Dragon's Feud

Helmaroc flutters up to a hover next to Atlas.

~What is the zebra talking about...?~ She asks, while Peony continues to rage incomprehensibly. ~Guests of honor?~

If Chassis could shoot lasers from her eyes, the zebra's head would've no doubt exploded from the glare she gives him. Fortunately for him, she never got around to engineering that particular concept.

Then she turns her death glare on Mossburg.

"You were supposed to guard the wagon," she growls.

"The wagon was within the Rarity unit's security perimeter. I left my post to investigate other priorities."

Mossburg glances past Chassis to the damaged doorway, and then back to her.

"Rules query." Then his voice changes to mimic Chassis'. "'No smashing in walls. If you can't get through a door without at least trying not to damage it, then stay outside.' Do we no longer follow this rule?"

Chassis opens her mouth to lash out, but then claps it shut as her mind briefly drifts to her previous visit to Sweet Apple Acres. She can't enforce a rule, then break it and enforce another rule. Not with Mossburg.

She takes a calming breath, and then says, "You, I'll deal with." Then to Pinkie, "Sorry about trying to blow up your door."

Atlas stares at Chassis as she fires off a concussive blast, kicking up dust, then ram her head into the door. He then shakes his head disapprovingly when Kabra'za throws shade in Chassis' direction, and finally, shrugs at Helmaroc's query.

"He clearly operates in mysterious ways." Atlas comments quietly, before coming up behind Pinkie Pie, his newly acquired cape fluttering behind him. He spares a glance at Chassis, furrowing his brow. "Do you always fire off potentially deadly magical attacks at private property, or is it just bakeries?"

He pauses. "Sorry, that was mean. Just... Easy on the firepower. With great power comes great need to avoid friendly fire."

For a moment, Kabra'za's expression seemed to freeze in place as he held up a hoof towards the pink pony. "Excuse me one moment... I need to have a word with the rest of the team real quick..." before turning to glare at Atlas and Chassis like a parent about to scold naughty children.

"Judge me all you wish, but I wasn't the one who plowed head first into an elderly stallion and despite the risk of injury to him, decided to abandon him on the side of the road without so much as an apology or stopped to ask how he was going so neither of you have the right to act all high and mighty." He didn't bother bringing up Peony for the simply fact that the little bundle of rage and fury was to self centered to actually give a damn while Cherry got a pass because she had taken a different route and had missed the whole incident to begin with.

Chewing out complete, Kabra'za returned his attention back to the pink one and wiped the glare from his face, going back to a warm smile. "For the record, I patched the stallion up. He's doing fine... properly better then he's been in years. Now you said there was somewhere private we could talk?" He asked, attempting to manipulate the conversation back on track... even if his mind was already entertaining plans about other matters that were going to have to be settled at a later date.

About midway through Kabra'za's tirade, Mossburg steps between him and Chassis, and comes nose-to-nose with the zebra.

"That matter," the robot booms, "is already being resolved without your input. Any further reparations will be between Chassis and whichever pony-units she owes them to. You may assist her in making those reparations, or you may stay silent. Those are your only options."

As the robot speaks, a pastry box rises from behind the bakery counter and floats to Chassis. Chassis opens it and withdraws three snickerdoodles; one that she eats, and the other two she offers to Kabra'za. All, of course, without breaking her conversation with Pinkie.

"I left my money back at Rarity's," she says. "I can come back later to pay for the cookies and the door. Or I can pay for the cookies and repair the door myself. Either way, I'm paying for these cookies. They're too good not to."

Cherry is the only one who sees Pinkie leaving the room as the rest of the team carries on three different arguments (and some miniscule shrieking). The Pink One pulls Cherry into the other room. "Weeeeee'll just let them work that out. You guys must have had a rough day, so snippy with each other." She remarks with a slight, concerned frown. "Did they all forget their coffee this morning? I could have sworn there's a pony in town who's all about that..."

Kabra'za stared down the robot that had dared to interrupt him, not even flinching in the face of having something made of metal and magic towering over him. This wasn't the first time that he had encountered angry clients after all and it would not be the last. He had also been completely confident that he would have had some... unseen assistance in the event that things really progressed that far. His shadow was known to be... rather discrete when it wanted to be after all...

Unfortunately, now was not one of those times. As the mare brought out snickerdoodles and offered two of her three to him as a peace offering/bribe, his shadow decided to abandon all pretense of stealth as it abandoned it's position pretending to be a normal shadow, grasped the shadows of the two offered snickerdoodles with its hooves before pulling both of them away from Chassis's grasp and having them float in the air before opening its mouth wide (incidentally, seemingly taking the form of some comical Venus fly trap) and dropping one of the cookies onto what should have been the ground... before the snickerdoodle disappeared as its jaws closed on it as the shadow munched away happily.

Kabra'za couldn't help but look at his shadow with some mild disapproval at its complete lack of tack or stealth... even as his shadow bashfully offered him the last snickerdoodle. The disapproval vanished with a sigh as he accepted the offering. "You make it hard to stay mad at you, you know that? Fine, we'll accept your bribe Chassis."

 

Dice Rolls and Actions:

Atlas sighs in relief as the tension in the room eases. He's sure things wouldn't have gotten too bad anyway, but for a moment he feared the worst. Though, it seems in the end rationality prevailed, and the matters are resolved peacefully. Still, he pats Mossburg on the shoulder, seeing as the robot got up in the grill of the zebra. "Come now, big guy. There's no need to invade the zebra's personal space. As my personal trainer used to say, unless you're going in for a hug, conversations are best had at arm's length..."

He looks between the two. "Though, if you two are going to hug, I'm not going to stop you."

Mossburg relaxes as Kabra'za shows no further signs of aggression toward Chassis. He turns his head to look at Atlas.

"I had already reminded Chassis of the rules," he says. "Apologies were extended, and restitution for damages was being offered. No further input was necessary."

He looks back to Kabra'za.

"Zebra-unit. Your input was excessively hostile."

"Yes, it was," says Chassis. "And you apparently take way too much pride in cleaning up after other ponies, if you're that quick to beat them over the head with the fact afterward. So you shouldn't have any objections to helping me repair the bakery. You know, like a true, true friend would do."

And now that song's stuck in my head again. And all my catchy power metal's on the other side of town...

Cherry frowns. Come to think of it... I haven't seen Pumpkin Spice in a while. A shame, her coffee might have helped me... for a while, anyway. She shrugs. "Hopefully they'll get over it quickly, I may not be tired right now but I still don't care about whatever it is they're arguing about."

Kabra'za clearly wasn't amused at Chassis's attempt to rope him into helping her again. "I was willing to help a stallion not be crippled for the rest of his life because you possibly broke his hip by accident. I am not willing to help you repair a door that you damaged because you are a reckless violently dolt when under pressure who doesn't stop to think things through. However, I accepted your bribe to drop the matter so can we just go inside and talk with Pinkie Pie? This was already a bigger scene then he was comfortable with and with the final word said, he was content just to follow the example of the mare they needed to have a word with and entered the building.

"Always with the insults..." Atlas mutters, fiddling with his pendant. "But - Kabra'za is kind of right, at least on the latter bit. We should go ahead and make our report and receive new instructions. You two can settle your differences, or repair the door, or whatever you want to do, later when we all have time. Preferably, with less name calling." He stares at Kabra'za for a moment.

He turns to Chassis. "I'll help with reparations later, if you'll accept my help. But for now... we should get official business out of the way, first."

Atlas goes to look for Pinkie.

Zebra's shadow ate cookie! Peony notes, breaking off her angry tantrum for a moment. That's weird! Zebra is weird! Also Peony wants cookie too!

~You've had enough at Rarity's, Peo.~ Helmaroc sighs and hops after Atlas, hoping maybe Peony will shut up for a while. She doesn't deny the fact that she's weirded out by the shadow as well, though.

Mossburg tenses again to retaliate against Kabra'za's more direct attack on Chassis.

"Stand down, Mossburg."

The robot gives Chassis a look. Her expression is a contemplative deadpan as she watches the other party members disappear into the bakery to meet Pinkie, apparently convinced that the matter is settled.

"Shop rules," she says plainly. "We don't waste time on stupidity and arrogance. We have the same information they do. Let's go get the shop and see if there's something productive we can do with it."

With that, she turns and leaves. Mossburg turns in place, and squeezes back out the door behind her.

"Sometimes friends need to work things out on their own, and intervention will only fan the flames." Pinkie replies to Cherry sagely, watching as the rest of the party enters.... except for Chassis and Mossberg. "...and other times, it takes a special friend to bring them together, and show them how much they mean to each other, and why they should hear each other out. I'll be right back." Pinkie trots out of the room again with a smile.

XXXXX

Mossberg has no trouble getting through the door again, and the robot and his handler make their way swiftly back towards Rarity's shop with no distraction- until all of a sudden, Pinkie comes bouncing up next to them, backwards, giving Chassis a glaring smile. "Where ya headed? I was waiting on everypony to arrive, and everypony includes you silly." Her words are singsong, but her tone has just a bit of an edge to it...

"Back to Rarity's to get my shop," comes the reply. "It's just a quick errand, there and back."

She glances around, then adds in a more hushed tone, "I'm also giving the others some time to talk some sense into the zebra, get him to cool his head and lay off. He almost started a fight with the robot three times, and my insurance won't cover property damage if Mossburg's involved."

Pinkie's smile widens, almost unbearable to look at. She stops, coming face to face (almost literally) with Chassis, staring into her eyes, close enough to see her practically vibrating. Chassis thinks for a moment she can feel their eyeballs actually touch, in the brief moment before Pinkie backs off. "Oh is that all? Okie Dokie Lokie!" She resumes her normal grin and continues to bounce backward, out of sight and around the next corner.

Once Chassis recovers, she only manages a few more steps before the Pink Menace returns- pulling her wagon. Completely unlocked and unshuttered, to boot. "It was this one right? All locked up and stuff?" She giggles as she effortlessly hauls it past the two, returning to Sugarcube corner with an unnatural quickness.

Chassis and Mossburg both stare after Pinkie as she zips by pulling the shop so heavy that Chassis had to build a machine specialized for pulling it.

As they turn to follow, Chassis mutters, "How does anypony stay sane in this town?"

Pinkie, who is indeed Pinkie Pie in all things, moves at a fats enough speed that Mossburg and Chassis have to jog to catch up. They return to the bakery in a matter of minutes, and Pinkie unhitches herself with practiced ease before trotting inside. She makes a quick stop in the kitchen for another tray of Snickerdoodles, giving the other two time to close up the wagon again and come inside. She joins the entire group in the room before, setting down her tray and moving to the other side of a table. She surveys the assembled party with her trademark smile- and then slams her hooves on the table. "MAPS! What do you all know about Maps?!"

By the time Chassis and Mossburg get back, Pinkie already has the shop parked and is bouncing back inside.

With the spare minute or two, Chassis recovers her clothes from earlier, uses a quick cleansing spell to clean them, and puts them back on. Then she locks the shop down again.

Before heading inside the bakery, she says to Mossburg, "We really don't need another episode from you, but it doesn't look like Pinkie's going to give us the choice of keeping you outside. So while you're in there, I want you to keep a lid on it as best you can, and maintain line of sight with the front door. If you think you're about to slip, come outside immediately."

---

Chassis jumps at Pinkie's sudden outburst. Mossburg, lacking such organic impulses, stands motionless.

"Maps. Printed overhead images of geographical locations. Commonly used for navigational reference. Also a frequent target of aggressive epithets comparing perceived inaccuracies to engaging one's maternal unit in..."

"Wholesome board games on game night!" Chassis interrupts. "Anyway, I take it you're asking about my maps. I noticed they'd been torn out of my atlas. The book of maps, not the minotaur over there. The ponies at Rarity's place said you were the pony to ask about them."

That was not all that Rarity told us to speak to you about." Kabra'za decided to interject, now that they were out of the public eye and somewhere private where they could talk with the pink pony much more freely. "Our diamond dog friends that are currently staying with the absolutely charming Miss Rarity have reveled that their Alpha captured several ponies prior to this whole mess and convinced them to act as spies for the dogs, selling out their friends for leniency. The dogs at Rarity's didn't know who these spies were, only that they are in Ponyville and that they were captured outside of the town and convinced to be spies before the castle was stolen and this siege started. Rarity told us that you were the mare to speak to in order to work out who these spies are, Miss Pie."

Cherry nods along, starting to grasp the situation. She had been embarrassingly out of it for some time, and she hoped to correct that. Though the cupcake she'd eaten had made her rather hyper, she was at least awake, so hopefully she could be of help. "What maps are missing from the atlas in question? What were the maps of? That might at least give us a hint as to who might have taken them, or why."

"All of them," Mossburg answers, casting a glance toward the front door as he does. "Equestria. Unknown. The atlas was stored in Chassis's coach, and the Amaranth pony units named the Pinkie unit as having entered it before we returned from Sweet Apple Acres."

Chassis has been patiently ignoring the zebra. Whatever he's talking about, Pinkie isn't talking about it. She's talking about maps. Whatever lead she has is relevant to those maps. And as it happened, so is another point of information the group learned from the Diamond Dogs.

Don't try to turn every screw at once, one of her CGSU shop professors liked to say. Turn one until it stops, then move on to the next.

"The Diamond Dogs said that Twilight's castle was in a cave in a nearby hill, but they didn't specify which one. If we had maps and a pony with expertise in local rock composition, we could narrow our search to hills with caves big enough to hide a castle in. Then all we'd have to do is find the one with dragons going in and out of it."

"WRONG!" Pinkie slams her hooves on the table. "Oh, wait... ok most of that was right I guess, but STILL!" Another slam, to prove her point, before she continues. "I'm not just talking about your maps, I'm talking about ALL the maps in the whole town! They're disappearing left and right! Look!" She produces another empty atlas, as well as several photos of (what you can only assume are) locations where maps should be, but aren't. "I've been all over Ponyville looking for them, the only one that isn't gone is the huge one in Town Hall that Twilight uses." She explains, pacing around the table, eyeing each of them in turn. "I keep Maps hidden all over Ponyville in case of Map emergencies- kinda like this one- and even THOSE are missing!" She grabs Atlas and rummages around in his pockets, turning them inside out. "See? Nothing!" She continues to circle the table. "I don't understand how they could all go missing like that... we would have noticed if dogs were coming in, or dragons. Besides who would want a bunch of maps anyw-" She halts, frozen for a second, and then rounds on Kabra'za, coming muzzle to muzzle with the Zebra. "Youuuuu... what did you say?"

Kabra'za blinked a little at Pinkie's antics, having never encountered anything quite like it before... and couldn't help but smile just a little because of it. There was something about the mind boggling way she seemed to do things that appealed to his mindset even if he couldn't pin down exactly what... It was like looking at the other half of the coin you were apart of. "The Diamond Dogs captured some ponies before this whole mess started and convinced them to act as spies for them. The captured dogs at Rarity's know that they exist, but not who they are or how to recognize them. It seems that they've been tasked with sabotage as well, considering that all the maps expect Twilight's big one has disappeared..." It sounded like it was an attempt to make coordinating efforts around Ponyville more difficult and truth be told he had to admire the subtle genius behind the plan. After all, maps weren't the first thing that anyone thought of during an siege...

If he was going to sabotage the town further, what would he do? "Right now I suggest you get some ponies you can trust to be watching the map in town hall... and town hall itself honestly. If I was them, I would be trying to destroy that large map so that no one can make more copies of it by just about any means necessary and if that means taking the building out in the process so be it. Makes coordinating efforts around town much more difficult while being a serious hit to moral of the defenders if the town hall is damaged or destroyed. " There -was- a chance that there was a second layer of the plan to try and tie up resources guarding the map and the town hall while the saboteurs did other things, but he doubted it; They didn't know that ponies knew there were pony saboteurs working for the dogs after all.

"It's why I wanted us to speak with you in private. So far, only us, Rarity and now you know that we have pony sell outs in Ponyville."