[IC] Equestrian Radio Show's Adventure Variety Hour: Explorers of STOMP

CoffeeHorse · May 9, 2022

Stepping into the lab with Mr. Skies, she assumed, following somewhere behind her, Amber laid out the trays and retrieved the rest of the tiles, including the box-shaped construction she'd been able to reassemble so far, and spread out her various notes with her magic in long, impromptu, and quite invisible corkboard above the desk. She drew a nearby magnifier close as she looked over the chest, then the tiles, looking for connections.

Spoiler

"I'm sorry Mr. Static... are you not as old as you look? ...no no that isn't the right way to ask that, hmm.. Well you do look Younger now then when I saw you last in Manehatten ..."

"Yeah, let that be a lesson to you. Don't start any bad habits you don't already have. They tend to age you." Static sighs. "And for the record, I'm 23."

Maples eyes expand to the size of some of the larger film reels Static has.

"Oh Mr. Static... I had no idea. I'm So sorry, and here I am making you work this hard.... you don't need to show me any more buttons and nobs, I'll go get you some water, you just lay down and rest."

Maple walks out and quickly goes to get something from the concession stands... maybe she'll get him something that has a little more kick to it than just water, poor old fellow must be nearly exhausted after the mission and then all this today...

Static raises an eyebrow as Maple responds. His jaw drops as she scurries out of the room. "Wait...what the...where are you...wha...? Maple!"

Static chases after her. "Maple! What are you on about? We've got work to do!"

Ready Quill stopped Maplejack in the hallway. "Whoa-hold-on-you-two-need-to-be-getting-ready-to-go."

Static saw Ready Quill stopping Maple. Good, she won't go far.

"Whoa-hold-on-you-two-need-to-be-getting-ready-to-go."

Static nodded. "On it." Static goes back and gets the speech. It wasn't quite as polished as he'd like, but it was all they had. If the higher-ups wanted better, they probably should have given them more than half a shift to work on it. He grabs the reel he was editing, gets his equipment and hurries back out into the hall way. "Ready! Well...not quite ready, but as ready as we're going to get. Lead the way." Static turns his attention to Maple and hands her the speech. "You good to go?"

"Going to have to be...I guess. Do you think you're up for it?"

"Me? I've got the easy part. All I have to do is make birds fly." Static turns to follow Ready Quill, but briefly turns back. "One thing I should mention. Since the upgrade, the illusions are less stressful. But instead of lasting for as long as I can concentrate, they only last five minutes. Do keep an eye on the clock, please?"

CoffeeHorse · May 9, 2022

Stepping into the lab with Mr. Skies, she assumed, following somewhere behind her, Amber laid out the trays and retrieved the rest of the tiles, including the box-shaped construction she'd been able to reassemble so far, and spread out her various notes with her magic in long, impromptu, and quite invisible corkboard above the desk. She drew a nearby magnifier close as she looked over the chest, then the tiles, looking for connections.

Spoiler

Seeing Amber persist in using rudimentary magnification, Snowy snorts again, peeling the images off of both surfaces and expanding them to grand size, spreading them out so that each of them floated about the room, moving when pushed.

Spoiler

"Oh-don't-worry. There-should-be-an-extra-reel-of-film." Ready Quill gave Static Signal and Maplejack the address before darting off to complete other work. Heading south, it was hard to miss the location considering the signs leading to it and all of the green decorations. This included a garishly bright green podium and picnic tables. Several ponies were already there, including a thoroughly uncomfortable Brisk Iron who was sitting at a table near the podium. She waved Maplejack and Static Signal over. *sigh* "Thank you for getting the presentation put together on such short notice. Politics is...politics."

Spoiler

Upon seeing her, Wingston Blues quickly flew up to Misty Monsoon. "Misty, you're assigned to make sure nothing interrupts the conservation meeting int the south of the city. Keep the skies clear. I also heard there will be refreshments when it's done."

The more stern of the two mares waved her horn and the enthusiastic one trotted over to the closet and pulled out a wheeled case that was almost as tall as she was. Both opened the case up to reveal...yet another case. They opened that case to reveal a large and intricately engraved armillary sphere style astrolabe made of a purple, transparent stone setting in a dark purple velvet lining. Upon seeing the Amethyst Astrolabe, Savant Sard utterly failed to contain a squeal of glee.

Spoiler

Amber Spark was able to verify that the one of markings on the tiles matched those on the box though no others did.

"Hmm. It's only this one," said Amber, staring hard at Mr. Skies' projection as if attempting to move it with her mind and then reaching out with a hoof and an abused sigh to drag it over to her own drawing of the symbol as it drifted obediently away from the wall and floated in front of her. She indicated the matching symbol with a dip of her horn. "One symbol from the curtain, one symbol from the mechanical tiles. All of these things are connected somehow, and the solution is very likely to be - well, right where we've left it, I suppose. Though I think we really ought to bring Mr. Cap into this discussion soon, don't you? He seemed to know something about that strange corridor."

Misty perks up. "You got it, boss!" She gives her boss another salute and takes off, back to the... south? She briefly wonders just how close she came to accidentally dumping a downpour on the meeting site...

Nothing is good enough for her, is it? "I'd say so. Though he might have just been more familiar with the general concept of a surreal gravity chamber sporting classical decor."

Amber paused. She turned to Snowy Skies. "I have something of an embarrassing question to ask you, Mr. Skies, and I'd appreciate if you didn't take this as a sign of limitations in my - well, you know, we can all sometimes become a bit specialized, overlook the ... hmm, overlook the complexities of others' ... specializations...."

Amber was waving a hoof in a tight circle at this point as if hoping to paddle her line of thinking back to land.

"What is a paleoarcheoastronomer?"

Snowy looks at Amber, silently evaluating a variety of things. "Are you familiar with the function of the words synergy and paradigm?"

Amber cocked her head. "Marketing?"

"A little more specific than that." Snowy says with a chuckle. "In particular, you don't market things to people with paradigms; You market your marketing strategy with it." He pulls over a character that he imagines looks roughly like a banana getting sliced in two, looking at it instead of Amber. "Paradigm and Synergy don't have real definitions anymore. The stand for something, but nobody can determine what. And yet, they are important, desirable, because if there's one thing we can agree on, it's that what they stand for is wanted and special. They are tools that give ponies hope, that convince ponies to put their faith in otherwise questionable constructs, ! to hold out for one more day." He pushes the banana back to where it had been and draws over a falling star to scrutinize. "Paleoarcheoastronomer is another such term. It really means nothing, but it is an emblem of hope to those who wield it. I could tell you all sorts of things about what a paleoarcheoastronomer does. A paleoarcheoastronomer dreamwalks. A paleoarcheoastronomer fights monsters. A paleoarcheoastronomer is responsible for the well-being of our universe. But none of that properly captures what a paleoarcheoastronomer is, or why the term is so horrifically unwieldy. That much is something of a mystery to me." He pushes the star back to its proper place and looks up at Amber. "For that, I suppose you'd have to ask Night Cap himself."

CoffeeHorse · May 9, 2022

Static looks around at the area, looking for any trees that the birds could fly out of. Barring that, just something where the illusion of birds could realistically be expected to fly out from.

Spoiler

Static tries to hide a shudder at Brisk Iron's words. He hated politics. Aside from his admiration for Luna (and that was more for her redemption story than for her status as princess), he tried to stay out of politics as much as possible. "I just hope we do okay. I think Maple and I came up with something...adequate. Kinda wish we had more time to polish it. But...well...politics is politics," he said with a nervous smile.

As Static looked around, it was starting to hit him. He and Maple were going to be performing for the mayor. While he didn't care for politics, he couldn't deny the enormity of the situation and how important it was to do a good job with this.

Amber nodded, seeming slightly chastened somehow. She drew up one of the projections with a hoof and began cycling over the symbols, glancing between them and her notes. The curtain led to an empty space - but that symbol may only have been used decoratively, she reminded herself - and this tile mechanism had an astronomical motif. She looked suspiciously at the falling star symbol Snowy had been inspecting, then turned over to the next symbol. Of course it could all be an ideogrammatic language and the symbols could mean absolutely nothing in isolation, like thinking that the letter T must have something to do with trees and the letter W with expressions of confusion. There was just so very little to go on.

Mr. Cap certainly did fight monsters. Exclusively, one might think - Amber had taken little notice of him in the fights with COIN, but against the Princess of Anugypt, and Barometz and his Wand of Incomparable Green - Indomitable? Insufferable? Amber was certain she'd taken a note somewhere.

This symbol, she determined, looked quite unarguably like a duck. She closed her eyes and rubbed the base of her horn with a hoof.

"So when the two of you were discussing other ... other worlds during our security discussion before the ballet," Amber said, uneasily.

And there had been something positively, unnervingly, excitingly unknown about that moldy corridor where Night Cap had seemed to find himself so much at home.

"That was also not entirely ... hmm. That was also not entirely a marketing strategy?"

Maple went over with Mr Static when they saw Mrs Irons.

"Ma'am... I was wondering, um ...just how important is it that Mr. Mayor likes the presentation? Was I asked to present this because of my work as a tour guide, or because I can be a very 'persuasive' member of Stomp?"

Maple hoped Mrs. Irons understood what she was asking.

"You trust Brisk Iron's hiring decisions, right? Each of us was put on this team for some reason or other. Even Maple." He pauses to gather his thoughts for a moment. "The best way I can describe it is that I think Night Cap was chosen because of how he responds in a crisis. It's just that his benchmark for crisis is considerably higher than ours. But when the situation is well and truly bucked, I think I might turn to Night Cap for ideas."

CoffeeHorse · May 9, 2022

The shadow dancer twirled away from Light Fantastic. The full production would probably move the spotlight so it would be as if she disappeared. Meanwhile, Silky Double-Time leaped to her feet in one smooth motion. Nearby, dancers in the roles of the other Element Bearers were confronting their shadows.

Spoiler

Static Signal saw a small group of trees that birds could conceivably fly out from. Responding to Maplejack's question, "I'm less worried about the mayor and more worried about everypony else. As far as my choice of who to have do this, I try to choose those who are competent. Tour guides tend to have the ability to interact well with others and enunciate their speech. They're sure to start soon so go ahead and get setup."

Static put a hoof on Maple's shoulder and looked her in the eyes. "Don't worry, Maple. You've got this. This is just one big tour and you're the tour guide."

Static went to set up, finding a space where his projector's illusions could reach both the trees and the audience. He threaded the projector and took a deep breath.

A smile crossed his face as a thought entered his mind. All he had wanted to do was get out of Manehatten. Now, not only was he out of Manehatten, he was working at the main hub of the biggest museums in Equestria. He was just on an expedition requested by the Princesses and now he's putting on a show for the mayor of Caballuston. Not bad for a small-time museum movie projectionist!

Misty circles over the meeting grounds. Looking down, she spots a familiar yellow earth pony and fluffy-red-maned pegasus. Surprised and enthused to see her friends here too, she nearly pulls into a vertical dive until she realizes, whoops, that's the Chief Director they're talking to. Better not do anything too reckless in front of her.

She decides instead to go for a spiraling descent, trying to make her landing without causing too much commotion.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Static is so focused on what he's doing, he doesn't see Misty,

Amber nodded. It all still seemed very vague to her, and she wasn't quite sure what Mr. Skies was asking her to think of Mr. Cap or what she thought of that in turn. She certainly didn't know why Miss Jack might have been an exception to the rule he had to affirm. But he was certainly right in the spirit of things. "Yes, you're right, I do trust that Ms. Iron has her uses for all of us." Amber stared at the box. "A pity your illusions can't simply show us what's inside," she said.

"One of us would have to know." Snowy agrees. "I guess we should go looking for Night Cap. Shall we start at the Documents Department?"

As Maple moves into position ...

Spoiler

...she just happened to be at just the right angle that looking up at where she was going, she noticed Miss Monsoon was coming down from the sky, Maybe she was coming to watch the presentation too. Maple made no indication that she had spotted Misty, as she was trying to be 'professional' .... and excitedly waving with all six limbs -while flopping around on your back like she felt like doing, was for sure not 'professional'

The more stern of the two mares waved her horn and the enthusiastic one trotted over to the closet and pulled out a wheeled case that was almost as tall as she was. Both opened the case up to reveal...yet another case. They opened that case to reveal a large and intricately engraved armillary sphere style astrolabe made of a purple, transparent stone setting in a dark purple velvet lining. Upon seeing the Amethyst Astrolabe, Savant Sard utterly failed to contain a squeal of glee.

Spoiler

Rhapsody watches as the case was brought over, and opened to reveal another case... which she was hoping wasn't going to lead to a nesting doll situation... Fortunately there are only two cases holding the Astrolabe. Rhapsody takes a deep breath to contain her enthusiasm. On one hoof she really wanted to study every faucet of it, but on the other she really didn't have a good feeling about this pair... which only fed into her doubts she had about the Mayor. At Savant's squee she looks over to her. "Do you want to look it over first, or should I?" She asks keeping her voice as even-tempered as she can.

CoffeeHorse · May 11, 2022

Bold Standard's coat glistened upon hearing the response. "Variety! Elaborating on each day would result in the best collection of information."

More and more ponies arrived until soon Mayor Cranberry Loss walked up to the podium and did a quick sound check.

While out of sight and direct ear shot, Maple could still tell that time was running short for her to do this... with the ring of the sound check as a signal, Maple Sent out her Call. Maple herself had no idea how this worked... It was so magical that part of her just didn't like it because it was princess-y - did the animals hear her voice? did she sound like One of them? all questions she didn't know the answers too because she rarely did this.

It was the reason she rarely did this... Maple figured that the old her new all about it, and wasn't bothered by any of this weird magical stuff...

Regardless she sent the call out, the basic Idea was "Please come, need your help, free seeds" And also the location for waiting in the small tree.

Maple Had no idea if it worked or not but there was only one thing to do now and that was start the show...

fortunately where the mayor would be sitting was obvious... so she just set down a little pouch of seeds for him. Which she took out of her saddle bag on the way past.

Not seeing anyone else she recognized, Misty wanted to go up and see what her friends were up to, but the gathering throng of ponies would be difficult to get through. Maybe if she went around on the left... no, there was barely any room anymore... perhaps through the middle right... oh, a group just sat down right in the middle of the way... up the center might... no, that wasn't... maybe... hmmm...

She settles for taking a seat at one of the tables at the back. There! This would do just fine.

Static winced as the mayor came up to do the mic check and heard some of the feedback. "Too close to the mic. Back off!" He thought to himself. It never ceased to amaze him how little those with a career in public speaking knew how to use a microphone.

It should be any time now. He hoped whatever Maple had planned, she was almost ready.

Bold Standard's coat glistened upon hearing the response. "Variety! Elaborating on each day would result in the best collection of information."

"Ms. Standard, I do hope not to seem at all sarcastic, but are you quite certain that you are entirely serious?"

The 'Element Bearers' and their shadows performed a marvelous dance until the scene ended. With the long morning of practice, the dancers came to a break.

Spoiler

Bold Standard blinked in surprise. "Of course. Breakfast is a very important meal."

Mayor Cranberry Loss was a red earth pony stallion with a dark purple mane. He wore a stark white cravat and matching top hat. Upon the microphone check, the crowd began to quiet. As he began, his accent was much thicker than most others in the region.

"Today...is a day. A day brought about by donations from ponies like you. A day..." He continued on and on until... "The Equestrian Expedition Keep shall be presenting us with a presentation about our beloved Greenwinged Songbirds."

CoffeeHorse · May 11, 2022

Amber locked eyes with Bold Standard, shuffling her papers into her saddlebag without looking. She took a guarded step backward.

Several seconds passed; Amber continued to stare at the crystal mare from Marketing.

With a sudden electric snap, Amber appeared several yards down the corridor beyond Bold Standard in a full gallop, her mane and tail billowing as they suddenly returned to the effects of gravity only to be hit with an onrush of air.

Snowy Skies felt a tickle in his stomach and saw the corridor around him take on a cast of amber light.

"Mr. Skies, hurry!"

Spoiler

Snowy was quite familiar with the concept of a Cut and Run. He felt Amber's variation could use a little more Cut to cover the Running, but he certainly appreciated the distance from Bold Standard. Maybe the Cutting was his job. After a light skid, he found his footing and darted after Amber. The silvery letters were a little slower to follow, whipping around Bold standard in a shimmering whirlwind before exiting after their master one at a time. The last to leave, similar to a laughing equine visage, seemed to wink at Bold Standard as it left.

"Head-for-the-documents-department." Snowy says, the words coming out of his mouth with a single exhale. "That's-where-he-works."

"The crystal is so wonderfully cut. It's even better than I ever imagined." Savant Sard seemed enamored with the Amethyst Astrolabe, not talking to anypony in particular.

Amber made a deep nod of her head with an "mm-hmm!" and continued toward the Documents Department.

Maple waved at her Friends as she passed them. But gave Mrs Iron a stern professional nod. Returning to the stage as the Mayor was finishing his mic check, Maple asked.

"Were you planning to Address the group prior to the Keep's Presentation Mr. Mayor?" Maple said, while performing a little curtsy as best she could with her saddlebags on. "I think that would be delightful, but maybe it would be better to wait until we're done -so you can have time to add anything new to it that might come up after the event."

While Maple waited for a response she reached into her bag with a wing and pulled out a toffee and held it out to him.

"Good point, Rhapsody. Let me know if you need me to step to the side." Savant Sard pulled out a loupe and began to look over the Amethyst Astrolabe. Meanwhile, one of the Mauvenine Four asked, "So, how are all of youse liking this city?"

Spoiler

Rhapsody steps up to the artifact and starts looking over all the symbols. "I find it rather interesting that we seem to live in a town with our own Super Hero. I suppose both our towns have their own... unique... ways at dealing with the criminal element..."

Spoiler

Static rubs his temples as he sees Maple talking to the Mayor and offering him a candy. "What in Equestria?" he mutters to himself.

[For Luna's sake, Maple, just follow the script!]

Night Cap took a steady photo of the Amethyst Astrolabe. Meanwhile, Rhapsody saw that that the artifact was properly calibrated for charting the stars. Furthermore, there was a hole to allow fireflies to fly in and illuminate it for usage in the dark. "Yeah, different things for different places. From what me and my sisters have seen, seems like dat superhero is doing well enough. Boss Vine does better, though."

"So...what's the name of dat pancake place youse was talking about? Do dey have waffles? Waffles are less lazy about holding all the fruit toppings on."

CoffeeHorse · May 11, 2022

Amber had remembered that she didn't actually need to be running anymore shortly before arriving at the documents department, but it seemed a pity to slow down. She leaned her head against the door and, very quietly, laughed before opening it and heading to the desk.

"Hello, I'm Amber Spark, and this is Snowy Skies. We're looking for Mr. Night Cap, the new paleoarcheoastronomer."

"What are youse talking about? Fruit can be mixed with waffle batter. But I'll say, 'Pancake Pilferer' sounds like a great name. We'll check it out before we leave town."

Ready Quill walked in behind Amber Spark and Snowy Skies. "I-don't-know-what-a-paleoarcheoastronomer-is-but-Night-Cap-is-our-secretary. The-Chief-Director-has-him-doing-some-photography-work-elsewhere."

Light Fantastic smiled at her fellow dancers.

"Excellent work, every pony!" she cheered. "If all our practices go like that, we should have no problems come performance day."

"That's unfortunate." Snowy says with a frown. "Where is he?"

Maple lowers the microphone to her height. After taking the stage once the Mayor has returned to his seat. Maple begins here portion of the presentation, Knowing Static will come through with his.

"Thank you ladies and gentlecolts, Mister Mayor. My name is Maple and on behalf of the Equestrian Expedition Keep, I thank you all for your support in this endeavor."

"As a recent arrival to your lovely city, the sight of this wonderful area helped me immensely fall in love with my new home. While it holds a place in my heart, fortunately this preserve has also done more for us than just being a place to take your kids and enjoy the greenery for a weekend afternoon. Many species that have been long endangered, and even those thought long extinct in this area have made a resurgence because of your efforts."

"This Greenwing Songbird is just one of many species whose numbers are back on the rise, insuring that their song will be around for your children's children and many generations to come. And it's all thanks to your continued support of Caballuston's conservation efforts."

"Thank you for your support and congratulations to you all for the success we've had so far and the success that you've made possible for the future."

Spoiler
Zam, Caldwin

Before the presentation even started, a quiet chirping could be heard in the trees. It dies down into revered silence as Maple approaches the mic.

Destron D-69:
"Thank you ladies and gentlecolts, Mister Mayor. My name is Maple and on behalf of the Equestrian Expedition Keep, I thank you all for your support in this endeavor."

There was a chirping of agreement that came from the trees. Could have just been a coincidence.

"As a recent arrival to your lovely city, the sight of this wonderful area helped me immensely fall in love with my new home. While it holds a place in my heart, fortunately this preserve has also done more for us than just being a place to take your kids and enjoy the greenery for a weekend afternoon. Many species that have been long endangered, and even those thought long extinct in this area have made a resurgence because of your efforts."

A fluttering of wings and more energetic chirping of anticipation could be heard coming from the trees.

"This Greenwing Songbird is just one of many species whose numbers are back on the rise, insuring that their song will be around for your children's children and many generations to come. And it's all thanks to your continued support of Caballuston's conservation efforts."

A flock of singing Greenwing Songbirds flowed out of of trees, flying high up into the sky and looping back around and back down to the audience.

The flock seperated into separate birds, each choosing a specific audience member to encircle once and sing too, just out of hoofs reach. They then moved down the line until everyone in the audience had been specifically sung to

One landed in front of the mayor, spreading her wings and bowing before taking off again. One flew up to Brisk Iron, giving her a wink while he sang for her and then flew away. One came up to Misty, sticking its tongue out at her playfully and flying around her head a couple times before flying away. One even came up to Maple, mouthing the words "you're doing great" before flying away.

With a flourish, they all flew back into the trees and disappeared.

"Thank you for your support and congratulations to you all for the success we've had so far and the success that you've made possible for the future."

CoffeeHorse · May 11, 2022

Misty was enjoying this presentation immensely. She was grinning ear to ear at both the holographic birds and Maplejack's speech. She giggles when the bird sticks its tongue out at her.

At the end of the speech, she cranes her neck to get a better look at what was going on near the mayor.

"Secretary," Amber blinked. She adjusted her glasses. "I ... I think the preferred term is administrative assistant...."

Amber turned away as she spoke and wandered in a small circle and seemed to become very interested in the decor behind her as Mr. Skies spoke to Ready Quill.

Night Cap took a steady photo of the Amethyst Astrolabe. Meanwhile, Rhapsody saw that that the artifact was properly calibrated for charting the stars. Furthermore, there was a hole to allow fireflies to fly in and illuminate it for usage in the dark. "Yeah, different things for different places. From what me and my sisters have seen, seems like dat superhero is doing well enough. Boss Vine does better, though."

"What are youse talking about? Fruit can be mixed with waffle batter. But I'll say, 'Pancake Pilferer' sounds like a great name. We'll check it out before we leave town."

Ready Quill walked in behind Amber Spark and Snowy Skies. "I-don't-know-what-a-paleoarcheoastronomer-is-but-Night-Cap-is-our-secretary. The-Chief-Director-has-him-doing-some-photography-work-elsewhere."

"Well, it certainly seems legit on an astronomical level." The black pegasus muses. "I wouldn't be able to say which method is truly better without more concrete information, you are afterall a biased source." She replies, leaving it at that for now since she still doesn't trust them, nor their mayor. She idly listen as they talk to Night Cap, pondering the thought of 'coincidentally' checking out this pancake house at the same time they happen to be there...

"We can always come back for a vacation one day, if you like, Silky," said Light Fantastic.

Snowy arches an eyebrow "Petrichor Falls has something for us? That's a shock." for lack of things to do while waiting, he turns to Amber, who appears to be playing the childhood game of 'you can't see me!' "What's with you?" He asks, cutting off the question before it reaches Ready Quill.

tick-tick-tick-tick-tick

"What? Hmm? How do you mean?" Amber asked, turning toward Snowy with a broad smile but not quite making eye contact.

Snowy had always suspected that direct assault was the only easy way to get straightforward answers from Amber. It was time to test that. "Not only is that wall not remotely historically relevant, but the wallpaper is painfully bland, just like every other office in this building." He says, scornful. "You're inspecting it like it holds the secret to my entourage." He points a hoof at the small gathering of silvery symbols hovering in the doorway. "What. Is. With. You? Elaborate, please."

Static looked pleased at the ooh's and ahh's from the audience. Life could be so dreary sometimes, he was glad if something he did could bring such wonder to somepony...if even for a moment.

I wasn't sure what to make of the look of surprise from Brisk Iron. He hoped it was a pleasent surprise. She could use a smile too.

In any case, in spite of the mind-numbingly short amount of time they were given to work on this presentation, it seemed he and Maple managed to pull off a success! They both sorely needed one.

Maple Leaves the Stage... after Adjusting the Microphone back to it's original height.

CoffeeHorse · May 11, 2022

The audience applauded Maplejack and Static Signal's presentation. Suddenly, the Greenwing Songbird that the mayor was feeding was startled by something and flew off.

Spoiler

Wondering what had disturbed the bird, Misty glances up at the sky, hoping no rain clouds had snuck in while she was watching the presentation.

Spoiler

Maple strode up next to Misty and followed the line of her long beautiful neck as she followed after the bird...

"He should be fine Misty, likely just wanted to head home with his well earned belly full of seeds." Maple spoke softly to avoid startling her distracted friend... being so small, Maple didn't know if she was in Misty's peripheral vision or not... Maple looked up and smiled ..maybe the top most poof of her hair was.

Not thinking anything odd about a bird flying off, Static gathered his equipment and walked over to Maple and Misty. "Well that worked out far better than I figured it would. Way to go, Maple." He looked over to Misty. "I assume we have you to thank for the weather? Thanks!"

Maple gave Static a nod when he spoke. It was true they likely did owe Misty that. The Nice Mr. Birdie, might not have came if it had looked at all like bad weather was approaching.

Silky Double-Time nodded. "Makes sense. So what should we do during break?"

The more aggressive member of the Mauvenine Four tried to shoo them out. "I'm First Ivory, the oldest, and dats Fourth Ivory, the youngest. We gots other things to do so we gotta go."

When Misty Monsoon looked to the sky, she was able to marvel at the wonderfully clear sky she had crafted. There was a brief silence until suddenly several rocks the size of ponies rolled out from behind the trees. Rolling to a stop, they unfolded and someone from the crowd shouted, "Look out, they're cucarockas!" Pandemonium ensued. Mares yelped and stallions fainted as the buglike rock creatures ran rampant, tipping over tables and attempting to steal food from the caterers. "Things were going so well. At least it can't get worse than..." Mayor Cranberry Loss tried to run away only to trip and get tangled in the stage apron, causing it to become unhooked and start sailing into the air from the large number of balloons that were tied to it. "Halp! Haaaalllpp!!!" Brisk Iron facehoofed. "I'm old enough to know better than to say that."

"I assume we have you to thank for the weather? Thanks!"

Misty blushes a little. "Yeah, I was on cloudbusting duty for this area today. I'm just glad that everything went fine and nothing messed up the...''

"Look out, they're cucarockas!" Pandemonium ensued. Mares yelped and stallions fainted as the buglike rock creatures ran rampant, tipping over tables and attempting to steal food from the caterers.

"...the...''

Mayor Cranberry Loss tried to run away only to trip and get tangled in the stage apron, causing it to become unhooked and start sailing into the air from the large number of balloons that were tied to it. "Halp! Haaaalllpp!!!"

"...um... oh dear.''

CoffeeHorse · May 11, 2022

Static facehoofed. "One day. Just one...bloody...day!" He snorted in anger as he faced to challenge the newcomers. "Hey, rockheads! We're kinda having a town pow wow here...and nopony invited you!"

"Maple, I think we should probably help the Mayor out... if you can untangle his hooves, I'll hold on to him and make sure he doesn't fall, then we can get him to safety."

She takes off into the sky after the airborne Mayor.

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"okay, that sounds ... okay." Maple joins Misty in the air.

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Rhapsody rolls her eyes a bit. "Let me guess Second Ivory and Third Ivory had to take a collective potty break?" She asks with a slight huff. Either those were the most uninspired code-names ever or their parents just really didn't want to bother naming four fillies. Regardless, she was more then ready to get on with things.

"I'll have youse know dey have lots of important..." Fourth Ivory very calmly covered First Ivory's mouth. "Well, it's been fun but I'm sure all of youse have just as much work as we do. Maybe we'll see each other again in the future."

Misty Monsoon kept tight hold of the mayor but Maplejack started to become tangled in the stage apron too. Meanwhile, most of the cucarockas turned their attention to Static Signal and started to crawl towards him.

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The thrill of battle is upon Static. After the crap and humiliation he had to endure during the expedition to Nightmare Heights, he was actually looking forward to something more straightforward.

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Misty keeps a tight grip on the Mayor. "Hang on, Mayor, we'll have your hooves back on solid ground in just a moment!" Then she notices Maplejack struggling and getting tangled up as well. "Um... Maple? Are you alright?"

"I seem to me merf merf merrdu HURUMPH!" Maple attempted to tell Miss Monsoon that she was fine.. but clearly wasn't as the tangles began to cover her mouth.

"Please get me down! They can't vote for me up here!" Mayor Cranberry Loss was in a panic but thankfully not thrashing about. The cucarocka that Static Signal struck shoveled a pile of dirt at him. The others curled up into balls and rolled into Static Signal from multiple directions.

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After leaving the hotel room and walking a decent distance away, Savant Sard sighed with relief. "If I wasn't already quivering in my monocle from the wonderful sight of this artifact, I'm sure I'd have been more shaken up. The tension in there was thick enough to spread on toast."

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Static steps back from the Cucarocka. He reflexively grabs at one of the wounds he received, unintentionally making it worse. Now he was angry. If they thought that was going to dissuade him, they were in for a rude awakening.

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Maple struggles slightly and slips free of the bindings... looking up after landing on the ground she wasn't sure what she did to get so wrapped up momentarily.

"Can you handle this Misty?" Maple asks as she kinda hops on her back legs wanting to help both of her friends.

"Um... I can try?"

Misty starts to turn herself, and the mayor, until she could see the bit of cloth that the Mayor's leg had gotten fouled up in. Then she stretches her neck... streeeetches... streeeeeeetches... and grabs onto the fabric with her teeth. "Shorry, Mayor, thish ish gonna be a riddle awkward," she explains before tugging on the cloth to see if it would disentangle the Mayor's leg. If that didn't work, she was prepared to try gnawing right through it.

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Light Fantastic stretched a bit.

"I could go for some coffee," she said.

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Maple enters the fray, landing next to Static Signal after swooping in from the air. Holding out a leg for a Hoof Bump Maple Looks to the Earth pony and smiles.

"We've got this Mr. Static! These guys are much bigger than those wasps were... much easier to pound on."

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CoffeeHorse · May 16, 2022

"Coffee sounds good. Lead the way!" After a brisk walk on a beautifully sunny day, Sliky Double-Time and Light Fantastic arrived at the coffee shop. However, there were murmurs of discontent in the air as numerous ponies were crowded around the counter. There was the sound of panicked shuffling and then the shattering of what was presumably a coffee mug.

Misty Monsoon managed to untangle Mayor Cranberry Loss, causing the balloons and stage apron to sail off into the sky. Meanwhile, the cucarockas con! tinued their assault. Half of those that were focused on Static Signal split off to focus on Maplejack. Brisk Iron helped direct ponies to safety amidst the chaos.

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Misty flutters down towards the ground, carefully setting the Mayor down where Brisk Iron was. "Hiya, Chief Director! Could you, um, make sure the Mayor stays safe? I gotta go help my friends!"

Not wanting to waste a second, she charges off in the direction of the conflict.

Static hoof bumps Maple as she enters the fray. "Let's show these rock heads what ponies are made of."

He glares at the Cukarocka that's been draining his energy "You...buddy...are beginning to make me angry. You do not want to see me angry!"

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tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-click

Amber winced as if Snowy had physically pinned her against the offending wall, then shook out her mane and composed herself, trying impossibly to look down on the much taller stallion.

whir tick-tick-tick whir tick-tick, whir tick-tick-tick whir tick-tick

Well Mr. Skies,
quite candidly,
respectfully, I think that's quite enough for me.
A concierge,
a paper mule,
I think you're all intent on making me a fool.

Amber kicked one of Snowy's symbol projections sharply aside, bursting it into a sparkling cloud against the wall. "Unh!" She looked at him, half-scowling but somehow expectant at the same time.

Snowy was, on some level, aware of the music that was wrapping around them. He instinctively knew that the two of them were hearing the same melody. There was a calming sensation to all of it. As one symbol burst into sparks, the rest of them followed, weaving together to encase the pair in a silvery orb. He smiles, his face more gentle than Amber had ever seen.

It's not a trick,
you have to look.
Don't use the cover when you have to judge a book.
Just look around,
Step out the door,
Your world is so much bigger than it was before.

The orb expanded, letting some of the room back in, and colored projections began floating around on its inner surface. Some Amber recognized, like the imperious form of Barometz. Others were less familiar, such as the ghostly form of an icy stallion and a cocoon that seemed to be made of music, encasing a whole pony.

Amber couldn't help feeling pleasantly disoriented in the shell of drifting images. It was just another illusion, she told herself. They always seemed to catch her off guard.

If not a trick
Then what indeed
I used to know what they all wanted me to be

Amber scowled at the image of Barometz drifting past her vision.

They'd say piaffe
I'd keep to form
Now I just don't know what act I'm to perform.

Amber craned her head to one side, then to the other, as she watched the image of the stallion in his musical shell as it passed behind Mr. Skies.

The pony was inscrutable. It's teeth were clenched in pain, but it also had a glow of happiness and surety about it.

Snowy nods, sympathetic.

New, and a bit alarming,
You never thought that this could be.
Don't let it be disarming,
But you'll handle it well, that I simply guarantee.

You have your books,
You have your horn,
Though the world is is strange you needn't be forlorn
Just keep your wits,
swallow your scorn,
It's all no stranger than it was when you were born.

CoffeeHorse · May 16, 2022

Maple notes that half of the attacking bugs have focused on her... which may turn out to be their big mistake, as it forces Static and Maple to 'circle the wagons' Now back to back, Maple clearly sees that Miss Monsoon has successfully saved the Mayor and is also coming to help. and she's at the bug's backs. Maple takes the hits... but stands her ground.

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Attempting to Keep the enemy's focus away from Miss Monsoon... Maple tries to draw even more attention to herself and Mr. Static, by using a technique often employed by her favorite wrestlers before big matches.

Walking toward the bugs -a wide grin on her face, Maple is all bravado
"I'm sorry? was that your best... HAHAHAhahahHAHAHHA?" Maple takes a hoof and dusts of a shoulder
"Pathetic... *tisk tisk*... Maple stands on her back legs, (admittedly not gaining much height but it frees up her forehoves for dramatic flailing)
Sweeping them wide she continues to laugh, "I'm the Smallest pony you're ever going to see and I hardly felt that, and you geniuses picked today to start something... oooh not nice for you, see My Friend Static is here today, and you've already made him angry. Sadly He'll make it quick for your friends, you lot that chose to come after me, see I'm not nearly as strong as a Stallion like Static... so you and I will be fighting long after he's done with your friends, and Brother let me tell you I'll make sure you can see exactly what he does to them... because Me and yous ... Maple motions with a her wing tips pointing between herself and the bugs making sure their buggy eyes are following her... We're just killing time until he's ready for you."

Maple's grin goes wider yet, sometimes a smile is just a way to bare your teeth... and this was downright sinister.

Speeding towards the cucarockas, Misty makes a split-second plan of attack. She ducks her head down and tucks in all of her limbs, turning her approach into a spinning somersault. Risky, for sure, but she intends to make an impact on these creatures... literally.

"YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

She slams right into a cucarocka's thorax, ricocheting off and hitting another cuckarocka before bouncing up into the air and landing on her hooves next to her two companions.

"Alright, let's STOMP these bugs!"

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Static Signal's attack seemed to graze of the cucarocka's back harmlessly. However, Misty Monsoon walloped one of the others, causing it to curl into a ball and roll off. Her final attack seemed to bounce off the last cucarocka harmlessly. Several redirected their attention and started shoveling dirt at Misty Monsoon, though one continued to harrass Maplejack while another rapidly dug underground.

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Static was focused on Cucarocka 1, since it was the source of his weakness before. But then he saw that it and several of the others were basically doing what amounts to throwing sand in the eyes. Irritating sure, but it looked like Maple was about to get hurt. That he wasn't going to allow.

He ran interference, taking the hit meant for Maple. His anger was now directed at Cucarocka 5.

"Oooooooh. You just made the last mistake of your life. You want to take your pot shots at me, that's fine. I can play all day. But you do not...DO...NOT...ATTACK MY FRIENDS!!!!"

Static rears up on his hind hooves and brings his front hooves crashing down on Cucarocka 5.

After it was dealt with, he turned his anger back at Cucarocka 1, because boy oh boybdid he ever want that one gone!

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After leaving the hotel room and walking a decent distance away, Savant Sard sighed with relief. "If I wasn't already quivering in my monocle from the wonderful sight of this artifact, I'm sure I'd have been more shaken up. The tension in there was thick enough to spread on toast."

"I still feel like there is something off about this whole thing..." Rhapsody replies, knowing that thing 2 and thing 3 are out there somewhere doing something that one and four didn't want anyone to know about.

CoffeeHorse · May 16, 2022

Amber nodded, her guard disintegrating, but then she grasped at Snowy's hoof and pulled him to peek out from the shell of images, pointing at Ready Quill and gesturing toward the other document clerks in the room with a quizzical look.

But look at them,
What they don't know,
Celestia's light, it's for the best what we can't show.
You fight the fates
And wax the floors
It all seems so much stranger than it did before.

Suddenly self-conscious to be pointing at ponies, Amber waved with a sheepish smile at Ready Quill and darted back inside the bubble. She turned from Snowy, embarrassed, her voice dropping slightly, but with a hint of a smile, starting in a hesitant drawl as if not ready to let each word free.

The-ere's something quite enticing
In a world behaving quite-so un-pre-dic-tab-ly!
The-ere's no apologizing
If I'm satisficing to the best that I can see!

Snowy frowns, ever so slightly, and the images in the orb take on a darker tone. The icy stallion melted away into an iced forest, leaves, birds and beasts all trapped in their chilled shell.

Know, that it's not all rosy.
Look at Night Cap and you'll clearly see.
You've seen that it's not cozy,
It's not something everypony is ready to be

Some of the darker images fade away, replaced by beautiful shimmering cave walls and beautiful (visible) music floating from hundreds of instruments.

But this you know,
You've seen it all.
The good the bad and everything between it all.
And so it's time,
for you to choose.
Now will you cling to all these things that you could lose?

Amber turned to face Snowy, seeming to give the floor below him a determined glare. She nodded as the globe shifted from the winter tartaruscape to the shimmering and songful cave.

I think I see,
Reluctantly,
This paradigm's disadvantageous synergies.
Yet I think true
Just as you've sworn
The world's no stranger than it was when I was born.

Amber nodded her head once more with a small snort. Hesitantly, testing the weight of the words as she spoke, she repeated.

The world's no stranger than it was when I was born.

Maple doesn't like Mr Signal taking hits for her... so she reaches into her hair.

Spoiler

..she pulls out a med pack and applies it quickly to Static's wounds while the bugs scurry about

"Ah! Hey! That's playing dirty!" Misty protests as she is showered with soil. She thrashes about wildly, trying to shake off the earthy assault, but to no avail. She was going to get them for this!

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The world's no stranger than it was when I was born.

As the last line was sung, the silver sphere shattered, the pieces fading away as they fell to the floor. Snowy looked around, gradually getting used to feeling like he was on solid ground once more. He felt...great. If he tried to put his finger on it, he felt like he was a part of something big, something important. Still smiling, he peers at Amber. "That's good to hear."

CoffeeHorse · May 16, 2022

Ready Quill arched an eyebrow while he sorted some papers with his magic. "This-is-nice-and-all-but-I'm-sure-we-all-have-work-to-do. Don't-worry-I'll-let-Night-Cap-know-to-look-for-you-when-he-gets-back."

Static Signal's powerful attack left a crack in the cucarocka's rocky hide as it collapsed to the ground. Upon hearing the sound from this, all of them turned their attention to him and one of the others crawled over to join the assault. In the midst of all this, the cucarocka that had burrowed suddenly leaped out in a wave of rock and debris.

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Savant Sard commented. "The way I see it, we have two options. Either we give them the benefit of the doubt instead of jumping to conclusions or we rest assured in the knowledge that this city has a superhero. If they're here for trouble, I doubt they'd be prepared for that since their city doesn't have one."

Maple takes a knee after that hit.

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Static smiles darkly as the cucarocka's gang up on him...and he feels nothing. He calmly and evenly tells them that "You guys seriouslly messed with the wrong ponies!" He sets his glare on cucarocka 1. "It's way past time for you to not be here any more."

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Misty gets blasted by even more dirt and debris, but as the dust settles, she can be seen with her tail darting back and forth, still lively as ever.

"Here I coooooome!" she calls as she leaps into the air, pouncing on the cucarockas. The still-dirty pony creates a dust cloud that obscures her battle with the rock insects, though some... interesting sound effects can be heard.

POW!

THUD!

NOOGIE!

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Light Fantastic sighed as the drama unfolding in front of her.

'Some times I wonder why I even bother getting out of bed,' she thought.

"Let's see what's going on." Silky Double-Time and Light Fantastic stepped closer to the counter. From what they could see around the crowd, the cafe was severely understaffed today. A single mare was running back and for attempting to do everything and seemed on the verge of tears. "Be with you in a minute!"

The cucarockas seemed taken aback by Static Signal's resistance. Suddenly, all of their antennae waggled in the air as they stopped in place. Shoveling more dirt at Static Signal, Maplejack, and! Misty Monsoon, they then darted back towards the trees.

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at this point there is a very large mound of dirt (from Maple's perspective) between her and the enemy... they did try and ruin Mr. Static's presentation ... no that wasn't nice, that needed to be settled.

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Static frowns as the Cucarocka's turn tail and run. "Woah! Hey! You think you can just come into our town, trash everything and just run away like that? Get back here!

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Static tackles cucarocka 2. "I already told you, you messed with the wrong ponies. You ain't just cuttin' and runnin' as easy as that!"

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"Come baaaaack! We're not done yet!"

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Misty gives chase and leaps on the back of one of the cucarockas, grabbing and tugging on its antennae.

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Maple cartwheels hoof over hoof and gets directly in front of Cucarocka 3

"okay so your face might not actually smell like a smelly rump.. but it sure is ugly"

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CoffeeHorse · May 16, 2022

The world's no stranger than it was when I was born.

Click to expand...

As the last line was sung, the silver sphere shattered, the pieces fading away as they fell to the floor. Snowy looked around, gradually getting used to feeling like he was on solid ground once more. He felt...great. If he tried to put his hoof on it, he felt like he was a part of something big, something important. Still smiling, he peers at Amber. "That's good to hear."

Amber nodded with a slightly worried smile. "Thank you, Mr. Skies," she said. "You make a very convincing case."

"Should we wait for Mr. Cap here, or do you have any other ideas for how to try to open the box?"

Snowy looks around. "I can't think of anything feasible in our time frame, but since my projections dissipated I think we may want to dip back into your office and grab the chest."

Amber frowned slightly, suddenly remembering having so rudely dispelled one of Snowy's projections herself. She shook her head; the last few minutes had been very unexpected. Like the crystal wall in the caves, they'd transported her somewhere else with little warning, and unlike the wall, they hadn't brought her quite back where she'd begun.

"Hmm, yes. And while we're at it, we could retrieve the other from acquisitions as well."

Light Fantastic felt a lot of sympathy for the poor mare.

"Take your time," she said, "We're not in any rush."

Savant Sard commented. "The way I see it, we have two options. Either we give them the benefit of the doubt instead of jumping to conclusions or we rest assured in the knowledge that this city has a superhero. If they're here for trouble, I doubt they'd be prepared for that since their city doesn't have one."

Night Cap... doesn't give a bubbly defense of the strange ponies.

"Can't say I'm the 'rest assured' type. I got their names and a possible location they might be tomorrow. Rhapsody, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"

Rhapsody looks to Sard. "So you think our options should be either we 'let it go' because its none of our business or we 'let it go' because its someone else's business? That is an incredibly finite way of looking at things." She says with a huff and looks to Night Cap, of course he wants to stop these mobsters, after-all COIN can't have another criminal organization muscling in on their turf, but regardless it almost agasts her that she more agrees with him. "I'm not really the spying sort Night Cap. I do feel that Black Night should be informed of their presence, either way I do feel that it is our duty as moral, up-right citizens to at least inform the proper channels of our suspicions rather then just ignoring it and hoping others will deal with it. IF we are wrong, then we are wrong and they get watched for no good reason; however if we are right then someone will actually be able to do something about it, and think of the publicity 'Museum workers help prevent disaster!'"

As the mare behind the counter continued trying to fulfill orders, Silky Double-Time asked Light Fantastic, "Do you think there's anything we could do to help?"

Reaching the trees, things were...quiet. Suddenly, one of the cucarockas turned and leaped onto Static Signal's back, pulling his mane with its jaws. The cucarocka Maplejack insulted threw more dirt in her face while the one Misty Monsoon was wrestling with tried to roll on the ground to get her off, to no avail. Several other cucarockas rushed past them.

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Savant Sard responded to Rhapsody with, "I'm more about doing the right thing than gaining notoriety. However, that's a sound idea about going to the proper authorities. I'm not well versed in all this and simply stated what first came to mind."

CoffeeHorse · May 16, 2022

Maple waves her legs in the flying dirt... keeping much of it out of her mouth.

"okay so your face might not actually smell like a smelly rump.. but it sure is ugly"

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Maple Hoofs the bug in both eyes.

Static rears up and backs the cucarocka into the nearest tree. "Get...OFF!" He turns to face the cucarocka. "You know, I was going to focus on the other one. But if you're reeeeally so stupid as to want my attention..." Static rears up and hits the cucarocka again and again and again!

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Amber frowned slightly, suddenly remembering having so rudely dispelled one of Snowy's projections herself. She shook her head; the last few minutes had been very unexpected. Like the crystal wall in the caves, they'd transported her somewhere else with little warning, and unlike the wall, they hadn't brought her quite back where she'd begun.

"Hmm, yes. And while we're at it, we could retrieve the other from acquisitions as well."

"Seems wise." Snowy turns to walk back down the hall, not bothering to say goodbye to Ready Quill. He figured the fast-talking stallion wanted them out of his office more than anything by now.

"Yee-haw!"

Misty plays rough with her new "friend."

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Static Signal, Maplejack, and Misty Monsoon each struck down their attackers. Just what will they do from here?

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Static follows the cucaroka's that passed by during the fight, not to catch up for another round of fighting, but to see where they go so he can report back their location.

He doesn't want to push his luck with continued fighting. But these cucarocka's came looking for trouble. If they were going back to rally forces, he wanted to be able to warn the rest of the city. He starts to give chase.

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Amber gave one last sheepish look to Ready Quill and turned to follow Snowy Skies to the acquisitions office. She found herself looking at Mr. Skies with a new respect as she tried to decide how best to ask what she wanted to ask him.

"So all of this ... fighting monsters, grappling with forces unknown to modern magic," she began, hesitantly. "I should take it this has been an ... area of interest for you for quite some time?"

Snowy snorts. "Not by choice." He says darkly.

CoffeeHorse · May 16, 2022

Misty also gives chase. While she was definitely still up for some more roughhousing with the rock insects, she was also curious where they were now fleeing to. If they were returning to where they came from, it might be good to know how they got here in the first place, so something could be done to prevent further incursions.

The other cucarockas had gotten a head start by fleeing while she was still fighting their comrade, but her exceptional eyesight was able to keep track of them even from a distance. She looks ahead while running, not only keeping an eye on the runaway roaches, but also looking even further into the distance to see where or what they might be headed for.

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Maple watches as her friends keep track of the fleeing bugs along the ground. Quickly (for Maple while injured) she heads up... at cloud level Maple is out of sight of ally and enemy alike ... after all, just because Mr. Static knew about her weird Magic and seemed to be okay with it... she hadn't told Miss monsoon yet.

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Maple's eyes fall on the leader of the retreat ...what was going on?

Amber waited several seconds for Snowy to continue, nodding encouragingly in no particular rhythm or order. "Yes, well, I should suppose," she said, finally. "But I do have some catching up to do, Mr. Skies. Where in the world did you encounter such things before the last week or so?"

Snowy was not going to tell Amber about the feud between the Violas and the Flutes. He knew that if the story died with him, then he had done his job well. He would have successfully killed the truth, just once. But this was not an easy question to worm his way out of. For once, he trusted his gut. He drops a cone of silence around them and says "I never want to have to relive that again," very flatly. He brightens slightly as an idea comes into form. "What's not so bad to talk about is that everything actually caught up to me shortly before I was hired by the Keep. I thought I was dead, but Night Cap saved my life. Then the next time I see him, I almost run him! over chasing after those COIN assailants! It was quite a shock."

"Night Cap saved your life? How?" Amber asked. She reminded herself of the encounters with Barometz and with Desert Rose and stopped short of describing him to assure one last time that they'd been discussing the same pony.

"I don't know," said Light Fantastic. "Excuse me, ma'am, is there anything we can do to help?"

"Well I am the spying soooo I mean, you know what I mean. I really don't know the authorities here, and my first meeting with this Black Night character didn't go very well. Outside the Keep I really don't know who I can trust around here."

"Which, you have to admit, you made yourself look bad: Arguing with a security officer (even if it was later revealed he was corrupt), being known by two COIN agents, fleeing from her and an officer when the COIN agent gave you an opening? Whatever reasons you had for that, you surely can't honestly deny that it makes you look suspicious?" Rhapsody asks, her tone calm and neutral not accusing Night Cap of anything just presenting facts.

Savant Sard responded to Rhapsody with, "I'm more about doing the right thing than gaining notoriety. However, that's a sound idea about going to the proper authorities. I'm not well versed in all this and simply stated what first came to mind."

"I don't mean it to sound like I am out for notoriety, just that if we did help that could get the Keep itself good publicity because we are employees." Rhapsody replies with a soft huff and then whispers to the pair them "Okay, how about this? You two head to the Police and inform them; I'll got see about getting a hold of Black Night. As I told Amber, I am part of BN's informant network, and she prefers those meetings to be solo. While I'm talking with her, I'll let BN know you might not be a bad guy, Night Cap. So don't try to follow me, last thing we need is you making yourself worse because you want to plead your case to her or something and her thinking you are stalking me or coercing me into a meeting with her." She wasn't sure if Night Cap would try or not, but she wanted to cover that base in-case he did want to try and 'clear things up' with her alter-ego. "We can meet up back in front of the Museum when done."

"Night Cap saved your life? How?" Amber asked. She reminded herself of the encounters with Barometz and with Desert Rose and stopped short of describing him to assure one last time that they'd been discussing the same pony.

"It helped that we were dreaming." Snowy was quite thankful he hadn't made too much of a fool of himself expecting Night Cap to break reality in the waking world. "My...cognition of dreams after I wake up is awfully patchy, but I distinctly remember a few things about that night: I was being attacked by..." He knew just what, but he wasn't about to say it. "...something, and Night Cap walks through the front door. Neither of us have any idea how he got there, but he took one look at the situation and blew up the...whatever it was. And he kept doing that until I woke up." He considers his description for a moment, uncertain of how much more he should reveal. "Zig Zag was there too, for some reason. That was how I knew she was a dreamwalker."

CoffeeHorse · May 18, 2022

"You mean that you were in danger in your dream?" Amber shook her head. "I mean, of course you were in danger in your dream, but you were also in danger because ...." Amber stopped midtrot and adjusted her glasses. "I'm suddenly reminded of discussions I've had regarding time travel spells."

The mare behind the counter said, "I guess if somepony could help with the more basic coffee orders?" "I can do that."

Maplejack flew through the air with the greatest of ease, soaring high above looking down at the trees. However, the foliage made it quite difficult for her to get a good view of everything going on below. She was able to spot Misty Monsoon, though Static Signal was doing an excellent job at keeping out of sight. Misty Monsoon gazed far ahead and spotted what looked like an earth pony stallion playing a harmonica, though no sound was heard.

"We still have to return the Amethyst Astrolabe to the Keep but...I guess a detour won't hurt. We can study this later. Once we get back, I'll drop it off in the Astronomy Department."

While walking through the hall, Snowy Skies and Amber Spark saw Steel Flint. "Good morning. Hoping today has been productive so far."

"It's very simple. Tell them your from the Keep, and you had a meeting with a pair of delegates from...whatever their town was called... and comment about how they came across as if they were hiding something, like how they didn't want to be caught on film, and what the other two members of their quartet were up to. If something happens today or tomorrow, they'll have knowledge of the four as potential suspects. Give them descriptions of them, and let them know that they may be at the pancake place tomorrow; which again if something does happen and they are suspects, it gives them a location of where to find them if needed! . There is no 'story to keep straight' if you just tell the truth." Part of her fears she might regret that advice to Night Cap later, but surely even he can't mess up such a simple task... not when someone actually competent is with him...

it took Maple a moment to add things up... somehow she'd lost track of Mr. Static... but there was Miss Monsoon... right there on the grass...next to the leaves,,,

"Leaves don't grow on the ground..." she mumbled to no pone but herself... and then her depth perception let her know what was wrong... the world was way to far away.

Oh no! A pony in danger! Misty puts some serious hustle in her hooves, hoping to alert the stallion before he was trampled by the onrushing cucarockas. As she gets closer, she calls out to warn him. "Hey! Watch out! There's a bunch of big mean bugs headed your way!"

Spoiler

"Considering I am part of BN's network, I should be experienced in such by now." Rhapsody states. "If you wait till something illegal happens to report shifty characters, then its already too late. There is never any harm in be alert to the possibility some ponies might be corrupt and looking to do harm to our city. If nothing happens, they'll likely never know, and if it does then somepony can be ready for it and try to prevent it."

Static jerked his head as Misty called out. A stallion, out here? He then looked to where she was looking. He thought about revealing himself and calling out, but decided to stay hidden.

Something wasn't right about this stallion. Why was he out here? Surely the Cucarocka's had passed right by him, and he didn't seem too concerned. That and the fact that no music was coming from his harmonica...

Spoiler

Snowy snorts again. "I don't think I've ever heard of functional time travel before." The explanation of how he knew he was going to die was easy: He was being stalked by all his past evils, which wanted to consume him completely. But he wasn't about to say that. "Within the dream, there was a certain certainty. I knew I was in a dream, and I knew that death would be final. So regardless of the logical loops we might find ourselves in, in that particular case the statement was true."

As Steel Flint approached, Snowy tilted his head in his oft-used gesture of 'Well...' "Productive in some ways, but not in others. We need Night Cap's input on something, but he's off the grounds."

CoffeeHorse · May 18, 2022

The stallion seemed startled when he heard Misty Monsoon and started running. Static Signal noticed there were six cucarockas and the stallion in the area. However, they weren't attacking and instead seemed to be running in the same direction as the stallion.

Steel Flint responded with, "Ah. Well, hopefully he'll be back soon. I guess since the two of you are here, would you be interested in joining the Keep's brand new bowling league? I meant to ask Amber! earlier and didn't know if Dusty had gotten around to asking you yet, Snowy."

From out of the trees, "Static" jumps out between the cucarockas and the stallion. "Misty, you can fly. Get the civilian out of here! And try and find Maple. I may need some healin' soon." "Static" grins dangerously at the cucarockas. "Now...where were we?"

Not far away, the real static looked the situation over, judging how fooled the cucarockas were by his illusion and trying to best judge when to reveal himself.

Spoiler

Amber didn't have time to respond to Snowy's explanation but nodded to him quickly as he addressed Ms. Flint. "Yes, Mr. Cap seemed familiar with an unusual chamber we encountered in the caves, and there are unexpectedly matching symbols among the chamber, the combination lockboxes we found there, and, quite unexpectedly, those unidentified machine tiles you assigned me to study," Amber said. "Bowling - hmm," said Amber, thinking back to the conversation about Ms. Naught and pi. "It sounds a bit intimidating, ma'am. Are we allowed to use scratch paper?"

Steel Flint chuckled. "Of course you're allowed to use scratch paper. I'll certainly be bringing my own and I'm sure Hazel will be using some when she gets back."

Snowy purses his lips and raises his eyebrow at Amber's question, but at Steel Flint's response the eyebrow returns to it's normal position and his expression takes on an air of wretched acceptance. "I hadn't seen Dusty today. I'm not certain that I've ever bowled before--" Especially not how you're describing it "But I'd be happy to attend."

The stallion had heard her warning and was fleeing from the cucarockas, but it looked like... oh no, they were chasing right after him! This was terrible!

Hearing Static's suggestion, she nods. "Right!" She leaps into the air and spreads her wings. She had to give this everything she had. There was no telling what those cucarockas would do with that poor stallion if they caught him. She had to get to him first!

Spoiler

Smoother than butter on a warm griddle, Misty Monsoon swooped in and scooped the stallion up. He futilely tried to struggle but to no avail. Meanwhile, the cucarockas waved their antennae at the illusion of Static Signal in confusion.

Static had to think fast. Was it better to strike now while the cucarockas were confused or wait for Maple to back him up?

He decided to hang back. The cucarockas wouldn't be confused for long once he revealed himself. They'd know who was attacking them and he would be way too outnumbered. Better to wait as long as he could. As long as they weren't making their way back to the town, they weren't harming anyone.

He just hoped it wouldn't take Maple long to find them.

As Maple's wings buffered the wind she rushed lower and lower out of the sky...

Spoiler

...She finally caught sight of BOTH Mr. Statics once she was under the tree line....

The real Static waves her over to him...hopefully before the cukarocka's have a chance to see her.

Maple sees one of the Statics waving while the other is about to be beat up by the bugs some more...

Mr. Static had been taking a lot of punishment for her sake before, maybe he'd had time to set up an illusion of himself in a safe spot for her to go and hide in? Maple wondered as she looked around for Miss Monsoon... who apparently she'd managed to loose sight of while crossing the leaf line...

Not sure which Mr. Static was real, Maple decided not to go running toward either, instead keeping low (which wasn't hard) Maple crawled a few meters closer...

Spoiler

Misty pulls upwards, flapping her wings as she rises above the treetops. "Sorry about that. I was afraid those bugs were going to catch up to you, and I didn't want you getting hurt. Are you okay?"

CoffeeHorse · May 18, 2022

Maplejack could tell that the cucarockas had lost purpose. They were milling about aimlessly as if they were awaiting some sort of instruction but were otherwise curious about the illusion of Static Signal that stood before them. Meanwhile, the stallion being held in Misty Monsoon's hooves asked, "Could you please put me down now?"

Steel Flint nodded. "Excellent. It looks like most departments will be participating. The bowling league won't be officially s! tarting up until about a week but tonight a few employees will be practicing tonight, in case you're interested."

Static wondered why Maple didn't come over to where he was hiding, but she seemed to be doing well enough hiding on her own, so he didn't press the issue.

He did wonder why the cucarockas hadn't attacked the illusion. Neither had they dispersed. I was a curiosity he thought maybe his illusion should share.

Fake Static straightened out of his aggressive fighting stance. "You haven't attacked me. You outnumber me six to one but you haven't attacked? Do...do you understand my words?"

Maple walked over to the bugs... giving up entirely on stealth.

"It's okay for now Misters Staticses ... let me try something." Maple whispered to both of them

Reaching into her bag Maple put down enough candies for each to have one... today's batch were a new crumbly fudge type miss Sweet was working on... so they were mostly brown sugar...

not waiting to see if her peace offering was accepted Maple moved to the hidden Mr. Static ... she was close enough now to the other one that she knew it wasn't the real one.

"It'll take a while to heal this much damage Mr. Static, you really don't need to get hurt so badly on my account ...can you keep an eye on them just in case whatever set them off happens again... they're feeling lost right now. Like something else was giving them purpose."

Maple pops the med pack back out of her hair, and shares it evenly with Mr. Static .. leaving enough to hopefully help Miss Monsoon when she gets back.

"Where did Miss Monsoon go?" Maple asks when she realizes Static might know

"Oh, um, you're not comfortable with flying, are you? Well, that's alright. One of my friends is the same way." Speaking of Static, where was he? She looks around between the trees for his distinctive yellow coat.

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"Don't worry, I'll get you back on the ground in just a moment, once I'm sure it's safe." She looks down at the stallion and gives him a reassuring smile.

Spoiler

Static gets out of his hiding place. He considers dismissing his illusion, but if the cucarockas were already feeling lost and they found something to focus on with his illusion...better that he leave it going for the time being.

"There was an innocent bystander that the cucarocka's were gathering around. Misty took him to somewhere...safe."

Static looked suspiciously at the gathered cuckarockas. "Something was giving them purpose you say? Giving them purpose...or brainwashing them...

Static started to replay the scene in his head.

Zamuel:
The stallion seemed startled when he heard Misty Monsoon and started running.

"He wasn't afraid of the cucarocka's. He was afraid of us."

However, they weren't attacking and instead seemed to be running in the same direction as the stallion.

"They weren't even attacking him! Ponyfeathers! He was control...blast!

Static gets out his Morse Code and starts tapping away.

GET WORD TO BRISK IRON. CUCAROCKAS WEREN'T ACTING UNDER OWN POWER. THEY WERE BRAINWASHED. SUSPECT PONY WE FOUND AND ORIGINALLY THOUGHT INNOCENT BYSTANDER. EARTH PONY STALLION WITH HARMONICA BEING BROUGHT IN BY MISTY MONSOON. DETAIN FOR QUESTIONING.

[IC] Equestrian Radio Show's Adventure Variety Hour: Explorers of STOMP

Exhausted, but still standing.

Exhausted, but still standing.

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Exhausted, but still standing.

Exhausted, but still standing.

Exhausted, but still standing.

Exhausted, but still standing.

Exhausted, but still standing.

Exhausted, but still standing.

Exhausted, but still standing.