Dragon's Feud

Applejack nods. "Y'all get to it then, there's no time to lose." She leads you back to the front door, heading outside with you. "If y'all head back into town, you can head up the road directly, and- Oh, horsefeathers!" She looks up in the sky, eyes wide, as something hurtles toward the porch you are all standing on. "Incoming!" She yells, and she and a few other nearby ponies scatter. The rest of you barely react in time as something Grey and Yellow plummets into the porch, collapsing part of it. Once the dust settles, the culprit shakily gets to her feet. "Oh, wow, Sorry Applejack... your house got a lot closer than I thought..." The bubble-flanked mare grins sheepishly, and then turns her curious eyes onto the group. "Umm... oh! Princess Twilight says she needs some of her team back before they do anything else. Wind and Lucky?" She looks over the group, and the two with matching names step forward. "OK, good you're here. follow me!" She takes off into the air again, and flies off.... and then flies back. "It's this way!" She calls down, and continues back toward town. Boreal and Lucky shrug, and then head off after her.

Applejack gives a tired sigh. "Y'all should get on with it. If Twilight called them back for something specifically, I think she's expecting you to make do without them."

Cherry, by this point, had reached a state of fatigue and autonomous movement that could charitably be described as "zombie-like." As the group discussed Pumpkin's plan, Cherry stood there, alternating between standing statue-still and swaying in the breeze, so to speak.

Yet the arrival of the chaotic, accident-prone messenger pony seemed to have an effect. Cherry reacted, opening her eyes and straightening up. "I agree with Pumpkin's plan. With all of us, we could probably make a big enough ruckus, and display such an impressive show of force that they can only assume there's something quite valuable in our decoy wagon, hopefully allowing others to slip through."

"Luna's lacy leggings..." Pumpkin Spice mutters as she pulls herself out from the haystack that she'd leaped into for cover. "That mare!" she complains after the gray pegasus leaves.

"You know, I was supposed to get a package last week. All I got was a box with half a muffin left, and a note that said, 'I'm sorry' on it." She blows upwards, sending one of the pieces of straw stuck in her mane floating through the air. "I didn't even order muffins."

Looking back at the others, she seems a little less certain than before. "And now we're down two ponies. Leave it to Twilight..." she sighs. "At least the flowers will be safe with clowderhead somewhere else. Well, c'mon, ponies! You heard the mare. How about we split up, get whatever we need, and meet back at the edge of Ponyville next to the road in 15," she suggests.

"And hey, sleepy," she says to Cherry. "Think you could bring some of your stuff? Once we're there, we'll need to turn that wagon into a diamond dog trap. I get the feeling maybe you're the one to do it with that fancy gizmo...etry... of yours."

Lucky Shot trotted behind the pegasus mare. She didn't seem to care, or more precisely, realise that he couldn't fly as she continued to hover some feet before and above him. It was actually kind of impressive that she could fly without a care in the world if you realised she had crashed into Applejack's barn just a couple of seconds ago. But if Twilight Sparkle trusted her with the task of locating and fetching them, that would mean that she is capable, right?

Still, one does not simply ignore a request from the princess. 'So why is the princess summoning us back so soon?' Lucky moudly asked Boreal and his companion.

"Is she always like that?" Atlas glances at the departing group. Shaking his head, Atlas nods in agreement with Pumpkin Spice's assessment, but stops for a moment. "Hang on, I don't have stuff to gather." He looks around, a little confused. "I guess I'll just... grab something to eat, then."

Deciding that's perhaps the best option, he follows the road back to town, grabs a few more lasting foods, then goes to the place where they are supposed to meet, his bindle a little bit heavier.

nightlight wrote:"And hey, sleepy, think you could bring some of your stuff? Once we're there, we'll need to turn that wagon into a diamond dog trap. I get the feeling maybe you're the one to do it with that fancy gizmo...etry... of yours."

"That'll depend on what there is to work with."

A light-tan unicorn with a brown mane plods toward the group, a variety of small tools glinting in the sunlight from the pockets of her cyan coveralls and brown-leather vest.

"Brass Rivet," she says, without breaking her stride. "Artificer. Everypony calls me Chassis."

She reaches the group, and acknowledges Applejack with a quick nod.

"Without the supply wagons coming in, the engineering and construction teams don't have the tools and parts they need to build and repair the defenses. I'm switching to Twilight's volunteer team to assist in getting the supply lines back on track."

The pegasus stops herself just before she flies off, and turns to hover in place.

"Oh, hey! I didn't see you there!" She looks the other pony over, as if she's trying to figure out what she's supposed to be. "Friend of Cherry's?" she guesses. She doesn't wait long enough to really give Chassis a chance to answer before she continues.

"I'm Pumpkin Spice. Everypony's already heading out, but if Twilight sent you - or even if she didn't - we're short a few ponies now, so we could really use the help. Welcome to Team Falcade," she says, flapping lower to extend a hoof.

"Anyway, we're going to be going out of Ponyville to capture a diamond dog, and scare off a bunch more off the roads so shipments can come through again. C'mon, I'll tell you all about it on the way back to town. We're just splitting up to pick up whatever we need for the trip. Once we're all back together, I'll introduce you to everypony,"  she offers as she begins slowly flying out of the farm and back towards the main town.

nightlight wrote:The pegasus stops herself just before she flies off, and turns to hover in place.

"Oh, hey! I didn't see you there!" She looks the other pony over, as if she's trying to figure out what she's supposed to be. "Friend of Cherry's?" she guesses.[/color]

"I'm Pumpkin Spice. Everypony's already heading out, but if Twilight sent you - or even if she didn't - we're short a few ponies now, so we could use the help. Welcome to Team Falcade," she says, flapping lower to extend a hoof.

Chassis accepts the hoofshake with an eyebrow raised and a little smirk forming.

"Pleasure to meet you, Pumpkin Spice."

Her horn lights with light-blue energy, and three small packets of instant coffee slide out of her vest pockets, each one branded for Pumpkin Spice's family's coffee shop.

"Again."

I really should clean out my pockets when I get back to Ponyville...

nightlight wrote:"We're going to be doing a little travelling. And then we're going to capture a diamond dog, and scare off a bunch more so shipments can come through again. C'mon, I'll tell you all about the plan on the way,"  she says as she begins slowly flying out of the farm and back towards the main town.

"I'll have to stop by my place for some supplies. You better pick up anything you need, too. We'll all be meeting just at the edge of Ponyville, near Mane Street," she continues before starting to fill the other mare in as they head back.

Chassis tucks the coffee packets away, and follows along behind the orange pegasus with the rest of the group, patiently listening as the latter pony tells her the plan.

It takes roughly 45 minutes for the entire group to reform up at the road, having gotten whatever food or supplies they need before heading out. The road has an eerie calm to it, stretching north out of town- no movement on it at all. This means, of course, that no Diamond Dog presence can be detected, and probably won't be close to town.

As the majority of you prepare to head out, Lucky Shot approaches as well, seemingly done with whatever task he had been called back to do.

Lucky Shot:

---

Sorry about the confusion, I had you separate because I thought you were gone. Since you aren't, we'll just roll past that.

It took Chassis a few minutes to pack up her workshop and secure it. She'd broken down camp enough times that she put away the canopy that stood outside the wagon and folded the workbench back up onto the side of it in the space of about five minutes.

With everything in place, she goes in and comes out equipped with what she needed for the adventure. Not that anypony looking at her could tell; her cyan coveralls were great for hiding small wearable devices.

Satisfied that she had everything in order, she turns to look at the wagon and flashes her horn.

Chirp chirp.

A series of shutters close around the wagon's door and windows, effectively sealing it off from the outside.

That done, Chassis heads to where Pumpkin Spice said to meet up. Following close behind her as she approaches is a robotic Earth Pony three times the size of any normal pony and pulling a cross between a standard pony wagon and a small boxcar. As it approaches, the robot looks over the gathered figures, its red, glowing eyes conveying no expression at all.

"Everypony," Chassis says, "This is Mossburg. He pulls my wagon and helps me with heavy-duty physical tasks. Since we're talking about pulling a wagon back to Ponyville, I thought he might come in useful." Then she turns to face the robot and gestures to those gathered. "Mossburg, these are our friends."

The sound of Pumpkin's flapping wings announces her rapid approach from above. She hovers next to the others, panting slightly. She's now wearing saddlebags, which have been specifically designed to carry the large number of thermoses she's now carrying.

"Sorry! Sorry I'm late! Derpy came back and told me they needed me, only it turned out Clowderhead was already on it and they actually wanted me back here and..." she shakes her head, looking mildly annoyed. "Never mind.  Anyway, is..." The pegasus freezes, only catching herself when she begins falling towards the ground after she stops flapping. "Holy haunches of Celestia..." she breathes, staring at Mossburg.

"Is that...? No way! It can't be! That looks just like the kind of robots they had in Metroplis of Paragons! Did any of you watch it?" she asks excitedly. "It was awesome! The flaming spiral! Oh, oh! And that Hyperbeam of Friendship Challenge! That show was the best!"

She lands on the ground, rolling her eyes. "Well, until they cancelled it. And they kept showing the episodes out of order. But the recordings still sell really well! I have the whole collection at home."

She seems to realize she's fanfillying a little before collecting herself. "Hey, everypony, this is Chassis - she's joining us. Mare, this is going to be so cool!"

nightlight wrote:"Is that...? No way! It can't be! That looks just like the kind of robots they had in Metroplis of Paragons! Did any of you watch it?" she asks excitedly. "It was awesome! The flaming spiral! Oh, oh! And that Hyperbeam of Friendship Challenge! That show was the best!"

Chassis feels herself swelling with pride...

nightlight wrote: lands on the ground, rolling her eyes. "Well, until they cancelled it."

...then feels herself deflate a little, but manages to hold her smile.

nightlight wrote:She seems to realize she's fanfillying a little before collecting herself. "Hey, everypony, this is Chassis - she's joining us. Mare, this is going to be so cool!"

"Always glad to meet a fan."

Cherry Sundae emerges from her home with quite a different appearance. For starters, she was now wearing a rust-red bodysuit, with black pouches here and there. Connected to it were a wide variety of apparatuses. The boots, for instance, each had a spring-like attachment on both front and back, which extended - along with the sole of the boot - when she lifted the hoof off the ground. On the left and right side were a pair of clawlike apparatuses, and the undersides of the boots were lightly spiked. Attached to the front left hoof was a squad device with an angular grappling hook attached.

It only grew more complex as one moved up her body. Resting on her forehead was what looked like goggles, but with three green lenses - one between and above the other two. On her back, slightly along the right side, was a long, rather articulated and mechanical crossbow, with a quiver within hoof's reach that contained a variety of bolts, from suction-cup tips to tips that looked like a wad of cotton candy. And on the left side of her back was a large cylindrical metal devices, looking like a large, wide, flat drum. Various cords connected it to her goggles and her crossbow. And, almost as an afterthought, there was a small crate perched above and in front of her rump.

Upon arriving at the group, Cherry endured the stares of the others (she looked funny, right?) for a moment, then looked over each shoulder at the rather large and formidable-looking equipment on her back. "I think maybe I should keep out of sight," She said dully. "Or disguise myself as a nomad pony."

Atlas, having the least stuff and leaving the earliest, has been at the meeting site for a while. Still, as the group eventually arrives, he takes a good long look at the robot and smirks at it, still nibbling on a sandwich. "As long as he's not here to steal my job," he jokes, flexing a bicep. "You think you can beat this, tin can? No? I figured. In which case, welcome to the team."

Dusk Raven wrote:"I think maybe I should keep out of sight," She said dully. "Or disguise myself as a nomad pony."

Chassis stares at the more liberal appearance of the other engineer pony for a long beat.

"Yeah, you might be a little overdressed there, butch."

Mossburg, meanwhile, regards the minotaur with the same blank gaze he regards everything else.

"Statement," a deep voice reverberates from the robot. "I do not contain perishable food products. I do not perform actions of assault or thievery against friends or their constituent limbs."

"You were part of it?" Pumpkin Spice asks, staring at Chassis. "Were you one of the stunt ponies? No, wait, let me guess... you drove one of those really big robots!"

She breaks off, temporarily, from her guesses to follow Cherry with a surprised stare. The earth pony practically has a veritable warehouse balanced on her back. "What are you supposed to be?" she asks, a little stunned.

Lucky Shot blinked as he materialized back into existence. His formidable, comic book based knowledge regarding time travel had allowed him to travel back through the sixth dimension from an alternative timeline where, at a crucial junction in spacetime, his persona had split of from the group in order to persue a princess issued command delivered by a bubbly wall-eyed pegasus. Luckily for him, the others hadn't noticed said self-insertion back into the existential plane of physical reality for they were all distraced by-

'Is that a robot?' Lucky shot nearly shouted, as the rush of childlike wonder washed over him at the sight of an actual and fully functional robot.

"Statement," a deep voice reverberates from the robot. "I do not contain perishable food products. I do not perform actions of assault or thievery against friends or their constituent limbs."

'Holy crap, it talks!' It was only then that Lucky noticed the mare standing next to it, grinning as she took in the attention she and her robot were getting from the group. Lucky overheard someone mentioning the name Chassis and thought it prudent to introduce himself by flapping out the first thing that came to mind upon seeing a girl and her robot.
'So I guess chicks really do dig giant robots huh?'
Smooth, Lucky, real smooth. He reprimanded himself mentally. Why don't you ask her if you can ride the damn thing while you're at it?
Lucky cocked his head to take in the entire image of the robot just standing there like it was nobody's business.
'Can I ride it?'
Okay, that's it. I'm out. His brain threw in the metaphorical towel. We're aborting this right now. Let's find you a distraction before you do some real irreversible damage.

Lucky's eyes trailed off away from the robot as they settled on the other most remarkable thing in the near vicinity.
'You look like a supervillain.' He said with the utmost sincerity to Cherry Sundae.

Cherry regarded Pumpkin Spice with bloodshot eyes. "I'm supposed to be prepared," she said dryly. "Unless you mean one of the many other things I should be."

Cherry's baleful gaze then turned to Lucky Shot. Were she properly rested, she would not have made the absurd logical leaps that led her to say, "Woah, did you just appear out of nothing?" She shook her head, getting her thoughts back to reality. "A supervillain, huh? Must be the mane." She ran a hoof through her rather disheveled mane.

She then addressed the group, which meant she was looking at nopony in particular. "So, since I obviously stand out like a diamond dog in a horseshoe shop, should I maybe hide in the wagon? Or, to go with the nomad pony idea, throw a tarp over my gear, maybe with some saddlebags and a carpet or two?"

"Yes, it is. Yes, it does. Yes, I do. No, you can not."

To Cherry: "I don't mind you staying in the wagon."

Her horn flashes.

Chirp.

The shutter covering the door to the wagon hisses and slides open. The door handle shimmers with sky-blue energy, and the door itself swings open.

The interior is divided into two sections. In one is the basic living arrangement; a bed, a small dinette, and so on. The only decoration is a framed photo hanging on the wall by the bed. In the center is Chassis posing with a large gold trophy engraved with the words "Nyan Si Productions - Metropolis of Paragons, Best Special Effects". Surrounding her are a dozen or so other ponies...and a hole burned into the photo near the bottom-right corner. On closer inspection, it looks like the hole is in a shape roughly outlining where another pony had been in the picture.

At the other end of the wagon is a small storage area, where Chassis kept her tools and devices. The shelves are bare, however.

"I always hide my tools and gadgets when I'm in a town," Chassis explains. "Safety precaution. If you want to get in a nap, you're welcome to use my bed. We'll wake you if we need you up."

Pumpkin Spice stares at Lucky Shot for a few seconds in the same way she might if had five legs and a suction cup growing out of his forehead. "You don't get out a lot, do you?" she asks, the faintest smile creeping into her expression.

As the wagon opens, she gives a low whistle. "Between the two of you, I'm suddenly feeling a little underprepared. Or, I would be if I didn't have this," she says, giving a loving pat on the thermoses.

"With all this fancy stuff and a Metroplis of Paragons robot, we'll get this done in no time! Though, yeah, it's probably a good idea keeping all that stuff under wraps in the wagon, Sleepy. We don't want to look too suspicious if any diamond dogs see us heading out. Applejack said they probably won't stop us, but we don't want to ruin the surprise when we're coming back," she says.

"Hey," she says to Chassis. "You think this thing could hold up to a diamond dog trapped inside?" Her gaze briefly lingers on the photo. She politely looks away, adding, "If we took out anything you didn't want broken?"

Chassis follows Pumpkin's gaze to the picture.

"It just might," she says, her magic plucking the photo from the wall. "I made those shutters to withstand a good pounding."

She opens a cabinet, and withdraws a small cylindrical device about six inches around. The outer edge of the cylinder is a rounded-off metal border framing a metal gear with a golden six-pointed star in its center, and the gear’s center and background are both the same shade of green. Chassis holds the device in the air in front of her with magic, and puts her hoof on the golden star.

The green parts of the device light up at her touch.

"Himitsu wo shiritai."

Chassis takes her hoof away as the gear begins to spin an increase in size, forcing the device’s frame to iris outward, with the star staying the same size and orientation the whole time. When the device reaches five feet in diameter, the interior sinks into the device, then rolls to the side and out of sight. Through the space it used to occupy is a cubby five feet tall, five feet wide, one foot deep, and containing multiple shelves of arcana books alphabetized by title.

Chassis reaches in and pushes the cubby aside, and the books slide out of view. In their place come more books, more books, a case of small devices labeled with arcane-sounding names, more books, a thing her aunt gave her that she doesn’t know what it is (which is promptly tossed out the door of the wagon before Chassis moves on), a wall of wrenches, a case of tools...and finally, a shelf of personal artifacts, among them Metropolis of Paragons memorabilia.

Chassis sets the photo in an open spot inside, then says "Mata au hi made." The device rolls shut and contracts back to its original size, then darkens to its original state.

Satisfied, she slips the device into a pouch strapped to her right rear leg.

"There. Safe and secure!"

A cry of" I'M LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTEEEE~!" sounds across the air as Violet runs into the meeting spot carrying a set of saddle bags laden with various pouches of dyes, dusts, and flower petals. She slides into a stop right next to the wagon. "I'm so sorry, I was getting my things ready and I lost track of the time and... whose robot is that? Its like badflank." She says breathlessly only looking up at the end.

Mossburg's head turns, and his eye focuses on the purple pony.

"Correction," it booms, "I am Mossburg."

Chassis's voice calls from the door of the wagon as Mossburg's fades to an echo.

"He's mine!"

Then the mare herself steps out.

"Brass Rivet. Call me Chassis."

She glances around, then looks to Pumpkin Spice.

"One more, right? Another pega?"

Violet looks between Chassis and Mossburg in rapid succession before finally settling on Chassis. "There's an interesting story behind that nickname right? Oh and that Boreal guy got called away for some other job, so I think everyone is here now.

"Violet! You're here!" she calls, giving a cheerful wave. "Yeah, isn't that thing awesome? And it's going to be helping us!"

She nods her head in agreement with Violet. "Rainbow Dash's team stole Boreal, so we're just going to have to make due without his watertight ears, his kneecaps forged from star metal, or his floral killer instinct. This is everypony. Are all of you ready to head out?"