, but the mare in question were too busy looking at the strange family, so she would wait with introductions there. Perhaps to a later, more fortuitous point where they could speak in private, and potentially exchange certain housing favors in exchange for a handsome donation to a certain mare's reelection campaign. Ah, and who said politics could not be fun?

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@Widdershins

"Hey, mind brushing that sparrow off that landed on me before the little guy gets hurt?"

She were being cheeky towards the lightweight, who really, Really were a Light weight. Like, seriously. She'd get more weight by actually moving around Featherweight. She knew, she tried once where he'd fallen on the ground outside the coffee shop and needed a bit of a helping hoof to get home. Poor thing had really been under the weather there, and just couldn't get it done on his own.

And even that runt of the litter, were heavier than this guy. No wonder he could move as fast as he could. Also meant that a nice smacking should just about do the trick on him too, but how to get hold of the gangly weirdo? That were gonna be the question. Perhaps if she slipped a little something in his drink? Hmm... Unethical, but effective. Sounded like it were just up her alley, though she'd save that plan in case no other were there to give her a helping hoof.

And indeed, no other Were there. Sort of.

Going through the doors and looking around, there were only one employee in the place, and that were Chippy. A frail, ocean-blue griffon who looked up once he saw her, and let out a sigh of relief before scurrying away from his path towards the register, and returning to running a broom on the floor. Go figure that the only one they had in right now, were the one who literally fainted at the smallest sight of blood, and handled confrontation usually by curling up and begging whoever were being aggressive to not hurt him. There really weren't any fight in this guy, which were kinda ironic for his kind, but Straw believed in him, and had gotten him in as a cleaner. He'd been slowly improving over the past three months, she'd give him that. Least he weren't crying whenever somepony talked to him anymore.

Beyond him, there were no customers right now. Figure he were out in their slowest hour to make it cleaner before scurrying away again. Heck, he were already trying to get to clean as far away from them as possible when they entered. Guess she were on her own in dealing with this then.

"Best place in town this place. Don't cause trouble here though, or I swear I'll shove you straight into the deep fryer.

Anyway, since Chippy over there ain't that good mixing something up, how's about I go make sure we get something worthwhile to drink? I guess you want something so sweet the hummingbirds would collapse from the smell alone?"

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@Midnight

"Well, we can call it your expertise then. Either case, I would love to hear your insight into these sort of things. You're an interesting visitor, Icy, and one who doesn't judge us. Company like that is hard to come by at times, so I'm honestly thrilled at the prospect to learn more about you, and see what it is that you do. Feel free to use the machine if you need to. I doubt it, seeing what I have so far, but I'd like to offer the usage, just in case."

She'd step aside a little, allowing said access to Icy wanted it. Otherwise, Pop would just keep looking at Icy with a friendly smile on her face. A good, heartfelt moment, only slightly ruined by Benny chewing through his treats on the side, with a goofy grin full of candy bits.

Edited March 23, 2020 by Blitz Boom

Chiroptera · March 19, 2020

1 minute ago, Blitz Boom said:

"Well, we can call it your expertise then. Either case, I would love to hear your insight into these sort of things. You're an interesting visitor, Icy, and one who doesn't judge us. Company like that is hard to come by at times, so I'm honestly thrilled at the prospect to learn more about you, and see what it is that you do. Feel free to use the machine if you need to. I doubt it, seeing what I have so far, but I'd like to offer the usage, just in case."

She'd step aside a little, allowing said access to Icy wanted it. Otherwise, Pop would just keep looking at Icy with a friendly smile on her face. A good, heartfelt moment, only slightly ruined by Benny chewing through his treats on the side, with a goofy grin full of candy bits.

[=~ As she was honestly barely able to control herself and keep herself from just grabbing the materials out of the spell right then and working the plans for the storage device, the moment lasted just that- a moment- before she asked, not quite able to hide the excitement in her voice, "Can I start inventing now? Please?"

Pastel Heart · March 20, 2020

@Blitz Boom @Widdershins

Pastel blinked, not quite sure what was happening. Was there a wizard nearby? A deus ex machina? A beautiful heroine with the power of a goddess?

She stood by Gary and Jelly for now, watching the situation play out. If it lunged and didn't trip up, she'd have to take drastic measures... princess forbid.

Catpone Cerberus · March 20, 2020

@Widdershins
"They were lured into the Everfree forest, and I have a feeling that they are at one certain place even though I haven't actually seen them since." Cerberus explained, waving to a cat that walked past. He didn't comment on Widdershins's response regarding lawyers because he figured based on his change of topic that the reality-bender didn't want to talk about it.

@Blitz Boom
"Hunting you say? That's actually a decent idea." surprise in Ruby's voice indicated that she really hadn't expected such a suggestion from Leviathan "I'm curious to know how you hunt." she wasn't even lying, she hadn't seen the locals hunt, so she was curious how a subspecies that wasn't as well build as her kind hunted their prey. "Shall we go then?"

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Nada just nodded and said before Nerzhei was out of earshot "I'll come check on you both later, but since it was me who the overgrown timberwolf was after, I'll leave the are for now." She smiled at Agni when he let out his triumphant chirp, she found his behavior cute, but she soon turned more serious "I still don't know if you can actually understand what I say, but I need to leave for now, I will be back so don't worry about that, but I have caused enough trouble for today." she would then slowly go back into the river to make sure Agni could take flight before she was fully submerged, then heading back towards the house.

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"Are you talking about leaving the forest?" Scarecrow asked "Because then the answer is no, I don't know who Zecora or Discord are, but I clearly belong here." he looked into a direction that if Straw knew where in the forest they were, he would be able to tell was the direction where Ponyville was "Only place I could fit among you would be a haunted house, and I rather stay here protecting those unfortunate enough to get in trouble with the forest."

EQ_Theta · March 20, 2020

@Blitz Boom

Lin was impressed by Shrimp and Hammond’s interaction, something that she didn’t quite expect to see but it is good to know they are getting along well. The former is learning fast and she is happy to see that is the case for the refraction; likewise for the mimic, it is enough that Lin got to introduce him to a new friend. Once outside, however, Rosa’s statement left a somewhat grim reaction on the siblings. The knew nothing about dealing with shadier individuals and, despite having a foot in the door with Scarcity, it may not be the same for others. They may even have unknowingly placed large targets on themselves by associating with the unicorn. Sadly, nothing could be done about it now.

“I suppose it will be different the next time we meet with Scarcity. You mentioning it already got me feeling like times are changing sooner than expected. Sen and I learned a few things and hopefully that will be a enough of a start so we won’t mess things up moving forward.”

“We’ll be careful from here on out. But… we could say the same about what is to come for you soon. After the hearing, you’ll be locked up for who knows how long. I mean, we know you can handle yourself but just staying in one place for a long time, that sounds rough.”

Despite the knowledge that the scholars could offer to the longma siblings when it comes to negotiating with personas like Scarcity, it still wouldn’t feel natural. Even now Sen still couldn’t reconcile with the idea that someone working in a not-so-reputable line of work could still do good. Seeing the world in black and white was easier and when nuance comes into play, that really starts messing his thoughts. Perhaps accepting that reality is the first step to understanding how not everything is simple. It is something to ponder on, among other things, while waiting to be transported.

Sphinx-Ara · March 21, 2020

@Blitz Boom

Mrs Shy would smile "It is quite nice that Thunder has someone like you to look out for him" she would say as she sipped on her tea "So, do you know how long he will have until he is called?" she asks.

Thunder smiles "Relax mom, I am sure that I will have time to visit from time to time" he says, reassuring her that he won't always be at the headquarters. "All work, no play, makes Thunder a dull boy" he would say with a chuckle.

EcstaticWind · March 21, 2020

On 3/1/2020 at 11:55 PM, Blitz Boom said:

"It changes depending on a few factors. I this situation, I had a solid infiltration going towards a rather annoying group of cultists. Ones who had something in their possesion which I found were best kept away from them. Yet in the middle of a planned weeks excursion, Flaxxy suddenly arrives and begins her own scheme, which were quite a bit more direct than my approach."

"Bad ponies had a real nasty shiny, so I dig in and start to make with the punches."

Flaxxy looked really proud of herself as she said this, whilst Lulu were a bit harder to read, but did get a fleeting, amused smile on her face.

"As said, quite a bit more direct.

So I got her attention, and she resumed distracting them whilst I went in to steal the artifact. Something which I did successfully mind you, just as originally planned. The addition of a superior fighter outside throwing ponies left and right though, certainly did help to speed up the process."

"Hehe. Silly ponies use rope, I grab rope, and start swinging them around real easy. Scrawny little ponies thrown everywhere."

Lulu elegantly waltzed past Velvet as Flaxxy spoke, into his house as he offered them to come inside.

"After dealing with the worst of what it were capable of, It were a quick matter of delivering the thing to a responsible police unit with an affinity for handling magical artifacts after that, and then as we were already gathered and in the area, we assumed we may as well see if you had some free time for a visit. Letters are fine, but they do not give an impression of another as well as a personal visit in my opinion. Also, Flaxxy were rather insistent to show off her prized possession in person."

The diamond dog stood proud and exposed her neck, pointing to the valuable collar she had on.

"See? Is veeery shiny, yes?"

"Might I remind you that it also caused all your hair to fall out, among other things?"

"Bah, you fix issue real quickly, is fine now."

Flaxxy could come inside, though she'd have to wander on all fours, close to the ground. Pro of being limber, yet con of still being rather large. She had to wait for Velvet to step aside though, or transport him like a mother cat did with her kittens. The first option would be preferable, but it depended on whatever or not he might move soon.

"I can understand that. I can only imagine what impression I've left on you two." Velvet said, standing aside for the large Diamond Dog to move past him. He wasn't sure what to make of them. He was almost ready to panic, though he was starting to think he just did that in any situation he met somepony for the first time and was in such proximity. The story made him aware they could be dangerous, though his rational mind told him that worrying about them attacking him was silly. He took a moment to breathe and calm himself before resuming the conversation.

"So, do either of you drink coffee? I'm not too familiar with dietary habits and requirements of your kind, despite my attempts to look into them. And, uh, my apologies for the choice of words. I should get out more..." He said, muttering the last part mostly to himself. It seemed he wasn't immune to the tendencies of those around him, despite attempts to be open-minded.

(Sorry for the wait. Uni started up again >.< )

Rising Dusk · March 21, 2020

@Blitz Boom

A blood curse did not have the most fabulous of tones to it. Dawn's eyes when wide for a moment while the idea of some sort of curse or diseases ran through her body. Quick glances to her body as if such a thing could be seen from the outside. Like the phantom feel of ants crawling over one's body when they talk about them. "You... would be able to see such a thing, yes?" the older twin asked her brother. Rising lulled his head to the side, looking his sister from mane to tail. Beyond the usual weaves of enchantment his sister wore, he saw nothing. Not that he'd seen anything throughout their life that would mark them like a curse normally would. Blood curse was likely just what Harrowmark referred to as recessive. Even their father could draw their linage so far bad. Who knows if some ancient power lie dormant inside the twins from before the time of Starswirl. As if he'd tell her a spider was crawling on her, "I dunno," he lazily replied before straightening his head back up. Dawn's cheeks puffed with annoyance, but deep down she knew if they had so curse laid upon them, it wouldn't be something he'd keep to himself like so. His causal demeanor to the idea was enough to quell her worry, "So infuriating" she huffed.

Rising simply smirked.

"Fine, we'll go with chance. I'm not sure I could call magic in Equestria as an infection. It's more, uh... more uh," she struggled for a word. "Harmonious," her brother added simply. "Bleh, not that again," she grimaced. "Which of us sees magic again?" Rising inquired. "Yeah yeah, whatever, Harmonious," Dawn waved a hoof dismissively his way. "Not very... curse like," she finished with her point. "But you won't find Earth Ponies or Pegasi wielding the arcane here. They have their own types of magic. With improvements in enchantments though, more and more have found use in artifacts to dip their hooves in such," Dawned added, such as Scarlet using a Watch for her courier duties than just relying on her wings. Partly why the need for the O.M.I. to grow was important to The Captain.

Rising had his own inquiry for their guest however. "Why do you keep saying Her? Is the use of her name taboo?" Lily had a curious devotion to not saying the name of this charge she wished to rescue.

Blitz Boom · March 21, 2020

@Catpone Cerberus

"Usually I electrocute them. Others I know that doesn't have magic, tends to go for the throat. Few more... Creative ones makes a real mess out of it."

Leviathan refused to elaborate more than that currently. She wasn't squeamish or anything, but there came a point where hunting went into sadism, and she could mention a few who leaped over that line with gleeful enthusiasm. Y'know, if she cared to be within four miles of any of them, which she didn't. Frankly she hoped most of them had been crushed by an Ursa Major or something since last she heard of them.

As for her own methods... Well, smaller prey weren't an issue, but she wasn't a massive dragon, and when you had more magic than brawn, you went with what worked. Plus it meant she got a well done meal right on the spot. A nice bonus in her opinion.

Since there didn't seem to be any complaints from the bird about this, he'd start to lead the way out. Last thing Ruby might see were Snuzzle raising an arm to wave enthusiastically at their group. Something which made Leviathan give a respectful nod and a worried glance back at the dragoness, before exiting the place and letting out a sigh.

"Here's hoping she will learn in time."

If there were nothing else, she'd start to lead the way to the closest gate. Wouldn't be far.

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@Catpone Cerberus

Nerzhei nodded and started to walk away with a grimace on her face. Her wound weren't too bad, but it were hitting a nerve cluster that made it more painful than it had any right to be. She had to get back and get hold of her crystals so that she could patch this up, and then likely go for some of the pain meds the hospital in Ponyville gave her. This seemed like one of those emergency situations they were talking about.

"Stay safe then. I'll tell Lyriel what happened when she eventually wakes up again."

As for Agni, the bird wasn't stupid per se, just young, inexperienced, and with a lot to learn about the world and how things worked. He understood it well enough when he were told that Nada had to go, as he had picked up some signs from the last few interactions to get the gist of when it seemed like she were gonna take off. One being that she went into the lake, which were the most telling sign in his opinion. A bit annoying though, as he had just gotten comfy, but there were nothing to do about it. Water wouldn't hurt him, but it were uncomfortable to stay in for too long, which were why it were mostly just used for short baths or when you had to drink. Flapping around in it were a bad experience.

So he'd coo, and rub his beak on the top of Nada's head as a sort of friendly greeting, before spreading his wings and going up into the air, flying off to who knew were. Potentially somewhere to tell a few other animals where to find Lyriel so that they could come watch over the bushes, or his little sanctuary. Or maybe something else entirely. Regardless, she'd be safe to dive under, and would soon enough be able to find herself back home, where nothing had yet changed.

Well... Almost nothing. It appeared that one of the windows had been cracked open. Not a lot, and it were usually a sign that Fah'lina had sneaked in, but the mimic usually closed the window after her. Also, it were rather clear that someone, or something, had been rummaging around a little, looking for something, but without stealing anything obvious. Regardless, there appeared to have been an intruder in Nada's absence.

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@Catpone Cerberus

Straw wrinkled his moustache at Scarecrow's response. Nothing unexpected really, considering the circumstances, but he had hoped there'd be some degree of hesitation to the reply. Some sign that Scarecrow wanted to mingle, would make this easier, but it seemed there weren't any enthusiasm for that sort of idea. Guess they had to go the slow, hard way on this.

"I'm not saying you need to move into town, but you said it yourself: You want to help others who got lost out here, yes? Wouldn't that be easier to do if you didn't have to worry about them thinking you were an enemy, and running away from you, and right back into actual danger?

As for Zecora, she's a zebra living here in the forest. Around... That way, roughly."

He pointed to the south west of them. Her hut had some sort of mojo on it that meant that if she didn't want to see you, you wouldn't find it, but it were roughly were he pointed. Whatever circles you went into after that, depended on the zebra.

"And Discord is a draconequus. Mixture of all sorts of creatures, looking almost stitched together. Few thousands years ago, he ruled Equestria as the Lord of Chaos. He's gotten pretty mellowed out in recent years though. For a draconequui anyway."

Discord had caused some issues at the coffee shop a few times, but it seemed to be made in an attempt to be funny, and weren't too disruptive, so Straw didn't take it too heavily. Long as he didn't start mutating the staff, or made the coffee grinder talk again. Berry had been a bit troubling to deal with for a few days after that, until Discord spilled the beans on it being his work.

He had also been told not to spill the beans. That had gone about as well as you'd imagine.

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@EcstaticWind

"You say coffee?"

Flaxxy's ears perked up as she heard this, and the look in her eyes became somewhat excited and longing.

"Only decaff, Flaxxy."

"Just small cup? Might be fine now, yes?"

She pinched the air with a meaty paw, indicating a small cup. Little more than that of a half cup from a regular mug, but Lulu stood firm on her stance and took a step forward towards the larger diamond dog.

"I said, decaff. Do you remember what happened the last time you drank coffee?"

Flaxxy scratched her head a little, looking thoughtful.

"...No."

"My point exactly, which is why you agreed to only ingest decaff, or stay away from caffeine outside of emergency situations. Now if you will excuse me, I will follow and ensure that out host gets things done correctly, whilst you stay here and remember the aftermath I had to tell you about afterwards."

She wandered past the diamond dog, but halted momentarily to look back at her, and speak in a softer, less commanding tone.

"It's for your own good, okay? I barely got you out of the last situation, and I don't want to risk the outcome turning grim, were it to happen again."

She wandered on, whilst Flaxxy sat behind, nodding, and thinking about things a little.

When they were alone, Lulu would let out a small sigh, and shake her head whilst it rested on her right, front hoof.

"My apologies that you had to see that, but there are reasons why diamond dogs are generally speaking banned from coffee shops throughout the lands. Their behavior becomes... Irregular, with the severity depending on the individual. Decaff is fine for them though. It is the caffeine that mess with them, though oddly enough, soda seems to have little effect. I assume it is because the amount is lower, or they drink less of it, though I cannot say for certain.

As for myself, I would partake in some herbal or fruit tea if you have any, though water will do fine if not. I am one of the fortunate changeling whom can ingest most things that you ponies make, with my only dietary need being the hunger for love. You needn't worry yourself about that though. I am well stocked up for foreseeable future."

She patted the necklace with the softly glowing, pink crystals hanging from it. A wondrous invention that were really helping in these days, as changelings were starting to become accepted into society, yet were few had decided to convert to Thorax's ways. She were one of the reluctant ones, despite seeing some merit to his outcome, and as such, these helped her to keep her hunger in check, without having to lure away and drain strangers. An *honor* she tended to mostly reserve for her enemies.

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

@EQ_Theta

22 hours ago, EQ_Theta said:

“I suppose it will be different the next time we meet with Scarcity. You mentioning it already got me feeling like times are changing sooner than expected. Sen and I learned a few things and hopefully that will be a enough of a start so we won’t mess things up moving forward.”

“We’ll be careful from here on out. But… we could say the same about what is to come for you soon. After the hearing, you’ll be locked up for who knows how long. I mean, we know you can handle yourself but just staying in one place for a long time, that sounds rough.”

Rosa wouldn't say anything at first, but would simply lead them away, down the bustling street, and then into a small side way, that seemed to mostly be used for trash, judging by the smell and containers there. It were clean, but there were just some smells that were hard to stop wafting through the air, like wet hops, and moldy wheat. Though vague, these and other smells were still present, whereas no other creature were. The exact reason why he took them here before responding.

"I'll survive prison, for however long it might be. Long time isolation cells aren't a common thing in Equestria, so at worst, I will have to deal with my own thoughts for a few days at a time, until they realize that I am not a flight risk, or deem it too cruel, and have me mingle with the general prison population. It depends on the severity of what they deem to be my major crimes. Spies and traitors are seen upon with varied levels of disdain, and I cannot say for sure how the generals will view this entirely. I could at best guess, but it's likely better to not think too much about it, and simply accept what will come to pass in the morning.

Honestly, I am more concerned about you two. Despite the necessity to work with her, and her current track record of being somewhat reasonable in what she asks for in exchange for her favor, I worry how it will end, as your paths will undoubtedly keep crossing, and she might try to nudge you closer towards something you'd have preferred never to be part of. I am not trying to be hurtful as I say this, but I am concerned that you might not realize what is going on before it is too late, when I am no longer there to advise you on these meetings, or looking out for her minor hints towards moving things further.

I'd strongly advice you that you think long and hard about things regarding her when it is in the future, as well as with other beings whose path you'll cross, as the world is regrettably not empty of those wanting to take advantage of others."

Blessed be their hearts for trying to accept others, but it were something that could be taken advantage off, and Rosa worried about this. They were his friends after all, strange as it might still be to think about, and as such, he wanted what were best for them.

"*sigh* But there is little reason to worry of that now. We have a small amount of time to work with before we are whisked away. Have you anything you wish to do beforehoof, or some errands you'd want to run? I can direct you best I can towards places who haves what you need here in Canterlot if it is. we can also just simply return to the cave, or have a walk. The decision is yours to make."

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

@Rising Dusk

Rising were halfway right. The way that recessive genes were seen in Harrowmark, it were most of the times just filed under being a blood curse, as it were something they knew, whilst DNA wasn't.

However, they also had actual blood curses, that could at times span generations, so it were unfortunately not that simple. More often than not, it were simply a matter of genes, but blood curses were not far behind on the scale of what were most often the issue, and it were sadly not always easy to spot. As mentioned before, they could be either a boon or a curse, depending on how it had been cast, with varied degrees of subtlety. Some might have an enhanced ability, or unusually bad luck, whilst others grew bony wings, had their muzzle split into four, and attempted to eat faces. An extreme example, but it were just to make a point of the variance in this whole thing.

As Dawn seemed rather worried though, Lily didn't touch upon the subject further. Far as she knew, they were more aware of these things too, and could have other names for it in this country, so what insight she might provide on the matter were probably not needed. Also, there were no reason to tease the siblings, far as she were concerned. Getting on the bad side of them seemed an immeasurably bad idea.

1 hour ago, Rising Dusk said:

"But you won't find Earth Ponies or Pegasi wielding the arcane here. They have their own types of magic. With improvements in enchantments though, more and more have found use in artifacts to dip their hooves in such,"

"They better thread carefully. Me and my countrymen are tempered through generations of the abundance of magic seeping up from the ground, and into our beings. We can wield it with some degree of ease and safety, and the leylines running beneath our country runneth over enough to make it easy enough to get magic to wield, even for outsiders. Yet with that much magic, it is easy to find examples of it being harnessed carelessly, and that seldom goes well.

You say though, that your earth ponies and pegasi does not hold access to the arcane, but yet have their own magic? Are you speaking of other schools, such as that which is based on the earth or wind? Light based potentially?"

1 hour ago, Rising Dusk said:

"Why do you keep saying Her? Is the use of her name taboo?"

Lily had been trying to focus on these questions, rather than that subject, yet as it were brought up by Rising, it became hard to avoid it. Her own fault for bringing it up in the first place really, yet still, irritating. The small twitch of her eyebrow, and cringed pull of the side of her otherwise more neutral expression, should tell as much, as would it that her eyes dashed around to see how many might be close enough to hear them. The party might be going on well enough that none even cared to try honestly, but she were Harrowish. Paranoia were a large part of her culture.

"No, but I do not wish to call Wisp out. She will already have a grim prospect to face when she herself learns of her heritage. Imagine how it might be, were the words of this legacy to spread and taint the perspective others had of her right away in other places where she might attempt to settle down after her exile. It might not be as bad as what I am used to, here in Equestria, but I am hesitant to trust when it comes to her situation."

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

@Midnight

"Oooh right, I completely forgot about that. Sorry. Please go ahead whenever you feel like it."

Pop blushed up a bit there, as she felt a little embarrassed about getting off track as much as they had. It helped ease her redding cheeks a little though, when she felt the tip of a certain dragon's tail brush up against a small spot on the back of her neck, which he knew sent a small chill down her spine and caused her to laugh.

"Hehehe, stop it already. I'm not sad, just a little flustered."

That being said, she didn't push his tail away as he went on to brush the side of her neck with it instead. The pros of having a long, dexterous tail in a nutshell, far as Benny were concerned. Not much else he could do with beyond this, and slapping things away that were on the ground. And as a counterweight when he wandered on two legs, but that could be done by a backpack too, so that hardly counted.

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

@AzureMoon

"Oh, definitely. You always have the option to work overtime, or take over a few shifts to help out, that sorta thing, but that's mainly for those who's really aiming for higher ranks and wanna show they have the dedication for it. Most guards have regular hours, shifts, and vacation time just like everypony else. Worst comes to worst, you can always have a chat around, and see if there's a few who're willing to trade shifts so that you can go back to visit here for example, and still have all your hours up.

I sorta stick around for more hours a lot, but that's not so much because I'm going for high ranks. I'm just helping out the oyster farm we got on base, and the extra pay for something I really enjoy is pretty nice. Means that when vacation time comes around, I can have a few weeks really just laying back, and relaxing somewhere nice. Or expand on my own oyster farm at home. I haven't decided yet, and it sorta depends these days on whatever or not my hair's grown back out at that point. Might as well keep stay at home and get something done there if I'm still all mummied up, right?

As for how long til he's called... Few days I think it is. He's gonna get a little warning sign as part of the spell the lieutenant put on him, and then a few minutes later, *poof* and he's there. Just about making sure his uniform's nice and clean, so that the captain doesn't start scolding him. That mare's scary when she wants to be."

Chiroptera · March 22, 2020

2 minutes ago, Blitz Boom said:

"Oooh right, I completely forgot about that. Sorry. Please go ahead whenever you feel like it."

[=~ As soon as she said that, Icy yay-ed and immediatelly opened up the hole, grabbing all the materials she needed in her levitation, alongside the ice cube blueprint, and began working on it. Only taking about twenty minutes, she finally did he final steps, her horn frosting over, glowing with a faint icy cyan light, snow forming around it, and a line from her horn to a spot on the device formed. After a minute, the stargate looking device was completely finished, all spells bound. "Alright, there we go, should work now. Using a magic generator I developed, alongside a bound version of my storage spell and an activator spell. When you press the button here-" she pointed to a button on a panel to the left of the arch, "It will open the hole. You press it again, it'll close it. Now, just to warn you, it is entirely possible for you to get trapped in there if someone tries to. Also could be used to trap others in, if- oh my... I just made the perfect prison... Anyway, I kind of went a bit overboard and added a system to allow you to assign different versions of the expanse to different button combinations over on this panel-" she walks over to a panel to the right of the arch, "And I added a whole array of different projection spells so it'll project a screen above the panel you can look at and type names with for the different button codes. If you don't want all of that, though, you could always just stick to using the left panel by itself and it will still work perfectly fine."

EQ_Theta · March 22, 2020

@Blitz Boom

Sen and Lin thought long and hard about what Rosa told them. In more than one way, their naivety means they would easily get sucked into situations they might not be able to get themselves out no matter how careful they could be. Sadly, they are reminded of their younger selves who haven’t aged a bit, all too curious but lacking the skills to discern hidden agendas. Now they aren’t so sure about who to trust and what to believe in…

“I… I suppose that makes us easy targets? I mean, we already look the part: creatures unlike those commonly seen around here and probably clueless about the way things work. I’m not sure what to think. What if this sets a bad example for the folks back home? Wanting to open ourselves to the rest of the world and yet so gullible…”

“Can we make a quick stop to Amethyst’s store? I told her I’d give her some herbs and tea leaves from home. She’s interested in trying some and I’d like to be sure she gets them before we’re whisked away. We can talk some more along the way. Maybe you can give us some last bits of knowledge on how we should be keeping ourselves aware about what you said. It’ll help us worry less about this.”

It wasn’t to apparent yet but the siblings know that their time with Rosa is running out and they’d want to spend whatever moments they have left with him. Once tomorrow comes, all of that changes and it would take something extraordinary to get the group back together. It is for the best that justice is served but Sen and Lin would be lying if they didn’t enjoy Rosa’s company. They learned a lot from him and could imagine Ghilan and him would get along just fine.

If they had the chance, they’d like to find a quiet place to just sit down and use those moments to make their time count. Either that or spend a meal in the cave once the day’s business has been resolved to do the same.

Catpone Cerberus · March 22, 2020

@Blitz Boom
"Well at least some of you do it like real dragons." Ruby simply commented, she didn't know why she expected anything more from the smaller dragoness, she should have guessed that she used magic. She only rolled her eyes when she heard Leviathan('s) muttering/comment, she didn't approve of Snuzzle's drinking either, but it came from contempt rather than compassion. She didn't have anything else to say.

-----------------------------------------------------
Nada let out rather loud sigh as she noticed someone had been in the house, and she was now visibly annoyed, but there wasn't much she could do, so she closed the window and started to clean up, also checking if anything she knew should be there wasn't. If she couldn't figure out if something was stolen, she would make mental note to inform Serenade when she gets back. She also would check all doors and windows to make sure they were closed and that everything that could be locked was locked.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Zebra you say, I have seen a zebra around, but I haven't interacted with her because she seems like she can handle herself, there's also two blue unicorns living here, but their only problem seems to be a ghost of some kind, and that's not something I can help with." Scarecrow stated "And I have heard the term draconequus before, but I don't remember where or when." "As for your suggestion, I understand where you're coming from, but even if ponies knew about me, it wouldn't stop them from getting scared by me, especially if they are already scared by something." "Think about your situation for example, you get chased by a timberwolf and end up into a hole, and when you get out of the hole, I'm standing there, even you stopped talking when you saw me, what about someone who is in state of panic?"

Seamore Sandwich · March 23, 2020

@Blitz Boom

(Continued from page 381)

“It seems my two left legs are on the right side,” Penny answered cheerfully, looking at the sign of her parents shop. The shop itself looked out of place with its vivid colors, and the structure was much shorter than the two neighboring buildings pressed against it. The width of the building wasn’t too small, but wasn’t exactly large either. It was made to look like a gingerbread house, though the wood grain pattern could be seen slightly on the walls. It wasn’t that the paint was thin, but rather that the wood itself wasn’t smooth. This almost seemed intentional, as if otherwise ponies might consider trying to eat the building. The windows were framed with pieces shaped to look like frosting with mint candies stuck into it to add color, and the door was round at the top and framed with what looked like a candy cane arch. The roof, which looked like it was made of chocolate shingles, was tilted toward the street, and reached all the way to the wall of the building behind it. There was a chimney made to look like brightly colored wafer candies stuck together. Through the window the selection of candies would look similar to that of Penny’s store, but there weren’t any of the magic chocolates on display. Instead there were a few extra shapes of chocolates, some candy bouquets and a selection of odd flavors of soda. “Should we stop in now to visit my parents, or should we come back after the delivery? If I’m right they’ll probably be busy prepping some of the candies for the day, so we might get caught up in that, and trust me, you’ll need some really good shampoo if any of what they’re making gets on you. I’ll leave it up to you if you’d rather not get a bit messy.”

(Charlie is still on page 363, while Marcus and Gaea are on page 384)

Rising Dusk · March 23, 2020

@Blitz Boom

Lily was sure right about that. Earth Pony and Pegasi wielding the arcane was quite new to the land of Equestria. Harrowmark may of had many of years, decades or even centuries to fine tune such crafts, but his land had not see it used to these extremes until recently. Now of course an non-unicorn might stumble across an enchanted artifact from time to time and use, not always with much success, these days it evolved from rare to uncommon. Unicorns weren't the only one misusing magic anymore, making for much busier lives at the O.M.I. Rising had dealt with his fair share of unicorns selling illegal charms, or when a non-unicorn did make a legal purchase, would then use it for wrong doing. Luckily most cases were an issue of accident rather than malicious, but even then these kinds of cases were more the realm of the second team than his own. Usually he'd be asked to dispel the enchantment at the end if it was deemed the pony couldn't keep it anymore. "I know all to well," the detective sighed.

One more recent case a unicorn simply slipped on the spell to a local sweet shop's order taker owned by a small Pegasi family. As the shop thrived on making deliveries, they had commissioned an enchantment to their printing press for their fliers. A customer could take a flier home, it would automatically update with the special they created for that day from the master flier. Simply tap on the flier's printed sigils and their order would be placed. A bit of a complicated spell to ensure orders weren't accidentally made by a pet walking over it, or something falling on it, and to get the locations right. The unicorn just wasn't quite as prepared for it as she thought. Everytime a pony made an order, the master flier duplicated itself. Spitting out pages and pages, flinging them all over the bakery, so many fliers, he feel paper cuts just thinking about it. Rather than make a big deal out of it though, Rising simply fixed the spell on the printing press and Gold Mane gave the young unicorn a lecture on not accepting commissions they aren't ready for yet.

"No, not other school per say. Earth Pony tend the earth and can make crops grow like no other pony species. They are innately more strong... Beyond simply muscle... and have higher stamina than any of us. Pegasi likewise tend to the sky... They control the weather, put simply... Wielding clouds, the rain, the snow, the wind... as effortlessly as we pick up a spoon," the twins spoke in a weaving manner to carry on the topic, Dawn emphasizing her point by causing the buffet to levitate off the floor for a moment before setting it back down. Mild overkill from her statement, but the effort for her was at least equal.

Rising nodded to her point of a natural retraction to keep Wisp safe. Good to know using her name wouldn't invoke a curse or anything though. Mana paper was hard to make and he didn't want to keep using it up.

Blitz Boom · March 23, 2020

@Rising Dusk

"You mean affinities? I thought you meant actual magic."

She were a little disappointed in this honestly, as she had hoped to learn of some new kind of magic, yet this? This she knew off. It were a thing that every earth pony and pegasi had, though to varying degrees, of course. Here it seemed to be what the Equestrians considered magic, yet in Harrowmark, it were more seen as affinities. Passive effects that could help in some regards with a few important things, even if there were a hint that the Equestrian ones might be a little further ahead than her own people, if what she think were said between the lines were actually there.

"Affinities are why earth ponies tend to the crops in Harrowmark, and the pegasi help direct rain to them when needed. Yet I have never heard of a peagsus who did not use magic, actually controlling the weather. Those whom I know, have only been able to change where some of that which are already there goes, but generating or dispersing weather takes magic. The same with the crops, where those like me can better grasp how grow healthy plants, but it does not mean that we can just wander around and it simply grows stronger or faster by itself. That requires magic. A kind that us earth ponies of Harrowmark have an easier time harnessing than say, a pesasus."

It were how magic worked there. After untold generations, spanning not centuries, but rather millennia, with magic being easily accessible and seeping into the beings of those who lived there, it had caused their more *natural* magic/affinities to be weaker.

Their pegasi could harness strong magic to help create and strongly affect the weather, yet without training in this, they could do little more than stand on clouds, and move them away. Dispersing or making use of some sort of weather machine, were out of the questions for a bare-bone, Harrowish pegasi.

Same with the earth ponies, who could easier handle magic that would help in growing healthy crops, yet without making use of that potential, they were down to having more stamina, sturdiness, and a sort of instinctual idea about what crops were healthy, and which ones weren't, so that they could easier cull the bad things from their fields.

The potential of the ponies in Harrowmark might be somewhat higher in some regards, but were they cut off from using magic, or just not trained at all, they'd pale in comparison to those from Equestria, who had their more natural magic/affinities untainted by outside influences.

Seeing as the table were lifted to make a point from Dawn's side, so too would Lily make her own, by getting a glow in her eyes, prior to making a nearby potted plant grow larger. If none were within reach, she'd instead grow one from her dress, where much as she'd like for it to be clean, she knew there were still some small seeds stuck here and there, both from Harrowmark, and here from Equestria. A small, innocent flower grown like this shouldn't be an issue.

It were of course much less impressive than lifting an entire buffet table, but she were not here to have a show off. And even if she were, it were pretty obvious that she would lose that one rather substantially.

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

@Seamore Sandwich

"I must say, I enjoy the aesthetics of this shop. It reminds me of certain storied from when I were but a young filly. There wouldn't happen to be a witch aiming to trap and eat naughty foals who strayed off the path here, would there?"

She let out a short, pearly laughter at this, though that were only in reference to the witch comment, which hopefully Penny could tell were meant in jest.

Truthfully, she enjoyed the looks of this place, and not just because of the stories it reminded her off. It just also fitted very thematically with what they were selling, and were a fairly unique design, though not entirely perfect. A precaution she could imagine, to avoid some... Lesser gifted individuals from attempting to actually take a bite out of the place. It would be fairly awkward for everypony involved.

12 hours ago, Seamore Sandwich said:

“Should we stop in now to visit my parents, or should we come back after the delivery? If I’m right they’ll probably be busy prepping some of the candies for the day, so we might get caught up in that, and trust me, you’ll need some really good shampoo if any of what they’re making gets on you. I’ll leave it up to you if you’d rather not get a bit messy.”

"Personally, I would suggest that we first make our delivery. I do wish to see what lures inside this shop, as well as your parents, yet it would be fairly obnoxious to attempt that whilst also having to deal with this. Especially if we are here for a prolonged period of time.

So I at least, would suggest that we finish the delivery, and then return here so that we do not have any other pressing matters, or a time limit, which might cut short your visit here. I could imagine that would be fairly annoying for all parties involved, if we suddenly had to run off with this halfway through for example, a lengthy conversation about your dating life. Parents tend to like to go on at length about such subjects after all, soon as their offspring are at a healthy age to provide grandfoals.

Brick? Would you be ready to wander now if it were?"

She'd get an affirmative grunt from her bodyguard, before he made doubly sure that everything were in order for them to get this show on the road. If Penny agreed, she could start to show the way, and they could have this done fairly quickly, depending on traffic, and how far off the drop point they were.

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

@Catpone Cerberus

Leviathan didn't respond to Ruby's comment. It seemed like it were there to take a stab at her and cause her to get into a bickering war about her being a real dragon, even if she didn't rely purely on brawn. Something which seemed like it could cause a further wedge between them, and she wasn't going to be pushed away by the outsider that easily. If she wanted to think that using magic were cheating or something like that, she had the right to do so. Wasn't like it weren't somewhat true, though she thought more off it as an advantage, rather than a cheat. She had worked hard to be able to do this after all, just as much as someone who'd train their muscles. Only big difference were that she could do her thing at a safer distance, which obviously, a more brutish member of dragonkind - such as Ruby - disapproved off.

When they'd eventually get out of town - with less effort than it took in Canterlot, as the security checks were mostly for those coming into town unless they looked suspicious - they'd find themselves at the edge of a rather large, forested area, with the sounds of wildlife of any size, shape and form, at varying distances inside of it. They should be able to find something interesting hidden within.

"So, what do you want to hunt for? Personally I'm in the mood for boar, but what's your desire, Ruby?

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

@Catpone Cerberus

As far as missing items, there seemed to be a loaf of bread, a couple of spoons, and a jar of marmelade missing. Whoever had been in here appeared to be have been hungry, and careful to a certain extend, as there were no markings on the floor to suggest whom or what had been here. Everywhere there had been prints in the dust, it had seemingly been swept to the sides.

If she looked around, she'd find some small hairs of varying sizes, yet with Fah'lina and the doctor there so often as they were, it were hard to say if it weren't theirs, or something that had gotten stuck on them as they went about town. Especially an issue with Ziggy, considering her tendency to hug others when she got the chance.

However, were she to listen closely enough, Nada would be able to hear some ruckus rom upstairs, where it sounded like something had fallen down. A minor *thump* on the ceiling, and nothing that followed that sounded as if it were like, a vase or anything, but it were a sign that perhaps there might still be an intruder inside the house. What she were going to do about that though, remained to be seen. Were she to take chase, she'd find that the sound would come from Serenade's bedroom.

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

@Catpone Cerberus

"They'd try kicking your skull in and run away."

Not the kindest thing to say, and especially not in that flat, fact-of-the-matter sort of voice that he had done it in, but it were simply how things were. If they were faced with Scarecrow in a panicked state, they'd try to fight him off enough to feel a little safer, and then make a run for it. Potentially come in with pitchforks and torches later on, if you wanted to go old school about the proceedings.

"But that's what panic does. They'd try the same with me if they were in that state.

What I'd say you should think about though, is that while you're counting on them being panicked and acting up constantly, panic passes. And if they see a familiar fa- Being, that initial shock's gonna wear off fairly quickly, and there won't be a need for things to go violent. Besides, wouldn't it be good to have somepony to talk to, once in a while? It must be fairly lonely for you out here, unless you speak with the two unicorn and their ghost? Can't say I know anypony that description fits with."

Straw had almost made a bit of a slip of the tongue and said *face* which might be a little insensitive, seeing how Scarecrow didn't have one per se.

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

@EQ_Theta

"The best advise I can give you, is to always think of what the consequences might be, and ask questions before you accept a deal. Provided that you have a choice in the matter, as desperate situations might well mean that you have to think of the consequences later, and hope that you are able to adapt, and make it through in one piece.

I do not want you to be overly paranoid about it though. There will always be those smarter than you, who wants to take advantage of your belief in others, as well as prey on what parts of you that are gullible enough to exploit. One have to remember though, that most are not like that. Barring an emergency, the majority are mostly honest about things, and what lies and deception can come into things, doesn't have serious consequences. Just minor annoyances.

It is a tough thing, to strike a balance between caution, optimism, and paranoia, yet it is important for certain encounters. I'm sure that in time, you will learn to find your balance. Also, I wouldn't be too worried about how it might paint your kind as a whole, were you to be taken advantage off a few times. Every race have some members who are - in crude terms - a bunch of suckers. At worst you two might get a few smirks your way if the situation became well known, though your entire species? Doubtfully. I would honestly think it more likely that others would be wary if meeting other longma afterwards, as they wouldn't want to run into a more able one, and have the tables turned on them."

That might just be him of course. There were a certain degree of paranoia that had to be employed on a being to being basis in his line of work, and it clouded his view on others more often than not. He didn't ask a ton of questions all the time though, but he had already put a lot on the siblings. It seemed unfair to go on and add the additional layer of *know when to ask, and when it will hurt you to do so* right away. Something told him that the interaction between the golem maker and Scarcity would prove to be a valuable teaching moment that had to happen first anyway, to further prove some other points he could make on the subject.

"I'll teach you what I can on this subject later, though I think I've given you enough to mull on until after our... Scheduled meeting. If you wish for us to go to Amethyst and have your delivery done beforehoof, we should probably be on our way. We can plan the rest of our day later, when we know how much time we have left to spend."

A bit of a dire way of putting it, but fact of the matter were that even if they for some reason decided against sleeping, there were a deadline for his fate, and it had to be upheld. Quite honestly, he doubted he could even sleep with that hanging in his head, on top of the nightmares he were already plagued by. Gods knew what hellscape he'd drift into, were he to surrender himself to the alluring call of the night.

*sigh* But they had things to do, and after that, he needed to be here and focus his remaining time on teaching these two, so that they could do well without him. Well, almost without. He supposed that in time, he'd be allowed some visiting hours. Equestria tended to pride themselves in fair treatment of their prisoners, provided that they responded positively to things in return, and he had no intentions of trying things like a break out, unless something dire were to happen.

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

@Midnight

Pop looked with curiosity at the hole, and at what Icy did... For a time anyway. After about five minutes of the mare doing who knew what, Pop had wandered off so that she could start stocking her shelves a little, and left Benny in charge of watching their guest. Something which he complied to without hesitation, as he usually did whenever she asked him to do something. Might be he were technically the largest and strongest of the two of them, but she most definitely held the real power in their relationship. Always had.

A few glances were cast by Pop towards the thing as it were starting to take form, yet it weren't until the project were done that she came over again, just in time to hear some explanations that were interesting, and partially disturbing, when it came to the potential of being imprisoned within. It would provide a sort of security measure though this way, right? However, there were also the chance that where it stood, combined with a good chunk of the sort of customers she tended to get in here would make it accident-prone. A very bad thing, were it to happen.

Going over, Pop would gently push Benny's curious hand away, which had been lingering over the button, before she pushed down herself. It were her store, so the strange, magical button were hers to press first. He could have his fun later.

Her eyes went wide as she saw the thing open up like a strange sort of... Teleportation mirror, if that made sense? And this were only part of it, with number combinations making up other sections? Oh my. She were going to need a notepad for these sorts of things for sure.

"I don't know what to say, Icy. This thing is... It's marvelous! The storage capacity is going to make it so much easier to have things in stock, without having to build a garage of something behind the shop.

I really can't thank you enough for this. Though I have to ask a couple of questions, if that's okay? First, how much will it be? I wouldn't want to take advantage of you here after all.

The second is about mobility. Is it possible to move it around? It's just that standing here, with all the foals coming in, and you saying somepony could get trapped in there... I'd really like not to end up having to frantically scroll through number combinations to find someone's foal. I think it'd be better if it stood in the back, if possible. I could try and reshuffle some shelves and have it kind of sectioned off otherwise."

Chiroptera · March 23, 2020

53 minutes ago, Blitz Boom said:

I really can't thank you enough for this. Though I have to ask a couple of questions, if that's okay? First, how much will it be? I wouldn't want to take advantage of you here after all.

The second is about mobility. Is it possible to move it around? It's just that standing here, with all the foals coming in, and you saying somepony could get trapped in there... I'd really like not to end up having to frantically scroll through number combinations to find someone's foal. I think it'd be better if it stood in the back, if possible. I could try and reshuffle some shelves and have it kind of sectioned off otherwise."

[=~ When she heard that, first question, she laughed. "How much? Nothing, getting the chance to actually invent something like this is quite literally the only payment I need. Normally all I invent are smaller things, something like this is once every few months. I had fun, it works, and it is doing what it is built to do for someone who needed it. As for the thing about the imprisonment potential, I actually found a way around that. Pretty much all I did was put a lock on the button that locks when someone goes in, and unlocks when the same number of people that went in, come out. It can be disabled by a little hidden button on the back of the top, though, if you ever need the ability to trap an intruder in it or something. Though, honestly, um, I kind of got caught up in designing it, so I may or may not have forgotten to make it an actually moveable thing."

Sekel · March 24, 2020

@Blitz Boom

ATZY & KARMIC FATE

"Yes, quite," Karmic agreed with a small nod. She watched Atzy dry herself with the towel in her magic for a couple of seconds before adding, "Luckily, our parents aren't around to see just how ponies are reacting to changelings and gemlings."

"I think I should stay away from Enzo for the time being," Atzy grumbled when she had finished drying and took a seat between the ambassador and Karmic. She breathed out, letting all her frustrations go, or at least as much as they could go, before addressing the ambassador. "Forgive my, erm, rudeness, ambassdor. I didn't expect Enzo to drool all over me. What were we talking about?"

@Blitz Boom

TWILIGHT SPARKLE

"Sorry," Twilight grinned, an embarrassed blush colouring her face. "I got impatient and excited and I just couldn't wait to get up close," she giggled before coughing into her hoof. She recomposed herself as best she could before putting her attention on Cherish. "I didn't mean to get you tossed around, Cherish. That was a complete mistake on my part. However, Last, this being, for lack of a better term, that killed your mythical Manetid queen, do you think they're still around?"

@Blitz Boom

AURORA LIGHTS

"It's your voice and entire being. It scrapes through me like a rock being dragged down a chalkboard. It's unpleasant and oh so wrong to feel," Aurora explained to the Queen. She didn't expect the new royal to be fine with her reaction but she's going to keep sticking to it now that Aurora knows Dia'Thiz is somewhat fine with it. "A combined being should not exist yet you somehow do. I don't know how, I don't want to know, but I hope that nothing bad comes of how I reacted."

@Blitz Boom, @Widdershins

DAZZLE GLEAM

"This is humiliating," Dazzle groaned, keeping her balance on top of Sunny. She looked up and behind and simply stared neutrally at Shortstack. "I'm assuming this is your sister. Is she always like this?" she refrained from saying Shortstack's name lest he go into another rage. She didn't expect to be plonked on top of a giant pony and underneath a large barrel-chestd short pony on her first visit to Ponyville. It turns out fate has a sick sense of humour when it comes to these things. She got slightly distracted though, her ear pricking up at hearing more voices. "There are voices in the building we're at. Um, should we get down?"

@Widdershins

DAWN STREAK

"No, you're meant to eat what's on top of it. I only have so many plates," Dawn replied with a slight scowl upon her muzzle. She was frustrated with how Kaltrops is acting but at the moment, she's going to put up with it. "Eggs are the yellow stuff and the green stuff are herbs to give it some extra taste."

EQ_Theta · March 24, 2020

@Blitz Boom

The siblings took Rosa’s words to heart, finding a balance between trust and caution is something that still doesn’t come naturally to the longma. They had experience meeting some kindhearted creatures who took pity on them and others who only kept that veneer before showing their true face. Sen, in particular, knew that type well. Unfortunately, it isn’t easy pointing it out unless someone wasn’t too good at hiding it but anyone with a modicum of self-awareness would know to conceal the truth.

Then again, this is Equestria, a place that prides itself in friendliness and being led by a princess whose student embodies the magic of friendship. If there is a focus on that and there is a definite upside to upholding the virtues that constitute friendship, then there is something more to it than sentiment. Whether ponies actually live up to those is another question, one that neither Sen nor Lin will debate. The siblings know, however, that Rosa’s teachings are sound and they would trust him with what knowledge he can offer.

“Well… the longma like to put on a tough face when they’re in an unfamiliar situation. Making it look like they have control of what is happening is something they take pride in. That’s about as much they could do to muster some confidence but you try talking your way around them, it might stir up a fight.”

“But I suppose you are right. Maybe I am looking into this thing too much but we should still be careful.”

And so they began their trip to Amethyst’s shop with Lin opening a gate before them and shortening travel time. A jewelry store is the last place the two would expect to find a measure of solace in but having a friend in these parts who share something in common is nice, even when thinking about it.

“You know, I can imagine you as a teacher, Rosa,” Lin started, aware of how the thestral’s last sentence ended on a rather sad note. “Knowing how you’ve bee teaching us throughout our time traveling together, I think you have a talent for it.”

Sen can attest to this just by being taught how to read encrypted messages back in the cave or little bits of new locales the longma have never been before. Lin hoped this could help uplift their friend’s spirits despite what comes next. Whether it be a distraction or just something to feel good about, it looked like some positivity was in order.

Edited March 25, 2020 by EQ_Theta

Catpone Cerberus · March 25, 2020

@Blitz Boom
Ruby sniffed the air "I think I try moose, they seem like they taste good." Ruby said as she walked into the forest "And don't you go zapping at it, heat like that ruins the meat." she preferred freshly killed raw meat over cooked one. When she was enough into the forest to feel it was safe to transform, she would do just that, stretching her wings and muttering something that sounded like she was complaining about something.
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Since it seemed that nothing important was stolen, Nada stopped worrying about it, it seemed that whatever it was that had gotten in was hungry, and her first assumption was it was a small animal, because though it seemed like it had hidden its prints, she had lately learned that animals are smarter than she had thought, so something like this wasn't out of the question.

When she heard a thump from upstairs, Nada sighed again, and went to check it out, and though she was calm, it wasn't hard to tell she was annoyed, as she looked like she would eat someone if they looked her the wrong way. The experience with the Timberwolves had really trained her patience for trouble, and when she reached the bedroom, she didn't bother with any quietness or carefulness, and just opened the door.

--------------------------------------------------------
"Good point, but there's a one problem." Scarecrow said "I don't really have the change to wait for things to calm down because usually when I need to help someone, the situation is still on, thus the one I'm helping sees me before they even have a change to calm down." he explained "I do admit I am living quite a lonely life...if you can even say I'm living in the first place, would I even be considered something that has a life?...but that's beside the point." "And no, I don't interact with those two, I can't help them and...well their home is so well protected that even I can't get close."

Blitz Boom · March 25, 2020

@Sekel

"Hmph. Just be thankful I did not chew."

Enzo matched the annoyed, childish behavior of Atzy on what would undoubtedly be a long standing subject between the two of them, spanning not just this meeting, but likely years ahead, as a topic that were going to be brought up whenever the gemling felt like she wanted to poke at him about something. Perhaps it would even be used humorously for the time being, yet currently, with a bit of drool stuck on her still, the humor were not seen for her, and he were focused on the little comments she were coming with, so it passed him by for the time being too.

"You needn't apologize, Atzy. I understand your demeanor, considering the accidental outcome of your transport.

As for what we were to be talking about, I'd like to try for us to hear out what it is that you'd all wish to happen, as part of negotiations. So far I am to understand that you, Atzy, would like an arrangement like we have with Thorax perhaps? Cooperation between our races, to one another's mutual benefit, with an understanding that both parties can wander in the others area, provided that they uphold the law set forth by the governing body in that territory?

As for our esteemed feline guest, I am to understand that General Dew have talked to you about officially joining Equestria, and even the guard in some capacity?"

Enzo nodded, whilst looking over towards the empty table where things were supposed to show up, a little impatiently. In fairness though, he were hungry, and if Atzy kept going, potentially he'd pretend that it were for bugs.

"I am patient. I can wait discussing my own terms until later."

"Very well, then we will talk about you first, Atzy. Though... Karmic? I do not know what your position is in this, beyond a family tie to Atzy. Might I ask what angle you come into this from?"

Just after he said this, there would suddenly be teleported an amount of things unto the other table, and a minor hoofful of waiters followed soon after, transporting the things to the table they were sitting at. One could likely have done it normally, but Enzo's cup were rather large, and required three carrying it over, until they were close enough for him to grab it and put it on the table. A large box of varied tea leaves would also follow, along with an elegant bowl filled with fresh looking, raw trout, another with some local baked goods, and a third with varied gems, in case it were something that Atzy wished to consume. Whatever else they had asked for would be there too, along with a few bowls of fruits and greens to ensure they had something of a spread to work with.

The last thing put down before the waiters teleported away as hastily as they had showed, were a plate of sliced bread, along with a block of butter, in case any of them wished to try that.

The whole arrangement would be over within a minute, with the waiters doing their job in complete silence. Professionals on the job one could say, though there'd certainly be mutterings going on in the kitchen and break room later. Not everyday you saw a gathering like this.

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

@Sekel

"It... It's fine. Just a little queas-"

Cherish would suddenly raise her hoof to her muzzle, and quickly turn away, where she'd vomit up a small amount of a pale, thick liquid that looked somewhat like fresh glue. Certainly wouldn't smell or feel like it though, as a sense of nausea would go over one if they got too close. The closer they'd get, the stronger the feeling.

"S-Sorry about that. I guess it got a little too much. You should uhm... Not touch this stuff though. Ectoplasm can be kind of gross."

There were varied ways this material could come about, but it tended to be related to high, emotional spikes for the specter in question. Be it anger, fear, or in this case, being sick to your gut. You could usually tell, since the emotion were passed on in the ectoplasm. Usually what made the regular stuff dangerous, as extreme anger from a poltergeist tended to be the main source of this sort of thing.

Last for one, took this to heart, and didn't get anywhere near the goop, and instead chose to focus her entire being on looking over the eternal queen. A fair bit less of a gross sight in her opinion than a pile of ghost vomit, but that might just be her.

"Taking out the eternal queen, and parading her body on the shrine that stood strong against her for over a thousand years? Not only do I think that the culprit is still here, I'm pretty sure that whoever, or whatever made this display, did it to declare themselves the new top of the food chain in the area. Which means that it's likely a newcomer, so I have no idea who or what it is, but they're not messing around. We'd have to be even more on alert than I had first thought."

She'd still push forward on the mountain path, but there were reason to be concerned here. They'd see once they got closer, yet for the time being, they had a ten minute mountain walk ahead of them.

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

@Sekel

The queen looked at Aurora in silence for a few seconds, before their three horns began to glow and vibrate, sending out a sound wave that weren't possible to hear as anything but a soft vibration, yet what they would definitely hear, were a voice that would start to dance on their mind. Clearly still theirs, yet now less of a duality to it, and sounding more like one voice. A nearly musical, soft tone that sounded as if it belonged to something more towards the diamond deer than the changeling part of the unified creature.

"When this world were still young, we sounded as this. Does this voice please you more, young queen?"

Dia'thiz would wander a step forward, whilst Happy took another sip from his flask, because this were not getting any less weird.

"We understand that it is hard for creatures who think themselves whole, to see what we have become. It were strange to us too at first, yet we found that apart, we were incomplete.

The part of us that were Diamante, could have simply taken the queen and left it at that. The powers of the crystal beasts are great, even broken down as we were, yet that is not the will of us. We did not want to be like Topazzian, or Opaline, or most others of our former siblings. We were meant to protect the lesser creations that they so openly mocked, and together, we have ascended them."

"So you're a unification between a changeling queen and some sort of crystallized beast? I don't mean offense, I'm just trying to understand."

"We could speak a long time of us, and what were. Yet in time, perhaps it is better if you see what once were. We still carry those memories, but we wish to know more of you and your hives, before we share more. For one, why does your kind all seem different? What have happened to the race?"

"Well... I can't speak for Happy here, but I used to be like Aurora, before I learned to not steal the love from others, but share what I had with my fellow changelings. We don't need to harvest love from others anymore."

"How peculiar. So there were another way."

You'd think that perhaps this would cause the changeling part of the queen to be twitching, or grow irritated, but there were nothing. There weren't that individuality left of her to feel this, and what were together with the crystal beast, felt that their route were still the better option for them. It were just curious to see that there were another route.

"Why then, do you still live as this, young queen? Do you enjoy the hunger?"

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

@EQ_Theta

On 3/24/2020 at 1:34 PM, EQ_Theta said:

“You know, I can imagine you as a teacher, Rosa,” Lin started, aware of how the thestral’s last sentence ended on a rather sad note. “Knowing how you’ve bee teaching us throughout our time traveling together, I think you have a talent for it.”

"If my third class stealth instructor heard you say that, he would have openly laughed in your face."

Rosa smiled at the comment made by Lin, regarding him potentially being a teacher. A kind thought that he could see had some degree of merit, but it were just funny to him, as it reminded him of a thestral that very much said the exact opposite quite a lot of times.

"Ah, but who knows? Perhaps if things had been different, I might've ended up one. Sadly, the sort of thing that I do is not really something that Equestria would be thrilled about sharing with others I can imagine. Although... I could perhaps make an argument for me showing them the ropes of what I learned, so that they could use it to easier spot others, and work counter-intelligence. Might get me a few years off for compliance and good behavior.

We'll see I suppose, but I do appreciate the kind words, Lin. You've both been good students, and I hope that I can still help you in some regards, soon as I get visiting hours. Though I guess we do need to inform Omen that she have to not drop in unannounced when she eventually returns."

It were curious what took Omen so long, though she were probably fine. Discord likely just had her do something long-winded, or just toyed around with her. It were hard to tell with him, tough hopefully everything were okay, and things were just taking quite a while.

Shrimp rose his head at the name were mentioned and looked around, but fell back to his place around Lin's neck when he saw that she wasn't there. There were only the brief walk that took them from Canterlot, through a gate to Baltimare. Quite close to a certain jewelry store, wherein a certain mare were polishing the displays and ensuring that everything looked just right. Couldn't have another mess in her store like the one left behind by Filigree, though it would take quite a lot to cause that kind of havoc again.

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

@Midnight

"It's fine. I just need to do some reshuffling and put up a sign or something. I'll figure it out."

Well, she supposed it were time for a refurnishing anyway. A bit of mingling things around at times caused excitement, and with a bit of paint and the right decorations, she were sure that she could make this portal thing look like it belonged too. Just took some effort, and Pop were not one who veered away from putting some elbow grease into her business.

She were also not one who accepted getting something great like this, and not giving anything in return, so like it or not, Icy were going to get some kind of payment.

"And if you don't want bits, then I'm just gonna have to consider you as having a good chunk of store credit. Never know if you might need some sweets for a gathering, or for a special somepony, and if that or any other situation pops up, you just come to me and I'll get you sorted, free of charge. I won't accept a no."

Perhaps not the most business savvy thing she could do, but again, she didn't like to seemingly take advantage of anypony, so the very least she could do for this wondrous gift were this.

As she stood and beamed at Icy, getting close to thinking about going over and giving the mare a hug, Benny had another idea, and used the distraction to go over and pop up the portal, at which point he'd go right into the room and looked back out at them with a big grin on his face.

"Hey, push the button and see if it works. I volunteer to test it."

If Icy were fast, she could press the button and make the test run before Pop went in there to drag him out by the tail, so that they could have a less dangerous test run, but it were her decision.

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

@Catpone Cerberus

"There's moose around here? Count me in then. I haven't had that for years."

Her nose hadn't caught it at the start, but Ruby were right. There were a faint, unmistakable moose smell lingering between the others. A grand, succulent meal that'd be a good thing right now. Also, moose jerky were a rather good snack to keep a stash off, and she had a jar just the right size for that sort of thing in her bag.

Of course, she were seemingly not allowed to fry the meal, but that weren't surprising, considering the response she got before when it came to magic.

"And I weren't going to fry yours. There's enough prey for us both. But if you insist."

She'd raise a hand, take a deep breath, and blast cold air up and down to make herself a rough looking spear out of ice. A bit of a show-off performance maybe, but what were the point in magic if you couldn't flaunt it?

"There, I'll stab one instead and roast my prey later."

She'd be on her way, following Ruby in, to allow the hidden dragoness to get the first prey, whilst Marley just followed in silence. Seemed like the two more or less ignored him anyway, so he supposed this were as good a time as any to just sit back and observe. Spicy were gonna have questions later, and it'd be good if he had answers.

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

@Catpone Cerberus

Nada would find that the thing that had fallen to the floor were a small bag that seemed more or less scrounged out of a garbage can somewhere, and patched up with some leftover pieces of cloth and some rough linen. Out of said bag, rolled some of the few items that had been taken, as well as a piece of wood that seemed mostly unimportant. A bit barely looking like it were worth it as more than an improvised scratching board for a critter perhaps.

And speaking of critters...

As the door opened, a critter had been in there, and were hastily trying to grab the few things and putting them back in the bag. A small, squirrel-like creature that Nada should know fairly well, as she had seen the inhabitant of this house hanging out with another one of them.

This one were different from Fah'lina though. She were slimmer, had more pronounced chest fluff, and were colored more like a silver squirrel, than the regular mimic's red squirrel theme. She also had a small bow on her tail that seemed to be made by the same one who had crafted the bag, as well as a small necklace with a dozen or so different, shiny shells in them, strung around the main attraction, which were a faintly yellow pearl. Looking at her fur too, this one seemed to be one who cared about her looks, more than the trickery Fah'lina who mostly cared about appearing cute so that she'd get treats.

At the sight of the siren, the small creature didn't react like Fah'lina either. This one instead dropped what she were holding, went up on her feet, and held her paws up in the universal sign of *I surrender*. Considering the panicked look in the little thing's eyes, she were seemingly afraid of Nada, which shouldn't be too surprising. Predators knew other predators when they saw them, and Nada were quite a few steps above her in the food chain.

Trying to mend things as well, she would use one foot to push the bag and the stuff in it more towards her, as if to say *Here, just take them*. All except the piece of wood. She would actually try and claw that one back a small bit at a time, whilst constantly watching the siren to see if the larger predator were going to try and attack her.

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

@Catpone Cerberus

"A fair point. The things that chases you out here tends to keep trying for a while, and ignoring them rarely works. Still, there are some calm days where for example ponies like me, ends up in a hole."

Straw chuckled a little as he said this. Already it seemed so silly of a situation that it were hard not to laugh.

"And you shouldn't sell yourself short, friend. You're just as capable of living a life as anypony else, even if you have more challenges than many others. I know beings who I could hardly say did anything with theirs, and here you are. Selflessly helping those in need, regardless of how they view you. Quite a life that must be, I'd say.

A shame that there's seemingly no help to give to those two other ones you talked about though. Heard of a few dealing with ghosts, and it sounds troubling. Were this odd mare who kept talking about gathering ghosts though, that came by my coffee shop. A nice young lady, but a little special. Perhaps the two you speak off will be lucky and she'll run into their area, unless the protection are illusions? Zecora make usage of that too, when she doesn't want to talk. Or that one time she wanted to stall my delivery stallion a little. They don't seem to get along all that well."

Perhaps he were rambling and talking a while, but the poor thing seemed to hardly have company, and his wife would understand if he were back a little late, long as he didn't miss dinner. He had some time to spare.

Sphinx-Ara · March 25, 2020

@Blitz Boom @Azure Acrylic

Mrs Shy smiles a little "Oh that is good news" she would say quietly, sipping on her tea and smiling a little "It would seem your little friend seems to have found Thunder's mane to be quite the comfortable spot to have a nap" she giggles softly.

Thunder looks up and smiles "She'd have to sit on the side lines when training starts though, and I can just imagine my siblings' reactions if they see me after training. Fluttershy would fuss about my cuts, bruises and scratches, Zephyr would probably faint at the sight of my unkempt mane, coat and tail" he laughs.

Chiroptera · March 26, 2020

6 hours ago, Blitz Boom said:

"And if you don't want bits, then I'm just gonna have to consider you as having a good chunk of store credit. Never know if you might need some sweets for a gathering, or for a special somepony, and if that or any other situation pops up, you just come to me and I'll get you sorted, free of charge. I won't accept a no."

[=~ Normally, Icy would have protested to this. However, she could- very occasionally- recognize a lost cause when she saw one. Protesting that was, in her eyes, clearly a lost cause. When Benny went inside, however, she didn't even wait for Pop to drag him out, her dragging him out would mean going in there first. Instead, her horn frosted over, the ice glowing the same icy blue glow as usual, snow swirling around it, before Benny was promptly bounced straight out of the expanse by means of bouncy expanding bubble shield. Lets just say, inventing the way she did it usually caused her to want to learn a variety of pretty much any kind of shield spell she would need- mostly- and this was one of them. Why? No clue, but she thought it might be useful at some point, and apparently she was right. Just not in terms of inventing. "Nope, if that thing breaks with you inside, you are never coming out. How about the first test is us using an inanimate object rather than Benny, is that something you can agree with, Pop?" ~=]

EQ_Theta · March 26, 2020

@Blitz Boom

“If only your teacher could see you teaching us… Who you are now is different from who you were then. Even if you were to teach diplomacy to young students, I bet you would find a way to make it interesting.”

“And if we can visit you, we will make time for you. Maybe seeing friends can make things a little easier while you’re still doing your time. Don’t you worry, we’ll make sure Omen knows how the prison’s system for letting visitors in works. Wouldn’t want to mess with the prison guards when we can be civil about it.”

Honestly, even if Rosa would be teaching any subject, he could make for a pretty good teacher. Sen and Lin could get a knack out of learning a lot about the way the world is outside their home from somepony who knew plenty of its workings. In a way, they’d get a feel of the way other ponies thought and acted, their cultures and their behaviors and all the ways they meshed together. Something simple and trivial wouldn’t be boring when the resourcefulness of a spy could carry over to a task like teaching and he’d have students wanting more.

By the time they’ve arrived in Baltimare, just by a shop with a familiar mare, Lin could already feel the anticipation rising within. She never got a chance to know more about how ponies learned of the Jade Orchid leaves but if given a chance, she could already see herself spending hours on end simply chatting with Amethyst about tea and the fond memories she associates with home. Was that really how some ponies spend afternoons? Drinking and talking, not having a care in the world when they were enamored with conversations about something as mundane as tea? The longma would imagine herself as a very awkward socialite. She readied herself, pulling out a box with a selection of dried leaves all neatly sorted and packed and cradled it with care before knocking at the door to the shop.

“Amethyst? We’d like to give you something. I think you’ll like it!”

Catpone Cerberus · March 26, 2020

@Blitz Boom
Ruby looked at the spear's creation quietly and after it seemed to be thinking about something, but after few seconds she just shrugged and started moving towards her prey, there wasn't really any way to tell what she had been thinking about, but it was safe to assume it was related to the performance.

Leviathan would most likely first notice how quietly Ruby moved for someone of her size, and it probably wouldn't be hard to guess based on her movement that she most likely had lot of experience with hunting in a forest. If neither Marley or Leviathan alerted the moose when they got close, Ruby would sneak surprisingly close to the animal before launching at it, and somehow the poor creature didn't notice the bright red predator before it was too late, and after holding it in place for a second with her claws, she snapped its neck.

If Leviathan was close enough that she saw the attack , she could notice that Ruby had waited until the animal had realized what was going on before ending it, thus the smell of fear was floating around it, and if she had paid attention to Ruby specifically, there was a chance she had seen the small spark of joy in Ruby's eye between the moments of the moose's realization and its end.

If either of the two alerted the moose, she would slam them with whatever bodypart was nearest to them before taking chase, she would then catch the moose quite easily before doing the same as if it wasn't alarmed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Nada closed the door behind her before even noticing the creature, because the fact that she didn't see anything right away meant she was looking for something small, so she wanted to make sure it didn't sneak past her, and it wasn't until after the second that it took to pull the door that she noticed the mimic. She tilted her head at it, it seemed that this one was someone's pet too based on what it had with it, but's that really all the details she noticed, since she hadn't seen enough furs to tell what's well taken care of and what's only average.

She did feel a bit bad for scaring the creature, but she wasn't on the mood for mischief so she kept a firm look on her face, as she took the stuff she knew was stolen from serenade from the bag, she considered leaving the food but she figured it could have given the wrong message, she would then push everything else back to the small creature before asking "Can you understand me?" she kept her voice soft and calm to signal that she wasn't hostile, but there was still hint of authority mixed in to make sure the creature understood that Nada wasn't on mood for trickery.

------------------------------------------------
Scarecrow had meant the comment about having a life bit more literally, but he didn't feel the need to point that out. "It doesn't seem that there's any illusions at play, since I can easily find the house every time, but there's traps around it, mostly non-lethal, but i'm guessing they would be unpleasant, though that's not all, there also seems to be some kind of magical barrier that stops me and seemingly the ghost from getting too close, but it doesn't seem to stop animals since I have seen plenty of creatures, even hostile ones to get through it." "There's also this weird magical presence around it that, as weird it may sound, unnerves me, but the animals don't seem bothered by it so me sensing it may have something to do with what I am."

Windy Breeze · March 27, 2020

@Blitz Boom

A pure humming bird (that's the name of the color) blue pegasus mare wearing a blue uniform with yellow streaks lands in the town square, catching some attentions from the locals. She glance around her surroundings as she took notice of the buildings around her before opening her saddlebag and pulling out a list using her mouth. She drop the list to read.

“Found a nice and cozy town to move in, check” she said to herself, not caring that the fact some houses that were being repaired. She look down to her next goal “Find a house to live in” she was about to do this first if her stomach hadn't grumbled “Or maybe I should find a bakery to buy some blueberry pie” she smiled at the thought of buying her favorate dessert. She lifted her flight goggles to head as she beamed “Alright, Windy Breeze, time to find a bakery to fill your empty stomach!”

Her name is Windy Breeze. She formely lives in a distant province in an island country. She now lives in Cloudsdale and was about to move to Ponyville today. She's a member of the Wonderbolts. She had decided to move in for her house as accidentally destroyed by a freak accident involving a tornado and she wasn't happy with that.

For several minutes, she asked any locals for directions for any bakerys and restaurants available, one of them said there was a bakery named Sugarcube Corner and they were glad to give her the directions but not before signing an autograph.

After a few more autographs, she finally arrived to the Sugarcube Corner, which to her dismay was closed.

“Ooh man, why now?” she moaned in frustration.

Edited March 27, 2020 by Windy Breeze

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