Elements of Nature

Aside from finding a trap that spews gas that smells funny and Stardust supposes is poisonous gas, she finds nothing interesting and in fact discovers that both directions at the first fork would have taken her to the same place. It seems the only exit is through the library.

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When Kat gets to the train station, he sees a train just pulling in and unloading its passengers. As he approaches the window to buy tickets, the mare smiles and says, "One ticket left to Canterlot!"

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Bloomberg finds himself suddenly face-to-face with his father, grinning wide and with a touch of the smell of cider on his breath. "Bloomberg! Hey! You havin' fun yet?"

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Falls's birthday goes as planned, except for some creepy stallion in a cloak following you everywhere since that first bar.

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As Garland crosses the desert, she suddenly finds herself face-to-face with a strange, pink, furry creature that seems pony-like in a way, and looks like it jsut burst from the ground.

Stardust examines the book.

"Perfect! That's just where I need to go." Kat remarks, paying the necessary bits. Close enough, at least. Doubt I could get a train to a flying city anyways.

Cass, with her friends watching from just a short distance away, walks up to the stallion. Provided he doesn't immediately flee or try to assassinate her, she says, "Uh, hey. Buddy. What're you, why're you following us?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?" Bloomberg said, smiling widely and glancing at the time.

The book seems to not be an actual book, as there is a piece of metal protruding into it from underneath and it is far too heavy to actually be just paper.

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The mare happily gives Kat the last ticket, then reaches up and pulls down some shudders, and Kat can hear a loud sigh of relief from behind them. From the train he can hear somepony calling "ALL ABOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRDD!!!"

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The stallion scoots back in surprise, then... melts?

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"Just making sure, son." He pats you on the back, then trots away after some pretty mares.

Kat chuckles to himself a bit. I share the sentiment, pal. He thinks as he boards the train.

Zanzibar leaves his room and sees what his family is up to...

Stardust gets a bag and picks out several books she hasn't read yet (arcane lore, historical stuff, and just some stories) and then goes and hugs her parents goodbye/hits them up for birthday money. Then she packs two lunches and dinners for herself and the other pony who she'll be meeting up with who will probably appreciate a nice meal after a desert trip, which will hopefully buy her some points where her social graces will surely fail her. Then she leaves and acquires another slice of chocolate cake, because it is her birthday afterall. And then she heads to the train station and waits for the other pony to show up.

Cascading Falls looks worriedly over to friends to confirm that the stallion actually just melted.

Garland stares at the new pony like thing for a long while eventually poking it. "Hi there! Are you a real fluffypuffolus?"

The train is well packed, though it's early enough that it's relatively quiet. When Kat finds his seat, he finds a mare who looks almost exactly like Sky Dancer, but is a unicorn instead of a pegasus.

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When Zanzibar leaves his room, he finds his family mysteriously and inexplicably missing. In fact, the house is eerily silent, as you can't even hear your dad snoring.

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Falls's friends give her a weird look. "...Who're you talking to?"

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The pink fluffy thing blinks a few times, then suddenly its eyes turn red and it bares its fangs, jumping on Garland. (roll Initiative)

Cass looks back and forth between where the stallion melted and her friends a few times, before saying "The...the stallion who...you saw that right? He was following us? And he just...melted?"

Meta:

Zanzibar searches the house, half expecting a surprise party of some sort at any point. If he finds no one in the house, he searches around it. He's got a couple of hours before meeting the maybe real pony from earlier...

Kat makes a conscious decision to sit a good distance away from the unicorn. I do not want to interact with what I've just left behind.

"LOOKS LIKE YOU WANNA PLAY!" Garland shouts... out into the distance looking entirely the wrong way...

Roll:

After a while of partying, Bloomberg eventually states "Anyways, even though this party has been fun, I must be going, I promised someone I would meet them today. I shouldn't be back in a while though, so I hope to see you all later, Goodbye!" He says, before starting to trot happily off towards the city.

(Melting looked like an ice cube on a hot day sped up a whole bunch, puddle disappeared when you looked away) "Are you alright?" "I knew I shouldn't have let her drink that after leaving it unattended at the bar!" "You what?" "Nothing."

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As far as Zanzibar can tell, his entire family just up and vanished, though he finds an unfamiliar box in the middle of his living room. It's not wrapped or anything, it's just a grey stone box (though it is encrusted with a few precious stones).

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Kat finds only one other empty seat, and it is next to a cop he recognizes as having been after the Scarf family for as long as he has been working for the Fillydelphia Police Department.

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The pink fluffy thing immediately goes for a bite at Garland's neck, fangs bared.

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"Wait!" Bloomberg's cousin calls out. He pokes Garland's dad, who looks away from the pretty mares long enough to realize his son is leaving. He sobers up, then trots to his room to grab something, returning with a wooden box. "Take this, as a good luck charm."

Kat sighs and sits next to the Sky Dancer look-a-like. Looks like I'm going to have to deal with this.

"Thanks dad, See you soon." Bloomberg says, hugging his dad for a good few seconds before taking the box and looking inside as he trots away.

Zanzibar inspects the box, seeing if he know anything about it...

(History Check: 11 (Roll) + 10 (Skill) = 21)

Copper Rose wrote:(Melting looked like an ice cube on a hot day sped up a whole bunch, puddle disappeared when you looked away) "Are you alright?" "I knew I shouldn't have let her drink that after leaving it unattended at the bar!" "You what?" "Nothing."

Cass heaves a sigh, "Guys, it's like noon. I'm pretty sure we haven't started drinking drinking yet." She thinks for a moment, before cautiously asking, "R-right?"

In an instant Garland whips around to face the fluffy creature her own sharp teeth bared. The pony bites first aiming straight for the carotid artery. "Just who the hell do you think your messing with, Bitch?"

Rolls:

Garland smoothly dodges the pink fluffy thing's bite, and actually manages to snap its neck when she bites.

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"Well yeah." "Duh."

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The stone box is entirely unfamiliar to Zanzibar, except for the fact that it is a stone box with very pretty lid.

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When Bloomberg opens the box, he finds a carved and painted wooden cloak clasp that looks like a rose, on top of a dark blue cloth that he presumes to be a cloak. He remembers this cloak and clasp as belonging to his mother, used mostly when she was telling ponies' fortunes, but after she died Bloomberg never saw it again, until now. In fact, she was wearing this the last time he saw her alive.

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When Kat sits down, the unicorn looks up from the book she's reading. "Oh, hi there. I'm Line Tracer, what's your name?"

Copper Rose wrote:"Well yeah." "Duh."

Cascading Falls breathes a sigh of relief. "Okay. Good. But I'm fine! I'm worried about you lot though, not seeing a bucking pony melt. I realize how that sounds now that it's out of my mouth but I'm telling you! He was right over here!" She trots over to where the stallion was standing and looks around briefly for a some sign that he was here, or that he melted. "He was right here just a minute ago! Less than that! He was here, and I said 'Ey why you following us?' and he just..." She tries to duplicate the melting, pausing for a moment as a puddle before reforming to regular form.

Meta: