Ashton

Roleplay Type: WoE

Name: Desert Rose 

Sex: Mare

Age: Adult

Species: Pegasus

Eye colour: Green

Coat: Pink

Mane/Tail: Pink/red

Physique: average

Residence: Canterlot

Occupation: Vilian

Cutie Mark: Rose bush in a sandstorm

Unique Traits:
Above-average gardener, professed Master of "Sandstorm" weather magic (always carries a large bag of sand with her for use with said magic).

History:
Rose was born and raised in a small town in the San Palamino desert where she spent her youth helping to cultivate the sparse farms and gardens of the city. She had a particular skill with the plants that seemed to outshine even the seasoned gardeners. however, it was not an easy life, between the almost ever-present droughts and raiding bandits, her life was hard. The bandits especially gave her family trouble, making rose's blood boil every time the town was forced to hand over their meager food. Like most pegasai, rose studded weather magic, showing talent in controlling wind, but little in making rain - something the village desperately needed.
As she grew older, the raids only increased, her studies turning to ways of deterring the bandits. It was thanks to this that she took to wandering far into the desert and learned to create sandstorms. At first little more than dust-devils, but in time their power and magnitude grew until it became a formidable weapon. Knowing roughly when the bandits tended to strike, she honed her skill and prepared... she would finally teach them not to steal from HER village!
When the day came, she met the bandits on the edge of town, despite the pleas of her family and friends (not to mention the village elders) and when they refused to back down, she poured everything she had into her magic, creating a sandstorm that would go down in infamy... but after over an hour of battle, the bandits had enough and finally retreated, leaving rose to collapse on the warm sands, excused, but victorious...
When she awoke, though, the village had other thoughts on her actions... the sandstorm had been so strong that parts of the village were burred, homes filled with sand, their crops that she had worked so hard to cultivate had been destroyed; leaving her village in even worse shape than if the bandits had completed their raid... it was made clear that she was no longer welcome there...
But instead of taking things in step, she lashed out, outraged that after she trained so hard and risked her life to protect them, that they would turn their backs on her. It was a stroke of luck for both the village and Rose that her actions had caught the eyes of others beyond the village... As she argued with the elders and was on the brink of using her magic to make the village utterly uninhabitable, a voice of reason spoke to her. A group of travelers from eastern equestria had been passing through and talked her down, convincing her that her petty vengeance wasn't worth it... and that her skills would be more useful - and more appreciated - elsewhere...
So, she left the village, her mind still clouded with rage and joined the travelers as they headed back towards canterlot... towards a new life, but not necessarily a better one...

Character Personality:
While on the surface Rose seems calm, she is quick to anger and has been known to lash out at friends and foes alike, though careful words will calm her down. She carries a rage in her heart to this day for the ingreatful village she worked so hard to make prosperous and to save... though she has a special place in her heart, in the eye of the storm, for a certain pegasus, and a certain unicorn, whose' words always cut through her rage and make her stop, even if she holds the anger longer than she should...

Holding such rage was not good for Rose as it often clouds her mind, giving her trouble even in day-to-day life, making her more klutzy than she would be if she was less focused on the past.

Character Summary:
A skilled but hot-blooded Aeromancer, Rose is an opponent not to trifle with. She is not above playing dirty and literally throwing sand in her opponents eyes (and ears and nose and....) Holding a grudge that ties her to a past best left forgotten, perhaps one day she will finally let go and finally be at peace.

Harle sighed, this pony wasn't seeing the forest for the trees, but it wasn't her place to try and explain it to her, but she stopped and blinked "wait, what? sunbutt's not in charge anymore? when did this happen!?"

"a few months ago actually" commented Singlestone

"Why did nocreature tell me?!" exclaimed the griffon

"would it have change anything you were doing?"

"well... no..."

"So why bother you with it" said the unicorn

Harle sighed, more than a little annoyed but also understanding the logic.

When Ice spoke about the weapons though, Singelstone's eyes sparkled

"No." said Harle "We already talked about scaling up the death ray, doc, you said it couldn't be done"

"Not on our ship, but on something like this...."

Harle's eyes narrowed

Singlestone sighed "It would be a lot safer than what they're using now"

Harle sighed, closed her eyes a moment in thought, then turned to ice "...I might have a solution to your problem with your artillery"

Harle did not seem impressed when the doors were first opened, then when she saw the entirety of the ship her jaw went slack and her rump hit the floor as she gawked at the leviathan before her, barely even comprehending what she was seeing.

Singlestone though was looking at it with a more critical eye and shook his head, going over the logistics in his mind of just what it would take to run that ship, and his conclusion was quite the opposite of Harle's though he did not speak up, realizing now the full extent of their new commander's megalomania... ...though he was watching with interest the ships being built below, no doubt quite curious about the mechanisms being used to hold them aloft without propellers or balloons. Once could clearly see the proverbial gears in his head turning as he envisioned other uses for the magitech... 

When harle's shock wore off she managed to pull herself together, though not without another rather large gulp from her decanter. Still a little woozy, she stood once more "I never took Sunb- Celestia to be one for world conquest, but it seems I underestimated her" she said "She'll soon have the entire world in her hoof" there was a tiny edge of fear in the griffon's voice, having seen just the small amount of chaos her own ship brought when it came into sight... knowing that this was orders of magnitude more dangerous, without even taking into account its weapons.

...she also knew now that singelstone was right, they had no hopes of defying Ice or celestia... if they had, then it would only be a matter of time before they simply ceased to exist one morning... For her own survival, she knew she made the right decision, but deeper down in her gut, she was questioning if she was joining a band of heroes or a gang of villains... Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. She feared for the future of equestria... and for all of Terra....

Fixed

Harle nodded "the way you put it, yeah, but they're a ragtag bunch of skallywags, some of them might take issue with working for sunb- for celestia...." she muttered to herself about needing to break that habit now...

"Dont be misunderstanding the captain" said Singlestone "We would all like to see her name -our name- cleared, and it would be nice not to worry when our next meal ticket will arrive"

Harle nodded "I run a tight ship but I dont force my crew into anything they're uncomfortable with"

"Except Last Hour" smiled Singlestone

"Bah, they love it, they just dont want to admit it" smirked Harle

Harle stopped cold at the mention of the walk "20 minutes? I say again 'How bloody big is this place?!" she sighed and took another swig from her decanter before taking the offer of a non-alcoholic drink for the remainder of the journey.

The long walk was mostly in silence from there, though singlestone did slow his walk a few times to examine the re-purposed caves, no doubt he would be submitting a report on their structural integrity to Ice some time in the future...

Roleplay Type: WoE

Name: Electric Shock

Sex: Male

Age: Adult

Species: Pegasus

Eye colour: Yellow

Coat: Blue

Mane/Tail: light blue

Physique: slightly on the scrawny side.

Residence: Canterlot

Occupation:  "Villain" (Antivillain)

Cutie Mark: two lightning bolts coming together

Unique Traits: Has learned to channel lightning both offensively and defensively (though doing it much will wear him out - usually only about 3 bolts without resting), skilled martial artist.

History:
Shock's early life seemed somewhat normal, almost idyllic. Growing up in Cloudsdale, he was an average student, a prominent member of the cloudball team, and was studying martial arts in hopes of becoming a professional championship fighter. Everything was going well for him, he had friends, family, a bright future... but then came the accident...

Nopony is quite sure what happened, and the parties at fault were quick to cover it up and sweep it under the rug since it was a small matter that happened away from prying eyes... but to say it was "small" was only looking at the big picture... Shock was the only survivor losing his family and friends, and he had suffered serious head trauma. Even with surgery it was unsure if he would live.

When he beat the odds and woke though, he was a completely different stallion. His interest in sports and martial arts was gone, instead becoming a brilliant study in math and science, but his psyche was in shambles... when anypony asked about an aspect of his previous life, shock would ofte just shrug, at best he would make some philosophical comment that held seemingly no connection to him emotionally. He would also focus less on ponies and more on animals... but not the way a normal pony would... he would try to teach squirrels to use a fire-pit to roast their acorns, or teach birds advanced mathematics to aid their flight... if the animals had any grasp of what he was saying, it was not much...

In short, Shock was on the short list for an asylum, but then somepony stepped in. Where she came from and why she took interest in shock wasn't clear, but she did - and she had the bits to backup whatever she said.

He made progress, at least to the point that the doctors felt he could be released, and when he was, Shock left cloudsdale with the mare, headed for canterlot, to a new future and hopefully in time, the pieces of his mind would settle back into place...

Character Personality:
Shock is highly intelligent, but is not all there. He seems to have two hooves in our world and two in another - he usually is stable enough that he simply comes off as eccentric, but at other times he is so far out in left field that ponies will keep their distance for fear. However he is almost always upbeat, unless talking about his past. 

Character Summary:
A skilled fighter in both body and weathermagic, with the brains to back it up --- but there is something wrong with him. An accident left his mind in shambles, with many questioning if he even remembers his past in any logical way, he sees the world through a different lens than other ponies now... though how much of this is true insanity and how much is his attempt to cope with the loss of everything he ever had is up for debate...
 

Roleplay Type: WoE

Name: Twinkle Star

Sex: Male

Age: colt

Species: Unicorn

Eye colour: reddish-pink (usually covered by sunglasses when in public)
Coat: white
Mane/Tail: black

(Yes, he is an albino)

Physique: average

Residence: canterlot

Occupation: Singer/Guitarist (Con artist)

Cutie Mark: a single star with several smaller ones trailing it

Unique Traits:
His special talent is the Glamour, which enthralls all who hear it, clouding their mind. When he stops focusing on the ability, those around him have very hazy memories of being under the glamour and are open to suggestion of what happened during it (Though only to a limited extent) This power has made Star a literal rockstar since nopony actually hears him sing or play and afterwards the announcers praise him so they "remember" his performance being amazing. Note that this power only works in-person so it cannot be recorded or transmitted and is limited to those hearing him (so yes, earplugs nullify it)

History:
Little is known about Star or his past, he burst onto the music scene selling out concerts and merchandise everywhere he went (though fans are dissapointed that he refuses to release any records) He always plays up how he is there for the fans and loves what he is doing; that he is living a dream.

Mysteriously his parents never accompany him, he is instead chaperoned as needed by bodyguards or other associates of his. (Though they are routinely interviewed and always have extremely positive things to say about their son).

With enough digging and the right connections, one can discover that Star graduated from primary school with honors, but did not start out that way --- his early records are filled with him being the victim of bullying and failing or barely passing any of his classes. However that all changed this last two years, when suddenly the bullying stopped, his popularity rose (with him being elected to student council) and his grades suddenly all became perfect A+ or higher.  This was also when he began his singing career and earned his cutiemark - which is what he and his family credit for the turnaround in his life.

Character Personality:
If you meet Star on the stage or an event surrounding one of his concerts, he is overflowing with kindness, humility, and love for his fans and for all of equestria...
 

...but if you meet him in a dark alley at midnight... he is the most cold hearted and analytical pony ever to be born. The only emotion he will show, besides stoicism is rare hatred and rage (usually and almost only when sompony mockingly calls him "Twinkie" or "Tinkle"). Something broke this pony's heart and froze it in ice long ago, leaving him a heartless monster... but a monster who can manipulate and deceive fans by the thousands... the only question left is "What is his endgame?"

Character Summary:
Idol by day, villain by night. Star will sing praises of you one minute and stab you int he back the next if it is to his benefit.  It is a shame that the joyous mask hides a pony so hollow and empty inside, filled only with darkness.

It was a clear night, not a single cloud in the sky. The air was a little cool but barely needing a jacket yet. Winter was comming but it was still a ways off. in some places one could hear bats chirping as tehy made their nightly hunts, while the insects buzzed and chirped their own melody.

But then, there was a bright twinkle in the sky, and everything fell silent. the bats fell silent, the insects fell silent, even the breeze stopped...

then a loud whistling could be heared, followed by a bright almost blinding glow before...

BOOM

The hill was no more, dirt and rocks thrown in all directions, leaving behind a massive crater... and inside it was a still glowing chunk of rock....

It seems to almost call out to you... to everycreature.... what is it? where did it come from? what was going to happen...?

At the first comment harle shrugged "Ive heard tales of dark magics that use souls as a source of power, it wouldn't surprise me if sunb- I mean if Celestia's Forces had such magic at her disposal"

After the speech Harle gave ice a long, hard, look "Sorry, but I've spent my life dealing with powerful ponies who abuse their power, Its going to take some proof from you that your not one of them before I sign on to your crew. Clearing my name only does me so much good if I'm immediately forced to do worse things than I was ever accused of"

Singlestone though was far more analytical "Captain, the necklace she wears is an intense power amplifier, and we're surrounded by powerful mages, all of whom seem to be experts in far-seeing, if she was planning to coerce us, there is already nothing we can do."

Harle leaned close to singlestone "how powerful of an amplifier are we talking?"

Singlestone sighed "At least alicorn tier... possibly Eldrich tier..."

"...eldrich..." muttered Harle grimly, she had heard stories of eldrich being and their reality-warping powers. She knew the princesses employed one such creature already, it would make sense that there were more...

"While I will go along with whatever decision you make, captain, I suggest we take the offer... we're already caught in the web..."

"...could we...?"

he shook his head

Harle sighed, just like before she was just another pawn on a chessboard "FIne." she said, looking to Ice "on one condition... I will pledge my servitude, but my crew are free to leave at any time. If things get messy I dont want their souls stained... whatever happens, I will take the blame and the risk"

Singlestone shook his head, a little sad and a little amused. He had not heard her words, but it seemed Dash's earlier comment was right - harle had no idea how loyal her crew was and the fact that every one of them would fallow her through the gates of hell...

Harle snorted "like anyone would believe me if I said anything..." she muttered, knowing that probably nopony would ever believe the size of Ice's base... hell harle herself was a bit skeptical and in retrospect now was wondering if the guards had just been pulling her tail... they seemed serious enough -and those gunships had to be hidden somewhere- but it did seem rather preposterous now that she thought about it more...

Unlike the previous guests, Singlestone was scrutinizing everything with a scientific eye, no doubt in five minutes he would have deduced the basics of all the operations, in 30 minutes he would have deduced the rest, and in an hour he probably would be able to make suggestions for improvements...

At the mention of not speaking of anything outside, the unicorn nodded "nondisclosure agreements are quite common in my field" he commented "I can see the reasons for the secrecy"

Harle sighed as they reached the rom "yeah, yeah, show me the contract where if I speak about it you steal my soul, I've been through this part before..." she pulled out a knife and held it towards her claws, clearly expecting ice to ask her to sign some arcane document in blood... which was a bit worrysome in and of itself...

"THATS NO WAY TO MAKE AN EXIT!" called trixie after sunset, no doubt she would be mentioning this to sunset later and no doubt attempting to instruct her on the proper way to make a flashy exit

he sighed and turned back to sunburst "well, obviously these" she smiled as she levitated the 'wing' earrings onto his desk "and... I suppose the fireproofing amulet..." she dug the supposed artifact from the ox of junk "and lets see... portable hole? no... oh maybe the snake charming.... no...." she continued to dig "Philosopher's stone? no, I dont need that kind of temptation... oh! The ring of illusions! this will be perfect! with these three, The Great and Powerful Trixie will create a show that shall be talked about for years!" she set the final object on the desk "thanks, sunburst" she levitated the box as she walked a few paces away "or perhaps I should say... All of Equestria thanks you for your contribution to the arts! -and now for a real exit!- THANK YOU EQUESTRIA, AND GOODNIGHT!"

several magical fireworks went off, filling the room with smoke, then with a near-blinding flash, trixie was gone... no doubt eagerly planning a new routine centered around the trinkets that sunburst was going to make "great and powerful!" --- or she at least hoped...

Dont know how this old app from ~2012 vanished, but it apparently did...

Name: Singlestone

Gender: Stallion

Race: Unicorn

Appearance: White and Grey Color Scheme, wears a jumpsuit with tools sticking out of it, also now wears glasses due to acute nearsightedness as he grew older

Cutiemark:

Special Talent: Inventing

Job: Scientist/Magitech Engineer

Personality:
Very easy-going and usually relatively calm (unless you damage something he's working on)

History:
From an early age, Singlestone liked to tinker with things, despite being a magically-inclined unicorn he loved science. He studied at canterlot (first in primary school, then highschool, and finally at the university), and continued his studies beyond what almost any foal -and even many adults- would have considered normal. It was during his experimenting with low-level molecular magic that he earned his cuteimark and realized, or rather confirmed, that his future lay in inventing and researching.

After spending many years as a professor and researcher, his funding finally ran out. Much to his surprise, he found himself a spot as a chief engineer and copilot with the infamous skypirate Harle Blackclaw, where he continues to pursue his passion of research and invention 

Dash just smiled awkwardly "oh, right, yeah... back of the casino...." clearly she had no idea the foal-friendly arcade was even there, speaking volumes about her  observation skills... and her priorities...

Harle laughed a little "unless you have a second office that's a lot bigger, I think my crew's better off just hanging out here, I'll just take my copilot-slash-engineer with us" she said, nodding to a slightly older unicorn in the back

Dash turned to scootaloo at this point "Ok, kid, thank harle and give her back her gear"

Scootaloo looked down at her hooves "Awww.... do I have to?"

Harle smiled "Forget it, we have plenty, she can keep it all"

Scootaloo grinned

"Oh, I'm sure you need every sword you can get on a pirate ship" said dash "I insist"

Harle just smirked "We got plenty of 'em" she said "and you see that bandanna? She's proudly waving my flag, so as far as I'm concerned she's an honorary member of my crew, and I make sure my crew have everything they need"

Scootaloo's eyes were absolutely sparkling now

Dash's hoof went to her face, wondering if this griffon was just this dense or was purposefully being a plothole and letting scootaloo keep a dangerous weapon... probably the latter, considering harle was a pirate...

"Singlestone! lets go, as for the rest of you, two free drinks on me, anything you want!"

the rest of the crew cheered and headed for the bar

"cant you stay just a little while more?" pleaded scootaloo

Harle laughed and smiled "I got obligations, kid, but I'll be sure to come say goodbye before I leave, ok?"

Scootaloo sighed but smiled "...ok..."

"Good, I'll see you later" she then turned to Ice, completely ignoring Dash "yeah, we need to talk... at the least about the size of your bloody base!" clearly there was still a tiny hint of that accent in harle, and also clearly she was still a little sore about her hanger turning out to be in one of Ice's backdoors....

Dash, having not spent much time in cold climates and wearing a thin and airy flightsuit shivered violently, muttering something about 'whyd they go by-way of the north pole!'

Harle, being a griffon and wearing a rather warm captains coat, had no such problem and just smirked at Dash's reaction

When the trio appeared, The pirates all fell silent, unsure what to make of their captain showing up out of thin air with the other ponies, one of whom they all recognized and the other who was clearly some kind of military. No doubt some of them were even expecting harle to make the same speech about it being the end of the road... instead she smiled surprisingly warm and sat "What're you idjits gawking at?"

There was a cheer from the crowd

Scootaloo ran forward.

Dash smiled and opened her wings for a hug.... and after several seconds blinked and looked around, more than a little shocked to see scoots hugging harle!

"Scoots!" hissed Dash "thats..."

Scootaloo grinned "I know! She's cool isn't she! Harle has her own airship and her crew and lots of cool stuff"

"Yes, but-"

"And she gave me this cloak to keep me cool in the sun, and this awesome bandanna, and this sword! She taught me how to use it too in case we ran into bandits or sandworms!"

"but..."

"And... She didn't tie me up like a dog like you did."

Dash's heart sank when she heard that... had she really just lost her 'little sister' to a pirate?!

Scootaloo wasn't finished though "How about I Spend the rest of the day with harle? that way you can finish doing all your autographs and waving and story-telling and stuff for that mean, no-good, overbearing, heartless casino owner"

The sweat was pouring from dash's brow as scootaloo starting talking about the 'casino owner' dash mutted "...scootaloo.... ixnay..."

Harle finally spoke, seeing the situation "Look, kid, I'm a busy griff, I dont mind sticking around a little while, but your gonna need to go back to your sister"

Scootaloo whimpered "But... Dash will just put me on a leash again and not let me go see the games, or get snacks or even use the restroom!"

Now Harle's gaze fell on Dash "oh... really...." the gaze of both an apex predator and an infamous pirate...

Dash gulped and laughed awkwardly... she knew she was in a bind now...

Dunes crossed his hooves, reaching inside his coat "Well, it seems time for me to go, Its been a pleasure, I'm sure we will meet again, I promise!" he quickly pulled out a glowing blue horseshoe magnet and there was a bright flash and a deep resonating boom as he vanished

Harley slammed her fist down onto the chair "Sonova- HE was the one who sole my Faraday Magnets!"

Dash was a bit dumbstruck but managed to blurt out "Your what?!"

Harle sighed "Faraday magnets... they're an emergency recall system, you leave one behind, take the other with you, and you can teleport back to the first one. I paid a fortune for them and they went missing after I ran into that snake on a job months ago... I thought they'd gotten lost..."

Dash nodded dumbly, not sure what to say

Harle shook her head "Well, I guess that at least proves he's underhoofed and was hiding something. As for the kid, I couldn't tell you which rout they took, we planned out a dozen evacuation routs and I  purposefully didn't find out which one they were going to take since I was expecting those gunships to be after us and I didn't want to risk them getting caught" she explained "The shortest rout will have them here probably in..." she thought a minute "another half hour or so, provided they had minimal resistance... if they ran into trouble might be longer... the long rout they wont get here till tomorrow... sometime in the afternoon..."

"You really expect me to trust you like that?!" exclaimed dash, finally losing her cool "By then anything could have happened to Scootaloo! Just because Dunes was even slimier than I thought her was, doesnt mean your any better!"

Harle opened her mouth to comment, when there was an explosion outside and blue smoke filled the streets while somepony announced that they were here to save their captain and to turn her over

Harle's claw went to her face "of course they could have rushed out here as fast as they could and gotten here sooner..." she growled "I told them to run and forget about me! We all agreed that with five gunships this was going to be a last-stand and I'd be headed for the gallows... Why did they not listen!?"

Dash smirked "You really are an idiot" she said "You tell your friends that its over like that and you might have well been screaming 'come save me!' because if they have a drop of loyalty in their blood they wont leave you to die. Cant say anything about your illustrious career, but you got a loyal crew, and I gotta admit, I respect that" she smiled a little

what would no doubt interest Ice when her scryers saw it, though, was among the pirates about to storm her casino was the familiar orange filly, wearing a white cloak against the desert sun, with the hood pulled back, showing a bandanna tied around her head with Harle's flag on the front, and scootaloo holding a sword in her mouth just as eager to save harle as the rest of the pirates...

Dunes opened his mouth to comment, but closed it again silently when Ice raised her hoof.

The griffon's eyes only landed on ice and rainbow for moments at a time, she was instead watching Dunes, having already seen what he was capable of, and very weary around him...

After a moment of contemplation and amusing that, at least for now, Dunes wasn't going to try anything, harle spoke "th' little gel is with m' crew, they're makin' their way back 'ere as we speak. ah'm sure m' word is worthless t' some of ya, but ta any who trust it, I can give m' solumn vow that sh'll be r'turned safe."

Dash muttered something about the value of the word of a notorious criminal, but made sure she kept it mostly quiet

Harle frowned but sighed. She knew it was not a good time to keep up the act "Ok, fine" she said, dropping the accent "you've all seen my record, but its as fake as my accent" she said, causing both dash and dune to do a double-take when the famous accent vanished "I used to be a normal, boring chick to a shipwright and a city council member, I got involved with a colt who's noble parents thought I wasn't good enough for their son, so they started slandering my name and it's only gotten worse as I got older. The only crimes I've ever committed were a few brawls, a little public drunkeness, and one count of accidental arson while drunk in a pub - which I might add I made more than adequate restitution with the bar owner"

"forgive my disbelief, but I must say, what criminal would ever willingly admit to any crime, you'd be signing your own warrant" commented dunes

Dash said nothing but nodded decisively.

Harle sighed at the reaction but did snap back "of course, you would know" she said to Dunes before looking at Dash and Ice "I'm sure he's wove a web of a tale with his forked tongue that made him into the hero today. I cant say I'm not an easy target - I really shouldn't have gotten involved but I couldn't let him harm a filly"

"I merely was showing her-"

"You can cut the horsetrots, you snake in pony clothing" said Harle. "you all want to hear the truth, I'll tell you what happened. Maybe he planned to do something benign but it certainly had changed when I got there. He used his pocket-watch to hypnotize the wonderbolt and the filly and tie the foal up. Doubt any of you noticed but his window was close enough that he could have used his whip to swing out of it and safely to the ground and escape."

Dunes rolled his eyes "Really? Your inventing scenarios to serve your own ends. The very fact that you didn't return the filly tells me you either already disposed of her or your scared she would side against you and prove my innocence"

Dash's eyes narrowed now as she gritted her teeth. She didn't speak, knowing what would come out would be loud and barely intelligible, but it was clear right now she was siding with Dunes thanks to harle's reputation.

Harle sighed, her claw going toward her sword, but passing it by in favor of a crystal decanter with her flag on it filled with a light brown liquid, she opened it and gulped down a swig of the whiskey, taking comfort in the burning sensation, then returning to to inside her coat. This was going to end poorly, she was afraid... but at least she'd have a grand send-off, knowing as boastful as Rainbow Dash was, the mare would turn whatever pitiful brawl that occurred into an epic battle for the ages...

Even dash seemed a little skeptical of Ice's comment about never playing politics, but she kept her muzzle shut.

Dunes burst out laughing, taking a moment to compose himself "I'm sorry, but do you have no idea who this mare is?!" he asked "Much as I hate to further inflate her ego, Rainbow has faced every threat known to ponykind and even a few we'd never seen from blizzards, to changeling armies, to demons, to physical GODS and never sustained serious injury, I daresay she is almost invincible and at the least has a charmed life where nothing can go wrong. With her on my expedition I'd not have to worry about any sort of danger, nor would I ever have to worry about her"

Dash just blinked, a little slack-jawed "wow dunes, I... never thought I'd hear YOU saying things like that about me"

Dunes chortled "come now, rainbow, you should know that it's quite possible to respect somepony you dont like"

Dash looked like she wanted to say something further but was highly conflicted... honestly she wanted to explain to dunes that she wasn't some invincible goddess, but she also like the ego-boost that what he said gave her.......

Harle though was not so amiable when she entered "oh, now ah see why y' left m' unbound and let m' keep my weapons, y' need an expert hunter t' take care of a rat problem...." her eyes narrowed at dunes

"Oh bother..." commented dunes under his breath, knowing now that he wasn't going to get out of this one using his silver tongue alone...

Harley frowned "unless th' proposition includes a hangar for m' ship -and ah accept- then it would be nice if y' would give m' some vague idea jus' how bloody far ah have t' go t' setup a safe garrege f' m' ship..." she commented, not really expecting them to tell her anything of the sort, but feeling the need to vent over her hangar being accidentally setup in one of their back doors.

"Th' foal is with m' crew, they'll be makin' their way back to th' city. Th' little gel'd only be safer under sunb- ah mean under celestia h'self" defended Harle, "its a might long walk though pro'ly take 'em a few hours t' get there, but y' have m' word she will be returned safe 'n sound t' her guardian"

when they communicated with Ice, if they listened closely they'd hear harle mutter in awe, sans accent "damn that's fancy, I gotta get me one of those..."  

----------

Dash didn't comment, she'd said her piece. Though it was clear she was anxious about scootaloo's safty...

Dunes chuckled "Please, your part of the government, you know how politics works, I'd never get anything done if I kept completely on the up-and-up about everything. Was it underhoofed? yes, but its far more benign than what any politician does on a daily basis. Lady luck simply chose somepony else to smile upon today... apparently the pirate..."

Jasper nodded, backing up "Remember, family sticks together, if you ever need us, just send three fireballs into the sky. We'll be there"

Iggy nodded "and if you ever find yourself in need if a place to stay, our doors open... might be a little slippery from all the soap, but its open"

From above Cloudy gave a nod and a thumbs up

There was no doubt this was the start of a beautiful friendship... and an long and strange adventure with the town's newest band of misfits...

((just FYI: you cant release it. Not in any significant way. At least not without the proper mechanism --- which can be found if you piece together myths of equestria's-version-of-egypt (I forgot the name >.<) and realize this is actually an ancient, ancient, golem animation core from a very large and powerful (and long-broken) golem --- though if you piece all that together... yes... you can unlock its power to run all kinds of dangerous spells and/or machines. I actually have plans for that little marble that I've discussed with steel *evil grin*))

Trixie blinked at sunset before rolling her eyes "maybe I should make you my stage assistant, you sure got the over-the-top boisterous acting down pat" she smiled though, making it clear it was little more than gentle ribbing

The showmare then turned to sunburst, sighing hard "honestly, I'm not too upset, I think I knew somewhere deep down they were fake and thats why I never showed her the supposed artifacts" a rare moment of pure honesty from trixie, though she didn't seem to realize that this would only serve to confuse the stallion even more since she never mentioned to him that she had been collecting these to spite twilight... "though if you happen to know any way to make some of these things work a little better or more reliably..." she smirked "I can think of some Great and Powerful uses for them as... props... provided they're safe"

after a moment, she finally addressed the orb "well, its not exactly useful to me like it is, go ahead and see what you can do with it, I never figured it out" she shrugged, clearly having no idea what the scope of this item was, especially given how she thought sunset was overreacting comically to it...

Jasper rolled his eyes and was about to make some snide remark to kojo before the small dragon flitted off, but this did cause JAsper to look over at iggy, probably about to say something smartalec to her to prove kojo wrong... but then he saw what had made kojo upset. Jasper raised his hand at cloudy, who also shut up, then the faux ice dragon walked over to iggy and, after glancing around nervously, wrapped his arms around her neck.

For a moment iggy did not react, but then she slowly raised her hooves and returned the gesture, the smoke fading from her fur and her eyes returning to their normal color.

"Sorry. I forget your fur's not as think as my scales" said jasper

Iggy smiled and just held that hug silently for several seconds longer than a normal pony would, finally letting go and saying "its been a stressful day,  I'm sorryI got upset..." she smiled a little "and sorry I made you show this side of yourself to your new friend"

Jasper gave iggy another quick squeeze, then walked over to kojo and placed his foot on the smaller dragon's tail to make sure he couldn't fly off "Ok, runt. You just saw something I cant let anyone know about" he said "not even a so-called friend" his claws glistened in the light and jasper looked very much like he was about to end kojo's life right then and there, but instead pulled the other dragon into a headlock "so guess what? your not my friend anymore..." the headlock transitioned into a very awkward hug "your a part of my family..." he let several moments pass, making it clear this wasn't some bad joke (and that perhaps iggy's kindness had indeed touched jasper much deeper than he wanted to admit) and giving the other dragon a touching moment before adding "and now that your a member of my family I can without fear tell you that if you do start telling anyone what you saw, I will hunt you down, I will beat you, then I will disembowel you three times for every creature you tell. Got it?"

And while Iggy and Kojo cleaned, Jasper, being jasper, sat on the card and did nothing but watch... or at least that was his plan before the window above him opened up and a massive pile of bubbles was thrown out.

Unfortunately for the would-be "attacker", jasper had plenty of time to react and a small fireball was enough to dispel them as he glared up "You did that on purpose, turkey!"

Indeed Cloudy's head popped out "I have no clue what you mean, I was just..."

"lifting them up all the way to the window instead of tossing them into a bucket or a sink or something?" asked Jasper "you really think I'm gonna buy that excuse?"

Cloudy shrugged "well if you actually helped maybe we'd get through a lot faster"

Iggy, already upset by jasper's comment was clearly not taking this argument well as wisps of smoke were rising form her fur and mane as her eyes turned white, warning that she was about to go into Nirik rage mode......

Iggy grinned "Your willing to help without me even asking? Jasper, are you past your trade-in date?" she grinned jokingly

Jasper rolled his eyes "better watch it, runt, next thing you know she'll have turned your scales into snow... or in your case probably leaves"

"I only did that once" defended iggy "and you were close to molting anyway so it wasn't so bad!"

"yeah... you have a loose definition of the word 'bad'" he snorted "Just remember even if he helps you that doesn't mean you get to test spells and potions and other weird things on him"

"oh I know, tha'ts why I have you" smirked iggy

Jasper sighed, muttering about iggy only saving him to get a free genuea pig...

Iggy's grin though faded, clearly that wasn't true and it really hurt when jasper said things like that... though she didn't respond... after a moment just silently passing a broom to kojo as she went to the wagon and retrieved a mop...

((and just to make it clear, Jasper was not at all rude when he called kojo 'runt' thats just his insensitive draconic nature thinking its a suitable nickname since its accurate...))

Jasper shrugged "saying we live there is only slightly true right now, its closer to saying we will live there, I doubt izzy's even got the wagon unpacked, much less everything set up, but I can still show you where it is" he said, pushing himself up and stretching, flapping his wings just enough to hover above the ground so he didn't have to walk in the slimy mess that he was sure izzy had made

"its out near the castle. I dont know if izzy planned that or not since that twilight pony was long gone before we even started looking here... 'course maybe she plans to study the castle itself, dont know and dont care." 

After a few minutes the two would come to a small, boring looking ,slightly rundown two story house that had its paint flaking off, with a large wagon outside filled with crates and boxes, and indeed within just a few minues they saw a kirin with a broom in her horn's glow, sweeping out a mound of bubbles

Jasper landed on the inclined yoke of the wagon about a dozen feet from the door where it was at least dry from being out in the sun "So I was right... you tried a little too hard and botched a spell again, didn't you iggy?" Something was different though with how he spoke to iggy, it was still a little condescending (though that was expected from a dragonlands-born dragon) but he seemed a little softer and kinder, a little more open to her. It was clear cloudy had not been kidding when he said Iggy had somehow saved Jasper, which made the kirin and dragon much closer and more amiable... though the harshness of Jasper's race still was clear it was much more subdued

Azure "Iggy" Ignine

The gold fur'd kirin looked up, a little annoyed "Jasper! Where have you been?"

"Where your magic is not, your dodging the question" he said giving her a knowing grin

Iggy sighed, hoof going to her face "yes... I tried to clean the house in a hurry so we could unload our stuff" she then noticed the other dragon "Oh Hi!" she said "There's another dragon living here? Are you Jasper's friend? you have to come by later when everything unpacked, I'd love to ask you some questions and cross-reference you and jasper to help understand..."

Jasper frowned "He's not a experiment, iggy..."

Iggy blushed a little "oh, right, sorry" she said "Lets start over, I'm Azure Ignine, Iggy for short, what's your name?" she asked the other dragon, being polite though she did seem to think he was younger than he was by the slightly silly smile and tone she spoke in --- though she tried to sound respectful none the less.

And that is all that was written...