HORSETRON: Defender of Equestria

She plucks a flower and tucks it behind Ancient Record's ear.  "It all depends on the question but it never hurts to ask."

Diamond Dust wandered over to the map, taking a look at it. "I wonder if there was any reason they were in these caves. Other than trying not to be caught, of course.

ooc:

It seemed to be a map of Equestria. However, there were a few lines on it stemming from places on the outskirts of several towns.

Spark Rose was briefly struck silent. "So...what will you do now?"

"Probably check with the Princess to see if a shipment from Manehattan has been delivered here." Ancient double-checks his belongings, readying to leave. "Thank you for your time and your beautiful flower. Farewell, Ms. Rose." Ancient gives another bow before walking away.

Terra pauses for a moment before answering. "To be frank with you even I do not fully know what purpose they truly serve I have the suspicions that they hold some purpose in uncovering some lost power or artifact at this point. Although so many too many events seemingly coincidental have been happening one after an other for it to be any so simple..."

Risk Burst snorted in disapproval.  "You don't know?  One of the best guards lies injured over rumors and speculation.  Times like this I doubt your tactics.  Later this week you'll be having frivolous tea parties with Princess Shimmer Wishes while we should be on high alert."

Most of the locations were of eastern Equestria. The most heavily marked regions were near Manehattan and Baltimare with the number "10" near the former and "4" near the latter. Sky Wolf noticed that there were exactly four figurines in the pile. In fact, one had an image of a wooden buckler shield engraved in the base--an exact match of Diamond Dust's cutie mark.

Joining the others by the map, Silver saw how heavily marked Manehattan was. "Oh, they better not be messing up my hometown." Silver wracked his brain to see if he had heard anything on the grapevine about these crystal insurgents last time he was there.

OOC:

While Silver Night had not heard anything about the Decadent Defectors before working with the guard, word on the street was a few rumors about crystal ponies showing an interest in the black market, particularly in obscure antiques and archaeological finds.

"Hey, uh, Guard guy. Steel Lance, wasn't it? What do you know about the crystal ponies movements in Manehattan? Because, from what I remember, word on the street said a group of crystal ponies were on the Manehattan black market, looking for obscure artifacts and archaeological stuff. Now, they're not the first group to look for odd things in the shady parts of town, so I didn't think much of it at the time. But after all this, I gotta know why, because whatever it it, I doubt it's good."

Diamond Dust took a closer look at the figurines. "What do think is so special about them? They're just worth a lot of bits? Or are they magic?

ooc:

"I haven't heard about any crystal ponies involved but the black market in the Manehattan region has been moving recently.  There was also some sort of recent find in the area that required Princess Terra's presence."

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The figurines were made of well worn, grey stone.  All were of ponies in a single static pose with an image on their base as the only variance.  As far as Sky Wolf could tell the engravings were very old.  The stone also seemed to do oddly well at catching reflecting light, as if it were marble, despite how dull the stone was.

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As Diamond Dust looked upon the figure with an engraving that matched his cutie mark, there was an abnormal stillness.  It was as if he was staring into the eye of the greatest of dragons while also looking into a mirror.  Something mysterious stirred within him and some sort of magic channeled within the fiber of his soul.  He felt stronger without making a physical action he knew there was worth to this particular figurine that money could not buy.  All this happened in less than a second yet the effect would stick with his mind.

"Whoa!! What-" Diamond Dust didn't know how to describe that. It was just-wow. He sputtere,. " They-they're definitely magical. They- Look!" Dust weakly gestured at the figurine to Silver and Lance "And- this one has my cutie mark on it."