private Unexplained Mysteries in the Undiscovered West (1x1 with Props ValRoa)

[Forest Storm]

OOC thread

A druid's work is never done. There are always issues in the world that need attention. This time it was the rumors that an unknown kind of craft had appeared in the sky above the western frontier of Equestria. The information Forest Storm and Tree Song had so far was vague, but they hoped to find out more after getting closer to the area in question.

Two traveling green ponies, a druid and his apprentice, reached their next stop. It was the village of Stillwater, beyond the Smokey Mountains and White Tail Woods, the last settlement on the Equestrian side of the border. It's not a very pleasant place, with marsh terrain all around. Beyond lies the Undiscovered West, a largely unknown region where all sorts of strange things can happen.

"What do you think it is?" Tree Song asked, with a slightly worried tone in her voice.

"I don't know. Airships are not unheard of in this part of the world, but this time it seems to be something else," the old druid answered calmly.

Forest Storm stayed at the inn, while Tree Song, being the more outgoing half of the team, went to the market to sell potions and buy supplies, but also to talk to the locals. Perhaps she would obtain some more information about the strange phenomenon in the sky.

[Props Valroa 26,052]

@Silly Druid

The town of Stillwater was a fairly small town. Not that large of a population, so word here would spread rather easily. Tree Song could hear some conversation about something that happened in the town recently, from the conversations she could hear - they had seen a large black cigar shaped aerial vehicle scouting out the area from the West. Not much details were gleamed from it, but it was said that there was a strange pony in metal who came and did a material trade with them. If there was an active trade going on, it was likely that whoever it was may end up returning. Not much was said otherwise, but nothing that seemed to be a threat. Tree Song, could of course go and ask the villagers for more information. 

[Tree Song]

Tree Song returned to the inn, and related her findings to her teacher.

"Cigar shaped, you say? Well, that's new. I haven't seen anything like it, and it's not mentioned in any of the druid records. I think we should find out what exactly was traded with that pony, it should give us some leads."

This time they both went to the town to ask around, focusing on finding a pony who participated in the trade, and figuring out what kind of materials were involved.

[Props Valroa 26,052]

@Silly Druid

Eventually, the two of them would come across a middle aged stallion who was the one who traded with the strange metal pony in metal. Upon being asked, he would say - "Well, can't say I've ever seen a pony like that. Wore some kinda metal suit, but was definitely a mare. Came from the West. Said she was looking to trade for some natural herbs, she gave me this." he spoke and went into his wagon and pulled out some large metal canisters of some kind. They had various blinking lights on them. "These seem to be some kind of air canisters, but, that's a pretty strange trade if you ask me." he chuckled. 

[Forest Storm]

A mare in metal armor... the only one that comes to my mind is Tempest Shadow, but I don't think it's her. She did use airships during the invasion though, so maybe there is some connection here... The druid thought, letting his apprentice be the first to talk to the stallion.

"So what are you going to do with these canisters? And why did you agree to the trade in the first place?" Tree Song asked, eager to satisfy her curiosity.

"Would you be willing to sell us one of them? We need to examine it to figure out what's going on here..." Forest Storm added.

[Props Valroa 26,052]

@Silly Druid
 

The stallion looked to Tree Song. "I agreed to the trade because all she wanted was a map. Said she didn't need those canisters. Take them." he said, offering a fairly cheap price for them to buy the canisters, because he wasn't going to do anything with them. 

[Forest Storm]

"So you traded some herbs and a map for them? That's interesting, can you tell us what kind of herbs and what area on the map she was interested in? That could help with our investigation..." The druid asked. "Also how many of these canisters do you have? I don't think we need them all, a few would suffice." If there are different kinds of them, they would buy one of each kind.

[Props Valroa 26,052]

@Silly Druid

"She gave me 3. You can take two of them. I would like to keep one for myself as a souvenir. She was just interested in a general overall map of Equestria, as for the Herbs - natural stuff, for healing." he stated, finding himself satisfied with that explanation. He would sell the 2 of them at a reasonable price to Tree Song and Forest Storm. The stallion said that if they were interested in who came here, they should go further west - as he doesn't know more than what he had told them.

[Tree Song]

"Yes, I suppose we will have to go further west eventually. Thank you for your help, sir!" Forest Storm said, ending the conversation with the stallion.

"It was nice meeting you, take care!" Tree Song added.

They headed back to the inn to investigate the canisters further. On the way they looked at the sky from time to time, in case the strange vehicle would appear again.

"So, if she wanted a map of Equestria, it means she is from a foreign land..." Tree Song theorized.

"It appears so. Which is unusual, as ponies rarely live outside Equestria..." the druid said, deep in thought.

"And perhaps she or her associates have health problems? That would explain the purchase of herbs."

"Possibly," Forest Storm replied, too preoccupied with thinking to say anything more.

[Forest Storm]

Their trip to the inn was uneventful.

After arriving in their room, the two ponies start to examine the canisters. They put them on the floor and take note of everything they can see about them: their size, shape, color, the material they were made of, the blinking lights, as well as any inscriptions on them. The druid is knowledgeable in many languages, so he should be able to decipher them.

[Props Valroa 26,052]

@Silly Druid

The three canisters were exactly the same. They were made of polished aluminum and had various well crafted parts, a gage showing the air pressure contained within them - which was all zero. The blinking lights on them seemed to be red, indicating that there was no air inside of them. The inscriptions on them basically described that they were Oxygen tanks for diving. There were various holes in the canisters, so they were not operable. The holes seemed to be made by firearms discharge, indicating they were damaged in combat. 

[Tree Song]

"These holes! It seems the canisters were used in underwater combat or something... And in this state they are pretty much worthless, right?"

"Maybe the metal they are made from has some value. Anyway, there is nothing more for us to learn here, we should get going."

Unable to find out anything more from the oxygen tanks, the two ponies left the inn and started their journey further west. At first, they were traveling through a causeway between two swampy areas, but later the terrain became more rocky and hilly, as they were approaching the nearby mountain range. At that point they were outside of Equestria's borders, so they proceeded with extreme caution, keeping an eye both on the ground and the sky.

[Props Valroa 26,052]

@Silly Druid

When they had reached the hilly area and could see the mountains in the distance - they could see something else. There was a large black cigar shaped airship parked on a hill a way's away. It wasn't anything like they've seen before. No Equestrian airship looked similar to it to say the least. They could also see a figure working on the craft, as it seemed to be slightly damaged. They couldn't see much at this distance.

[Silly Druid 6,147]

The two ponies approach the mysterious craft cautiously, trying not too draw too much attention to themselves and to use the terrain features for cover, but also not to appear to be sneaky, because that would suggest they have hostile intentions.

[Props Valroa 26,052]

@Silly Druid

They can see the one who is working on the craft is wearing a full body red and black suit of armor. It definitely isn't Tempest - or anything from Equestria they've seen. The helmet has a red visor for the occupant to look through, and they could see that they seemed to be an Earth Pony. They could hear the cascade of sparks and hammering as the figure is repairing a large gash in the side of the craft. From obvious combat. Unlike other airships, this one had no balloon - and had no discernable source of propulsion. 

[Silly Druid 6,147]

After a brief discussion, the druid and his apprentice decided to confront the mysterious pony directly. They walked up to the place where the craft was located, and stood in front of the armored pony, waiting for his or her initial reaction before staring a conversation.

Both on the tanks they examined earlier, and on the vehicle itself, there was visible combat damage, which meant there was probably a war somewhere near the border of Equestria. In case it spreads to Equestria itself, the pony nation must be prepared for it. So their duty was to gather as much information as possible, and warn the Princesses about the potential threat.

[Props Valroa 26,052]

@Silly Druid

The mysterious pony would soon realize that they were being watched, and turned their helmet towards them. The pony would set down the tools they were using and turn the welding device off - then all of a sudden they would jump down and land right in front of Forest Storm and Tree Song with a loud thud. Up and close, their armor had many scratches. Clearly, this pony has been in combat.

"Who are you?" the pony would ask, getting right to the point. The pony was a mare, by the sounds of the voice. The line of questioning was laced with accusation and suspicion. 

[Forest Storm]

"I'm Forest Storm, and this is my apprentice, Tree Song."

Tree Song waved her hoof to greet the mare.

"I'm a druid, and it's my duty to seek out the truth about any important events in Equestria and outside its borders. We come in peace, we just want to know what's going on here."

[Props Valroa 26,052]

@Silly Druid

The mare would go silent, just seeming to take in the information she was given. "You Equestrians don't get around much, do you?" she would ask, in an almost amused fashion. The mare didn't seem too willing to directly tell them what she was doing, though.

[Forest Storm]

The druid decided that it would be best to make the conversation flow naturally, instead of demanding answers.

"Well yes, I'd say Equestria is pretty much isolationist, we don't know much about what's going on outside of it. That's why Storm King's attack was a complete surprise to us, for example. I'm one of the few who intend to change that..."

[Props Valroa 26,052]

@Silly Druid

"Never heard of it." the strange mare grunted as she would return to her work. Whatever she was doing, she seemed unwilling to disclose what she was doing to the two Equestrian ponies. Her armor, upon closer inspection - was far more advanced than Equestrian armor.

[Tree Song]

1 hour ago, Props ValRoa said:

"Never heard of it." the strange mare grunted as she would return to her work. Whatever she was doing, she seemed unwilling to disclose what she was doing to the two Equestrian ponies. Her armor, upon closer inspection - was far more advanced than Equestrian armor.

Getting information from that pony wasn't going well, so Tree Song tried a different approach.

"Whatcha doin'?" She asked casually. "Can we help?"

[Props Valroa 26,052]

@Silly Druid

"I do not think you would be able to. This is way out of your league." the mare spoke, and started welding again. It was interesting that the tool she used seemed to be part of her armor itself, that armor was definitely beyond anything in Equestria, in terms of technology.

[Forest Storm]

"Fine then, we won't disturb you any longer. Goodbye, perhaps our paths will cross in the future." Forest Storm didn't want to press the mare for information, and it probably wouldn't work anyway. She didn't even introduce herself to them...

"See you!" Tree Song said cheerfully, and waved her hoof again.

They would search the surrounding area for anything unusual, while keeping an eye on the vehicle, in case the mysterious pony wants to launch it again. In that case they should observe in which direction it flies.

[Props Valroa 26,052]

@Silly Druid

The mysterious pony would soon finish her repairs, she'd simply give a nod in their direction as she would climb back into the craft. However, the pony wouldn't take off yet. In truth, she was purposefully testing to see what the two would do. Around here, there was nothing of interest, indicating this was an uninhabited area. The pony held the answers they needed - but, how would they go about it? The ball is in Tree Song and Forest Storm's court now.