open Casual stroll

[Chiroptera 4]

On 4/8/2020 at 5:58 PM, Blitz Boom said:

So... Most ponies likes to hug. Do you want one?"

[=~ She looked at him, attempting to push back her fear of warmth, before replying, "S-sure, I guess, i-if you want to..." ~=]

[Blitz Boom 4,422]

@Windy Breeze

"Hehe, been a while since I've been on a boat. That outta be fun.

I don't have anything that keeps me in Ponyville though, so we could go like... Now, I guess? I mostly stuck around the area because I heard there were some ghosts in the old castle. Couldn't find any though, but a few parts of Legion got released when they saw the princess. Pretty big deal to some of them."

The guard she understood though. Old war veteran, wanting to see the leadership of the kingdom once more, yet hadn't felt right, even after they had caught a glimpse of Celestia and Luna. Seemed like the look of the next generation of princesses had been what he needed, along with a few others who wanted to see her for varied other reasons. All in all, three souls had managed to move on in this town in her time here, which were pretty good, though he could swear that sometimes, it felt like there were another specter nearby. Not always, just... Sometimes.

Still, she found nothing, so probably just her imagination. Happened sometimes.

"Oh! If it's gonna be a long trip, we should get some rations, right? Best to be prepared, like my grandma always tells me."

Usually this meant water and granola bars, along with a few pears or such if possible, but it depended on what were in the area. Sometimes it could just as well be berries or edible roots. Really depended on your cash inflow and again,t he area you were in. Helping with ghosts weren't usually a lucrative business for them. Kind of. A few had found some ways, and they were given some grants from the Equestrian government for a couple dozen reasons, but usually, they had to make a living doing varied things. Sorrow? Day labor, and scavenging things she sold on markets at times. Legion were also sometimes helpful and lead her towards buried treasure, though she didn't tend to keep a lot of what she found. Most went back home.

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@EQ_Theta

"I haven't taken part in many, and never for the reasons they are there, but generally speaking, a carnival is supposed to be a large festive event that draws in attention, and more often than not, are used to lure in tourists. Not like casino's though. Carnivals have their fair share of trickery stands that will entice you to pay to partake in games not feasible to get past, or are at the kindest, very hard to win at. Like in any business, the game tends to be in the favor of the house to increase profits after all, but Equestria tend to have some rather severe fines for cheaters, so in general, the games in an Equestrian carnival should not be impossible. Just testing.

This is just the side that I bite notice in, as I have to analyze things. If you don't force yourself to look beneath the surface and focus on the raw data, a carnival is a gathering of many different kinds of beings, joining together to enjoy a large, colorful area full of activities, along with stands selling all kinds of foods, knickknacks, souvenirs, and often times, exotic things you cannot normally get in the area, or even country. I would think that the two of you would very much enjoy this, even if you did not put bits into trying a lot of the varied things. There are still plenty of things to view, beings to meet, and of course, the parade. A common trait of most carnivals, were large, fancied up stands with varied themes are rolled down the street to showcase something, or someone. Same goes for the giant balloons.

The theme tends to vary based on the time of year and area, but I do quite often see a few mascots for varied things that make rapid appearances. Likely a sponsorship deal, but you can't fault the carnival beings for needing to keep the business afloat, and an inclusion of an advertisement balloon disguised as a mascot, or fancy stand, are a pretty harmless way of securing that deal."

Therew were some degree of cynicism there from his side, but that mostly came from his job, and hopefully he still managed to overall mention the good parts. Carnivals were a recreational hotbed of fun and joy, even for those who could spend little or no bits. Even he that had to nitpick and focus on his actual work when there, had found himself with a degree of awe and wonder at times, however brief those moments might be. Hopefully one day, he'd be able to attend one of these with not a worry to bear, and he could see it in all the splendor it wanted to sell to the attendants on a longer lasting scale.

As for the fruit stands, they'd find a section of town where there were a market with quite a few of them. Not competing ones though, but rather, they all seemed to have their own wares to sell, with very little overlay. Even the apples they sold seemed to be generally varied variants, with most of them still carrying the general red apple that were the standard one the public would enjoy. It functioned better to have their draws like this and have mostly their own sort of clientele, rather than having to fight for attention among a lot of others trying to sell mostly the same things.

One place really stuck out though: A smaller shop that looked like a pumpkin. Not just in color or theme, but like it were carved out of an actual, giant pumpkin, all the way down to the vines on the ground. If you got closer, you could tell that it were still just carved wood all of it, but the amount of details were staggering, and really drew your eye to what were labelled with a large sign as *The Marvelous Marketplace*.

Inside, rows upon rows of sealed boxes with glass lids and fumigation systems keeping the vegetables moist and fresh as best as possible, lined the sides and middle of the room, leaving a few pathways through that would all end up as a register, where several small pouches would hang from the sign marking it as such. From the tags on them, it seemed to be smell samples for the varied tea she also sold, of which she likely kept her stock nice and secure somewhere in the back.

There were several ponies and griffons around in here, looking at varied products and putting them into the woven straw baskets that were set at the entrance, to use instead of the usual shopping crates. Judging by the price tag on them, it were also possible to buy said baskets.

"Oooh, that's a new sight. Hello hello, friends."

From the ceiling came a voice, that would prove to belong to a pegasus mare, likely around 15 or so years old, judging by her youthful looks. She were a little shorter than the average mare and looked energetic and spry, which didn't exactly help to make her apparent age seem higher either.

She'd put down a screwdriver in her tool belt that she had seemingly been using, and ran a hoof through her neck-long brown mane, so that she could easier get a look at them with those big green eyes of hers. The smile on her face didn't show any degree of malice as she saw these strangers from another land, but rather excitement, that worked all the way through her facial expression and stance. Even looked like her freckles were about to dance with joy.

"Pretty sure I can guess what he's here for, but I've never seen anypony like you three before, so that's gonna be fun guessing. What're you fancying? Goldenstring Melons maybe? Jade Coconuts? Zap Apples? Loads of stuff here from all 'round Equestria and beyond, so I bet there's something for your taste somewhere."

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@Midnight

Benny weren't gonna say no now that he had been allowed to do it, so he got an even bigger grin on his face, and went in for a good, solid hug. At which point, Midnight would learn three things about Benny.

1. He liked to hug by pulling his target up, with his arms under the pits of their front legs. At which point he'd then drag them up fully and have a belly to belly hug whilst he stood either bent like a noodle, or on his back legs, embracing whoever were in his grasp.

2. Whilst he were no warmer than your average pony, his body temperature would not drop a single degree, even if Icy would try to make herself a bit colder. Pro to being a fire dragon there: Even when he couldn't use magic, he still had some traits that helped him. In this case, keeping a solid body temperature, which tended to help a ton when either in abysmally cold climates, or scorching hot ones. He'd basically have to be thrown into a frozen tundra, or a bed of lava/boiling water to feel any sort of change, and even then it wouldn't be much. A downside to this though, were that it made him more receptacle to getting colds in winter. The Dragon Isle's didn't have snow, so that sort of cold air flowing in and out constantly, and him not wearing extra clothes at it felt a little silly, had caused him to get ill a few times by accident, when he weren't thinking about at least putting on a scarf.

3. The belly scales of a dragon were surprisingly soft. Still firm and protective, but at the same time, almost carrying the feeling of a room temperature snake in your hooves. Scaly, soft, and a little like jelly. A feeling which might be odd, though he had found had caught at least some as a pleasant surprise, since they figured he'd be rough scales all over. Silly them.

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@Sekel @Widdershins

(forgot one last time)

"Perhaps you were merely caught up in the situation then. Either way, you are more than welcome to stay, miss. There should be food enough for everypony."

Alonsus didn't condone ending up fighting folks all that often, but this family so far seemed like a special bunch, and Shortstack just reeked of trouble, even from the first glimpse he caught of the little colt-like stallion. Reminded him of many a minute stature pony in his time in the gang, who wanted to act all tough and could be quite dangerous too, as others might underestimate them. Maybe even talk down to them, which caused them to get into a fit, and yada yada- A little later, they needed a clean up crew. This one were probably best to keep an eye on, just in case. Y'know, when he weren't attending this particular guest that were. One should never leave a guest hanging, and the others did not currently address her, so if he didn't, who would? She'd end up just standing there awkwardly, and that simply could not be allowed to happen. Plus, he'd like to talk with somepony who so far, did not seem reluctant to be near him.

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@Catpone Cerberus

"Perhaps not going back, but understanding it might help you in some other way. Perhaps evolving your condition to make you perceived as less scary for others, so you wouldn't have to think about that sort of thing? You never know what might happen, and as you say, it might be nothing worthwhile. Yet, I think I'm still going to shake a few trees here and there. I owe you for helping me out there before I ended up staying in the forest too late, and anger my wife. I'd rather fight the timberwolf matriarch than have her confront me with a cold wheatloaf and an angry stare."

He chuckled a little. There were no part of his heart that did not love his wife unconditionally, and she were a sweet mare, but by the princesses would one be foolish to anger her. That mare never laid a hoof on him, and yet she made him more afraid than anything else he had the chance of facing when first she got riled up, and started that death glare of hers. Brr, chilled him to the bones it did, and that were before the verbal part even got into the picture. A rare thing to happen to him, and often when it did, it sprung from her being worried sick about him, rather than actually being annoyed at say, dinner getting cold. Him getting back seemingly okay would just change how she let that steam out of her system, though thankfully, that weren't going to be tonight.

"Trust is a hard thing to have for some, Scarecrow, but I hope that you can trust me on meaning it, when I say that I'm just trying to help. You're in a tough spot, and companionship's just one thing you sound like you could do with. I'd wager that some understanding would be mighty nice to have too, just so that you at least know what's what. Uncertainty can be an ugly thing, my friend."

Wouldn't be long before they reached the outskirts of town now. Scarecrow were likely not going to hang around for a whole lot longer with that in mind, but oh well. Straw could always just come back and seek him out another time. For info maybe, or just for a chat. Perhaps bring some coffee along with him? Not sure if he could really enjoy that, but it never hurt to try.

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@FanOfManyShows

Hogweed turned to look up at Warlock as he said that, since she were down to adjust the joints a little to make them fit him better. A minor urgency based on his movements as he tested it, but she didn't want there to be any discomfort or potential limp if she could help it. He were her responsibility, and despite the backlash she had gotten when talking his case, as well as continued glances and harsh words about it from those who had been affected by him, she were not going to accept anything but the best care she could provide.

It was as much a matter of principle, as it were trust at this point. She wanted to make him trust that she were there for him, and if she blantantly ignored this sort of issue, it could risk that, and set their efforts to reform him back substantially. At least that's how she looked upon it, though who could say how he felt regarding the efforts she made for him.

However, right now they had some other issue at hoof it sounded like, so she'd look at him with worry in her green eyes, framed by the small glasses sitting firmly on her snout

"O-Oh dear. What's happening, Chariot? What kind of trouble is coming?"

There were also questions to ask regarding how he knew this, and the unknown fact that he could sense the elements somehow, but that wasn't important right now. What mattered were the consequences of what might be happening.

As for using his real name, it were something she had started to do after learning what it were. It felt more personal, and talked more to who he had once been, and could become again, rather than the Warlock he had turned into.

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@FanOfManyShows

"Say wha- Yikes!"

Chow jumped forth just in time to stop the bushel of Grievous Weed he had been trying to hang up, from falling down to the floor. He managed to catch it, but also ended up on his counter belly first. Would've been real messy if anything had been on it, but thankfully, it ended up as just a bit of a hit to his belly. Stung briefly, but he'd tried worse, and having this bushes end up on the floor and potentially open up were gonna be a far bigger pain to deal with. These things were Not easy to work with. Despite the good aroma they lent to the sort of cat food he were promoting right now.

"Urgh, next time I'm using magic to hang this up. Potential customers wandering in on it be damned."

He were very much still a rookie when it came to these things, but it had helped when Emerald's little hook had been yanked out of him and floated off to gods knows where. Haf suddenly turned out to be a lot less things trying to aim for his head then, but it were still tough stuff, and rather exhausting. And seeing as how he were trying to tend to business these days, it weren't something he had a lot of energy to focus on. Though even if he did, it'd be years before he were anywhere close to being worthwhile in that sort of thing. A solid long term commitment though, no doubts about that.

Wasn't like they were in trouble for witching either. There were some checks here and there to make sure things were still on the up and up, but they had gotten the law's permission to practice the arts, long as they didn't go against the citizens with it, and kept honest about things when the guards came around for random checks. They weren't permitted to teach more beings though, not yet at least. That were still being debated with the generals, the princesses, and a few other higher ups, and could take months to get a verdict, seeing how it could affect things for the entirety of the country if witchery were allowed again.

Regardless, he'd get up from his counter, put the bushel down on it, and start brushing himself off. Weren't any dust, but it were sort of a reflex, since most times when he ended up on his stomach, it was in the forest. Bit of a dirty place, surprisingly.

"Now, what'd you say about Opal? And how're you aware of her all of a sudden? Don't tell me she's sending some sorta power ripple out that you're feeling. There'd only be more bad news coming along with that if that's the angle."

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@Catpone Cerberus

"Ladies..."

Marley rose his claws up with a smile on his beak, trying to get a word in before this escalated further, yet it seemed as if his soft spoken attempt at straightening this out were barely, if at all, noticed.

Leviathan started to be a little annoyed with ruby for keeping this pushing on. On some level she knew it were as much bragging, as it were about irking her, but in the moment, it were annoyingly starting to work.

She took a step forward with a hand raised to point towards Ruby with her index finger, whilst a small spark starting to glitter in her eyes.

"You can't possibly-"

"Ladies! Please, I can see that this is a heated topic with you both having your view on it, but could you not simply agree to disagree on the matter? There is hardly a reason for this to escalate."

Seemed like him raising his voice at least got the attention of Leviathan, who stopped talking and put her hand down to the ground again. She also stopped yapping off before she'd end up saying or doing something regnetable, which were where it had started to steer towards.

"Having a different viewpoint on the matter is no reason to be against one another. You each have your own approach, and good reasons for sticking to your guns on the matter, yet could we not focus on another point instead? One which would not lead to several bodies and a forest fire."

Leviathan backed down again entirely now, and vaguely nodded. Annoying how the bird had to step in to make her do so, but she had been caught up in her own emotions and missed the bigger picture, which he had dragged her back into. Likely didn't affect Ruby, but this were something which she at least had needed to get the air out of her balloon. Seemed like keeping the bird around wasn't all that bad of a thing.

"...Sounds like your clan is as stubborn as most dragons, and vindictive as can be. Takes a lot of will power to stay with that in the long run."

See? A compliment, they could get back in track just fine.

Or they could go hunting for whatever were currently making the ground rumble beneath them. A passing, easily noticeable shaking that suddenly came from the south and continued to the north after passing them at a brisk pace, making it rather obvious that something were burrowing through the ground. Something big.

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@Catpone Cerberus

Agni let out a confused squawk when he saw Nada here, of all places. He had been flying into town to see how things looked now, as he had done a few times out of curiosity, and had not even planned on looking for her, nor anyone else.

Until all of a sudden, a mimic had crawled out, and his vindictive side had shown up. Fah'lina and him were barely tolerating each other at the best of times, and seeing her here, he thought he'd show that he were the dominant one of them, when she were out of her watery domain.

Imagine his surprise when he had then suddenly seen Nada exit the house, and he were told that the strange, squirrel-like creature wasn't the one he were after, but just another od their kind.

Looking at this one, hiding behind the siren and looking up at him with worry, he had to recognize that this really weren't the same. This one looked neater, and less physically powerful than the other one.

So he' d flap down and land in front of Nada, and look up at her in silence. A sort of way to show that he were admitting himself wrong, without actually giving off an apology. Pride made that a tough one to swallow for beings like him, but he'd do at least this, unless he'd be forced to apologize, which he'd begrudgingly do if it were. Better than to have this creature angry at him.

"Woah, is thatta fish lady?"

The presence that Nada would likely be less happy about, would be that of a young pegasus colt, barely looking like he were old enough to even be in school yet, with a small pouch in front of him that he had dropped out of his muzzle when he started to speak.

The little aquamarine colt with the short tail and mare-like long, light-red hair that fell all the way down to his posterior - judging by the dusty look to about a third or fourth of it, of it, it weren't unusual for him to be dragging this along the ground - were seemingly out collecting feathers, judging by the varied ones that fell vaguely out of the pouch after it had been dropped, and had come here chasing the sound of the phoenix, but instead found a biiiiig fish lady.

He didn't seem afraid though. The look in his eyes were one of awe and wonder, clearly fascinated by the creature he were watching now.

Edited April 10, 2020 by Blitz Boom

[Chiroptera 4]

1 hour ago, Blitz Boom said:

Benny weren't gonna say no now that he had been allowed to do it, so he got an even bigger grin on his face, and went in for a good, solid hug. At which point, Midnight would learn three things about Benny.

 

[=~ Midnight? I'm the narrator here, and Icy is the character. Don't bring Midnight into this. ~=]

Eh? Somebody call me?

[=~ No, **** off Midnight. And hey, I said I'd try, I've been doing pretty good so far, think I'm allowed to do it at least once, alright? Anyway, moving on.

1 hour ago, Blitz Boom said:

The belly scales of a dragon were surprisingly soft. Still firm and protective, but at the same time, almost carrying the feeling of a room temperature snake in your hooves. Scaly, soft, and a little like jelly. A feeling which might be odd, though he had found had caught at least some as a pleasant surprise, since they figured he'd be rough scales all over. Silly them.

He would discover something about Hybrids in return- though not knowing thats what she is- when he hugged her. She is quite a bit softer than a normal pony, except for her wings- made of metal- and her horn- because its a horn. Though I don't think he would feel her horn, at the moment, considering I'm pretty sure that he isn't in contact with it. Anyway, alongside her softness, her body temperature depends on her emotions. At the moment, as is usual, her temperature is about halfway between the average body temperature for a pony, and the freezing point of water. Though it rises slightly over the course of the hug, considering she is still in fact mostly pony.

Though her wings are only just barely over the freezing point of water, which is why when she gets excited, or fearful, or generally emotions like that, her wings can go below freezing and cause the snow and frost.

[Windy Breeze 15,175]

@Blitz Boom

“I agree. having a long travel will be tiring and would make you hungry” Windy said. She glanced at her surroundings, then looks back at Sorrow “You can lead the way since i only visited this place for the first time” Windy feel slightly embarrassed for ordering the one helping her. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,420]

@Blitz Boom
Ruby just smirked when Leviathan got annoyed, seemingly finding it amusing and not a bit threatening, when Marley interrupted the situation, she returned to her normal expression. She would have commented something regarding what Leviathan said after, but the rumbling ground took her attention away from that "Do either of you happen to know what it is that is moving under us?" she sounded calm and there was no sign of fear or even tension, so either she was not worried about this obviously bigger creature, or she was great at hiding her true feelings "Because I suddenly got the urge to kill it" she kept her senses sharp to make sure she could dodge if the newcomer tried to surprise her by coming from under her, even if it seemed it wasn't going after them at the moment, and regardless of Marley's or Leviathan's answer and or actions, she would start following the creature if it didn't turn back.
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"Good." Nada simply said, not planning to tell Agni to apologize, animal relationships were Lyriel's thing, not that she could have said anything else regardless, because suddenly a pony appeared, and Nada let out quite the profanities  when she noticed him, but since they were in old ponyish, the young pegasus probably didn't know what the siren had just said.

Nada quickly analyzed the situation, this pony was young and didn't seem to fear her, so either he didn't know about sirens, or he thought the story as just that, which would make sense considering how long time ago it was, regardless, there was a chance that Nada would be able to salvage the situation without harming the colt "Um..Hello there young pegasus, I'm Nada, what's your name?" it may have been bit foolish to tell her name right away, but she didn't really like being called a 'fish lady', and it was only way she knew how to start being friendly.

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Scarecrow nodded slowly in thankful manner "I appreciate it Straw, and I admit it has been nice to have someone to talk to who actually responds back, but please don't worry too much about me, you have your own life and I have my own lack of it, it wouldn't feel right to bother you too much with my problems." He would go with Straw as far as the shadows hid him, and when they reached the edge of the last bit of covering darkness, he stopped and would watch Straw walk away for a moment before disappearing back to the forest.

 

 

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@Blitz Boom

He thought to himself, focusing on the element. "Well it's hazy, and I ain't about to try and convince you to remove the cuffs so I can sense it better."
Somewhere in canterlot was a blurry spot, two hot spots that were setting off Astral and Warlock at the same time, Astral able to sense magic can feel it.
And it was conflicting, they aren't meant to be used at the same time.
"Something bad if a Element of Disharmony. In all my years of research I never once saw them used for good, If you want I could potentially deal with whoever it is."

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

"Opal went off with the element of depression last I saw her, this magic is similar- but more powerful, so definitely a power ripple." She looked outside for a moment. "And Close."

There was a pony outside, carrying potions and gems on her, while Misty wandered up to the shop. "What's up?"

"I sense some Elements near, by their magic."

"Oh! Could it be Warlock?"

"Opal more likely, since Warlock is imprisoned." She said, still not having heard about his reform.

Two deep green eyes stared at Astral from the pony wandering by. "Oh! Shadow Streak!" they cried out looking to a tall stallion suddenly walked up, with a thin form and a red mane, a black furred body with a thick torso, wearing a dark cloak with a red outline around it, wiping their mane to reveal a longhorn. Astral wandered outside to the right, standing by the entrance, but watching this unfold.

"Yes my dear, I came for you." His horn sparked with a red magic as his eyes glowed a green, similar to a dark magic used by Sombra. "With a new accessory."
He moved aside a part of his cloak, revealing- the Element of Lies?!

(Shadow Streak)


Suddenly Astral blasted him aside the face, as he growled in pain, before looking her way, snarling.
"Where did you get that?!" Astral cried out, holding her hoof out ready to cast another spell

Suddenly he was swallowed by a cloud of green and vanished, the mare with the potions running over to Astral. "Wow you really scared him off."

"That's-" She shook her head- the sense of a close magic wasn't gone, in fact it got closer to her, but she wasn't sure why. "I suppose I did, where could he have gone?"

"Well we used to be together and that guy was a jerk. I can show you where his home is."

Astral looks into the shop to Chow. "Want to go on a brief adventure?"

"Brief? He won't be easy to fend off-"

"Trust me, I've fought sorcerers before."

Edited April 11, 2020 by FanOfManyShows
Added Shadow Streak image

[Widdershins 9,955]

@Blitz Boom

 "Berry! Babe! Yeh'll have tae try harder n' that to pose a threat to me! A few cuts ain't nothin to us! Wound me much as you wish, and i'll only grow back stronger!~ Be-siiiides!" Flit crooned beggingly to her as she stomped angrily closer. "I'm only showing this poor, waifish, sweet boy some love! That's what you horses do, aye?"

 He turned to the slight griffon pressing as far out as his grasp as he could from this lecherous skunk of a stallion. "A right poor working lad as yourself deserves to be loved, yes? I could take you away from this cruel, demanding world and take care of you on me hoard of treasures where you'd never, ever want fa' nothin, hmm? Now what's the harm in spreadin' a little Love around, hmm?~" Flit beamed a grin that reeked of the predatory insincerity of a stallion that cared perhaps a little less about genuine friendship and perhaps a bit more about "conquest."

~~~Meanwhile!~~~

Blitzie McBooms & The @Sekel Squad!

"Ooh-owuh-wuh!" Sunny Flush blubbered loudly from outside the building, nursing her bruised snout. To check on her like a good older brother, Blither slid down off his chair to quickly trot over and duck out the doorway to check on her and comfort her. Along the way, he painedly asked Shortstack in passing:

 "Shortstack! What did I s-... a-are you all here? … Where's Flit and Slimpsy?"

 Gathering himself off the ground like a little miffed colt with a skinned knee, the smallest brother yelled to Blither to where he stood outside with Sunny. "What da I know? Do I look like me brother's keeper, Tiny? Prolly done wedged his head up somewhere it don' belong yet again. Ain' none gonna help the stallion up, huh?!!?"

 "I've seen you eat lava, Stack. I'm pretty sure you're fine."   "Ouchers. Big Brudder? I tink I booked my snoot!" "There now, give it a second to stop hurting, you'll be good, Sunny."

 "Oh, fine! Go to the Mountain Mare! All yeh flock to the mares! Because this stallion' don' mean a thing but a mare ya can get somethin' outta!"

 Shortstack righted himself back into his usual bowlegged, bulldog stance he typically stood in and shot a seething glare at where Alonsus stood picking up Dazzle like a hero rescuing a damsel. "Och, I know YER type! Dunnae care fer nothin' else in the room but fo' the lass! Don' got eyes fer the rest of us, eh?!" Shortstack wasn't a trusting sort, not when he'd been around his taller brother for so long and seen his antics in action.

 Monolith still stood motionless in the center of the room. Nary a muscle or hair twitched as if he had suddenly decided to become a piece of stone furniture. He still gave off the air he was waiting for something to happen, but gave no motion of what.

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Sekel, Again!

 "All, i'm saying is," The young drake gestured from where he stood over the table, still perplexed by the plate arrangement. "is that I was buildt to be striking a pose on the battlefield, striking terror into the hearts of my enemies with my primed dragon awesomeness.

 ...Not sitting down for Tea.     ...Tea is the boiled plant water, right? I suppose it's rude to not humor you in your... Soft Pony Ways."

 Curiously, Kaltrop bent down to grab the edge of the plate with his teeth. Then he lifted it up in the air by his mouth and attempted to try and scoot it downwards into his mouth. 

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@Blitz Boom & @Pastel Heart 

Slimpsy, never the stallion to miss an opportunity to bolt from a problem, did so. While the fillies might have had a headstart and were pursued by a beast very much likely more capable of running things down Slimpsy caught up surprisingly fast at what seemed like a near mechanical speed.  Or magical, depending on which a pony was more used to experiencing enough to compare things to.

 Uncharacteristically though, he took this time to actually run towards something. The orange stallion quickly pulled between the two escaping fillies to explain as such in a manner one would quickly come to see as far more characteristic of Slimpsy.

 "L-look! I-i'm n-not the rescuing type! But i'm not going down for being implicated in the Death of two Minors! Leaving Minors to die is a Crime of Negligence in most Courts! And that's Number 86!!"

  With a grunt of strain that didn't seem to have anything to do with how fast his legs were blurring underneath him, Slimpsy unfurled his wings. 

 For "unfurl" was the only way that could be described to these appendages. What was the feathered ruffle surrounding him was two massive, near-angelic wings wrapped entirely around his body that folded out to each be easily longer than most adult ponies from nose to tail and very much out of proportion to the nervy little wreck of a pony that stood between them. Drooping down, they folded around each filly like the down comforter blankets they would be if not attached to somepony and scooped them each up to protect them against the mega predator gaining on them. While each would still touch the ground to continue running, with a fort of feathers pushing them forward this way the two could match Slimpsy's speed while caught in his drag-chute-wingspan. And like this, even with the amount of air he was catching, Slimpsy sped up to match the Timberwolf Matriarch's top speed as the moving fort of feathers sped away from her.

 Between them and sweating profusely at having to open his wings now resting on each of their backs, Slimpsy wheezed. "Huh-  And don't be -Huh-  telling the Police about this! I'm not, -Huh- going down for Touching a Minor!" 

[Rising Dusk 26,010]

@Blitz Boom

Considering what the power of the goddess's magic did to one of his wisps, underestimating what her High Priestess was not something Rising had on his mind.  Underestimating both one's enemies and allies was never a healthy mistake.  Granted he wasn't wholly sure what said light tainting had actually done to his wisp.  Looking at it with his extra magic sense had't produced any results and from what he could tell, it still operated the same.  Only another grand mysteries to add to many others in this world.  A world with a Harrowmark bit by bit returning to the way it was before the rein of Twisted.  What was it like before Twisted?  The number of those he knew who had that information was few.  Was it really any better?  A gilded cage is still a cage after all.

"All this talk about souls makes my spine tingle," the mare shivered.  Perhaps a natural reaction of a mortal begin when one's mortality is truly laid out before them.  It was all strange for an Equestrian to hear, that's for sure.  The pony Lily could talk to for days though on such topics would be their father.  He could write books and books to file into his library on a land their country doesn't know all that much about.

The group continued after... recruiting the ferryman to their cause.  The specific weave that made up the boat was too hazing to deconstruct, but it was still noticeable to the detective the magical nature of the rickety construct.  Impressively taking the wagon as well.  Mentally plotting their course based on the map he'd seen in Wisp's books and the one present by Lily herself.  Based on the mood of the party, everything appeared to be going as planned.  

Rising did not have the ability to read emotions through his extra sense or magical means.  In that vein, he was just an ordinary detective, having to rely on body language, facial expressions, verbal ques and tells.  When a pony had no visible face to see, his ability to read how the ferryman was feeling after being released was little better than anypony else in the room.

"And you're going back into that?" Dawn asked her twin.  Rising nodded, "There is still work to be done.  Besides, if Princess Twilight is going to be extending a hoof of friendship to them, I'll likely end up going back anyways."  A notion that had been poking at the edge of his mind while watching the growth of Thistle.  With how sensitive to magic, if the darkness had affected him so easily, who's to say the light wouldn't do the same.  Never a fun item to be on one's guard the whole time they visit another land.

[Pastel Heart 6,463]

@Blitz Boom @Widdershins

Pastel was speedy, but definitely not speedy enough to outrun what was coming. If needed, she'd release Cloud to Jelly and face it head on like the archer in Fa--

The orange pony was back!? She couldn't really understand what he was saying in the midst of the moment,  especially the legal stuff-- kinda worried about not becoming timberwolf food!  but she was pleasantly surprised to see huge angelic wings come from him! Was he some kinda secret character!? She was taken on awe she was swept up. So this was what a burrito felt like. She looked over to Jelly, curled up in the other wing and shrugged. Atleast it was a free ride!

The rest just kinda happened before her eyes as Slimpsy ran way faster than anypony she'd ever seen before- what was he exactly!? She looked up at him cutely with her big wide eyes as she was laid down, hooves up in a way that made her look like a cat. She just stared with astonishment for a bit, as if she just met some action hero. Maybe he was actually really cool? After being called a "minor" twice more, she sat up, puffing her cheeks out as she pointed her hoof at him.

"Hey, who are you caling a minor, buddy!? We're major! very major!"

[EQ_Theta 414]

@Blitz Boom

“So if a game is rigged to be difficult, does that mean it will attract those who are feeling lucky into spending their bits for a reward? I take it not many common folk know about that aspect if they go to the carnivals to play games and win. If that’s how it works, I think I might just settle for the food and take in the scenery. Might find something interesting to bring back home.”

“I guess we’re going to be in there for a while if we’re taking a look. We still need to make some time for Elder Ghilan. Once we get those blood oranges, I can open a way back home and see if I can arrange a meeting on short notice. If you happen to see the carnival, I can probably find you inside. You’ve got distinctive looks on you and won’t be hard to miss.”

Once they’ve reached the fruit stands, the longma would glance across each stall looking for the right fruit. Most of the selection was pretty much everything but the blood oranges and without much to go by, the siblings were impressed by the varied selection that came in large numbers. It all looked like a bountiful supply with each of the vendors. However, it was the pumpkin-shaped shop that drew in their attention. Marvelous was one way to call it. 

Like the other stalls, this one carried its own stock with some strange devices with the vegetables. The vendors the siblings knew about kept their produce in open-air environments but this setup, a curious thing. They wouldn’t get a chance to have a closer look as a perky pegasus caught their attention, greeting them on the way in.

“Hi there. We are looking for some blood oranges. Do you have some of those?”

“And I hope you don’t mind me asking but what are those things in the glass boxes? Not the vegetables but the umm… machines? Those are machines, right?”

[Blitz Boom 4,422]

@EQ_Theta

"Even losing, you might have some degree of fun with some of the carnival games, so I wouldn't rule out attempting to try a few now and again. Yet as I said, any game is always rigged in favor of the house, as to lessen the risk of losing money, whilst still keeping te chance of it open. Equestrians laws are not kind to the sort of impossible games that some other places tends to allow, so the ones here is likely best described as tough, but fair. With the right amount of skills, you could do well.

That is only the ones that include a one on one chance of prizes though. There are two other variants, with the more prominent one being a sort of lottery. Several beings line up and buy a number on a spinning board, down into a drawing bowl, or other things such as that. Basically, if you see one with a need for at least ten or so beings to participate for it to start, these are the ones I refer to, where it is simply down to which one of the contestants are the most lucky. The vendors earn their bits on these by the participation entry, then minus it with the cost of whatever prize is there, which they themselves tend to get at a favorable price themselves, to it balances out in their favor, whilst still being fair.

A sub section of this is something called a Tombola. Essentially, you pay for one or several bags of small, rolled up pieces of paper, and then see if any of them have a prize written on them. Generally speaking, most have *guaranteed win* bags at a higher price assuring at least one winning note, though I wouldn't recommend these sorts. The odds are staggeringly high in favor of the house, since they don't need to include too many winning tokens in the regular smaller bags, and the things they offer as prizes tends to be cheap knock offs you can easily get elsewhere cheaper. Also, never go to one that have varied prize ranges. Even the guaranteed bags are never specified to need to have one of the good ones, so you may pay a great sum for say, a flute, when you wanted a two meter tall teddybear.

IN any case, the other prominent thing is simple: Activities in which you can't win anything, but potential recognition. We're talking punching bags that counts the force you hit it with, games were several can line up to shoot water guns to race a small plastic figure for some competition, and the classic hammer and bell, where you use a hammer, to slam down on a piece of wood and see if you can make the metal ball hit the bell. If you're simply out for fun, things like this is likely the best option, as whilst it have no reward, you aren't tricked into thinking it does either. It's a simple transaction of bits for entertainment."

Rosa barely managed to finish his response before they got to the peculiar looking place that Amethyst had seemingly talked about. A place that were hard to miss, even amidst all the other vendors in the area, seemingly working harmoniously.

8 hours ago, EQ_Theta said:

“Hi there. We are looking for some blood oranges. Do you have some of those?”

“And I hope you don’t mind me asking but what are those things in the glass boxes? Not the vegetables but the umm… machines? Those are machines, right?”

"We sure do. Just got a fresh shipment in this morning in fact, justhaven't had the time to set them into the stands yet. Had a little malfunction with the sprinkler system to take care off first.

And you bet these here are machines. Cost a wing and a leg, figuratively speaking, but I for one think it was well worth the investment. The boxes keeps the fruits on display nice and easy to monitor for both me and the customers, so we can see how many are left and what sort of condition they're in, and the easier to control environment within makes it real easy to make them last for days, or even weeks longer than they normally would. This here's a specialty store after all. Not always assured that we'll get everything sold quickly, like the Apple family and their stock. Nono, they have it easy, but grandma's been clear on wanting this place to be a specialty store, so a bit of modernization's the key to success."

She'd lead them throughout the store, until they got to what seemed to be the entrance to a back room.

"Stay here for a minute or so, alright? I'll go make sure to find the blood oranges, and ensure that you're getting the juiciest of the bunch. Sounds good? Swell, back soon."

With that and a wink towards the bat pony among them, she'd go in there, and start to rummage around to get hold of what she went in there for.

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

 

@Pastel Heart @Widdershins

23 hours ago, Widdershins said:

"Huh-  And don't be -Huh-  telling the Police about this! I'm not, -Huh- going down for Touching a Minor!" 

"My daddy's a Night Guard. He says only bad touches are wrong, and this here's saving us from being timberwolf munchies. That doesn't seem bad"

He had refused to elaborate further until she were older, and just given her the most basic of information, to ensure that if anything happened, she knew to bring it to him. What he'd do then were something he'd keep to himself too, but it were going to test his ability to be objective, rather than an angry father with the ability to crumble up the average pony.

Thinking about what her daddy had told her though, this didn't seem to fit at all. The strange pony with the massive, fluffy wings had picked them up after zooming about, to get them faster away from the timberwolf matriarch. That wasn't a bad touch, that was a rescue attempt. And one that worked too it seemed, as the matriarch stopped up after about a half minute chasing them at this speed, satisfied that they had been chased out of her territory, and then started to howl loudly to proclaim her victory. She'd return to the deep, dark parts of the forest soon as she had shown dominance a few other places in the forest, but at least when it came to these ponies, she were satisfied with the result. They were cowards, wisely fleeing from the top predator of the woods, as it should be.

As for the fillies, they were still comfortably being carried by the stranger with the massive wings, though being pushed along with the wings like that meant that at least Jelly, had to move her legs way quicker than she normally would to make things fit, and it were kinda awkward. She'd probably feel that once they'd eventually slow down, and start sweating just like their strange savior were seemingly doing.

As for Cloud, he poked his head out from the pillow of down he had sunk into when Pastel had gotten picked up, and cooed slowly, confused at what were going on. Still, long as his talons were still firmly on Pastel, he wouldn't panic or anything, since he'd at least keep that degree of comfort then.

Slimpsy might find that from the point of the owl, he'd feel something strange with his feathers, as if a mass were making its way across them, covering a small portion in a thick, spongy substance. A small layer of tiny, green mushrooms to be exact, which would feel somewhat similar to moss, but the small bumps that would come from the top of the shrooms would say otherwise. Something which Pastel might also feel, seeing how close to him she were, what with him sitting on her and everything.

18 hours ago, Pastel Heart said:

"Hey, who are you caling a minor, buddy!? We're major! very major!"

Jelly snorted a small laugh out when Pastel said this. A pretty good joke that she hadn't seen coming, delivered pretty well by her new friend. Definitely a fun one she had found to hang out with, even if she were a bit reckless. Guess that just meant she needed a friend to help her out even more then though, right?

"Yeah, what she said. We're major characters, not NPC's. We can roll for initiative and everything."

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

 

@Rising Dusk

22 hours ago, Rising Dusk said:

"All this talk about souls makes my spine tingle,"

"Harrowmark is a land of death and rebirth. The ways of the soul and what the afterlife can be, are as much part of our history and culture, as whatever yours are, regarding those alicorns I've heard talk about. Might not be pleasant for some to learn about, but it is our heritage, and we will defend it through life and undeath if need be."

She could understand the mare. The ways of Harrowmark were so drastically different from what she had seen here so far, which seemed to be mostly a carefree, happy atmosphere, not wondering what might lure around the next tree, or what would happen were you to have a fatal accident. It only made sense that for Equestrians, several aspects of Harrowmark would as Dawn said, make their spine tingle.

Yet at the same time, this cycle were theirs for longer than their recorded history could tell of, and so much of their culture and society were based around these things, that trying to separate them were impossible, without utterly destroying the foundation of their country. Likely starting with their beliefs and gods, and there were little doubt that much of the root of this, would come from the deities that resided within their borders. And any sort of attempt at telling them to turn their backs to their gods, would be met with hostility from the inhabitants of their country. Even Suusha, whom despite being a cruel figure for a long time, were still a part of their country, and as she were sure would eventually be seen, a needed weight on the scale, to keep a balance between the two gods, to prevent one extreme from ruining them again. Be it through Suusha, or Viz'nay, with the later likely causing trouble herself somehow, were she to run around uncontested.

But the balance of the primordials were to be seen. For the time being, Viz'nay still needed to be empowered to even make her equal, so they'd have time to observe, and find out where the line should be drawn. Likely somewhere before finding all of Suusha's disciples and burning them.

22 hours ago, Rising Dusk said:

"And you're going back into that?" Dawn asked her twin.  Rising nodded, "There is still work to be done.  Besides, if Princess Twilight is going to be extending a hoof of friendship to them, I'll likely end up going back anyways."  A notion that had been poking at the edge of his mind while watching the growth of Thistle.  With how sensitive to magic, if the darkness had affected him so easily, who's to say the light wouldn't do the same.  Never a fun item to be on one's guard the whole time they visit another land.

"I doubt Queen Magenta will talk with your princess, lest she is accompanied by you. She would want to see the savior of her country for herself, and later on, show you what they had done to honor your deeds. It will likely help your princess too, to have you there regardless. If she truly seeks friendship, she would do well in having the good will of an outsider that is trusted, and predominantly revered. We're a suspicious people after all. It takes effort to gain our trust.

Besides, you know the country better than any other of your countrymen. Surely she'd consider your input on the matter invaluable?"

There wouldn't be much happening in the bauble, as she turned this question to Rising, and there wouldn't be for a while as they made their way to their destination point. At worst, a minor sea serpent would try and meddle with them, and get skewered. That were about it.

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

 

@Widdershins

Yep, he were definitely no longer any sort of attractive to her. He had never been behavior wise, but it had been somewhat on the lower end of bad, and could be offset some by looks. Something which were no longer the case, seeing how he treated Chippy like some sort of commodity, or pet, despite how obvious it were that the griffon did not like this sort of attention. Doubly so since he were imagining himself chained in a large bird cage, or as a recreational tool of some sort, by the way that the lanky pegasus were talking, which just made him more nervous and scared of him. Chippy didn't even say anything once he were pushed for another answer, but just started crying more.

He might be getting a chance to get away and crawl to safety in a cabinet in the kitchen, as the lecherous *pony* would soon find a broom swung towards his head. It would probably not actually touch him, but it might get him to move away from Chippy, to have to deal with the irate mare who had just swung it at him.

"Get your grubby hooves off him, you irredeemable, scrawny runt of a hummingbird!"

Seemed like there'd be needing to be run some sorta fight here after all, though Berry weren't sure how to actually win the fight. She just knew that she had to do something, before her colleague became catatonic with fear, or something like that. Poor thing had enough stuff going against him as it were, without this twonk preying on him.

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

 

@Widdershins @Sekel

On 4/11/2020 at 12:23 PM, Widdershins said:

"Och, I know YER type! Dunnae care fer nothin' else in the room but fo' the lass! Don' got eyes fer the rest of us, eh?!"

Alonsus gave as kind of a face towards Shortstack as he could, which were honestly more neutral as anything, as he really disliked this midget of a pony already, and had the rising urge to kick him so hard that he'd find himself stuck in a tee on the Apple Farm. Might be a ways away from here, but he were a big pony, he could make a substantial hit if he wanted to.

"You are surrounded by your family, whereas this mare were seemingly dragged in here and appears to be on her own. Alonsus knows how to prioritize whom seems to need attention first, and does so accordingly."

"Ah, I do apologize, Mr. Stack. I had thought your family to assist you too, and as such went to speak with my own sister first. Might I still offer you a hoof, and an invitation to join the feast set before you as the first one in line? Seems only fair that you get to eat first, when your other family members are tending to other things at the moment."

Scarcity had exchanged a few words with Stare before seeing the commotion, and thinking it best that somepony went over and gave their undivided attention to Shortstack, before he'd begin to cause trouble. Something which he might still do, as it were likely that even responding to him such as Alonsus did, might stir the flames on the short tempered miniature pony. Still, she'd respectfully approach him, apologizing with a small, yet kind smile on her face, and hope to diffuse things some, before they started to go haywire. That being said, she were also mentally preparing to teleport to the other side of the room, if he proved to be hostile towards her, just in case. Best to be on the safe side.

As for Stare, she'd stay near Chop,a nd whilst thinking that perhaps she'd be best off going outside for the time being to see how the large mare outside were doing, somepony else beat her to the punch, as she saw the dark figure of Officer Stargazer approach and then land. It seemed he could handle things so that she could stay safely with Chop for the time being. After the officer were done shaking his head and letting out a prolonged sigh that were. He really looked like he could do with a good, twelve hour sleep and some vacation time right about now.

"I'm guessing this is more members of your family then. Sunny? Is everypony present yet?"

He'd probably be picked up and used as a teddybear for Sunny, whilst she felt sad about her beaten up snoot, but he weren't thinking about that right now. A lot of things to keep in mind, including what had happened at the school, as well as the menagerie stuffed into his home. There were quite a few more important things to focus on, rather than him potentially suffering a minor humiliation once more, which would really be the least of his current worries.

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

 

@FanOfManyShows

Hogweed got up and started to look from side to side, fidgeting in place as she were trying to process what she had been told, and the options that came from this. Several of which had consequences if done incorrectly, or presented issues just in general for both of them, and likely a wider arrangement of beings too.

"...Okay, okay, I can do this..."

Not a mare in charge of many emergency situations this one, and when it were, it were usually medical emergencies. This sort of thing were more suited one of the other officers with more battle experience, like Captain Hailstorm. Yet right now, she were the one who had this information, and as such, she had to act on it too.

"If one of the Elements of Disharmony is active again, the generals needs to know about it, so we can prepare for an attack. Yes. But I can't just leave you here right now either, nor have you just let loose. If the generals heard that, they might throw you into isolation indefinitely, and suspend your reformation process until further notice, as they might be thinking that you've gotten control over me..."

It were a balancing act trying to deal with the whole situation with Chariot, and not mess it up, seeing how his history were with the guards. So far they had managed to keep in line, but it couldn't last if they took unneeded risks.

"You're allowed some free time in the yard, like everypony else though, and I think Colonel Syringe might be there, handling another prisoner right now. I had hoped we could have your leg tested just here for the day, but... Y-Yes, we should get you prepared fully, then go to the courtyard and inform him. He can bring word on to the generals so that they can bring us in to ask more details. It's uhm.... A bit of a workaround, but we have to make sure they don't think something's amiss with your reformation efforts, Chariot.

No just uhm... Please, try and walk around and see if it's okay, and tell me otherwise so that I can adjust things. Your comfort is important here."

She'd spend some time sorting him out if the prosthetic wasn't right, and would do so until they were done. Afterwards, she'd have both him and her escorted by the four guards stationed outside of his cell. They had tried saying something to him before, but the first snide remark had been met with a surprising hostility by Hogweed, who gave a verbal put-down of him that had let future guard posts to just look away and keep their muzzles shut. 

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

 

@FanOfManyShows

On 4/11/2020 at 8:08 AM, FanOfManyShows said:

"Opal more likely, since Warlock is imprisoned." She said, still not having heard about his reform.

Eeeergh, right... This bit.

Chow had followed and as that part of the conversation came up, he cringed a little, as he actually did know about the reform plans with Warlock. He'd been none too happy about it when that Lieutenant... Hogweed was it? Anyway, once that timid lil' thing showed up and told him, as he were part of those Warlock had personally been after, he had given his two bits on the matter, and then said he'd pass it along, so she didn't have to.

Honestly, he just hadn't found the right moment to do so yet, since this were likely gonna cause some issues with the witch family. He really had to just force it out one of these days before they ended up seeing him wandering the streets though. That weren't gonna be good.

On 4/11/2020 at 8:08 AM, FanOfManyShows said:

"Yes my dear, I came for you." His horn sparked with a red magic as his eyes glowed a green, similar to a dark magic used by Sombra. "With a new accessory."
He moved aside a part of his cloak, revealing- the Element of Lies?!

Right now though, wasn't the time, since some absolute twonk were suddenly there, causing Misty and Astral to get all surprised, as they apparently knew this lanky stick of a pony. Even went ahead to act like him and Astral had a thing, which were totally not why he were thinking badly about this pony. It wasn't. He weren't jealous of this... Stick-figure with a pompous attitude wafting off him whatsoever.

It were just that this guy reeked of a bad time from the get-go, and he frankly didn't need to see more than this lad's eyes before he knew that it were best to prepare a hoofful of smacking for him. No good pony had ever had slit, serpentine eyes. That were just a fact. That he were using magic that looked awfully wonky and showing off some sorta accessory that were apparently supposed to impress Astral (What a showoff charlatan...) weren't helping either, and thankfully, it seemed he weren't the only one thinking that.

On 4/11/2020 at 8:08 AM, FanOfManyShows said:

Suddenly Astral blasted him aside the face, as he growled in pain, before looking her way, snarling.
"Where did you get that?!" Astral cried out, holding her hoof out ready to cast another spell

Haha, wham! Straight in the kisser. That'd show that twerp, though he had no idea for what right now. Regardless, it were mighty satisfying seeing him get blasted like that.

On 4/11/2020 at 8:08 AM, FanOfManyShows said:

Suddenly he was swallowed by a cloud of green and vanished, the mare with the potions running over to Astral. "Wow you really scared him off."

"That's-" She shook her head- the sense of a close magic wasn't gone, in fact it got closer to her, but she wasn't sure why. "I suppose I did, where could he have gone?"

"Well we used to be together and that guy was a jerk. I can show you where his home is."

Astral looks into the shop to Chow. "Want to go on a brief adventure?"

"Brief? He won't be easy to fend off-"

"Trust me, I've fought sorcerers before."

Okay... Seemed like he miiiiiight have misinterpreted things a bit, and it were the unknown potion mare that knew this one instead. Well.. Either way, the lanky twonk still seemed like he were better off with a beating, so it were stil satisfying. Kinda weird they were going to deal with it, but meh, might be that Astral had thoughts on magic not being seen as bad, and as such, wanted to deal with this one in advance. Or you know, the more likely part, that this were a wearer of an Element of Disharmony, and nothing good ever happened when those beings got involved.

"Yeah sure, I can join up, Just need to get things sorted here... *sigh* Wheat Cleaver!"

He'd shout towards the back room, were soon after, a petite unicorn mare in an apron would came rushing out to meet them. A pretty little thing really, with dark-green eyes, a large, flowing mane and tail currently in some rather large hair nets, and a great big smile on her face.

She were however, also covered in blood splatter and had a meat cleaver in her muzzle, and those eyes of her carried a certain manic look.

"You called boss?"

"Yeah. I need to go check up on some things with the team. You mind watching the shop while we're gone?"

"Sure thing boss. You go have fun."

"Right. And you go clean up."

She'd give a sad, pleasing look towards Chow, who'd roll his eyes and keep on talking.

"- After you're done with the side of ribs."

This made her jump ecstatically in place, give him a small hug, then run right back to her work room, after setting a note on the desk reading *Back in ten minutes*.

He had introduced Astral and Misty to her before, but Cleaver didn't socialize a lot once she were at work, and much as he could put a hoof on several aspects of her that were cause for concern, he couldn't say she wasn't a hard worker. One of the few ponies who didn't mind dealing with meat at all really. In fact, she got a somewhat manic, sadistic gleefulness in her eyes when she were chopping through the meat that sometimes made him worry that if his employment of her weren't one of the only things stopping a pet masacre from taking place in Canterlot.

Suffice it to say, she were a special case, but so were any pony who didn't mind chopping meat generally, so when she had come to him asking if he were looking to hire, he had said that if she could chop up a boar leg, she got it. He'd learned that he should've probably not made it that easy for her to get hired, but he were a stallion of his words, and again, it were probably for the best if he made sure that she got these things out of her system here, rather than freelancing, so to speak. Seemed the safest for everypony involved.

On a side note, she were a rather pleasant one to be around once she weren't smelling blood, and the work likely helped mellow her out, so this might be kind of therapeutic for her. Or it were training and he'd read about her in the news, but by the great sky above, he hoped that it were the former, and not the latter.

"Alright, I'm ready to go now. Where to, chief?"

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

"I'm afraid that I don't know what that might've been. Nothing local should be able to make that much of a rumble, as far as I am aware."

"Perhaps not local, but things move around. Something tells me that whatever this is, it's trouble, and we'd be doing good work eradicating it."

Leviathan had a minor idea about what it could be, but she'd prefer not to even think it, as it were both really bad news, and should be absurd. This wasn't the sort of climate that one would normally be in, so what were the odds of that being the case? No, it had to be something else, like... Maybe a flock of overly enthusiastic diamond dogs? A few of them were really strong diggers and could rummage through the ground with ease. That were an option... Right?

Following the rumble, they'd be running through the forest and seeing more proof of whatever it were being somewhat large to say the least, as certain trees started to creak and tilt, when the deepest roots got pushed aside or upwards by some significant force. Definitely not diamond dogs then, as they wouldn't touch roots in this way, but rather go further down to avoid the obstacle.

They also wouldn't be able to make the dirt expand upwards for a brief moment like what happened as they reached deeper into the forest, as this large, apparently cylindrical creature did.

All of a sudden though, it would just be gone. No more rumbling, no moved trees, or dirt pushed around. Just silence as both it, and the surrounding animals, seemed to have taken off, leaving the three of them alone in this large meadow they had just reached.

"How strange. Where did it go?"

He'd take a cautious step forward, looking around.

"No... It's a trap! Fall back!"

The ground would suddenly, and rapidly, start shaking as she yelped out in panic and dragged Marley back with so much force that the two of them impacted the dirt several feet behind them. All for the better too, as not two seconds would pass after that, before an enormous maw would burst through the ground, and had they still stood there, it would have swallowed them whole.

Rising up with a roar, the massive, cylindrical body would soon after bend, and the large maw with seemingly endless ranks of large, nasty teeth would be on full display on the creature where even the half that were above ground right now, were an easy ten or eleven times as large as Ruby were.

In several spots on its body, narrow eyes would be revealed as protective flaps began to slide aside in its hide, and look around until it found the morsel it were after: Them.

"D-Deepwyrm! How did that even get down here?!"

Deepwyrm's were one of the dragon predators of old that tended to stay in mountainous areas, and especially the more frozen grounds to the north, where it were easily the top predator of the area. These days their kind mostly subsided on larger bears and whatever else wandered through their self imposed territory, but the instinct were always in them to go after their preferred prey if they could find them. That being dragons. Their incredibly effective digestive acids were easily able to dissolve even dragon scales, and with their large sizes and tendency to be fire resistant, they had proven to be effective at taking down what were usually the top of the food chain. Long as you did not include elder dragons, whom in storied told, tended to rip these up from the ground and tear them apart, leaving nothing more than the bones to mark their caves with.

And now, one of these enormous, dirt-clad creatures were here, and had set its senses on them. Creatures very much not elder dragons, who were limited in size and power. This were going to be an issue. Even more so as the surprisingly swift creature would suddenly lounge forward towards Ruby, aiming to have her engulfed and consumed. If she were smart and had good reflexes, she'd move to the side before that would happen.

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

"Me? I'm ca- I'mma called Feather Down."

He seemed thrilled to bit and whole fascinated by seeing Nada, and hearing her talk to him as well. He did sound like there were some issues finding the right words a few times though, but that were likely due to his young age. A year or so younger, and he might have simply giggled and crawled towards her, though at that point he should still be observed by a parent. Kinda weird he wasn't now actually, but they might be busy and thinking today were a safe day to wander town.

"You're really big, Nada. Is that normal for fish ponies? Or... Or are you some kinda mermaid? Are mermaids real?"

He'd take a step closer, looking only on her, before a squawk would be heard from Agni, who had jumped over to block the way to his siren. He stood with spread wings to try and block passage, but weren't attempting to threaten this one. Nada had already scolded him for his behavior once, and he understood enough from looking at ponies throughout the past few weeks, to understand that you weren't supposed to be aggressive towards their young. Plus, this one didn't seem threatening, nor were he threatened, as Feather looked down on the phoenix with a big smile and patted the bird gently on his head. Something which caused a confused chirp to escape from Agni.

"Your bird is really pretty. Lotta pretty colors on his feathers."

Agni weren't sure what were going on, but he folded his wings in again, and just let it happen, whilst focusing on the compliments about his colorful feathers. It helped endearing this little one to him a minor amount, as it fanned his pride and vanity.

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

"Nonsense, you need somepony to take the bat for you, as much as you do for others. It's not much of a bother either, so you needn't worry too much."

It actually were an bit of an issue, but there were no need to say that, and make Scarecrow think more of it. Straw wanted to help, and this were honestly the least he could do. Dealing with a few guards asking questions wouldn't be new for him if it were, even if this were for a new reason. Might be kinda refreshing honestly, but they'd see. It were hard to say what were going to happen.

What were gonna happen soon though, were that he'd go home. Ponyville were just about to be in sight, and Scarecrow understandably stopped up to not end up being seen.

"I suppose this is it for now, but I will see you again another time, friend. Take care in there, alright?"

With that, and a big smile beneath his ruffled mustache, Straw would turn and wander back into town, safe and sound. Since he still had a bit of time to work with, perhaps he should go make sure things were okay at work before wandering home? Hmm... Yes, might be wise. Chop had seemed a little on edge earlier, so it were probably good to go see if that had worsened, and even if it hadn't, try to have a word with him. Had to make sure he weren't getting tempted to go back on the bottle again, even if so far, the former guard had not touched a drop. Still seemed wise to check up once in a while though, just for his own sake. It'd be a shame to get this far and then fall right back into the hole. Figuratively, of course, as the only one who had literally fallen into a hole were Straw himself. Another topic he should bring up with his cook, so that he might not forget to deal with his traps again another time. Somepony could've gotten severely hurt falling down there.

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

 

@Windy Breeze

"Hehe, you got it. I think the market is this way."

She'd go to the left, and lead them down the street towards the market. Or as it were going to turn out, a back alley with a smelly dumpster, which granted had a selection of fruit in it, but not quite the sorta thing she were looking for.

"Huh... Perhaps we should've turned left instead."

Backtracking about twenty meters or so, they'd come to where she had confidently said that they should turn right, and went left instead. Five meters and a turn after that, they'd rightfully find themselves at the open marketplace of Ponyville. Home to all sorts of fruit and greens, along with knickknacks and varied non-meat products. At least now that the stallion selling organic pet food were gone.

"Uuuuuh, just look at the spread today. I wanna see if I can find some pears. Maybe a banan-Oh! Coconut!"

Being tall were a blessing at times, as Sorrow spotted one vendor relatively close to them, that were polishing a hammer and chisel at his stand, which were right in front of a cart half full of coconuts. Not normally a local ware, but with magic, all sorts of things were possible. Likely this stallion had teleported his wares and maybe himself in from a warmer place, and then took his trip around a few towns to see if he could sell some of what the locals here would consider more exotic wares. Judging by the stains on the stand, pieces of coconut gathered up in the bucket to the side, and the half full cart, he had gotten something done here alright.

As they approached, he'd looked up from his work, and glane at the skull, than Sorrow, then skull again, and then finally, Windy. He seemed a bit concerned with what he saw at first, but the presence of a Wonderbolt member seemed to calm him down enough, and just figure that nothing were wrong here.

"Hello, you here looking for a special drink?"

"Could I have it as is in a cup please, so that I can have the coconut bashed into pieces and packed up? The meat on those things are delicious."

This comment seemed to make the pony happy to hear, and he pulled up a large, wooden cup from beneath the counter, before proceeding to hammer a hole in the top of the coconut, and pour the liquid out for Sorrow.

"A mare of culture, yeah? Five bits please, and I'll have this ready in no time."

A bit pricey, but this were a drink, a meal, and not local. Frankly he could've taken more for this if he wanted to, but this were a fair middle of the road sort of price. He didn't jack up prices unless he were around the rich. They had enough to use anyway, so what were the issue, right? They also tended to be mean, so that just made it easier.

After she paid, he'd get the hammer ready to do a solid overhead, but halted to turn to Windy first for a brief moment.

"And what about you, Mrs. Wonderbolt? You here for some coconut? A drink from one perhaps?"

The price were the same regardless. Difference were just that he'd go from the customer drinking what he mixed in with the milk and then leaving the coconut so that he could use it in other things, to giving the milk as were, and then add the pieces in on the side. Either way, he roughly paid the same for what he used here, so it were no skin off his nose.

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

 

@Midnight

Benny didn't much mind the somewhat cold touch of the pony. It were frankly pretty refreshing, like diving into a pool of icy water during the worst summer months inside the forge. Sure he could deal with swimming in lava, but after seven hours or so in scorching heat and air that for most were hard to breath in, during the most scorching times of the year, he sometimes could use a minor, refreshing feeling. A lotta ice cubes and a small, blow up pool for the garden, and he were usually a happy camper.

The wings were the coldest part of Icy, and the hardest too, since she were oddly squishy for a pony. Not like that big, hairy one he had run into twice so far, but more like a big ol' chonker, just somehow in slim format. Kinda hard to describe honestly, but it felt funny. The pudginess that were, not the wings, which were kinda weird to touch, but he figured it had something to do with her magic. Sorta made sense that her false wings would be infected with her chilled powers, right? Honestly he had no idea, but that were just in general when it came to magic. Weird stuff.

"Mmmm, refreshingly cool."

"Really?"

Pop wandered over and poked to Icy, then ran her hoof up and down the same few centimeters on the mare's leg that he had hit for about two seconds, before taking her hoof back.

"You must really be full of ice magic, huh? It's making you kinda frosty to the touch. Gotta come in handy during the summer though, right?"

It were about that point when Benny would let go, and put Icy down again where he had picked her up, with a big, happy grin on his scaled face.

"Sure is a funny feeling, but in a nice way. Never been close to a pony as *cool* as you before."

He'd start to snicker a little at the bad pun, clearly thinking that he were being funny right now, rather than just the arbiter of dad jokes that he were presenting himself as.

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@Blitz Boom
"I wasn't necessarily asking I be let loose, any one of you could just follow along to keep me in check."
He got up as they went out to meet Colonel Syringe, occasionally pausing to test the joint of the leg, when they would get there, Chow would let Hogweed speak the first words to the Colonel.

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

Astral would wait till after the exchange with Chow and his helper, before she looked to the mare with the potions on her and gestured to her.
"We're going to what seems to be her ex's home to help her with that, what's your name by the way?"

The mare extended her hoof to Astral, shaking it, before reaching to Chow's hoof, and then Misty's
"Rose Brewer. I'm a potion maker who moved here, more to escape him than anything else."

"Alright Rose, well we'll make sure he's brought in after this, as well as find out where he got the element from."

"What are those anyway?"

"Er- I'll explain when we get there."

"Oh! Well I can teleport us right now if you want, you just have to stand near."
With that Astral stood closer, Misty as well, Astral gesturing for Chow to get closer.

[Chiroptera 4]

12 hours ago, Blitz Boom said:

"You must really be full of ice magic, huh? It's making you kinda frosty to the touch. Gotta come in handy during the summer though, right?"

 

[=~ At that she tried her best to contain it, and she succeeded in pushing back the tide of reality. Though, likely not for long, considering a frozen tear had fallen and just shattered on the floor, and that the blizzard around her wings was back, and that she had just gotten much, much colder. Cold enough for frost to start forming on her coat. Far below freezing, actually. Below zero on either scale. "U-umm... No-not really..." ~=]

Edited April 13, 2020 by Midnight

[Windy Breeze 15,175]

@Blitz Boom

Windy stop the urge to laugh when he called her Mrs. Windy. Seriously, when did she marry a stallion? “Ah, yes the order as my friend here” she said before rummaging in her saddlebag with her left wing. She finally removed her left wing out of her saddlebag and showed the stallion that she had 5 bits ready on her wing “And please just call me Windy”

[Catpone Cerberus 23,420]

@Blitz Boom
Ruby watched as the massive creature rose from the ground, but she wasn't scared, in fact, if one was to pay enough attention to her to notice such thing, they would see that she was actually grinning, finally something that may actually be fun to kill. The giant worm wasn't the only thing that was surprisingly swift, as Ruby dodged its attack seemingly without effort before taking flight. 

Her plan of attack was rather simple, she would first get few risky yet most likely ineffective in to see how the creature reacts to different things and to see what its soft spots were, and after she figured out a pattern, she would aim for those soft spots, which most likely were the eyes. Cutting through the creature's outer layer shouldn't be much of a problem for Ruby since her claws were made to cut her kind's harder than steel scales, but considering the size difference, it was likely that those strikes that didn't hit an eye didn't go deep enough to do any real damage. 

It didn't take her long to realize that the creature was fire proof, but that didn't mean fire was useless against it, because like in fights between her kind, fire worked as a temporary blinding tool, because no matter how fire proof you or your eyes were, they couldn't see through smoke and fire.

Regardless of if Ruby succeeded with her strikes or not, and even if she herself got hit now and then, it was clear that she were having fun.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm actually lot smaller than others of my kind." Nada responded, "And I'm not sure what a mermaid is." she kept her voice as friendly as she could, trying to think how to get out of the situation before someone comes looking for the colt, which reminded her "Where are your parents Feather Down? Do they know you are here?" she looked and smelled around in case there was other ponies somewhere near. 

She watched Agni's doings but since he didn't do anything stupid, she didn't react to it in any special way.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scarecrow returned to the hole where he had found Straw and spent rest of his evening filling it up to make sure nobody else would fall into it, after which he would one more time go through his usual route before heading to his cave. He didn't actually even know why he had his own cave, he didn't need cover, because weather didn't bother him, and he couldn't sleep so he didn't need to rest either, he just laid down and stared into nothingness until something happened or it was time to check the forest again.

[EQ_Theta 414]

@Blitz Boom

“Huh, so this setup is all to keep the food fresh longer? Interesting. Back home, anything made to last long is kept dry until the juices run out. Fruit is eaten immediately and we don’t keep anything that will spoil in a day. No way we’ll be able to get any of this stuff back home.”

The longma would go further into the store after the perky pegasus, though Lin would keep her distance and stay closer outside. Mostly, she did so to keep Shrimp further away from the fruits lest he start eating everything inside. The siblings were already strapped for bits and could afford maybe a few purchases with what they got. They wouldn’t want to empty their purse with unnecessary expenditures. Of course, Lin wouldn’t be caught unprepared with an alternative by sitting closer to the outside and presenting the refraction with some berries to draw his attention away from the produce in the store. 

While waiting, Sen had a chance to process what Rosa mentioned regarding the carnival games. Although he couldn’t resist the trying his luck maybe once or twice but games that are made to keep someone from winning big is a concept that didn’t sound right to him. If he had to give his all for a prize that relies heavily on luck, it probably wasn’t worth his time. Still, he wanted to see what the fuss is about with these games.

“Games of strength and and skill exist in these carnivals? Those sound more fun than the games of chance. The way you explained this ‘Tombola,’ I still fail to see the appeal in games that rely on odds. Especially more so when the odds are set before the players begin. I guess it's just me. Those other games are probably match my taste.”

“Hey, let’s test each other!” Sen exclaimed, getting giddy at the thought of trying these games out. “No stakes. Just for the fun of it! What do you say?”

[Blitz Boom 4,422]

@Windy Breeze

"You got it."

He'd swiftly chisel the top of the best coconut on the pile behind him, before pouring out the milk within it, into a small bowl under his desk, before handing it to her.

The taste were pretty sweet compared to regular milk, but refreshing and quenching certainly. A bit of a taste and experience to get used to for a first timer though.

Meanwhile, he'd get to work om forcefully hammer the rest of the two empty coconuts into bits, which he gathered up with his horn before they flew off anywhere. After that, it'd just be a matter of packaging things in right, since as far as he were concerned, the meat of a coconut were best enjoyed when you ate it off the inside of the plant, if possible.

"Mmm, this here's gonna be good for rations. I think we should still get some bottled water and a package of haybisquits or something. Better to be safe than sorry."

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

 

@FanOfManyShows

They'd indeed fin the colonel, standing in the middle of the mostly open courtyard - there were a large metal, anti-magic net spanning above the whole courtyard, to prevent escapes - and seemingly not doing a whole lot.

The pony were in his sixties. Grey coat with light grey eyes, and a short, bushy, faded- black mane and tail. On his peraon were a faded medical uniform over a standard size guard armor, and to one side of his body, he had strapped a medical bag. The other side had a nasty looking metal club, which certajnly wasn't just there to look pretty. The top medical officer in the Solar Guards knew just as well how to harm others as he did about mending them, and the smart ones didn't ask him to prove it.

"Uhm... C-Colonel Syringe? If you have the time, sir?"

He'd turn casually around and face the two of them whilst chewing on his pibe. A thin one made of some sort of polished pale wood, and which weren't currently lit. Only ever where if he needed something to relax on really, but he found the feeling of it resting in his muzzle to be mostly comforting enough, when the mood struck him  or he needed to think.

"Lieutenant. Your ward's out I see."

He looked wholly indiffierent at Chariot, making it hard to guess what he actually thought of the disgraced general.

"Yes s-sir, and he have something important to say that I think the generals might need to know. Chariot, could you please tell the colonel what you know?"

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

 

@FanOfManyShows

Teleports day in and day out. Someday he'd grasp how to do this too, and then he wouldn't have to saddle on this magical busride to Celestia knows where. Nuh, he'd go his own ways, and then probably get lost somewhere. Still sounded better than essentially having to rely on hitching a ride all the time to follow this familiy.

"Bringing 'im back in however many pieces will come along willingly, gotcha. Ready whenever you folks are, to follow the twerp and politely ask him for info."

Sarcastic tone should make it easy enough to guess his actual intent, were to beat it out of their target. Seemed to work pretty well in his experience, whereas just asking, were pretty darn rare to work when you were dealing with a criminal. 

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

 

@EQ_Theta

On 4/13/2020 at 2:20 PM, EQ_Theta said:

“Games of strength and and skill exist in these carnivals? Those sound more fun than the games of chance. The way you explained this ‘Tombola,’ I still fail to see the appeal in games that rely on odds. Especially more so when the odds are set before the players begin. I guess it's just me. Those other games are probably match my taste.”

"Any sort of game where one can win big, prey on the underlying four words of many beings: What if I won? The odds are low, and you're likely not to get anything, but that little mixture of optimism, greed and hope, will fuel quite a lot to think that there have to be a winner, and that might as well be them. I personally consider this a tax on hope, and would not recommend going into any sorts of these games with the thinking that you'll win. At most, you can put a minor amount to the side and play for the enjoyment, but that is personal preference."

On 4/13/2020 at 2:20 PM, EQ_Theta said:

“Hey, let’s test each other!” Sen exclaimed, getting giddy at the thought of trying these games out. “No stakes. Just for the fun of it! What do you say?”

A challenge? To him? Rosa got a fine little smirk on his face from that.

"Chose the games wisely then. My aim is impeccable."

Something came flying towards him, and he rose a hoof by reflex to catch what turned out to be a small bag, with what seemed like two large globes within, without flinching or looking at the direction this had been thrown in.

"Oof, and lookit those reflexes! Nice catch."

The young mare came back with a grin on her face, and a clementine balancing skillfully on her nose.

"Best of the bundle, and a little something for that pet of yours. Been seeing him swaying around looking a few times towards these sorta things. What you say little fellah? Want a treat on the house from Auntie Marvel?"

She's reach it towards Shrimp who had indeed been looking around, confused as well as somewhat hungry at seeing all the fruit, but without being able to smell it all that much. This one though, he could smell, as well as reach once the surprisingly quick mare had gotten close enough to him so that he could reach out with his little hands. Sure he'd hiss at most, but this one gave him food, so he'd gladly take the treat with a happy chirp, and sink his teeth into the juicy exterior.

"Awh, ain't he precious?

Now, I helped tall, dark and handsome here, as well as your strangle little friend. What're you two on the lookout for? You might be surprised what I got in stock."

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

Ruby would find that she had a small window after the creature would loo around - about two seconds - where the eyes would be uncovered, and easy to attack, which weren't as simply when they were covered. The beast's hide were rather thick, so it were wise to go for the weak points and play smart about this. Something which its usual prey didn't, as the dragons this sort feasted on were boastful berserker types. Brain weren't exactly a prominent feature of their biology.

As for the fire, it might not do much more than irritate the eyes, but that could work well in their favor. Doubly so when Leviathan eyed a chance to be disruptive, and blew frozen breath on the same points as the fire. As a self-styled storm dragon, she knew how to cultivate some weather via magic, so mixing in some of a dragons natural fire with her magical frost? Weren't hard to cause a fog to rise from that, which were more of an issue for the wyrm than them. It were too large to not be seen by them, whereas they were smaller, and as such, had a far easier time hiding.

First time Ruby would hit an eye, she'd find that it were soft as any other, and judging by the screech of the beast, it certainly did some degree of damage. Not enough to not make it try and fall full length in her direction to crush her though. Its prey were starting to become dangerous, and the first thought were to make mush out of them before they hurt it more.

As for Marley, he were sitting in a nearby tree, bidding his time in silence. He were less of a brute hammer than a precious tool, so he'd wait for the right time to come in and strike. All a matter of timing.

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

"Mah...My parents says it's okay if ah... If I go look for feathers in town. Where it's safe.

And I heard that merh... That mermaids were pretty fishy ponies, from the ocean. You lohg... You look like you swim, Nada. With your big tail, like a mermaid, right? But if yuoh... If you're not a mermaid, then what are you?"

Nada wouldn't be able to smell, nor hear anypony nearby. It seemed the kid were indeed just out on his own, and likely didn't even intent to go here, before he heard Agni. Bird equals feathers after all, even a young colt like this knew that.

Now he were curious though what Nada were if she wasn't a mermaid. Those were the only fish ponies he had ever heard about, so what else could she be? Were she actually a magical fish princess? *gasp*

The wonder in his eyes nearly glittered as he looked increasingly excited at Nada. This were a great day for him right now, no doubt about that.

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

Few hours later, he might find what seemed like another pony wandering slowly through the forest, looking like she wasn't feeling all that good right now. Far off from the path and alone, she'd be in danger out here all by herself even if she were at her best, but judging by the way she walked, she had seemingly either fallen down somewhere high, or had been beaten up something badly otherwise. Perhaps falling from a tree, or running into the side of a cliff or something. Whatever the reason, this one should be prime material for the varied predators of the forest to go after, though some some reason, none of them were right now. The only animal even near her seemed to be a duckling waddling on its little webbed feet next to her.

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

 

@Midnight

The two of them looked really surprised at the sight of the frozen tear, then Benny opened his mouth, clearly ready to say something about this, before he'd get a hoof in front of it, and he'd look down to see Pop shake her head at him, indicating that he shouldn't be asking more into this. Seemed like a bad spot had been hit there, considering the tear, and she didn't want them to go and make Midnight uncomfortable by asking too much into what were going on with her. Not unless she brought it up herself.

"...So Icy, what brought you to Ponyville in the first place, if it's okay to ask?"

[Seamore Sandwich 470]

@Blitz Boom 

 

(Continued from page 384) 

 

“You say ‘railroad’ as if it is one word.  I believed it to have been misspelled on the maps, but now I believe it to have a different meaning than that which I had originally thought.  Please, if you will, tell me its meaning.  What is the significance of its name?” Silvermane replied curiously.  He had no knowledge of this modern world, so it stood to reason that he might be missing something important here.  He had no direct help in planning the route, which now to him seemed a mistake.  Unknown to him, this railroad would take most of the time off their journey.  There would be a long walk still, but it wasn’t going to be quite the long journey they were all expecting.

 

(Gaea remains on page 384, Penny on 385, and Charlie on 363)

[Windy Breeze 15,175]

@Blitz Boom

Windy smiled and took the bowl filled with coconut milk from him. She took a sip and smiled “It had been ages ever since I drink coconut milk. Here's your bits, sir” she said, giving the stallion 5 bits before suddenly sipping the remaining coconut milk to her mouth very loudly, receiving a few glances and frowns from ponies walking by. 

[Catpone Cerberus 23,420]

@Blitz Boom
Ruby was too quick to be crushed, at worst she would get air knocked out of her if she failed the timing, causing her to back up a bit until she was no longer stunned. 

She continued with the same strategy as before, but she got an idea that could be more effective, she just needed to know something first "Leviathan, do you happen to know if this thing is fireproof in the mouth and throat too!?" she didn't pay any attention to Marley, after all, she had no reason to think he would take part in this fight in any way.  

-------------------------------------------------------------
"I may be a mermaid." Nada said, good thing about young ponies was that they were very simple minded and thus easy to fool "Where I come from, there's no such thing as mermaid, but it could be what you ponies call us." "I am [siren in draconic]" she used the draconic word in case she didn't manage to make the colt stay quiet about this, she didn't want him go around telling everyone how he met a siren after all.

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

Scarecrow followed the pony silently for a while, he had found her after he had heard her steps, and was observing her to see if he should do something, while also keeping his ears open for any predators. After few minutes of soundless following, he would get closer, but not close enough to be seen, and would ask with as gentle of a tone as possible "Do you need help?" the echo in his voice made it hard to pinpoint exactly where he was, but the pony would most likely be able to tell that he wasn't far. 

 

[EQ_Theta 414]

@Blitz Boom

Lin turned to the pegasus shopkeeper who offered Shrimp a bite to eat. She was ready to warn her Shrimp’s nipping and biting but it looks like he was content to eat the treat given to him. Suppose the little guy was curious and probably going hungry at the moment. Being surrounded by food didn’t help but she was happy her little friend didn’t give the pegasus an injury. 

The longma rejoined the rest of the group and had a look around the shop for something they might want. Though they initially only wanted to stop by for some blood oranges, they couldn’t resist picking out something for themselves. Well, that was mostly what Lin was thinking of as she walked over. The shopkeeper did a good deed and perhaps she could throw some bits her way to say thanks. She wasn’t being stingy here and she wasn’t going to be ungrateful as well.

“Hmm, I wouldn’t say no to some oranges.”

“We got some blood oranges here and I’d like to compare them,” Sen jumped in, confirming his sister’s choice.

“Looks like it’s settled. We’ll take three.” The longma smiled and held up three digits. “How much is all of that?”

As for Sen, the lull in the moment after Rosa gave his response to the challenge got the longma to pause for a moment and wonder if he is ready. He's issued the challenge and now he has to commit to throw down the gauntlet. It's been a long time since he's had to exert a lot for a bit of fun but perhaps this is a chance to show what he's got. Might be a good opportunity to see if longma hunter training has some transferable benefit in scenarios his instructors didn't foresee. Now that'll be something to talk about to the folks back home. For now, he's ready to humor Rosa with a game that tests their aim and precision.   

Edited April 15, 2020 by EQ_Theta

[Sekel 685]

@Blitz Boom

KARMIC FATE & ATZY

"I honestly don't know what unification does. I never really paid attention. In hindsight, I should have," Atzy admitted with a small sigh. She spied some gemstones on the table. She levitated one over to herself and bit into it. "I'm sorry I'm not much help in this situation, Ambassador," she added after swallowing her bite.

"That sounds like a lovely tea, Ambassador," Karmic said in genuine surprise and gratitude. She dunked some red tea leaves into the boiling water the Ambassador offered and waited for it to steep. "You're from Saddle Arabia, is that right?"

@Blitz Boom

TWILIGHT SPARKLE

"Keeping some samples would be of great help when you experience these extreme emotions, Cherish, thank you," Twilight said happily as they continued walking down the path. "I don't think we've reached the graveyard yet, have we?"

@Blitz Boom

AURORA LIGHTS

"Yes, Queen Dia'Thiz, this is a griffin. It's the form I prefer over my changeling form because it's the way I was raised, away from the other changelings," Aurora told Dia'Thiz with a nod. "I'd rather not find other changelings just yet. I think I would rather let time choose that for me, especially since I'm not looking for anypony at the moment."

@Blitz Boom, @Widdershins

DAZZLE GLEAM

"Well, thanks for the offer, Alonsus," Dazzle told him with a smile. She was bit put off by Shortstack's loudness and looked at the rest of the ponies before realising there was a pony missing. Or at least, she thought she did. "There was a pony with that big giant pony who asked me a question. I want to find that pony and answer it, they noticed something about me and I want to set it straight I just don't remember who it was other than they came along with the giant pony outside."

@Widdershins

DAWN STREAK

"Yes, tea is basically boiled plant water," Dawn sighed exasperatedly and hopped up onto the chair so she could help him scrape the food into his mouth. "Chew when this falls in, try not to choke."

 

[Widdershins 9,955]

@Blitz Boom& @Sekel

 Officer Stargazer was met with a pair of big, watery, pleading eyes. "I booked mah snoot! Kiss it an' make it betta, Daddy!"

 "It's okay, Flush. You're a big mare now, huh? You can take a lot worse than that, right?" Blither cajoled his younger sister and eased her inside with a motion to the nightguard, taking care to point out to Sunny to duck this time under the several inches of crumbling breakage trickling down from what remained of the top frame of the doorway. One would be rather surprised there wasn't an imprint of Sunny's face up there in the middle of it. Blither would lead her & him to past where Shortstack stood next to where Scarcity was, putting the nightguard and Scarcity some few feet away from Dazzle.

 "Safe!? Bah! Thatsa fine word tae pin to our ugly mugs! The moment us show up, the torches & death rewards to mount us on walls come up! Like bein' wit' this lot makes-" Shortstack sputtered. If the harshness of his words didn't make it come across, he was quite fed up with having to associate with ponies when it never reliably went well. Anger was what he was routinely met with, for reasons none in the family could quite blame others for doing, so anger was the only suitable response back.

 But that quickly fizzled back out. Gratitude Shortstack could recognize, he just didn't know how to respond to it. It didn't help that mares made him a bit emotional. Which many argued didn't really show up all that well in him. He blushed hard enough to show through his already frequently flushed, red, face fur and stuttered at Scarcity's words; it would seemed he responded well to a calm, respectful authority figure that didn't give him much room to fly into a rant. "I... u-uh, wasn't askin for no special treatment, Miss. I just-"

 Across the room, deep and resonantly bouncing off the walls without him having turned around to so much as notice who had arrived, Monolith reproached in hushed, but bolded tones. "Yes. Thy did."

"No, I didn't..."

"Emotional Response. Clouds judgement."

Corrected by his brother, Shortstack grits his teeth and clears his throat. "Ain't right, is all, Miss. I thank ye, but we ain't much for eatin'. Sure, we're always hungry, but as Bother says, we oughten't take much. ...Could go for a fair lump o' coal though."

"Lacking in Nourishment. Tea is sufficient sustenance."

 "You say that, Lith. But you DO have to eat other things sometimes too." Blither intoned from where he was setting up Sunny from the farside of the room where she very clearly didn't require a seat on where she plopped down like a giant teddy bear against the wall, still whimpering overdramatically. "And it's Blither, Shortstack."

 "Whatever."

###############################################

Blitz's Berry:

 Flit loosed his grip on the young griffon and immediately propped him up in front of Berry where he had been standing. Leaving him there in place, Flit flitted to Berry's side to chirp unaffected by any recognition that he had upset her. "Whaat? Ya gotta problem with Love?"

 "Lookit the lil' sucker cry! Don't ya wanna jist pat 'im, kiss 'im and make him feel better? Where am I in tha wrong here, Lassie? Teach an ol street rough, eh?"

##########################

Blitz Boom and @Pastel Heart

 Slimpsy slowed to a stop some few yards away the furthest out house on the outskirts of Ponyville, having shuttled the two fillies in like curling irons. When they did stop, his enormously out of proportion wings drifted over them laying exhausted on the ground. This motion was made apparent as unintentional because when they looked back up at him, still chattering in fear, he would be dragging his wings behind him loose on the ground and unable to lift them himself.

 "Oh, that- that's g-gr-grrreat...Now i'll get thrown in for I-imprisonment for even coming *NEAR* the Chief of Police's daughter! You say the slightest thing off and poof goes my life! 93! Least this is a better end than dismemberment!"

 "Minor, minor?!" The thin, scrawny but semi-athletic stallion squirmed in place from where he stood before them, going into a lecture. "There's nothing 'minor' in this life! The slightest touch can transfer face-eating diseases like... like nothing you even know! I'd hate to ask you for h-help folding my wings back in... b-because you know what they say! Small foals are a vector of disease! Everything you touch gets infected almost immediately! And don't tell me i'm overreacting! I've read sooo many medical books! There actually are flesh-eating dis-!"

  Slimpsy's head jolted upright as his pupils dilated. It was a trade off. When you're a paranoid, phobophobic hypochondriac you tend to notice quickly when things get on you... but as far out as his wings were from his body and from how they were just dragging in the ground the past few miles, it took a while to notice it was an issue. Slimpsy did so now, and took his usual level approach to such matters, by trotting back and forth squawking like a cat that had just hooked its back claws on a paper bag and couldn't figure out how to solve its own problem.

 "There's something growing out on the wings! You've got to believe me!" Judging by how easily each trip back and forth seemed to be paced perfectly to clearly say each sentence of pleading, this was a lesser freakout than the one prior, but Slimpsy still needed to have someone else address his new crisis. "I've contracted the Zombie Plague again!! 

 It's eating my fleeesh!!

 Weasels rip my flesh!!

 Chili Peppers burn my gut!!

 27! 27!! 27!!"

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@Sekel

 Kaltrop immediately gagged.

 "Y-you don't have to raise me! I'm n-not a baby! I had a pony already teach me the basics.... a long time ago. I know how to chew at least! What kind of dragon would I be if I couldn't take care of myself?!!?" He sputtered, embarrassed at the mare.

[FanOfManyShows 396]

@Blitz Boom
He put off an air of confidence, burying his nervousness about the situation. "I sensed what may be two elements of disharmony, though these cuffs inhibit my focus, making it hard to discern where they are." He said, lifting a hoof up to show them. "But I don't ask to have them removed, knowing the answer." He took a moment to let them digest this information, before continuing. "However I do sense the elements in Canterlot- Wait." his eyes scanned the horizon, looking to the Everfree. "It just moved to the Everfree Forest.."
======================================
After Chow spoke they teleported to the Everfree,
arriving in front of a hut that must be Rose's home. Coming face to face with Shadow Streak.
"Oh hello, come to apolo-"

Astral suddenly shot out a spell which unraveled into chains that bound him instantly, holding up the element for them to see.
"Where did you get this?"

"I got it from Opal Luck, a pitifully weak general, even with two of these."

"Two? Right, element of depression."
The chains grasped the amulet, and started pulling it away, as suddenly the chains exploded into a burst of magic, revealing a pair of burning red wings, resembling a spell that Warlock made.

"I am however not as weak as her, nor Warlock, these elements provide more power in my hooves then- GAH!"
Suddenly a blast of magic hit the amulet as he was knocked away, leaving two broken amulets on the ground, a green gem inside it.one, and a blue in the other.

Misty lowered her hoof and snatched both, holding them close.
"You're mean!"

He glared, looking to the four.
"There are but more of those. Good luck finding them before I do."
And he vanished once again, 

Rose stepped forward. "What are those?!" She said, spinning around to the group "A-and how do we get them all before he does? L-like maybe the canterlot guard can keep them in security?"

[Blitz Boom 4,422]

@FanOfManyShows

"The E-Everfree? Sir, do you think that-"

"Yes. It might be an attack on Ponyville, yet again."

*sigh* That town and its tendency to attract those wanting to hurt others... When would the princess get the urgency in preparing better city defenses and accept some guard help in the area, before it became too late? It couldn't keep going well.

"Still, it could be a distraction. I will send some troops to scout the area, and send a messenger to ask our resident trackers if they felt anything out of the ordinary. In case we do, I will ensure that your ward will be brought before the generals to tell more. What happens from there, will depend on the validity of information, and his helpfulness."

His gaze didn't change in the slightest, and neither did his neutral tone. The colonel were a hard pony to read because of this lack of visible emotions he draped himself in, and it often lead him to having an upper hoof. Had he not refused outright to rise to a higher rank than this, it were likely that he could have made for a consideration for general, but he had made his choice, and were perfectly content with it.

"If this is legit, and you can provide more information on things, I could imagine your sentence might be reevaluated to some degree. Now if you will excuse me, I have things to set in motion. Expect me back within the hour."

With that, he'd wander off to send the varied ponies to do what were needed currently. They'd see what would happen from there, but this might be good news for Chariot. At least if he stayed on the right side of the fence.

"Well it was uhm... Progress, I'd say. Guess there's little more we can do than wait for him now.

Perhaps we should try and get you some exercise in the yard until he comes back then, so that you can get used to the prosthetic a little more."

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@FanOfManyShows

Aaah, that delightful feeling had returned after many a week then. The one of total uselessness that came whenever Astral started to confront something, and he just had to stand there and watch it like a doll.

Oh sure, he could've gone in and clocked this guy. Bashed him around some, maybe do a little something to deal with his mobility - good slashing to the leg should've done the trick - but it were a magic battle that were over with before he could really intervene, lest he got hit by one of the shots Astral were taking at this weirdo.

Hay, she wasn't even letting him finish talking before giving him a strike that left him without what sounded like an element, though how it were split up he hadn't a clue. These sorts of things were above his pay grade, which usually mostly included trying to hit something before he were levitated away.

7 hours ago, FanOfManyShows said:

Rose stepped forward. "What are those?!" She said, spinning around to the group "A-and how do we get them all before he does? L-like maybe the canterlot guard can keep them in security?

"They do got their fancy lock boxes for wonky stuff like this, so they might be able to keep a tab on these at least.

Any idea where this weirdo is going off to now? And what'd he mean about finding all of them? This here some sorta Disharmony Shard or something?"

The last two questions were for Astral, whom he's look to for answers, as among them, she seemed like the most proficient spell user, and one whose family had intel on the elements, seeing as two of them were even directly using them. She were the highest authority on this stuff they had right nowhere, right now.

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@Seamore Sandwich

"It's where the trains usually ride on. Long as we don't run into that, or wander to the side of the tracks, we shouldn't get hit by anything."

This stallion didn't know what a railroad were? How far out of nowhere had he been lurking to not know about something so basic in society?

"How long and how far have you been away from everything, to not know about trains?"

Brute hadn't been there to hear all the talks, nor read into all the sorts of lore there were on Marcus, so she didn't know about how long ago it actually were that he had been around. She just figured that he had been on a trip somewhere for a few years, after leaving his cult to get something done, and that talk of times way before that, referred to some generations before him. Like his granddad or something. Or some other entity of old that he claimed to be the incarnation of. Cults were a weird bunch, which were yet another reason for her not to try and look into the lore they had around. She didn't want to risk being lured into something weird like that.

Well, that or the things she had heard were on the spot, and he had been away for generations, which just seemed more unlikely. He didn't look old enough for that sort, and he were certainly no alicorn. Hence, she'd go with thinking what her first thought were on the matter. They'd see if she'd be swayed on the matter, or remain sceptical.

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@Windy Breeze

The vendor took his payment, handed over two wrapped packages of coconut, and thanked the both of them before starting to clean the chisel so that he were ready for the next customer. What others might think of the Wonderbolt were of no concern to him, and whilst she sure got a few stink eyes for the burp, Sorrow at least looked like she didn't mind it. In fact, she started laughing a little.

"Heh, that was a good one, Windy. Lemme try."

Sorrow would give it a go at a belch to contest this one but halfway through what might have been a decently length one, a hiccup would mix in, ruining the momentum.

"Oh phoey. Guess you win this one."

Sure some might find this gross, but then on the other hoof, some would find it endearing, as some places burping actually meant that you enjoyed what were served to you. Clearly not here, but y'know, some other places.

"Should we pick up some water and stuff then, and get going? Feeling spry and energized already."

She had also pretty much downed the second half of her bowl in three large gulps, so that might have something to do with it. She couldn't help it, okay? She were thirsty.

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@Catpone Cerberus

"What it eats, stays in there, so its stomach isn't that easy to ha-"

Leviathan shot backwards, avoiding getting slammed with an oversized tail by a few centimeters.

"I don't know, okay? Try and see if the mouth's vulnerable."

She'd take the chance to move forward again, and strike her claws right across one of the exposed eyes that had been trying to look for its attacker. The feeling of running her claws through this were gross, but it had an affect, judging by the screech that escaped the wyrm. It were not appreciating, nor understanding why its prey were resisting this much. Usually it were far easier for it to feast.

As for being hit, Ruby might get the broad side of the creature hitting her, and swinging her around some, but unless she tried getting away by running/flying the length of it, rather than to the side, she should be fine. At worst, disoriented whilst it would attempt to feast on her again.

That were, up until the point where Leviathan also got an eye, at which point it would be completely up from the ground in all of its massive glory, and trashing around with the tail, bashing away faster and more flexible than before, hoping to neutralize the dangerous things attacking it. It wouldn't strike out after anyone with the mouth like this, but it kept it open, so if she hit a right angle, Ruby could try and blast some fire in to see what would happen.

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@Catpone Cerberus

"Oooooh, pretty sound."

She were completely fooling Feather with her act. Enthralling him even, as he looked up on her, much as many others did the first time they saw the princesses. In complete awe and wonder, almost fawning at the blessed sight.

...Okay, that might be exaggerating things some, but the colt were sure enough drawn in like moth to a flame. A distraction which helped the unnamed mimic escape the scene and run into the forest. Considering the phoenix looked like a predatory bird, she wasn't risking flying again until she knew she were away from him. It were harder for her to defend herself up there if this hunted like say, a hawk, and she was far from ready to leave this world. Just this town, until further notice.

Agni didn't care for that anymore, he just flapped over to the side and watched what were going on, unsure how things were going to go between the colt and Nada, nor what he were supposed to do. Seemed smarter to his small intellect to sit and wait for something he could understand.

"Mah... My friends are gonna be real jealous that ah g... That I got to see a mermaid, and her pretty flamey bird."

Ah, exposure to the masses, through the muzzle of a colt. Good question if anypony were ever going to believe that honestly, seeing how far they were from the ocean, but who knew? Nada might end up as a local legend among the young foals at least, who'd want to see this special ocean mare for themselves. Give it a few years and/or some history books though, and this colt were gonna be in for a bit of an ugly realization, but that should hopefully be long after Nada had been accepted into society again.

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

 

@Catpone Cerberus

The mare stopped up, and rose her head in confusion, looking around with eyes that were green in a way not usual for ponies.

"Hello? Who goes there?"

Her words were fluent and soothing, yet carried a curious tint to it, as she had not expected to hear anyone out here calling out to her. At least not in equine.

Scarecrow were right in his assumption that she did not know where he were though, seeing as she kept looking around herself, giving him a better view of the flowers that seemed to be awfully close to certain parts of her coat. Almost as if they grew therein, as ridiculous as the notion surely were.

The duckling following her started to waddle in a direction, wondering where the voice had come from, until she bent down and scooped the little thing up on her back.

"Please do not wander towards danger, little one.

Whoever is out there, please show yourself. The matriarch are wandering through the forest, asserting her position. It is not safe for any pony to wander out here on their own, and she have already shown me that she does not take kindly to equines today."

The mare took a few deep breaths after that, intermingled with a groan in pain. That impact from before were still hurting her, and from an outsider's perspective, it likely looked like she weren't gonna make it past the first one trying to go for her.

Which might be that timberwolf that were sneaking through some nearby bushes, closing in on her from behind. This were maybe just about to get ugly.

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@EQ_Theta

Marvel would lead them around,showing them a few things, and answering them what a couple of fruits were if they were curious. The longest named of which would be called - according to her - a *Prestigious Enthraller, Arhdelwell Regional*.

...It was a pear, and the smirk on her face showed that she weren't exactly trying to hide her little stab at amusing herself on their behalf.

She had sorta hoped that when they eventually picked something out though, it would be something special. Like a star fruit, or a Ripper White Devilsfruit. But no, they had the sweets on some oranges, and well... She couldn't really blame them. Not something the average Equestrian went for over their apples, but this were still a real great, underappreciated fruit in this particular country. Just good that somepony were enjoying the taste here, and that furthermore, they got something they liked. She hated seeing somepony get in here and not find anything that fit their taste. Felt like she messed up whenever that happened.

On 4/15/2020 at 3:35 PM, EQ_Theta said:

“Hmm, I wouldn’t say no to some oranges.”

“We got some blood oranges here and I’d like to compare them,” Sen jumped in, confirming his sister’s choice.

“Looks like it’s settled. We’ll take three.” The longma smiled and held up three digits. “How much is all of that?”

"Alrighty then, that's three oranges, and two blood oranges. Let's get the former packed up then get up to the counter to settle it."

A pretty easy thing to do, as the oranges were pretty close to them, so a small flight and a container lift later, she'd have a bag with three ripe, fresh oranges. Had to make sure these new ones got her best, to ensure they might come back, right? And if they let a few words slide to others of their kind, then hey, new clientele. Her neighboring salesponies would end up green with envy from that.

"Looking at the signs, this should be 16 bits, correct?"

"That, or you accept this here offer, and I'll let you slide for 7."

Rosa rose an eyebrow in confusion, as he were given a slip of paper by the mare.

"...This is an address. What am I expected to do at that place?"

"Oh you know, send some letters, strike up a conversation, see where it takes us."

The look she gave him pretty confirmed what he thought he heard in the way she responded to things, though it were something he responded to with a little confusion, and slight concern.

"Are you not a little... Young to be insinuating that you'd enjoy pursuing such interests?"

"I'm 23, and subtlety is for saps. I see something I like, and I go for it. So, what do you say bat boy? We got a deal?"

He opened his muzzle, but then just gave up and reached for where in his belt he kept his bits. It were pretty clear that arguing with this mare would get him nowhere. Or at least would take a good deal of time, and rob them of a rather good deal. Something which sure seemed to but an even bigger grin on Marvel's face.

"See? I knew we could come to an understanding."

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@Widdershins @Pastel Heart

Vauw... This pony were a few spoons short of a set, weren't he?

Sure it wasn't the kindest thing to think of somepony, but this guy were really panicky about seemingly everything. What could've happened to the poor thing to get hi to this stage in life, where he thought there were only downsides and bad things waiting to happen to him?

It had been a quick turn from Jelly thinking this pony were a little nuts, to feeling sympathy for the poor stallion, who had seemingly not had it easy if he got riled into fifth gear over just the possibility that something bad could happen. The sort who wouldn't see a glass half full or half empty, but scared about who had drunk of his milk, and confident that said being were somewhere in his house, ready to attack him.

Man, that sounded really depressing actually...

"Please relax sir. I promise that my daddy won't do anything to you. He doesn't do bad things to good ponies, and you helped us, right? You're a good pony."

They'd just nice and smoothly glaze over how he had gotten them the attention of the matriarch to begin with, for the sake of not making this worse.

It probably wouldn't help, but she felt like she had to try, and also attempt to get near so that she could give him a hug. Sometimes that helped when others were feeling bad, and she wasn't really sure what else she could do. She wasn't an adult, and this seemed like something the grown ups would understand way better than her.

12 hours ago, Widdershins said:

"There's something growing out on the wings! You've got to believe me!"

Jelly looked around in confusion, wondering what he were on about, until she saw the affected area. Just about where Pastel had been carried, and that new pet of hers had been. Had he carried something on his feathers that affected him or something?

"I think it's... Mushrooms? Kinda hard to see when you're moving around that much sir. Do you think you could stand still, and maybe we can get it out of there?"

Said mushrooms wouldn't be sticking that well., just be wrapped around some down and such. A good shake could take care of about half, and the rest with a bit of preening and plucking for good measures. Nothing dangerous or difficult.

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@Widdershins

"You're terrifying him, that's what's wrong!"

Berry were practically yelling at the intruder now, which really didn't help on Chippy. The second he weren't trapped, pinned down, or anything like that, he'd scramble to escape to the kitchen, where he could find a nice kabinet to hide in. Chop tended to keep one empty just for him, in case something happened and the griffon needed some time to calm his nerves in a safer environment.

"Mind me asking what's going on here?"

Straw Hat would suddenly enter the premise, and looking over the current situation, he didn't really think that anything good were going on currently. Berry yelling, and brandishing a broom as a weapon, didn't seem like a good situation. Chippy being mortified weren't either, but that one he were more used to than the alternatives. Rather rare that something wrong happened here in his coffee shop.

"The humming bird here won't leave Chippy alone, even though he clearly doesn't want it. He also broke into the bakery."

"Hmm, for what reason?"

Seemed like this guy was openly a bad one, but Straw would reserve final judgement until he got a reason behind the actions. Might be something one could feel bad for the lanky individual about.

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@Sekel @Widdershins

12 hours ago, Widdershins said:

Officer Stargazer was met with a pair of big, watery, pleading eyes. "I booked mah snoot! Kiss it an' make it betta, Daddy!"

 "It's okay, Flush. You're a big mare now, huh? You can take a lot worse than that, right?"

Blither had with a single act, caused himself to get seen on a lot more favorably by the Night Guard. No disrespect towards Sunny, but asking for a kiss on the snoot, whilst also calling him daddy were... Weird, and he were happy to not having to take part in that after all.

Sadly, he still had to take part in a gathering of the weirdest family he had likely ever met, which he did after taking a deep breath, and wandering into what should be his home - with now yet another flaw on the wall, where Sunny had hit it - but right now felt more like a waiting room at the tax return offices. Beings tended to get weird when sitting in line for hours on end in cramped spaces.

12 hours ago, Widdershins said:

"I... u-uh, wasn't askin for no special treatment, Miss. I just-"

 Across the room, deep and resonantly bouncing off the walls without him having turned around to so much as notice who had arrived, Monolith reproached in hushed, but bolded tones. "Yes. Thy did."

"No, I didn't..."

"Emotional Response. Clouds judgement."

Corrected by his brother, Shortstack grits his teeth and clears his throat. "Ain't right, is all, Miss. I thank ye, but we ain't much for eatin'. Sure, we're always hungry, but as Bother says, we oughten't take much. ...Could go for a fair lump o' coal though."

"Lacking in Nourishment. Tea is sufficient sustenance."

 "You say that, Lith. But you DO have to eat other things sometimes too." Blither intoned from where he was setting up Sunny from the farside of the room where she very clearly didn't require a seat on where she plopped down like a giant teddy bear against the wall, still whimpering overdramatically. "And it's Blither, Shortstack."

 "Whatever."

"I wouldn't say that it were a wish for special treatment, as much as merely a wish to be acknowledged, and given the same degree of concern that they show your sister, Mr. Stack. Your reaction to her getting all the attention were rather understandable when you consider this, and then add that you are a flock of siblings. Emotions are bound to run higher when it comes to family."

She could have added some words about sibling rivalry and jealousy also playing a role, but she would prefer not to poke too directly at that beehive. It could be a touchy subject with some, and Shortstack were one who clearly acted on emotions. Peculiar though, how he had reacted to the kind of attention she had given him, since she had expected it to merely calm him some, not make the outburst of his more or less fizzle out. It appeared that being calm, attentive, and patient with him were indeed the right approach after all. Now it were just to see if she could retain this balancing act correctly with him, considering his emotional state.

"As for sustenance, tea is a good thing to consume, but one needs proteins and vitamins, so it is wiser to eat regular food as well. And would you not say that what are present looks rather enticing? Curry stews, root vegetable soup, and several more things, laid out before you all to enjoy. Seems a waste to not partake in this feast brought before you, no? If I might be so bold as to make a suggestion, I notice there is a roulade of some kind appears to be over at the end of the row, which smells rather enticing. A primarily mushroom based concoction, along with rich spices it smells like."

On 4/15/2020 at 4:08 PM, Sekel said:

"There was a pony with that big giant pony who asked me a question. I want to find that pony and answer it, they noticed something about me and I want to set it straight I just don't remember who it was other than they came along with the giant pony outside."

"If you would excuse me but for a moment, Mr. Stack.

I believe you refer to me. You were in the mist of talking about having met a certain problematic thing in the forest, yet in a timeframe which would not explain your... Particular situation. If you would prefer not to speak of it here, I would understand, and can wait until later."

Scarcity would go back to focusing on Shortstack, whilst still gazing the way of the peculiar pony she had gotten here with before, to show that she were not ignoring her. It were merely that things would likely go wrong if Shortstack felt ignored.

As for Alonsus, he would wait patiently for Dazzle to finish with the elegant mare and the short tempered midget pony, since it seemed as if her focus were there for now. He had enough patience to wait for it to be his turn to be the focus of her again, or acceptance if she chose to wander off. It would not be the first mare to do so, and surely not the last one either.

"Ahem, how many family members are still missing now? Two, correct? Can anypony tell me something about them which might make it easier to track them down?"

Everything were going fine enough, but Stargazer ha da long day, and would really like to get on with things, so he cut through a bit. Hopefully he'd get some good answers.

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@Sekel

On 4/15/2020 at 4:08 PM, Sekel said:

"I'm sorry I'm not much help in this situation, Ambassador,"

The ambassador gave a kind smile in return to what Atzy told him. A bit disappointing as he would have liked to know more, but there would be a time to learn more of this some other day.

"It's okay, I were merely curious. In time, I'm sure this peculiar queen who ascended you, will come to speak with us, and she can enlighten us more on what this process does, and how it feels. It is unreasonable ro expect you to know much about something that another controls.

Perhaps you could tell me of her? Perhaps if we knew how she looked like and behaved to an extend, Equestria could prepare to welcome her too, if she wished to come see us herself one day.."

The sound of a good deal of water being stirred flowed through the room, as Enzo began to stir a dozen or so tea bags into his oversized cup, using his index finger's claw as a spoon. It'd spread a nice smell of strawberries through the room soon after, whilst he finished gnawing on yet another fish. So far, a third of the bowl with those were gone, which in his mind, were showing restriction, seeing how long it had been since he had the chance to eat this.

On 4/15/2020 at 4:08 PM, Sekel said:

"You're from Saddle Arabia, is that right?"

"That is correct, yes. A gift from Princess Arabian Nights, to Princess Celestia, intended to strengthen the bond between our nation.

It is not often I find myself home anymore, yet I value the assistance I can provide here. And in these times, when Princess Sparkle are mending bonds broken long ago, as well as making new connections, I have much to do now to assist our new allies. Her work is greatly appreciated, yet there are more to making connections than friendship, though I wouldn't want to bore you with the details, . It can get rather long winded and dull.

But please, if you have questions, feel free to ask them. I will answer as best I can."

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

 

@Sekel

"We have now..."

Last hadn't said a word as they scaled down the last part of the path, and found themselves at the outskirts of a large area where nothing grew. Not even a single leaf of grass were anywhere to be found on the dusty, grey dirt, whereon many a generation of Shrine Maiden had been burned and laid to rest.

Wandering across it, they'd find that Last were mumbling to herself the entire time. A prayer they used to recite to those fallen long ago, which were still used by them to this day. Or well, they did up until they were told their duty were done. It were hard to say if any of them recited the prayers out there anymore, but at least there were one here doing it now. Hopefully that would bring some small comfort to the ancestors.

One who didn't seem comfortable though, were Cherish. She weren't outright disappearing, or looking like she were going crazy, but it did seem like everything about this place were making her uncomfortable. And judging by how she looked from side to side all the time, it seemed she saw something too, which her companions couldn't.

"This isn't right... Something's wrong..."

She were speaking rather lowly, but she were bound to stand close to the princess. As such, Twilight should be able to hear this without much of an issue, and she'd keep hearing variations of the same sentence until it were addressed, or they got away from this dead, eerie place, where even the wind seemed reluctant to disturb the deafening silence this place otherwise had looming over it.

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

 

@Sekel

"We understand. You still appear to have much time left before infertility, at least for a mortal. Your hive can wait until you are more ready for the responsibility."

They were drawing on old memories to determine a rough age of Aurora, as well as the general age when a queen couldn't lay eggs anymore. It wasn't exact by a long shot, but... Between fifteen and forty years more until it were too late, seemed to hit within the margin of error. barely anything for them, but for a mortal being like Aurora were, it were so much more. The plight of time for the short lived races were a sad, yet interesting thing to think about, though it scarcely went well when brought up to them. Mortals tended to not much care to be faced with their own mortality. At least not in their days.

"Can we ask what these *griffons* you speak off are like? We seem to have no recollection of them, and we wonder what to expect from them."

"Okay, okay. Starting to think I'm getting more in the right mood for this here meeting now."

Happy somewhat interrupted, as he started to talk again, after a while of just *nope'ing* it out of things. Seemed like his liquid courage had done its job for the time being, and finally gotten him more mellowed out, and ready to tackle this head on.

"So, just putting this out there: What sort of arrangement are you hoping for here, Queen Dia'thiz? We're talking just a friendly talking with Thorax here, or are you hoping to gain more allies through him? Y'know, sweet talk him a bit, then have him take it to his friends on your behalf. That sorta thing. Same with Aurora here and the griffons."

Thorax wanted to interrupt here, but just ended up looking away instead, slightly embarrassed that he hadn't seen this might actually be the case. Perhaps not initially, but overall? Could well be, and would explain why she would be sending her drones out to look for large hives, rather than just any of them. Larger hive meant more connections, even if it were only to other changelings.

"This world have been out of our reach for longer than any of you have existed. Now that we are free, we yearn to see it, but we need allies to gain favorabel travel, and to ensure our hive's prosperity. Yet it does not mean that our want to connect with your hives, are hollow, and just there to further ourselves. We will give, as we receive. It seems only fair, yes?"

Edited April 16, 2020 by Blitz Boom