private Deep Science 1x1 with Blitz Boom

[Blitz Boom 4,679]

@Illiad Easle

(Null)

(I got nothing planned for the evening)

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

 

(Ranger)

On 2025-04-16 at 11:01 PM, Illiad Easle said:

Something small but thowable, maybe a beaker? was flung at high speed against a nearby wall when he said her name. While it hadn't been thrown in his direction, it was clear that Ranger did not like having her name mentioned, especially not in this context.

Both the paper fox and Kozue, would bounce slightly backwards, as the vial was thrown into the wall and shattered. They had not expected an outburst like this from Ranger. Sure she had not been thrilled when Rainbow Dash were talked about, but the name itself causing such anger were unexpected, and it surprised them both. Kozue even almost let out a yi- Now wait, he actually Did let out a small yip too. Embarrassing, but he had to go on, and finish what he were saying. too late to back out anyway, since he clearly already got her miffed, to put it lightly.

On 2025-04-16 at 11:01 PM, Illiad Easle said:

She had mostly calmed down by that point, and so wasn't about to lash out at him, but she did shove off the stuff she had been looking through with a bit of a huff before coming over to see what he had found. Her expression grew curious as she lifted one of the figures, "Hmm, what's this? I don't..." She looked over at where he had found it. "Did Arcade? No... he didn't spend that much time in here. Gemini..."

Her expression finally softened after all the time she had spent here, "I would guess Mistress made these for us, and hid them here. Maybe she showed them to the younger ones while I was training. Even if she didn't, I think this is something worth bringing back. We can see if they remember them, and if they don't we can say it was from her."

She would gather them up into a small satchel she had found, wrapping them in some of the discarded papers to help against damaging them, which allowed her to get a better look at them.

It looked like there was a miniature, albeit rudimentary, representation of each of the elements, the princesses, and a few other ponies in the set, though to be more accurate they were all vaguely pony shaped with some color painted on, they didn't have marks or wings or horns, likely beyond the creator's ability to carve or paint, but as a set that was the likely conclusion. Ranger didn't have an issue handling them.

Once they were packed up she looked towards the door, "I want to leave, but there's one last thing to check."

"Sure thing. And uh... Sorry about upsetting you before. I guess I came on a bit forcefully, and crossed a line. I'll try not to say... Well, y'know what, anymore."

He could swear that if the paper fox were able, it would have rolled its eyes at him right now. He would've, in its place, because him stammering out an apology, albeit genuine, were about as smooth as sandpaper.

He still believed he were right, and that Ranger shouldn't be thinking her life were disposable, but he had brought her family into this, and mentioned someone that she clearly didn't want to even hear about. The family stuff alone were going a bit too far, in hindsight. Wasn't like he actively knew them, so though he were still sure he were right, that their lives weren't expendable like this, he should've been more respectful, and not force it as hard.

And considering her stance on the particular ponies they were cloned from, using Dash's name was a whoopsie he should've seen. Like, not to the degree he had, but still. It were maybe not the smartest.

Least it was good to see that the things he found brought a bit of a smile back on her face, and the paper fox were sure curious too, as it was over there, looking over her shoulders and from around her, to get a good angle to work with. It thought them somewhat like itself for a bit, and that they would suddenly be made to spring to life, but it did not seem like that was the idea. It was just still memories, that they would bring back for someone. Who it were? No idea, but it were interested in meeting them, and seeing if they looked somewhat like this. If not, maybe they at least had like, a folder, or a page of a phone book or something. Some numbers would be delicious.

Well, at least it got to see, so it could be patient... For now, anyway. Plenty to look at around here too, so it'd focus on that for the time being, and then think on this later.

On 2025-04-16 at 11:01 PM, Illiad Easle said:

She would leave the room and head further down the hall to a large doorway with a keypad. She started pressing a few numbers on it, without success, before sighing, "Looks like I forgot the code, or I never knew it in the first place. I'll see if they maybe wrote it down somewhere, unless you have an idea as to how to get through?"

The door itself was about twice the size of the other doors here, and solid metal. It looked like it was meant to open upwards. 

The walls around the doorway weren't especially reinforced, not compared to the rest of the walls here, nor were they any thicker than the rest, in case he had any abilities that could break or move through either.

It also wasn't airtight, in fact there was a gap about half a centimeter high at the bottom of the door, like something was keeping it from fully shutting.

Kozue thought over it. Was quite the door this one, and not a regular one either, that was for sure. Well, not the sort he were used to at least, so he had to think this over for a little bit.

While he did that, the paper fox would simply begin to unfold, then slide under the small hole under the door, where it would then reform on the other side. If there were a way to open it from there, it would do so. If nit, it'd wait for a bit, for them to get in, and look around itself in the meantime.

On this side, Kozue would more or less seem to ignore that, then look over the options.

"Hmm, well, I can try a few things."

Sadly he wasn't tech savvy enough to try and magically hack the lock, if it was any good. besides, he didn't know this type. But he'd try a few magical tricks.

First would be to just run a paw over, and see if there were a trace on the keypad itself, from previous users. If there were a lingering trace of any sort, he might be able to get the code like that. usually this worked the best with more recent uses though. But this place had been left alone for so long, that it might work.

If not that, he'd see if it could be budged at all, using some magic to push up from beneath. Yet if it were well stood, it'd likely do very little. This door looked heavy.

Next option would be the see what kept the door there. He might be able to erode the hinges or frame of it, if that seemed an option. A more brute force option, but it were something to work with.

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

 

(Cherish)

On 2025-04-16 at 11:01 PM, Illiad Easle said:

Gemini would nod and show off her mark for Crow to see, since it wasn't covered by how she wore her lab coat now. It was still the open book with a magnifying glass showing a capital Pi.

"I'm not sure exactly what it means yet, but I got it while we were all in the library. Cherish was there, she actually saw it first!"

"I read that pony marks can take time, to understand. But I see a book. Maybe you are meant to read a lot, and be smarter?"

There were a slight bit of hope in Crow's voice, saying that. She didn't really communicate with many that read a lot. Sure Cherish knew how to read, and they did do that at times, but someone who actively read often, to get smarter? She were doing that herself, and it would be good knowing someone else like that. Though pony marks were indeed strange, so who knew what she were meant to do?

"I have seen that strange thing on the book though. Some of the books I found. Not sure what it means."

"I dunno, but yep, I was there when she got her mark! It was so exciting! I hadn't seen that in a long time, and then suddenly Gemini falls down a ladder, and poof: Cutie mark! Well, she maybe got it before falling down, but that's when we saw it anyway."

On 2025-04-16 at 11:01 PM, Illiad Easle said:

They all paid close attention to Crow's guidance as to what they should and shouldn't do while out in the desert, and they seemed excited by the idea of scavenging, Elef only a little disappointed to not be going hunting.

They didn't have questions that couldn't also be asked while they were traveling to wherever Crow had in mind, but they would ask along the way things like:

"What sort of things do you usually find?"

"What's the coolest thing you've found?"

"Is it dangerous to scavenge?"

"Do you get lonely out here?"

"Does the sand bother you?"

Among other things.

The barrage of questions took Crow by surprise, and she took a hesitant step back, and almost took another, before she stopped herself, and cautiously stepped forward again, to where she had been before. If they had looked, they might've seen a brief look in her eyes, like a cornered rat, looking for an escape, but it were fleeting.

"Sorry, I am... Not used to so many, asking me questions.

So... I find all kinds of things, but I prefer to find books.

The coolest thing I found is a book of gold and silver, but I don't understand what it says. It has strange symbols everywhere.

Not that dangerous. Dune hounds are prey, and scorpions can't hurt me. You just be safe, it be okay. Sometimes there is golem things though. Stay away from them. They sometimes try to chase others, but they are slow.

Sometimes lonely, but... I have Cherish. She always been a good friend.

Sand not so bad. I grew up around lots of it."

At that point, Cherish would flutter forward, and whisper something in Crow's ear, that'd make the dragon nod twice.

"Okay. If Elef want, we can hunt a dune hound, when scavenging is done.

And I forgot one thing. Well two.

One is that there is lots of corpses, in the desert. Do not be scared. They just dead, and do not need their things. Sand shifts a lot around. Sometimes, they and their things come up.

And there is strange pony out here. Weird metal wings. He not dangerous, I think, but he hunt golems. I think he is crazy, but he have not tried hunting me. I think he is safe."

As she said the last sentence, the vulture were done with her meal, and took off, with mighty flaps of her wings, towards the north of the desert. Sometimes she stuck around for a little, but she had no interest, when it were this crowded. It got too noisy for her taste.

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

 

(Void)

On 2025-04-16 at 11:01 PM, Illiad Easle said:

The llama let her go soon enough, "Oh, sorry! I should ask first, I know ponies get uncomfortable when too close to llamas, and even though as a llamare my wool isn't quite as strong..." she trailed off, "...It's good to meet you Void."

Void were surprised by getting the hug, especially from one so much nearer her size than normal. In fact, this reminded her a fair bit of when she met Princess Celestia, and the mare went in to giv her a hug as well, just softer, and not as gentle. It were also reminiscent of that because of something else. A feeling- Or rather, the absence of one. Something that briefly made a cold shiver go down her spine, as for a split second, she feared the curse had returned. But that passed soon, as she recalled something she had heard about llamas, and when Illambda herself said so too afterwards, the relief going over her were definitely notable.

"Nono, it's f-fine miss. Honestly, it was just a surprise, and a short reminder of different times.

I... Well, my sister and I, were born with a curse, that drained all magic around us. We only recently had it removed, and I admit, I was worried it had returned for a brief moment. We heard stories about the wool of Llamas, and what it did, but we weren't sure they were true. Funnily enough, when we were on the run, we did head towards Himallama, but our transport got derailed pretty badly, so we ended up going a few other places, before ending in Equestria.

It's a shame. I think your kin may have been more understandable about our condition, than most others we ran into."

Saying derailed was a massive understatement. It instead involved their whole group getting kidnapped, and transported to the Siren Brother's arena island, and after they managed to get out of there, they just ran in whatever direction was the closest out of there. Maybe if they hadn't been hit with yet another bout of bad luck, they'd have found themselves a permanent home, among the llamas. IAt the least they seemed to understand their plight more, so they might have given them a chance. 

Or with their luck, Null's allergies would kick in again.

To prove she didn't mind the feeling of a hug, Void would next go a step closer, and give the llama a hug. Now she knew what to expect, the feeling of nothing, weren't jarring anymore.

On 2025-04-16 at 11:01 PM, Illiad Easle said:

There was a soft knock at the door, which puzzled Selena, but she went out of view to see who it was. Allowing Llambda and Void more time to talk, "Oh, I wish I could be friends with a shiny pony like that! We don't get many ponies in himallama, not before the shaking anyway, and even after it was mostly deer and zebra that came up the mountains." 

"You can try. I think Selena very approachable and friendly. Just maybe best to be sure to ask her, before you hug her.

She's been a large help for myself, and my sister too, since we got here. I don't think things would have gone as well as they did, if it wasn't for her.

Can I ask though, how is Himallama? Is it anything like Zebrica? We tried going there once, but my sister couldn't take it. Something in the fauna I think, made her really sick, so we had to go away, before we got that far, and most of what we heard about Himallama is what we could see on a map, or what we heard about your kin. It didn't tell a whole lot, so I'm a little curious, if that's okay?"

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

 

(Grey)

On 2025-04-16 at 11:01 PM, Illiad Easle said:

The new pegasus's expression would shift as they shared a bit of their histories. She was fairly neutral towards Craven's story, but both impressed and disappointed by Yannit's, "Really? A Blacksmith from a smuggleden interested in carousels?" She snorted shaking her head, "Casinos were always here, down below. The cloud layer used to be what everyone came to see, 'family friendly' and all that, the ground was where the residents lived, and where the adults went when the foals went to bed."

Yannit just shrugged at the comment about being disappointed in her.

"I work with metal, not schmucks. Figured those things might need repairs, and would make for easy work."

Frankly, it would be more suspicious in her mind, if she went here for the casinos. Devil's Creek were never a massive place, and it wasn't like the residents were rich beyond belief. If they actually got enough together to take a vacation to Las Pegasus, they sure wouldn't go waste everything they saved up on the casinos. The entertainment venues were far more interesting, especially when you lived out in nowhere. Wasn't much legal fun to have out there.

Besides, she touted herself a blacksmith. Carousels had some engineering, but it were made of metal, as were a lot of other constructions for foals and families. The nitpickers could work on tech, but it needed folks to provide raw materials for the big things. Sorta like how trains were all fine and good, but you needed someone to lay down some tracks.

Which she also could, mind you. She hadn't picked a profession she couldn't back up. She'd been undercover doing these sorts of things before, and knew her way around a forge. Dirty work, but it weren't so bad, once you got used to the heat, and hammering at metal were a fine way to get some tensions out of the body sometimes. Better than smacking others around she found incompetent, yeah?

On 2025-04-16 at 11:01 PM, Illiad Easle said:

She waved dismissively with a wing and another pony left the bar, "But history's a bore, we're worried about the future. There's a chance here for a real independent flock to emerge finally unbound by that racial unity crap. We've more in common with griffons than those ground ponies anyway, why should we be left with the scraps up here while they get all the good stuff left over? It's in the name, that they're trying to change, Las Pegasus is our town."

She left a paper with some directions deeper into the cloud layer, "The flock can use any able wing willing to fly with it. Especially if you're still any good at smithing. Think about it and come talk to us."

 

With that she would leave the bar.

"We'll think about it."

Craven would take the paper, and look it over, making sure that The grey would be able to see it too, through his headband, then put it into his bag.

They'd both give a small nod as she took off, then go back to their mugs for a bit, before Craven started talking at a regular tone, though he weren't looking directly at Yannit. More just out in the room, thinking out loud.

"Sounds a bit lofty to me. What do you think?"

Yannit again, would simply shrug, seeming consistently indifferent, though her mind raced well with some ideas, as well as thoughts on this being an ambush or trap, and the idiocy in their plan. Separationists like this never succeeded, because most had gotten well used to one another, among the ponies. Especially after the war, folks were huddled closer together, with all kinds of folks. How did they think they could return to the times of racial division? And why would they? Something seemed off about this...

"Eh, work's work."

"Hmm... I guess that's true."

They'd sit and contemplate in silence, and unless interrupted, would just finish their drinks, then leave, and head down to the streets below, to seemingly have a look around. They'd also be on the lookout, to see if they were being tracked. Never could count on trust, when it came to stuff like this.

Of course they could just take off to see the gathering spot right away, but that didn't seem wise. Best to strategize, and think things over first. As well as notice if they were followed, or tracked in any other manner that they knew of.

Edited April 25 by Blitz Boom

[Illiad Easle 3,199]

@Blitz Boom

(Null)

After a pleasant evening together the two of them would return to their new hotel room, courtesy of the hotel given their old one had been tampered with by the mysterious kitsune. There wasn't any sign of Ranger being back yet but Arcade wasn't worried yet.

Null would find Nine waiting for her there and would quickly re-enter her mind, the feeling of his presence washing over her, now a bit more noticeable given his absence. "So, did I miss anything important?"

 

(Ranger)

On 2025-04-25 at 2:38 PM, Blitz Boom said:

"Sure thing. And uh... Sorry about upsetting you before. I guess I came on a bit forcefully, and crossed a line. I'll try not to say... Well, y'know what, anymore."

Ranger sighed, "It's... fine. This place is just... getting to me is all."

On 2025-04-25 at 2:38 PM, Blitz Boom said:

While he did that, the paper fox would simply begin to unfold, then slide under the small hole under the door, where it would then reform on the other side. If there were a way to open it from there, it would do so. If nit, it'd wait for a bit, for them to get in, and look around itself in the meantime.

It was fairly dark in the room, but that might not matter to the paper fox if it saw things by other, more magical, means. As to the door, it seemed like it operated similarly on this side to the other side, with a keypad, though there was a large red button next to it that might be useful, depending on if the fox could get up to it and press it hard enough to make it work.

 

If the fox decided to examine the room itself though, it was a large room. Similarly sized to the flight area that they had used to get down here, but full of complex machinery and scientific equipment. What stood out especially were the rows of large glass tubes, each large enough to comfortably contain a young pony, and most of them not empty. It looked like there were dozens of them present here.

More clones.

 

On 2025-04-25 at 2:38 PM, Blitz Boom said:

"Hmm, well, I can try a few things."

The trace revealed a somewhat random assortment of numbers being pressed, and no number being used too much more than any other, it seemed like the code was changed often and might depend on the user.

It also seemed like there wasn't much energy in the keypad, it may well be that there wasn't enough power left in the facility to run the door even if they had the code.

As to the door itself, it appeared to be designed to lift straight up, like the doors at some fancy carriage depots. Likely to remain shut if the facility lost power. Depending on how strong he was he could lift the door a bit, but it was quite heavy. There was no shortage of things he could use to brace up the door, so he could theoretically lift it a little bit, brace it, then lift again, incrementally lifting the door until there was enough room to get through.

By that time Ranger would get back with a stack of papers with various numbers to try.

 

(Cherish)

On 2025-04-25 at 2:38 PM, Blitz Boom said:

"I read that pony marks can take time, to understand. But I see a book. Maybe you are meant to read a lot, and be smarter?"

There were a slight bit of hope in Crow's voice, saying that. She didn't really communicate with many that read a lot. Sure Cherish knew how to read, and they did do that at times, but someone who actively read often, to get smarter? She were doing that herself, and it would be good knowing someone else like that. Though pony marks were indeed strange, so who knew what she were meant to do?

"I have seen that strange thing on the book though. Some of the books I found. Not sure what it means."

Gemini shrugged, "Maybe? I do like reading, and learning. If you still have one of those books where you saw the symbol, can I read it sometime? Maybe it explains something?"

 

On 2025-04-25 at 2:38 PM, Blitz Boom said:

The barrage of questions took Crow by surprise, and she took a hesitant step back, and almost took another, before she stopped herself, and cautiously stepped forward again, to where she had been before. If they had looked, they might've seen a brief look in her eyes, like a cornered rat, looking for an escape, but it were fleeting.

(I meant for the questions to be spread out as they traveled, not all coming at her at once, but we can go with this. They're excitable children after all.)

They were all attentive listening to Crow's answers, and eager to get started given what Crow had described to pique their interest as to what was out there.

Elef looked a bit less sure when Crow mentioned hunting, "Well, Miss Ada says I shouldn't go hunting without her, but it should be okay to go with you, right?"

In any case, they were ready to follow Crow's lead and get started.

 

(Void)

On 2025-04-25 at 2:38 PM, Blitz Boom said:

"Nono, it's f-fine miss. Honestly, it was just a surprise, and a short reminder of different times.

I... Well, my sister and I, were born with a curse, that drained all magic around us. We only recently had it removed, and I admit, I was worried it had returned for a brief moment. We heard stories about the wool of Llamas, and what it did, but we weren't sure they were true. Funnily enough, when we were on the run, we did head towards Himallama, but our transport got derailed pretty badly, so we ended up going a few other places, before ending in Equestria.

It's a shame. I think your kin may have been more understandable about our condition, than most others we ran into."

Llambda tilted her head to the side, which given the length of her neck made it a much bigger gesture than if she were a pony, "Oh? That's too bad. About the curse that is. I know that magic is really important to ponies so to not have it..." She sighed sadly, "Oh, It's too bad you never made it to Himallama, it's a very beautiful place, wonderfully cold, unlike here."

As Himallama was on the same continent as Zebrica and Cervidas, they would have had to travelled for a long while through the area that had made Null so sick before, and she would be in no state to climb the mountain up to the Himallaman plateau like that.

On 2025-04-25 at 2:38 PM, Blitz Boom said:

Can I ask though, how is Himallama? Is it anything like Zebrica? We tried going there once, but my sister couldn't take it. Something in the fauna I think, made her really sick, so we had to go away, before we got that far, and most of what we heard about Himallama is what we could see on a map, or what we heard about your kin. It didn't tell a whole lot, so I'm a little curious, if that's okay?"

Llambda nodded, "Oh, of course! It's further east than Zebrica and Cervidas, up on the steppes and the plataeu of the mountain. Pretty cold for ponies but perfect for alpaca and llamas. Before the shaking, it was mostly just us up there, the zebra, deer, and reindeer mostly left us alone, only coming to buy our wool and bring us food we couldn't grow ourselves or other trinkets in exchange. There was this one really big changeling, Nirvana, who was like the leader there because no one else wanted to, plus she was very old and knew a lot about being peaceful. She taught me all about being charitable, how helping others can help your soul. After the shaking, we got a lot more zebra, deer, and reindeer than usual, said a creature named Disk Ord was breaking everything? But they were safe up there because all the llamas on the mountain meant that magic didn't work, so he couldn't do anything to them there."

 

Selena returned with an odd expression on her face, looking to Void, "That was a member of the Grey out there, the Grey Mare wants to discuss how those in the Grey could serve Mercy to earn their penance. Any thoughts on that? The service of Mercy is usually reserved for those who have nothing to gain from it."

 

(Grey)

 It didn't look like they were being followed, not like Null had been on her first visit up here at least, but they did attract some attention as the new ponies on the layer. Most of the pegasi and griffons that they would see here were younger, very few over 20, though none younger than 6 or seven, at least that they could see. The few adults they found had clearly seen combat by their scars and demeanor. All around, there was a feeling of slight anger, like they were owed something they had been denied. In the younger ones the feeling was more of a desperation, a hunger, to belong and to achieve.

In short, the perfect ingredients to be whipped into a frenzy with the right charismatic leader, or to turn into a disaster with poor organization. No wonder the Grey wanted this bomb diffused.

[Blitz Boom 4,679]

@Illiad Easle

(Null)

It were a strange feeling, having him return like that, but she didn't think it overly unwelcome. It helped having him around, and she had a few times when she had time to think of it, worried that he'd end up in trouble somehow. Like getting stuck in light or something, albeit the times were brief on this matter. A lot had happened after all.

"Yeah, it ain't been silent. Welcome back, by the way."

She'd think through the main things that'd gone on, while she laid down on the bed. Sure was a softer one that the last, which hadn't been bad, but the upgrade were nice. A way of apologizing for the break-in, she'd recon. Frankly she didn't mind. It might mostly be the bed, it wasn't That different, but it were still nice regardless. She wasn't used to bedding this soft.

They'd see what he thought of things as she finished eventually. She assumed he'd have some words, but which ones... Meh, she didn't much care. She had a nice date tonight, and got a lot of things out with Arcade. So things were still good today, ad she were trying to keep focus on that.

As for the kitsune, he were still in town, if the Grey were looking for him. Currently hiding in a dark, run down place, clutching his head, and trying to get a bit of rest. Considering what had happened, they might have questions. If not, he'd hopefully soon enough be someone else's problem.

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

 

(Ranger)

On 2025-04-28 at 11:12 PM, Illiad Easle said:

It was fairly dark in the room, but that might not matter to the paper fox if it saw things by other, more magical, means. As to the door, it seemed like it operated similarly on this side to the other side, with a keypad, though there was a large red button next to it that might be useful, depending on if the fox could get up to it and press it hard enough to make it work.

 

If the fox decided to examine the room itself though, it was a large room. Similarly sized to the flight area that they had used to get down here, but full of complex machinery and scientific equipment. What stood out especially were the rows of large glass tubes, each large enough to comfortably contain a young pony, and most of them not empty. It looked like there were dozens of them present here.

More clones.

The fox couldn't see in here, but it did sense some things around it. Not so far back as the clones, but a big button, that were next to another keypad? That it could sense. Not it were just about getting up there, which were hardly an issue. Just had to get ready, then... Jump!

It would get up there and push the button, but the angle were bad, so it hit it like a... Well, piece of paper. Not good enough. So it would back up, keeping its focus on the button, and then when it were back a meter or so, it would charge forward, jump up high, and swirl, so it slammed into the button with its side, which put in inertia and all its weight. Which might not be a lot, but it should be enough, as it were still folded and firm. If not, it would get frustrated, and then just jump up, and use some magic to make its paw heavier, and slam the button (giving it the same weight a normal fox its size, so still not too impressive). It didn't want to use magic on this, as it had a very limited pool, but it were not getting beaten by a button! Though if this also didn't work, it were just gonna give up, and try looking around, to see if there were something it could sense in the dark, like a key, or some other button. Maybe a light switch? That could be useful. Sure it could tell there were some cylinders, but what were in them? It were mighty curious.

It did actually have a larger magic pool now too though, due to the minostralum, but it were not aware of it. It just figured it were bigger, and smarter, and that were very good with it. Especially as it included wings!

On 2025-04-28 at 11:12 PM, Illiad Easle said:

The trace revealed a somewhat random assortment of numbers being pressed, and no number being used too much more than any other, it seemed like the code was changed often and might depend on the user.

It also seemed like there wasn't much energy in the keypad, it may well be that there wasn't enough power left in the facility to run the door even if they had the code.

As to the door itself, it appeared to be designed to lift straight up, like the doors at some fancy carriage depots. Likely to remain shut if the facility lost power. Depending on how strong he was he could lift the door a bit, but it was quite heavy. There was no shortage of things he could use to brace up the door, so he could theoretically lift it a little bit, brace it, then lift again, incrementally lifting the door until there was enough room to get through.

By that time Ranger would get back with a stack of papers with various numbers to try.

Well that sucked. He had a bit of hope that the keypad were usable, but nope. Not a good enough trace to get a proper answer, with those he found seemingly being switched, random, or personalized. Good for security, sucked for folks like them.

The door were also heavy and well set, so getting it out of frame weren't gonna be a breeze either. Hmm... There were a bit of leverage though. Maybe he could do something with that?

When Ranger returned, he had been working on getting the door a bit up, then place something underneath that could withstand pressure. Then finding something else, use his magic to force the door up a little bit more, then put a new thing, brace himself for the next time, and so on and so forth. It were not fast, and he wish he could just magic it all the way up, but that sort of force were tough. Sure it didn't use physical muscle, but it used magical ones, and his magic weren't immense. He were no elder, and that left some limitations. Especially as he couldn't just use magic to try and smash this door with direct force, because frankly, he had no idea what would happen. This place might collapse, or they'd wake something up with the sudden burst of sound, or it'd be a trap, etc. So he had to try lifting, and lifting with magic, were harder than blasting with magic. It required a good deal more focus, force, and precision, and if he put too much into this, he might well end up laying on the floor with a splitting headache, blood coming out of his ears, and the door slamming down again, in case nothing held it up in the first place once open.

Honestly, if Ranger could get this done with her numbers, he'd be well happy.

"Phew, this is a pain. What've you found? Please tell me it's a code."

Of course, if the paper fox smashing the button did anything, this might get easier. Or harder, if it were a security measure of some sort.

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

 

(Cherish)

On 2025-04-28 at 11:12 PM, Illiad Easle said:

Gemini shrugged, "Maybe? I do like reading, and learning. If you still have one of those books where you saw the symbol, can I read it sometime? Maybe it explains something?"

"After scavenge, I can show you. Maybe you understand it."

She had stacks of books, mostly legible. The expensive looking gold and silver one were of course her most prized, even if she did not understand it right now, but she still treasured her other books, and the library that got the ones in good condition for pies, would see that beyond the deserts effects, they were taken well care of. So the thought of a young pony standing and reading one of those that she had, and hadn't traded or decided to keep were causing her a little hesitation. But Cherish trusted these, so she would chance it, and hope that her little friend were right. 

On 2025-04-28 at 11:12 PM, Illiad Easle said:

(I meant for the questions to be spread out as they traveled, not all coming at her at once, but we can go with this. They're excitable children after all.)

They were all attentive listening to Crow's answers, and eager to get started given what Crow had described to pique their interest as to what was out there.

Elef looked a bit less sure when Crow mentioned hunting, "Well, Miss Ada says I shouldn't go hunting without her, but it should be okay to go with you, right?"

In any case, they were ready to follow Crow's lead and get started.

"It is safe. Just don't chase them into their burrows. They are small. You get stuck.

If something happens, I help."

He was young too. Maybe he needed someone there, to make sure he did not get too hurt? She could do that, yes. She had hunted around here, and other places, and knew what to do. Including when to retreat. She could keep him safe, if he went in over his head, or if a monster came around. Hopefully it wouldn't, but strange things sometimes wandered around the desert. Sometimes openly, sometimes hiding, and other times, if you were really unlucky, uncovered as you approached.

She'd guide them on their way, through the dunes. It were easier if she only had to think of herself and Cherish, as they could just fly, but they had non-fliers with them, and had to accept that. Though the trip still took little more than twenty minutes, which progressed uneventfully. Something did move in the sand briefly, if Elef had his senses about him, he might even find the half-meter-long snake that had halted, soon as it knew there were others, and gotten half-buried in the dune sand, though he might miss it too. Most did after all, seeing as it were camouflaged to blend in near perfectly with the sand. And if he did ignore it, it would move on when they left, and eat a nearby scorpion.

Crow had seen it briefly move, but pretended she didn't. She didn't much care for the taste of snake, and these were not dangerous to anyone their size anyway, so it wasn't worth the attention.

Beyond this, it were just sand upon sand, until they got to where she had wanted them to go. The dunes had halfway reclaimed it already, but the tattered remains of a large wagon did poke halfway out of the sand that were piling up around it, with a few sticks around it suggesting there might be more too.

"Hmm. More buried than I thought now. Will need to dig, but I saw crates, when I was here. Should be things in."

She'd go over to the main wagon, and push her arm down, seeing if she could grab something near the surface, and pulled back the bleached top half, of an equine skull. Had a few holes where there might have been a gold tooth or something like that, but that were gone. Likely taken by one of the dune foxes or vultures, to pretty up their nests or burrow. If it were easy to yoink out, they sometimes did. Could also just be this one had been in a scuffle. A hole just above the eye, suggested an arrow or something similar, had gotten through. Maybe a small bullet? Hard to say, but death had likely been fast.

Regardless, she'd put it to the side, and start digging down, to see if she could get to the crates she recalled. Her clawed hands were well equipped to dig into solid ground, so layers of sand were barely an issue, as she'd scatter what held her potential prize in its grasp. The desert could have this, once they were done with it.

"If any can dig, or do magic, see if you can uncover stuff, yes? Try and ignore the bones. Lots of those out here."

If she were to collect the bones of everyone who had died out here, she could be at this for the next thousand years, it felt like. The dunes kept taking and uncovering bones, or desiccated half-mummies. Probably thousands upon thousands of corpses in various states out here, and it seemed pointless to chase after these remains. They were buried by the deserts whims. It were more than many others got, after the war.

Besides, a skeleton wasn't so bad. Would be worse if she pulled something up with more meat on it.

There would be two more carts, and remnants of something that'd shattered from an attack, spread over three points in a four meter radius, all buried beneath at most a meter of sand. There were things to find in about half of these, and several more corpses.

They could also all just focus on the main one that Crow were on, but it were up to them each. Cherish were helping Crow at least, using her hooves and wings to push sand aside to get more of the bigger cart uncovered, and hoping she wouldn't find more bones. Well, bones were somewhat okay. Something more meaty would be a lot worse.

(dice roll determines your luck)

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

 

(Void)

On 2025-04-28 at 11:12 PM, Illiad Easle said:

Llambda tilted her head to the side, which given the length of her neck made it a much bigger gesture than if she were a pony, "Oh? That's too bad. About the curse that is. I know that magic is really important to ponies so to not have it..." She sighed sadly, "Oh, It's too bad you never made it to Himallama, it's a very beautiful place, wonderfully cold, unlike here."

As Himallama was on the same continent as Zebrica and Cervidas, they would have had to travelled for a long while through the area that had made Null so sick before, and she would be in no state to climb the mountain up to the Himallaman plateau like that.

"We wish we could, but I worry the fauna would have killed my sister before we got there. Maybe some day, I can go and look there myself though. I heard good things.

And yes, magic is very integral to ponies, and several other species too, unfortunately. usually because of personal magic, ward, items that benefits them, etc. Not everyone, but we were rather... Unlucky, on our travels."

Saying they were unlucky were perhaps an understatement, but she'd rather not dwell on those years too much. They had suffered, but they had learned, and survived. Now they were finally getting a life going, and it were better to have focus on that in her mind, rather than constantly dwelling on the past, and letting that direct her every action. She didn't exactly long for the feeling of being scared of the world around her.

Not saying she would try and repress and forget. There were things to have learned from the past, and she'd bring some things up, but standing and talking details about some of the times they got chased out, for the next few hours, were just gonna make her feel depressed. Though she could bring up an example or two that wasn't as long winded if it were asked of her.

Besides, she didn't have two hours for that. The little ones would start wondering where she were, if she were gone for so long probably.

On 2025-04-28 at 11:12 PM, Illiad Easle said:

Llambda nodded, "Oh, of course! It's further east than Zebrica and Cervidas, up on the steppes and the plataeu of the mountain. Pretty cold for ponies but perfect for alpaca and llamas. Before the shaking, it was mostly just us up there, the zebra, deer, and reindeer mostly left us alone, only coming to buy our wool and bring us food we couldn't grow ourselves or other trinkets in exchange. There was this one really big changeling, Nirvana, who was like the leader there because no one else wanted to, plus she was very old and knew a lot about being peaceful. She taught me all about being charitable, how helping others can help your soul. After the shaking, we got a lot more zebra, deer, and reindeer than usual, said a creature named Disk Ord was breaking everything? But they were safe up there because all the llamas on the mountain meant that magic didn't work, so he couldn't do anything to them there."

"Discord, yes. My sister and I met him a few times. He seemed so nice to everyone in Ponyville... I still can't believe what he ended up doing. It's been an unmitigated catastrophe. *sigh* And I can't imagine it will be easy on the other draconequui. It's gonna be a long time before anyone would try and trust their kin again, even if they didn't have anything to do with his calamity."

It might seem odd to care about their kind at all, considering what had gone on, but she couldn't make herself hate those who hadn't a thing to do with this. Most of their kin she'd met or heard about, were weaker than Discord, and spent their time mostly just pranking and goofing around, or doing more small scale mischief. Yet they were likely one and all gonna be judged because of him now, even if she doubted many had followed him in his war efforts. Weren't much fun to play around in the world, if it was a smoking ruin.

She could imagine that most had either hid away, or been killed by now though. Afraid of retaliation from the survivors, slain by them, or brought to death, for refusing to join Discord. Sure some had likely joined in, but she doubted it were many. And those left, might end up hiding for years, if not centuries, hoping for things to ease up. Imagine if one showed here in Troy though, as things were... It were a question if there'd be more anger or fear, but either way, it were highly unlikely to be welcoming.

"But speaking of better things, it's good to hear that there were a safe haven up there, for those who could make it. And that you'd accept those who came too. You probably ended up saving a lot of lives that way.

And I think I heard about Nirvana. Briefly though, I'm afraid. Is she still alive? I know a lot of queens didn't make it through the calamity, and it weighs heavily on those who lost theirs."

On 2025-04-28 at 11:12 PM, Illiad Easle said:

Selena returned with an odd expression on her face, looking to Void, "That was a member of the Grey out there, the Grey Mare wants to discuss how those in the Grey could serve Mercy to earn their penance. Any thoughts on that? The service of Mercy is usually reserved for those who have nothing to gain from it."

Their nice conversation were suddenly interrupted by a very peculiar interaction. one of The Grey here? To work together with Mercy, in some fashion? That were certainly not something that she expected. Now were the question. Put her a bit on the spot, oh dear... Well, she'd try give an answer at least. Hopefully it'd make sense as she went along.

"Ah, well uh... I guess it depends on who it is, among The Grey? I mean, those they capture and make work for them, to earn their penance, probably fit better where they are. They'd only be in it to clear their debt. But there have to be those who volunteered, because they are remorseful of something they've done, and want to atone. The Grey might have been seen as their only option to try and do something that'd matter for others.

So I guess, you'd need to ask The Grey for some who have come to them willingly, and doesn't care about their debt. What sort of work they could do for Mercy though... I dunno. It seems to be based on the individual, so might be best to try and have them send a few, and then evaluate them from there? I can try and help best I can, Selena, but I'll admit, I don't know much about the sort of work Mercy does. I've only really seen... Well, you two. And you seem very different on how you're meant to help."

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

 

(The Grey)

Craven didn't need to be told by Yannit how things were up here. She were better at sensing than him, but he'd wager than most changelings would be able to tell how badly things looked here. Not physically - although it did seem somewhat poorly maintained up here - but emotionally. From the angry and bitter veterans, to the impressionable young, yearning for something better, or at the very least, to fit in somewhere. Impressionable youths... This were a festering storm waiting to happen, and when it did, a lot were going to die. And this without them getting anywhere close to completing their goal.

As he saw it at least, the ground based ones were far more numerous, and included The Grey, and various mercenaries and the sort, as well as changelings who'd like to keep their way of life. These up here were not properly combat trained, and most hadn't the experience to fight properly. They'd end up with the biggest losses, and at most would get to have some of them retreating, and then what? Where would they go? What wouldn't it cause of troubles for all of them?

They had griffons too, sure, but it were a lot of fliers, against magic users. They wouldn't win, though that didn't mean they couldn't cause a lot of trouble before they lost. Potentially even kill someone important down there, like one of the casino heads. And in that case, he worried it would be Bling. Sure she were well liked, but she were also the newest, and the one that were probably the easiest to get to, of them all. Taking her down, were a statement. A bad one, but sadly, he doubted that this group had thought that far ahead.

*sigh* To think that after all the wars they just had, they were now about to enter another... One more along the lines of the old equine racial wars, but with a few additions to either side. It were a tragedy, and one that needed to be halted. He had a few ideas, but that were mostly on infiltrating this, and see if they could defuse it at its source, by taking their leader into custody. Yet they needed more information.

Once they were down, and they were certain they weren't followed, they'd seamlessly change forms as they blended with the crowd, and take the long way to The Grey's base. Sure he wanted to hear what his higher ups had of insight, but they could add that via the eyewear. No, if he needed to know how bad things were, he needed to go and ask Basher, and see if he could ascertain how bad of a storm he had been whipping up.

[Illiad Easle 3,199]

@Blitz Boom

(Null)

"You've certainly been busy, you almost got more done in just this evening than you did the whole time we were here looking for Grey Mane."

There was a pause as Nine perused the memories and Null's thoughts on them. They didn't dwell on any for too long as Null didn't seem to have a particular one to bring up.

"I met up with Nibiru and Mongoose while I was out. There are a few options available for clearing up the last of your debt, but we can discuss that in the morning."

If there wasn't anything that Null wanted Nine's input on, she would be left to sleep peacefully.

(We'll hold this one here until Elef's arc kicks off. Should be in my next post.)

 

(Ranger)

On 2025-05-13 at 5:22 PM, Blitz Boom said:

If not, it would get frustrated, and then just jump up, and use some magic to make its paw heavier, and slam the button (giving it the same weight a normal fox its size, so still not too impressive). It didn't want to use magic on this, as it had a very limited pool, but it were not getting beaten by a button! Though if this also didn't work, it were just gonna give up,

The button itself was rather firm, it likely was meant to only be pressed in emergency situations, and perhaps had never been pressed before.

There was no shortage of other buttons or switches for it to find, though most of what it could flip didn't appear to have any effect.

Kozue's efforts to raise the door manually were a bit more fruitful, each small measure the door was raised allowing a bit more light to shine into the room, which made further investigation easier, but still yielded nothing that the fox could interact with to help or hinder.

 

On 2025-05-13 at 5:22 PM, Blitz Boom said:

Honestly, if Ranger could get this done with her numbers, he'd be well happy.

"Phew, this is a pain. What've you found? Please tell me it's a code."

Ranger shrugged, "I've got a lot of numbers here, who knows if any would work? It's hard to make out what the rest of the words on these papers say."

If he cared to look he'd see that the documents weren't written in a standard Equestrian script, but rather like the letters had all been compressed down to one side for each word. If he knew of ancient languages, it was akin to a form of Cirrin, the ancient pegasus language, mixed with Terran, the ancient earth pony language, or at least the characters were, they still seemed to represent words in Equestrian.

In any case, after a few tries... well, the door didn't open, but something did happen.

There was a sound like something was turning, an ancient cable winding, and the already dimmed lights dimmed further. The door moved up barely a quarter hoof before stopping again.

Ranger would sigh, "I guess whatever would open the door is long out, it was never this slow or stiff before."

If Kozue resumed lifting the door manually, he would find it substantially easier than before! While the code hadn't been able to get the door open, it had appeared to have unlocked the door and moved the counterweight into place.

 

The door fully opened, Kozue would see what the fox hadn't been able to before, with the light from the hallway and his own ability to light up dark rooms.

 

Ranger didn't look surprised to see that the room was full of clones, all of them barely large enough to be considered even premature foals. Instead she looked around the buttons and switches on the consoles before finding the large button by the door that the fox had tried to press earlier, marked PURGE. "Hmm, if the door couldn't be opened, I doubt that will work either."

Kozue would be able to detect that there was till a good amount of magic running through the machines connected to the clones, it wasn't a substantial amount, but it was more magic than they had encountered in the rest of the facility.

 

(Cherish)

On 2025-05-13 at 5:22 PM, Blitz Boom said:

"After scavenge, I can show you. Maybe you understand it."

Gemini was happy for the opportunity, "I would like that, thank you!"

 

On 2025-05-13 at 5:22 PM, Blitz Boom said:

"If any can dig, or do magic, see if you can uncover stuff, yes? Try and ignore the bones. Lots of those out here."

If she were to collect the bones of everyone who had died out here, she could be at this for the next thousand years, it felt like. The dunes kept taking and uncovering bones, or desiccated half-mummies. Probably thousands upon thousands of corpses in various states out here, and it seemed pointless to chase after these remains. They were buried by the deserts whims. It were more than many others got, after the war.

Gemini and Teal were a bit uncomfortable at the prospect of finding bones or bodies, but weren't fully discouraged from joining in given Cherish didn't seem to mind.

Elef wasn't dissuaded at all though, and in fact seemed almost more excited now that finding bones was an option.

Gemini and Teal would work closer to Cherish, while Elef would work a short distance away on the other side of the buried wagon from the group.

 

Cherish got the feeling that she was being watched, but of course she was, right? Crow and the others were there with her, if anything it would be strange to not feel watched.

Crow would also get the feeling, but it was more predatorial. Something was watching them, cautiously. 

(That's buildup for the next scene, when the Elef arc starts, I put more details for the event trigger in the OOC in the post before the last one you responded to)

 

(Void)

On 2025-05-13 at 5:22 PM, Blitz Boom said:

Not everyone, but we were rather... Unlucky, on our travels."

Llambda looked genuinely concerned, "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, I hope things are better for your sister and you now?"

 

On 2025-05-13 at 5:22 PM, Blitz Boom said:

I still can't believe what he ended up doing. It's been an unmitigated catastrophe. *sigh* And I can't imagine it will be easy on the other draconequui. It's gonna be a long time before anyone would try and trust their kin again, even if they didn't have anything to do with his calamity."

She looked saddened by that, "Oh, that's too bad. I don't know what I would do if someone I trusted did something like that... There were some of the creatures who came up the mountain, who were selfish or mean to the others, but they didn't stay that way for long once they saw that they were being taken care of. A few did leave though, I hope they made it wherever they thought they were going."

 

On 2025-05-13 at 5:22 PM, Blitz Boom said:

And I think I heard about Nirvana. Briefly though, I'm afraid. Is she still alive? I know a lot of queens didn't make it through the calamity, and it weighs heavily on those who lost theirs."

She smiled at that, "Oh yes! She's the one who said I should come here, all very smart like she is, she said that in addition to finding Mercy I might find out about my sire. He left before I was born, and my dam died when I was still a cria, so I was mostly raised by Nirvana and some of her smaller changelings."

 

On 2025-05-13 at 5:22 PM, Blitz Boom said:

So I guess, you'd need to ask The Grey for some who have come to them willingly, and doesn't care about their debt. What sort of work they could do for Mercy though... I dunno. It seems to be based on the individual, so might be best to try and have them send a few, and then evaluate them from there? I can try and help best I can, Selena, but I'll admit, I don't know much about the sort of work Mercy does. I've only really seen... Well, you two. And you seem very different on how you're meant to help."

Selena looked thoughtful, "Hmm, so perhaps not through Mercy directly, but by completing tasks for Mercy they square their debt with Karma. I think that could work, since it's like how Vengeance operates but in reverse, doing good to those who have suffered rather than punishing those who have injured. I'll have to speak with Karma on that though."

As to how it all worked, Selena nodded, "Usually there isn't too much need for a dedicated avatar or servant of Mercy. Generally ponies are kind to each other and flock together as herds, working to build each other up. It is only in times of crisis when servants of Mercy tend to distinguish themselves, like now, and what they do depends on what is needed."

 

(Grey)

On 2025-05-13 at 5:22 PM, Blitz Boom said:

Once they were down, and they were certain they weren't followed, they'd seamlessly change forms as they blended with the crowd, and take the long way to The Grey's base. Sure he wanted to hear what his higher ups had of insight, but they could add that via the eyewear. No, if he needed to know how bad things were, he needed to go and ask Basher, and see if he could ascertain how bad of a storm he had been whipping up.

He would be allowed to see Basher, as before, but before he got there he would be alerted: After reviewing the contents of confiscated materials there are several missing items since the reformation of the Grey. Be on the lookout for the following items:

Most of the items on the list were basic weapons and armor, most likely taken by those who had left in the wake of Grey Mane's death. One item stood out though,

53: Basher's Boon, An amulet seized from The Baltamare Basher after his defeat in the liberation of New Pegas. Enchanted with Chaos magic. If found, Do Not Wear.

If anything, he now had another thing to ask Basher about.

 

Arriving at the detainment area the sound of Basher's ball bouncing against the wall, which had become so commonplace when Craven had been on guard duty before, was absent. Basher wasn't known to sleep often (And perhaps was skilled enough to bounce the ball even in his sleep) but maybe he had arrived at just such a time?

Still, before he could get to Basher's cell, the mare in the adjacent cell, the unicorn Birdie who had been Basher's second, approached the bars, "Back already bug? Not time to switch the guard rotation yet, and you seem agitated. See something you didn't like up there?"

Her tone was hard to pin down, almost devoid of emotion, it seemed to fall somewhere between taunting and curious.

What was more interesting is that she identified him as a changeling (albeit with a derogative) despite him being cloaked and potentially disguised. He wouldn't have to ask how she knew that though as she followed up with, "Empathic, so I know a thing or two about being oppressed and rejected. And I know how to read a changeling. You saw how bad things are up there."