Ashton

Cloudy Skies Jasper Dragon Azure "Iggy" Ignine It was a beautiful day in ponyville. The sky was clear of any clouds, the sun was signing, it was just slightly warmer than it usually was this time of the year... And panicked screams were heard from the everfree. A completely typical day. Two figures burst from the perimeter of the forest, a familiar Kirin and a Dragon. Both turned and hurled a fireball back into the forest behind them as they ran another couple dozen feet to be sure they were out of the range of its magic Iggy panted as she nearly collapsed "Everyone alright?" "I think I have at least most of my limbs" snarked Jasper, almost laying on the ground from exhaustion Iggy managed a faint smile "What about you, cloudy?" there was no response Iggy's smile turned into a look of horror "Cloudy? CLOUDY?!" Jasper turned to look back the way they had come and muttered a harsh explicative "They much have gotten him!" "We have to go back! We have to save him!" exclaimed iggy Jasper nodded but didn't move, barely able to keep from passing out from exhaustion... they both agreed that they needed to go back... but they were going to need help...

((personally I would have loved to, but I doubt BJ is going to RP much if at all anymore - I watched the same thing happen to a friend of mine on another site, ultimately he stopped RPing forever, much to the disappointment of many T_T )) Harle rubbed her eyes, trying to focus and managing to get a clearer image though she was still not at her best thanks to the concussion "Yer not Singlestone" she said, though whether she was trying to focus on the fact by stating it, or was deadpanning a joke wasn't clear "ar' y' a bounty hunter?" she asked with a growl, reaching into her coat to make sure he sword and gun were still there, and finding herself still properly armed she relaxed a tiny bit - if he was there to kill her or turn her in, he would have stripper her of her weapons... or else he was completely incompetent, in either way he was only a low-level threat at worst it seemed... "Bloody right ah wouldn" said harle "ah was tryin' t' save th' place. Jus' sittin' there minding m' own business when these three blokes enter and th' barkeep tells 'em ta leave. they start causin' trouble so ah try t' get 'em t' leave... next think ah known one o' 'em throws a lightnin' at me and knocks m' out cold. ah wake up in that rubble" she explained as she tried to stand and just sat back down again, her headache deciding that walking was not in her immediate future...

((eh... technically they shouldn't know each other since the thread where they met was aborted by BJ, but I'm not going to argue since it gives me something to respond to 😜 )) It took some time for the griffon to regain her senses and when she did she woke up groggy, rubbing her head and muttering something about 'singlestone, did you mess around inside my skull again?' which would no doubt raise a lot of questions about the meaning of that comment. Though she managed to lean against a wall... or was it a rock? or maybe a tree? right now all she knew was her vision was still blurry and her head was pounding. she reached into her coat and pulled out her decanter, cracked, but still holding itself together, she took a hard pull and started to put it up, then changed her mind and took a second, though after the second she did put it up "Where's here?" she asked, slightly less than coherently "'s not th' ship" whether she was trying to fake her British accent or was just slurring her words from the concussion wasn't too clear at the moment...

Cloudy leaned over to Sunburst and whispered "Dont feel bad, Jasper and I'd be ten times worse than you, that's why we didn't do it - Tropical seas and an active volcano, we'd probably have passsed out" At the compliment Iggy blushed a little "Thanks, I'm sure you'll get better than me one day, I've just been kinda forced to practice since birth" she said "And honestly its the only magic I'm really good at, I mean you should have seen what happened last time I tried to teleport!" "Yeah, it took us hours to find her tail and left hoof!" commented Jasper Iggy giggled "He's kidding... we found it in five minutes when the couple in the appartment next door started screaming" Cloudy's claw went to his face "iggy... Dont pull his tail, somecreatures here might think your serious..." Iggy laughed awkwardly "...oh... right... yeah, ok it wasn't that bad, I've never actually telefragged, thankfully" "yet..." commented Jasper Iggy blushed again, clearly thinking jasper had a valid point with his snarky comment....

The tavern was quiet... well as quiet as a tavern ever got - there was still the sound of ponies talking, laughing, threatening each other, not to mention the radio playing quietly... but nothing too extreme was happening. The lights were fairly low to aid those who had already drank too much and the scent of tobacco perfumed the air, mixing with the scent of alchol to give the place a very... specific... smell. The door opened and three ponies entered, a pink mare, a blue stallion, and a white colt. The bartender looked up and frowned "Yer not welcome here, Shock..." "Oh is that any way to treat your best customer?" asked Shock "Not this time. Get you. After what happened before I dont ever want to see you here again" "Well that seems rather rude" said the mare "Your not flirting your way out of this, Rose, I want you three out. Now." At this point, another fibure rose rfom her seat nearby "ah think 'e said f' ya ta leave" said the blue grtiffen in the red captains coat "I advise you to not get involved, Pirate" commented the colt "This does not involve you, nor me, and I am staying out of it" "Logic dont phase me, kid" commented Harle "ah rather like this 'ere bar" she drew her trademark weapon and pointed it right at the colt's nose the colt did not blink Harle pulled the trigger and a red dot appeared on the colt's nose for a split-second He blinked a moment "was that supposed to do something?" She did it again. Now the turbines on the sides of the weapon were whirring "are you quite done?" he asked A third time The colt still did not react "if you wish to fight..." Harle flicked a switch and this time a bolt of lightning leapt forth from the weapon The colt did not flinch, instead Shock leapt forward and caught the lightning in one hoof and it traveled through his body and out the other one, right back at harle! The griffon was thrown across the bar, smashing into the shelves behind it, several large bottles falling and hitting her int he head, knocking her out cold. "That was unfortunate... it seems we're going to have to make an example of this place" commented the colt uncaringly. Shock grinned psychotically as his hooves sparked and Rose mirrored the grin as she pulled out a hoof-full of sand... though Star did not show any emotion at all.. ---------- Dawn was crawling over the horizon, as it slowly cast its light across the remains of the tavern - little more than chard remains and broken boards, though it seemed all the other customers and staff had escaped... Harle groaned... she wasn't dead, but she wished she was... her head was pounding and before she even knew where she was, she knew that was a bad sign and no doubt the guards would be after her at any minute... but before she could process that her head went limp again as she slipped back into unconsciousness...

((Normally I would wait my proper turn, but since the thread ends today....)) /=======================\ | Jasper/Cocoa Nut | \=======================/ Jasper looked very mildly surprised at cocoa gulping down a whole bar of bitter chocolate without any reaction, though it was only a mild surprise. When she commented about being "record buddies" he wanted to comment on how lame and cheesy that sounded, but given her reaction to seeing the album he realized that maybe, just maybe, he had found a kindred spirit that appreciated metal as much as he did, so he managed to smile "yeah, I'd like that. Hard to find metalheads in areas like this, be nice to have someone to talk to that understood the difference in Ozzy OzHorn, and SaBiton" ((its so hard to think of pony puns for bands >.< )) /==============================\ | Fleeting Hope/Compass Rose | \==============================/ Hope giggled as rose went on about how much she loved mangos, she nodded at the toast, still a little awkward and shy, then she took a timid little bite of her slice of hte fruit. For a moment one might think she didn't like it, her reaction was extremely delayed, then her second bite ate the whole thing, a look of ecstacy washing over her "wow... your right... that is... wow..." she smiled, licing her lips "I've got to save a slice for my friend flux, I bet she'll like to try it too!" not stopping to think for a moment that flux probably already knew what a mango was. There was a certain charm to hope neievatae /============================\ | Stellar Drift/Cloudy Skies | \============================/ Cloudy laughed "Iggy can read it, I'm sure, she even knows some of the old rune languages" he explained "and we'll gladly accept that invitation, we're always looking for excuses to visit canterlot... well they are... Jasper's always wanting to go to the record shops there looking for new albums, and Iggy will take any chance to try and catch a glimpse of the princess... heh... if she were any more obsessed with her Majesty, we'd have a restraining order" he laughed, though he didn't seem to be entirely joking... and given the scene iggy almost caused when she arrived earlier... yeah... she no doubt was completely obsessed with her idol...

/====================\ | Iggy/Firewalker | \====================/ The kirin laughed, smiling "are you precognitient? You have no idea how many late nights I spend studying or doing experiments, this is perfect!" she gave the pegasus a warm hug "Just dont tell jasper it can wake the dead... we still have nightmares about that..." she shuddered "...yeah... I'm not allowed back in van hoover anytime soon" she laughed awkwardly... hopefully she was joking... though the way she said it.......... /=======================\ | Jasper/Cocoa Nut | \=======================/ Jasper chuckled "I'm sure it wont last long, especially around iggy, if she sees it, I wont even get to taste it. Sometimes I think she's part pig" despite the words he didn't seem to mean the comment to be too insulting, it was just the infamous 'dragon attitude' creeping in that his race was known for. "and sure, its not like I have much else to do 'round here but sleep and listen to my music. If you like the album let me know, I'll let you borrow some of my others - there's not a decent record store 'round here short of canterlot" he snorted, those wisps of steam reappearing for just a moment, clearly a big pet peeve of his... /==============================\ | Fleeting Hope/Compass Rose | \==============================/ Hope smiled "th-thank you, I like the buzzing sound they make, its calming" When she opened the fruit she rolled it around in her hooves a few times "er... what is it?" she asked awkwardly, blushing "it smells delicious, but I've never seen one of these before" she admitted "I spent most of my time in the hive before my family went on a mission and......" she sighed, shaking her head to clear the sad thoughts from her mind, then she grinned "why dont we share it!" she suggested with a warm smile as green fire washed over her and she became a griffon, using her claws to slice it cleanly into a half-dozen pieces. the fire washed over her again as she returned to her natural form and offered a slice to rose, smiling widely, clearly she did not have many friends and was very happy and eager to make more /============================\ | Stellar Drift/Cloudy Skies | \============================/ Cloudy looked around to make sure iggy hadn't seen the book and quickly slipped it into his bags "Not gonna lie, I'll probably never read it... but iggy..." he grinned "You just solved my problem of what to get her for her whelpday - she loves books, almost as much as magic. So in a way you ended up picking out a great gift" he said "I can already hear her squeals of delight when I give that book to her, so thanks a ton"

((sorry for my slow responce, as I said in my status update the other day, there's been a death int he family, so things are... messy... IRL right now... >.<)) /====================\ | Iggy/Firewalker | \====================/ Iggy smiled, perhaps amused by the other pony's entrance "Its a pleasure to meet you, Firewalker, I'm Azure Ignine, but everyone calls me 'Iggy' for short" she explained as she levitated her gift over to the pegasus "I hope you like it! Its one of my favorites!" The gift was very obviously a book, and indeed when it was opened it would reveal "1001 interesting facts about Equestrian History" Iggy grinned "There's so much that they dont teach you in history class! like did you know there was a short time that ponies thought Former Princess Luna was a Necromancer! Or that besides all his work with time-and-space-alteration spells, Starswirl also dabbled in the arts like a spell for creating pottery!" she was grinning ear to ear now, very clearly a lover of knowledge... very clearly a huge nerd... and no doubt bringing back memories of a certain unicorn if any had known the current princess in the past... Iggy meanwhile was carefully and meticulously opening firewalker's gift, making sure not to damage the bow or tear the paper... /=======================\ | Jasper/Cocoa Nut | \=======================/ Jasper let out a surprised... well it was something between a roar and a yelp, as he instinctively jumped up, causing him to hit his head on the low ceiling, and fall back down into the floor, steam trailing from his nostrils in annoyance "I'm going to hurt iggy so good for dragging me here..." he muttered. He then looked at the pony on his back, he wanted to say something mean or char her for what she did, but fortunately his manners (and many threats from both iggy and Cloudy) managed to reign him in, he sighed "Happy Hearthswarming I guess" he said, as he handed her his gift The flat square was obviously a record album, but what album remained a mystery (at least for the next few moments) when opened it revealed a somewhat chilling image of a futuristic city on a lake or river, with clouds int he shape of a monster with the title "IRON MAREDEN: BRAVE NEW WORLD" (article on the IRL album For reference) "Iggy said we should give something we love, so that's a copy of one of my favorite albums" he explained, pushing himself up /==============================\ | Fleeting Hope/Compass Rose | \==============================/ Hope smiled a little "I know its bad... I'm sorry" she said awkwardly but as the bat pony moved on, hope listened intently and nodded "I think your wings are cool, they make you look tough, mine look like a hard win would shred them" she said, letting her gossamer insectoid wings slide out from under her carapace for a moment before she retracted them. it was clear she was still a bit uneasy and fightened, but it seemed she was warming up to rose more. /============================\ | Stellar Drift/Cloudy Skies | \============================/ Cloudy laughed "just chill and relax" he said "yeah, its not everyday you meet a strange creature you've rarely or never seen. Trust me, I know that so very well, I'd never seen anything above-water for most of my life, but I promise I dont bite" he smiled. When steller explained he had gotten the gift for somepony specific, cloudy chuckled "I live with a heavy-metal dragon and a nerdy kirin who loves magic too much for my own good - I'm sure we can find a use for whatever it is" He passed his gift to the pegasus. Inside the paper was a box, and inside that box was a necklace made from smoothly polished stones, pearls, and seashells - no doubt all from seaquestria

Iggy just stared slack-jawed as twilight completely ignored her explanation and walked off without so much as a polite nod. Cloudy sighed and walked over, putting his claw on iggy's sholdier "I tried to warn you... she's a princess, you cant expect her to associate with common riff-raff like us... if you make some world-shaking discovery, maybe she'll find you worth her time but we're just not important to ponies like that" he hugged the kirin "now come on, chin up, we have our own riff-raff-kind to associate with now" he smirked jokingly Iggy sighed, glancing across the room at twilight and shaking her head, clearly this had been a big blow to her idolization of the princess, but it wasn't quite enough to shatter the pedistol... "your right, I can go home and cry into a cup of cocoa later" she managed a small smile "Thats the spirit, lets go" ----- Jasper rolled his eyes as the other dragon rudely disengaged and headed over to twilight. Well, they certainly both had that much in common - neither of them was exactly the most polite... though it was annoying since it was rare to meet others of his kind that didn't immediately challenge him to lift heavy objects or some other barbaric menial task. Though what was he really expecting from some pony-noble-dragon... wordlessly he headed towards the tree himself to swap nick-knacks. ----- Hope clung to Flux a little longer, no doubt wanting to ask the older changeling if she would go with her for this, but the young insectoid knew what would be said and with one more quick squeeze of her big-friend, she headed for the table, a bit nervously... ----- /====================\ | Iggy/Firewalker | \====================/ Iggy was quick to the table, being so close from talking to twilight - well, from trying to talk to twilight... but she pushed that out of her mind as she levitated her gift from under the tree and looked around, wondering who her partner for this was since she hadn't met him or her yet... of course being new to town she really hadn't met much of anycreature there but she still was trying! /=======================\ | Jasper/Cocoa Nut | \=======================/ Jasper headed to the table and retrieved his gift, one that was rather obvious given the size and shape (though despite it clearly being a record album, it was anycreature's guess what particular album it was, given the fact it was coming from a dragon --- of course any creature that new jasper would have been able to narrow down the possibilities quite a bit, though given the fact that there really were no creature there that did know him made that point a bit... useless... /==============================\ | Fleeting Hope/Compass Rose | \==============================/ Hope nervously made her way to the table, picking up her "gift" which made it clear she wasn't familiar with the holiday, since it was literally just a pine-cone with a ribbon tied around it... of course being a changeling it made a lot of sense given that they had no culture revolving around hearthswarming and even what they had recently been given was a bit unique and hope still didn't know about even that since she hadn't returned to the hive since before chrysalis was defeated --- she didn't even know who Thorax was! --- though it was forgivable given her age. The small changeling looked around nervously at the other creatures, as they paired off, she came to realize who she was paired up with and walked over smiling awkwardly "h-hi. Are you Compass?" she asked, though the fear in her voice seemed to face a little as she looked over the areleon "your... your not like the others either are you?" she asked, clearly taking some solace and comfort in the fact that she had been paired up with another "not-normal-pony" who also stood out, though not nearly as much as the insectoid changeling did "I-I'm Hope" she said with a small smile, offering the bat-pony the pinecone "Its my first time... I'm sorry" she said sadly, knowing now that she had seen all the other gifts that she had screwed up with hers... /============================\ | Stellar Drift/Cloudy Skies | \============================/ The hippogryph gave one more nod to his kirin friend before retrieving his gift from the pile and heading to meet with his partner. Watching the others mingle, he found his way to the other remaining creature "Hey, 'sup, you must be steller" he said casually, playing it cool, smiling "wild night, eh? maybe now that everything's calmed down we can all have some fun" he shifted his weight to his back legs as he offered the package wrapped in the odd seashell theme to the pony "Happy heartswarming, Its a little out of season, but I figured something personal was better than something boring bought at some shop" he smiled again.

Iggy smiled and picked out a nice dark blue scarf and a red hat "Sometimes I have to be reminded of that" she said to pinkie, but she then walked over and in a surprisingly gesture, levitated jasper up and put the magic warming scarf about the dragons neck, the proceeded to put the warming hat on cloudy's head, smiling The two stopped laughing and blinked in suprise, not expecting that at all. Iggy just smiled "I shouldn't have drug you two out here, I deserved what I got, so its the least I could do" Now the two males just looked awkwardly at the ground, feeling like real heels... She then walked over to the pony who was dissapointed in the warming pool "not steamy enough for you?" she asked as her hoof ignited and she tossed a fireball in, making sure to keep it in the opposite side of the pool from the pony, throwing a nice large cloud of steam her way

Trixie stood there, completely frozen, when the stallion was raging at her, she merely held up a hoof to project a protective force-field between herself and him. When she heard bluebelle crying. She finally turned and looked the princess in the eye "Your an idiot to want these" she said "Dont you see... all they do is cause pain and strife... everything was going fine for me untill I got wings, and now its all ruined! Every friend I had turned to an enemy..." she raised her head so they could see her red eyes and the tears falling from them "be glad you dont have wings! They're nothing but a curse! They only hurt others and destroy friendships! They were the worst thing that ever happened to me, and believe me I am going to find some way to rid myself of them forever even if it takes a saw!" she turned to face twilight and gave her a long sad look, some form of unspoken apology, but she said nothing, finally, smoke just started billowing from under trixie's cape, soon overtaking her form, and then, she was gone, leaving only the small wet spots of spilled tears where she had stood... ...and if anyone had the foresight to run and look out the window, they would see trixie and her wagon heading as fast as possible with such a load, for the outskirts of ponyville... leaving a shattered past behind her once again... ----- Hope just stared blankly at flux "...where's the hive now?" she asked, making it clear she hadn't been there since before chrysalis had been defeated... the poor filly really had a lot of catching up to do... "And why would a changeling have antlers?"

Trixie winced and took a step back "I just- I've been collecting and studying artifacts I was told were from Starswirl, its something I've been doing for years, trying to understand them, searching for their purpose and power - then one day I finally realized the truth - that they were all fakes, and I wasn't really looking for an artifact from starswirl at all, I realized the truth about what I was searching for - and what I had, in doing so, I unlocked a great power." but then after a moment her head snapped back up "Wait a minute!" she said, looking bluebelle right int he eye "...This isn't about me at all, is it?" she asked, unseen a ring around her horn began to glow "This is all about you!" as trixie spoke, her size seemed to be increasing, while bluebelle seemed to be shrinking "All those speeches about doing your best, about seeking forgiveness and friendship, about being who you are... it was all a lie, wasn't it?!" Trixie was looming over belle now, somewhat terrifyingly "Everything you said, to me, to the other staff... to the students... it was all just an act so you could get these!" she unfurled her wings, proudly now, she sneared "You... disappoint...and... You disgust trixie! and that's not easy to do!" she turned on a dime, the pair's sizes seeming to return to normal She turned to the griffon and her scowl slowly reformed into a smile "So your martini? I do think your doing well putting yourself 'out there' even if you dont like public functions" she paused "why dont we talk at the other table..." she glanced back at bluebell with a very disappointing and sad look, then gently nudged martini towards the other refreshments table as she headed that way herself. --------- Hope looked over at spike, then back at flux "he does seem kinda small..." she said with a slightly forced laugh "...who's Thorax? is he small too?" she added, making it clear that she was very-much NOT caught up with her history lessons... though to be fair they probably didn't cover events that current unless they became relevant, and most of the interactions with thorax had been at best several months ago, so he wasn't fresh in anypony's mind right now.

Hope nodded, though at the mention of the crystal empire she glanced at spike and gulped, she gently pulled flux's head down to whisper to her "you see the dragon over there? Not the big scary one, the little purple one... I heard that he fought and killed a while army of changelings that invaded the crystal empire" she said, clearly more than a little scared from the very altered rumors.... quite amazing how 'Spike befriended a lone changeling that was hiding in the empire' had morphed into 'Spike defeated an entire army of changelings who had invaded the empire' ----- Trixie tensed up and gulped, if bluebelle felt her wings... a single bead of sweat ran down her face, though she smiled, unfortunately as she did, a bit of glitter from one of the presents (or possibly some prop of trixie's...) made its way up the trickster's nose, "ah-ah-ACHOO!" as she sneezed, the jerking made her wings shoot straight out, not only smacking bluebelle, but drawing attention from the entire room Trixie blinked as they all looked her way "what?" she wiped her nose, then she realized "oh horseapples...." she muttered, pulling her had down to cover her eyes as she folded her wings back up and covered them with her cape. ----- Even Iggy stopped in the middle of her talk with twilight and turned to the sound of the sneeze followed by the silence, and her jaw was slack "there's... there's another princess?!?!"

Harle sighed but smiled a tiny smile "maybe... its not every chick that can avoid the law like I can" she tried to laugh but it died in her throat "He'd be amazed the bucket of bolts is still flying after how much stuff we had to fix on it... it was a family project and near the end with the business drying up after all the slander started we were using salvaged parts... between what was already broken and what I broke trying to learn to build and maintain the ship, it's a miracle it ever flew... I really wish I coudl tell him its not only still flying, but it going to be better than ever... he'd be so happy to hear it... I'd give anything to be able to show him when its done, his jaw would hit the floor..." she sighed, closing her eyes, forcing the feelings and the tears back "'es where ah got me pirate accen' from" she said "he was from Canterbury, met my mum on a trial fight of one of his ships for a client when he was still just an apprentice... long story from there" she said awkwardly She was quiet for a moment "Singlestone, take care of the crew and make sure all the goods are safe, see to it that that the Wings gets proper care while they look her over and prepare for the upgrades" "of course, captain, and you?" She sighed "...I'm going home..." she said as she started back down the hallway Singlestone smiled and quietly said to Ice "wait for it.... wait... almost.... and... now..." "How do I get out of this bloody big place!" exclaimed harle as she re-entered the hanger Singelstone just smiled, he knew her all too well. "I remember the way out well enough" he said, turning to Ice and nodding politely "its been a pleasure, I hope to speak with you and your associates again later" As they walked back Ice might hear harle mutter "I could have fount my way out if this place was smaller..." "I'm sure you could have captain, I'm sure you could have....."

((oh yes, pyro, right now he'd get slapped for looking for her weapons... give her time to get smashed though and she'd take his hunt for her weapons in a completely different light..... XD)) Trixie opened her mouth to say something else but suddenly found herself without a conversation partner... and she had thought that things were going well... it was times like these that reminded her why she had turned to evil in the first place... not that she would go back now, but oh did she ever think about it a lot... it didn't help that nopony else at this party had even acknowledged her! after she made a huge entrance and did the eye-catching maneuvers with her gifts --- and even brought multiple gifts! she was still being completely ignored... She needed a drink to calm her nerves... but she knew that if she started she probably would finish too and it would be highly inappropriate to get that drunk here where not only her colleagues and bosses were watching, but also her students... she finally just went back to standing there idly munching on whatever food she could find out of frustration... ----- Iggy grinned triumphantly at cloudy the griff sighed "well I tried" he said, letting iggy go the kirin was almost bouncing pinkie-pie style, she was so excited "Again it is such an honor, Princess Twilight Sparkle!" she said "my current hypothesis is that there is some kind of core of negative emotions in the center of the everfree that is powering everything, because I'm sure you've seen creatures like the wolf golems - that is the timberwolves - lose their animation magic if they venture too far. Not only that, but I theorize that is may actually be some kind of intelligence that is sad and lonely - hence the negative emotions that the forest projects and why it can be repelled by a town like ponyville. I'm currently tying to learn enough to forge a path through it in hopes of discovering this core and if it IS an intelligence, then perhaps speaking with it and learning its story --- but right now I'm having to learn the specifics of many of the plant and animal species that make it a dangerous journey..." it was clear that cloudy had not been kidding, iggy was going to keep on going until somepony stopped her and would indeed talk twilight's ears off if not interrupted... ----- Jasper shrugged "I dunno, whats it do?" he asked, pondering the word a moment "you mean like changing stuff? let me show you something" he closed his eyes and focused on the fire in his belly and instead of the normal black smoke, translucent white steam began rolling out his nostrils until he stopped "That's thanks to one of iggy's misfired spells, now more than ever everycreature thinks I'm some kind of Ice dragon" he sighed as he spat a tiny -blue- fireball into his claws "doesnt help the confusion when my fire's blue..." "Oh she can do any kind of magic - or botch any kind. She says it takes a lot of small tweaks and modifications to pony magic for a kirin to use it, but I think she just sucks at magic" he smirked, at least partially joking "And much as what your saying makes sense, I find it hard to believe the glorious twilight could ever have made mistakes" the way he rolled his eyes made it clear he didn't share the reverence of iggy "and yeah, if you didn't catch it before, iggy is a huge fangirl of Twilight. sometimes I wonder if she only saved me so she could have her own dragon so she could be 'just like twilight!'" he snorted, again clearly not 100% honest with his feelings, but also truly fearing that on some level deep down inside... ----- Hope hugged her again now that she was back to her changeling form, clearly that made the younger creature much more comfortable "I came here 'cuz I was told I needed to make friends and learn, but I dont think I did it right" she said, looking at how her pinecone stood out from all the other gifts... "I dont understand all these weird things the ponies do just because its cold outside... does the cold make them think bad?" yes, it was very clear how little the changeling knew about hearth's warming...

Singestone nodded "of course" he looked then to harle Harle sighed hard, leaning her head against the wall "of course you want the blueprints..." she said "...they're probably still in my dad's old shop, I have been there since he had to close years ago... its going to be a rough place to go back to after all these years..." "you make it sound like its been a century, captain" commented singlestone "five years... it might as well have been a century... too many memories there" "if its too hard on you, captain, I can go myself, I'm sure I can find the proper blueprints" harle shook her head "no, this is something I need to face anyway... I keep putting it off... been doing it for five years now, its time i faced it..." "it must be hard to see the workshop and not your dad" "you have no idea" commented harle somberly

Scootaloo shook her head "This is not a good year, I feel sorry for the pony in the costume" Dash nodded "I hear ya, he's clearly got it rough... though to be honest... I've seen worse years... though the crash at the start... I think that sets a new record" "Yeah and Starlight really gave him what-for it seems" added scoots Dash nodded "...wish I'd thought to bring popcorn" Scootaloo giggled but nodded

((hey your still going despite the odds, give yourself some credit. Also I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner, I try to read every "open" thread that pops up but somehow this one flew right under my radar >.<)) Scootaloo was covering her eyes and Dash was facehoofing so hard it was a small miracle she didn't have a concussion "Are they dead? they're dead arent they?" asked scoots Dash sighed "Worse - they're still alive... You see, kid, this is exactly why for stunts like this you should get professionals like me instead of.... whoever they are..." she realized she had never met this pony who may well end up dead before the end of the night... though she had to admit, he at-least had his heart in the right place... or it was before that crash, it probably wasn't in the right place anymore, but that's neither here nor there....

Roleplay Type: World of Equestria Name: Starry Void Sex: Male Age: Adult Species: Earth Pony Eye colour: Dark Purple Coat: Light Brown Mane/Tail: black with purple streak Physique: Average, a little on the small side for an earth pony Residence: Canterlot Occupation: Thaumaturge Cutie Mark: Unique Traits: Aura manipulation using Magitech, Random hallucinations from studying forbidden magic... questionable grasp on sanity... Personal Quotes: "There is something out there... in the darkest space between the stars where even the Gods dare not look. Its out there, and I found it... and it found me" "There is such a thing as Forbidden Knowledge. Things that ponies were not meant to know. To know them comes at a high cost" "Spiders! Spiders! They're Everywhere! Run!!!" History: Ever since he was a young colt, Starry Void was obsessed with grand magic. Even when his parents, teachers, and anyone else tried to explain to him that his magic was tied to the earth and nothing else, he refused to listen and kept searching, knowing deep in his soul that there had to be something else out there - when anypony could use special artifacts or devices to manipulate magic without a horn, he was sure that there was more to the world than what they perceived. Once night, while looking through his telescope at the sky at night, specifically the darkest parts where no stars could be seen, he saw... something... he couldn't explain what exactly it was, and first thought maybe he imagined it or that there must have been a smudge on his telescope's lens. He cleaned the telescope intently and looked again at the same spot. He saw it again, clearer this time, but still so fleeting that he could not clearly explain what he saw... or what he felt upon seeing it... it was almost like something in that darkness looked back at him, looked deep inside of him... it was a strange almost icky feeling, like a taint on his very soul... but it intrigued him, he had to know more! The next day, he went to the Canterlot library and researched everything he could, but something deep inside him... that same place eh felt the presence before and its... residue? it told he he wouldn't find anything relevant here... he wished he could look in the forbidden archives, feeling like the answer would surely be there, but he didn't have anywhere near the rank (or bits...) to get into there, so he left. But on the way home, he was inexplicably drawn to a curio shop - someplace he had never seen before, in a back alley not far from the library. It was here that he made his way to an old book that seemed to call to him... strangely it seemed mostly blank except for some strange writing in the beginning, but he knew if he studied it, he would find his answer. Thus, his fate was sealed. Character Personality: Energetic, Quirky, Paranoid, Excitable, these are all words that describe Void well. His heart is often in the right place, but his unstable and corrupted mind doesn't always clearly see what he needs to do in a given situation, sometimes with disastrous (or even hilarious) results... Character Summary: Void is a rare find, an earth pony who, through the use of Thaumaturgy, has learned to manipulate the magic aura itself using specialized tools and extract magical essence from the world around him which he can then infuse into special objects using his ritual altar to give them great power. However, going against the natural order like this has taken a tole on his sanity. Often he starts screaming about "The mists! They're after me again!" or "Spiders! Everywhere" occasionally even complaining that "Its too bright! I'm going to burn up!" though these usually pass quick enough. He has also been known to mutter strange things in an unknown language that just seems... wrong... on a deep, primal, level. As Friedrich Nietzsche once said "If you gaze long enough into the abyss, the abyss will gaze back at you" Image: (Sorry for the poor quality image/edit... very much not a graphics artist)

((sorry, but since you didn't specify, and this seems to be a one-off seasonal thread, I'm dragging you into the ATC timeline )) Scootaloo The little filly was sitting not far from the festifivities, though far enough to make it clear she wasn't really taking part. She remembered when she still believed in magical creatures that gave gifts (Well discounting her friends, who were pretty magical themselves) but years ago during a mix-up with her parents being off adventuring during hearthswarming and her aunts not knowing, she learned the hard way about how "real" the creatures were. But she wasn't going to say anything, she did enjoy seeing the younger foals enjoying themselves and getting excited. Rainbow Dash A familiar voice came up from behind Scootaloo "Hey, kid, why're you over here, you should be celebrating with everypony else" Scootaloo looked up and sighed "Remember three years ago?" "...oh... right..." sighed Dash "Well, tell you what, I can make it a little better" she said, sitting down next to the smaller pony Scootaloo smiled a little, leaning against dash "Thanks, Dash" "Always have time to spend with my little sis" she said with a wink as she put her wing around scootaloo, waiting for the big celebration to officially start

Harle shook her head "I appreciate the offer, but I'm not that smart, I'm sure Singlestone would love to learn more about it, but I'm sticking with good old wood and steam for my ship-building if I ever make another one... honestly it was more for the sake of spending time with my dad than really wanting to learn to build ships" she admitted "Adding some panels to make it look like the Wings' would be a good idea, especially until you can get our names cleared - dont want ponies to think we stole one of your ships" he explained "Yeah, I dont mind a day or two, the crew would probably enjoy it, but we get restless staying in one place too long - Free Spirits and all that" commented Harle

((oh you missed the gag - Cloudy didn't put his name down either, he literally ONLY signed iggy up for it! XD --- so I'm gonna assume iggy goes next then)) Cloudy nodded back to Vera "Cloudy Skies, Cloudy for short, you remind me of a griff I spent a lot of time with back in seaquestria growing up" he explained The trio clapped for Sunburst, but iggy was looking apprehensive "wow, that water does seem cold... maybe you were right..." she commented, then when Sunburst nodded at them she gulped "at least we're going togeter, right?" Cloudy and Jasper both stepped back "well, actually, no, your going alone" "WHAT?!" she exclaimed "I thought you just gave a talk to jasper about doing things together! You do that then you turn around and stab me in the back!" the snow around her was starting to melt as her eyes faded to white and wisps of smoke started rising from the kirin "If it were lava I'd be down for it, but I'm not as stupid as you are" commented Jasper "WHAT!" Now the smoke was getting stronger and flames started licking her hooves "Now!" shouted Cloudy as he dove out of the way Jasper dropped down "Have a nice trip!" he kicked Iggy squarely in the chest sending her off the edge "See you next fall!" Iggy's arms and legs waved around in the air, trying to find purchase but instead she started falling "YOU SON OF A-!!!" There was a bright flash as her whole body burst into flames, going full Nirik mode now, and almost immediately there was a deafening *SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS* as she hit the water and steam covered the area The dragon and hippogryh were laughing their tails off now a short time later a wet and steaming Iggy walked back over to them "...you planned this didn't you...?" "Every step!" laughed Cloudy "You should have seen your face!" added Jasper, barely able to talk for laughing so hard Iggy sighed but after a moment found herself laughing too, realizing she deserved it for dragging them along in the first place...