Where have all the rainbow factories gone?

I've separated this page to reduce blood pressure from the other thread, but it is a continuation of an investigation about rainbows. And fruit, apparently.

The party (three have checked in off-forum, a fourth is sort-of expected, and per the OOC thread I'm still willing to accept one more) have returned to the Orange family, and received their pittance of gold and filling meal of wilted carrots with imported roses petals.

Local restaurants Hot Enough Fur Ya? and Tastes from a Broad Winged Owlbear, operated by an earth pony planning on opening a fast food chain soon and an older griffon with refined tastes, respectively, have also augmented the meal with some boxes of their more popular dishes as well as a hearty thank-you for the party's help during their sort-of argument last night. (party has a mild variant of the "a pony every pony should know" boon, at least in this town ... perhaps only in those establishments. But still ...)

Cousin Nail Gun, a rust-orange stallion has stopped in and offered to build the party a one-pony cart for carrying around their things, and officer Sharp Pinion, a one-winged pegasus stallion brings the reward money released by retrieval of the three thieves who had outstanding warrants, with dead-or-alive bounties. Which is good since all but the young poisoner, Windfallen Breeze, were killed trying to escape. She is being kept under maximum security and will be extradited to Cloudsdale for crimes committed there.

There's another oddity - Turnover insisted that your story included elements of magic ... a giant silence spell covering the orchard, a teleport spell, a giant igloo to protect the fleeing thieves. But as with all the other locations hit this year, there was no sign of arcane influence, aside from the charred vegetation and residue of a couple of lightning spells. Even the crossbows, whose damage clearly was arcanely influenced, showed no sign under close inspection, of ever being used magically.

After some of the discussions yesterday about the distinct possibility this was some sort of inside job, he asks the Oranges if he and a unicorn officer under him may examine the house, and the immediate property for clues about this case.

That's about where you guys are. Seiko & Flarestare are watching Earth-Pony magic at work, as Nail Gun rapidly constructs a pony cart. Sugar Plum, the giant (Flemish giant,) bunny wanders around everyone's hooves, her green eyes taking it all in, and if our other players join soon they can show up at about this point to be filled in on the proceedings.

What actions would you like to take?

Flarestar: "So...how fire-resistant would you say that cart is?"

Seiko: "Hmmm... it is indeed puzzling that there were no signs of magic in the orchard, even under scrutiny, with such an overwhelming show of Arcane might..."
Are there any techniques to prevent someone form detecting magic after/during it's casting?
Arcana 7 +18 (+*5) = 25 (30)


PS: the ( * ) is because i'm not really sure about when to apply my freaky knowledge.

Seiko wrote:PS: the ( * ) is because I'm not really sure about when to apply my freaky knowledge.

logical puzzles, so I'd say any analysis or critique not done under duress, likely receives that bonus.

It occurs to Seiko, as she considers it aloud with Flarestar, that if the spell was constructed initially with the thought of leaving no trace, it would be much easier to hide the presence of arcane influence. You've seen this ... as the portal spell faded, it faded quickly ... watching it dissipate made it clear that spell was so designed.

 Nail Gun, stepping back to give the wagon a once-over, listens long enough to comment, still in that slow country style, "So. Either these are professionals, what expect to be back often." And around the back of the wagon, and he finishes his final inspection to add "Or they're afraid you'll follow 'em. Terrified even. But, what would force th' terrified to come back?"

Turning now to Flarestar, he adds "Oh, 'bout the fire part." He spits. "Wouldn't do yer fire thing when your in the drivers seat. It's made o' wood. But the frame is ironwood. Burns real slow." He turns, again examining his work, though not walking anywhere this time. Turning back to the girls, he adds "Ah coulda used iron, or stone even. O' course." Turning quickly to look at his wagon he mumbles "But you two girls is ... small. Stone gets mighty heavy after a few miles."

 Wiping his brow on his own mane, he snorts, then points towards the house. "I'll be inside sippin on lemonade or whatever they got today. Come on in or whatever, and thanks fer all yer help."

Officer Pinion has finished his walkthrough, and explains within your hearing to the Orange family, that there is no sign of foul play on their premises. "Tell me, of course, if something strange happens here. We're on the cusp of catching them. We've learned more this past night than in the prior fortnight."

Shaking hooves with the Oranges, the guard make to leave, but Nail Gun points at the unicorn guard, whom he apparently knows somewhat, saying "You were at her last concert, werentcha?" The guard stops, and looks slightly confused until Nail Gun adds "Meadwowlark."

"Oh, yeah. Is she in town again?"

Young Sparkly jumps up and down, explaining "Ah read it in th' paper! Meadowlark's gonna be singing today at the Owlbear.

Pinion's face remains neutral, but the unicorn's eyebrows shoot up. "Really. Today, huh? Guess I should try to get in." At which point he waves good bye, and tries to speed his boss along so they can finish their parchment work and be done for the day. Chuckling at the youth's impatience, Pinion allows himself to be hurried along.

So, your PH is ret-conning things just a tad. You got tickets, with your lunch. It would be about this time that you realize why the griffon thought it wise to invite his prestigous guests to his establishment this day ... more famous ponies will make for more paying customers, obviously.

You'll have to somehow sneak the flemish giant in, as Sugar Plum didn't get a ticket, but I'm sure there's a way. Meadowlark I'll PM you in a minute but it looks like some of the players haven't even logged on for a while so ... ah, it'll be slow going for a little while.

What would anyone else like to do before lunch?

I would like to ask Flarestar if she would like to join me for a little side-quest, ignoring the rabbit.
"I have recently learned of a place of legend I would like to inspect; it is in the jungles to the west and north, though if we go we may want another companion or two, as it may be dangerous. Perhaps we should look for some suitable adventurers after lunch. I suggest this now because the Oranges' case seems to have run cold again."

"I don't care for the jungle, everything there is too damp to ignite well. But a place of legend sounds like fun, and I guess I don't have anything better to do."

Tastes from a Broad Winged Owlbear is getting crowded. Low hanging chandeliers provide just enough light, and every third window is tinted a different woodsy color. Normally set with about thirty tables, normally only seating about five to ten of them at any time except dinner, the tables have been moved to allow a sitting-room-only space in front of the somewhat makeshift stage, there are two backup musicians tuning their instruments and a set of drums behind them.

The tables are nearly full, there's a line forming already, and a well muscled unicorn stallion is keeping things orderly. The other bouncer is a hippogriff with a mallet as his cutie mark. You got here just before the real crowd though, and it doesn't take long to get to the unicorn bouncer. "Eight bits each." he says flatly.

(I'll assume you present the tickets at this point) He stares. Turning over his shoulder he shouts "Hey, boss?" And back to you he adds "I didn't know the old pony gave out any tickets, per se, for this. Just need to check on it, hopefully won't take long." Again, over his shoulder "You handing out tickets, old bird?"

The hippogriff hustles up, and you hear him whisper "He's outta hearin' range. What we got?" He holds up the ticket, flips it over, and points out the hasty scrawl; today's date. "Yeah see that's his handwriting fer sure. They're cool." Looking up he finally recognizes who you must be "Oh, hey youse the guys from hot nuff furya" his accent and haste badly slurring the competitor's name. "No tables jus' yet ya wanna just sit on these benches?" He indicats a small waiting area just inside the door. "I'll go move some ponies or sometin'" Without looking back, he hustles off to find a good table for the esteemed guests, and the stallion, whom you shortly pick up is an extra chef for high-volume hours, goes back to collecting the entrance fee from ponies who apparently just want to hear the singer, and go straight for the small blank space that's been cleared.

I'll look for ponies who look... Adventury? Like they want to and are able to travel/fight/have fun/get into trouble/deal with said trouble.
Maybe somepony magical... but not necessarily.

Perception 9 +11 = 20

PS: to the extra-chef "So what kind of strange foods does this place offer, and what do you specialize in?"

Seiko wrote: So what kind of strange foods does this place offer, and what do you specialize in?

"Well, popular around here are the fileted fish. I've helped with the deep-sea filet of, like, tuna. Huge monsterous things. I've tasted it but of course the equine gut can't digest it real well. But a bite doesn't hurt. Tastes the same as the trout we import from Gryphus streams but honestly?" He changes change boxes, having filled his box with ticket money from the four couples that made their way past. "More griffons, well, griffons around here, want exotic -- the tuna -- rather than to remind them of home ... the trout from small streams.

"Then there's cous-cous. Our stuff is grown near Nadira, a river mouth city out in Camelu. Tastes like rice, sort of but you know, fine food is all about the details. Like the hot peppers from the Ibex empire. Boss don't like to use them much they trigger his IBS." Suddenly blushing deeply he points out a waitress who's got a small table ready for the next pony. "Too much information, I suppose. Anyway, our spicy stuff is mostly because of that trade contact. Ibexes are crazy tall, right? Met one once. Thick accent; couldn't understand a word she said.

"My specialty is just to fry stuff. Some of the buffalo foods are fried ... their bread, actually. Looks like a pancake but it's just fry bread. And the Ibex too, they have a curved frying pan that all their vegetables go in. Just enough oil to keep stuff from catching on fire. We use plain skillets here though ... just hafta stir quickly, it's the same as a wok."

As you look around the establishment, you feel a little disappointment. Meadowlark's fans run to the genteel. Plenty of ponies here look strong enough to be of value, but their sweaters look a little too carefully placed to leave you with an impression of adventurous spirit.

Still, the smells are enticing. Maybe you could look on the menu for an Evisican dish you remember; they probably have a passable counterpart here.

"You ready, Meadowlark?"

Meadowlark nodded absently. The stagepony looked back out towards the growing crowd. "Wow. I've the Owlbear get this crowded. Between you and those other ponies, I think there won't be a seat left."

"I guess"

The stagepony chuckled. "Of course, I suppose to a pony like you this crowd is nothing. You and the Songbirds must have sung for crowds double this size."

Meadowlark could feel herself flush slightly. In truth, this was the first concert since she started touring alone where she hadn't been insanely nervous about performing without Nightingale and Starsong. And the reason she wasn't nervous about that was that she was too preoccupied with a note left on her make-up stand:

"Please meet me alone after your performance. I promise no harm will come to you -- the danger is to me. As a token of my sincerity please accept the first round of cider, and if I see you wearing my earrings I will know you have accepted. But I will step in to say hello and good bye either way."

Next to the note had been, as it said, a bag containing the five bits and a pair of earrings, that upon inspection, only seemed to have  a weak tracking spell on them.

Meadowlark wasn't quite certain what to focus on first, who this anonymous gift giver was, why they thought they would be in danger from talking to her, or the fact that after reading the thought and examining the earrings, she had put them on. But as she prepared her smile and started to step on the stage, there was one thing she was certain about: if she didn't at least try to learn what this was all about, it would follow her for the rest of her life.

The hippogriff returns from having moved tables, possibly customers, around some, and indicates Flarestar and Seiko. "Gotcha a seat just behind the dancefloor. Best seat in the house I'm pretty sure."

He winds between ponies and griffons alike, to a medium sized table that will be immediately in front of the performer. Setting menus down he promises to be back with water. At which point he launches into the air, flying above the customer base (There's just barely enough room. Several ponies reflexively duck).

A moment later he does indeed return with two glasses of water ... and if Sugar Plum is riding on somebody's back, hopefully she'll forgive the waiter for not realizing there was a third customer.

Flarestar will ask the waiter for the spiciest dish in the house, as well as a bowl of lettuce and carrots for the rabbit.

As the waiter brings the unicorn a salad of celery, radishes, and sliced peppers with a peppery ranch dressing, a sternly dressed pegasus mare follows behind, quietly seating herself at your table. She starts talking even before the cheese sticks hit the table for Seiko to munch on.

"Good afternoon ladies" whatever your first thought about why she set herself at your table is, gets quickly dispersed by her no-nonsense, almost angry attitude. "I understand you two brought in the fugitive. Good work."

Her mane is short, and 'pulled' ... like cut, but with attention given to making it look like it naturally grows iron-hard and utterly subject to the rule of law. Her green eyes seem to alternate between the ice-cold of a killer's, and the snobbish of the elite. She's wearing a fashionable dress that appears to have been starch-ironed fresh just for this luncheon.

"I want to extend the thanks of the Protection of Pegasus Ponies, a division of Celestia's royal cabinet of weathercrafting. And I want to talk to you two about an opportunity to extend your service to all of Equestria."

"You see, those thieves are just the front-runners. There exist, somewhere on or above our soil, a whole city dedicated to the destabilazition of all that we've worked so hard to create. And my superiors want to know that Equestria can count on you for another task; that you'll do everything you can to protect our freedoms.

She slides across the table to you, a business card. It's blank. Since you're both mages, you both notice right away the enchantment of fire-writing. But your visitor explains it anyway. "Write a short note ... most can fit about ten words, and tap on it with a hoof, twice in succession. It will send itself, along with the exact location where it was sent from, to our dispatch just outside of Cloudsdale.

"We believe these organized criminals will make an attempt to retrieve their captured sister, and while we're ready for most everything, we have seen in the past they've sometimes come with a horrible collection of lies to conscript the common folk into their nefarious schemes. Please help us stop this crime spree by helping us track down their operators who dare walk our free soil."

Flarestar will take the card gladly, but any response she might make is muffled beyond comprehension by the delicious salad in her mouth.

"Thank you for the card, and the ahh... advice. We will contact you if we need to."
Seiko ignores the intense Pegasus and tries the cheese sticks. Waiting for something to happen.

A rather out of breath, older griffon cuts in line, and launches himself above the crowd. Hovering for a moment, some of you may notice the workers all wave a foreleg at the newcomer. The intense pegasus mare scowls, and slips away into the crowd.

As the griffon settles back to the floor, Our two intrepid equines at the table recognize him from the cook-off. This is the restaurant proprietor, and he hustles over to your table. "So glad to see you." he wheezes. "Been on business excuse my late return. Oh!" He stops to breathe heavily a few times. "Yes the singer. I'm sure you'll be impressed."

Seeming to have regained his composure, the elderly gentlepony squeezes up to the "stage" and waves at the musicians, who begin a round of background noise, percussion prominent.

The griffon scans the crowd briefly, seemingly looking for a particular individual, but gives no indication of who or why. Tapping his talons on a nearby countertop, the crowd quiets down. "Thank you all, and I hope you've enjoyed your meal as much as you'll enjoy the entertainment. On her first solo tour, the popular pop star has promised us two songs today. Any more and we might have violence trying to squeeze into my poor establishment."

He winks at the crowd. "May I then present, as a rare treat to you all, the earth pony Meadowlark?"

He steps down, and the musicians seque into the first song.

Backstage, the pony who'd been assisting in setting up the spacious closet as the performer's office, says "That's it Meadowlark, you're cue." a sudden blush, then: "I ... uh I need to get back to waiting tables, 'k? If you need anything between songs just grab somepony & we can find what you're looking for."

Meadowlark took a deep breath. Focus. Focus only on the music. Don't let yourself get distracted. You'll deal with what happens next later. She put o what she hoped was a dazzling smile, and strode onto the stage.

"Hello everyone! It's great to be hear at the Owlbear with such great fans. Now tonight I'm going to start out with    something a bit different."

She paused for a moment,  wondering if the person who wrote that note could see her earrings.Then  she began the song she hadn't sung since the day she first auditioned for the Songbirds. Starting new

"So glad to see/A brand new me/ A happy new pony..."

Note: nopony jumps up and iterrupts you :)If you want to post the whole song, now that the lyrics have been written ... by all means do so.

The "dance floor" section is packed, ponies are dancing and also managing to not bump into each other. Waitstaff cut deftly between customers without spilling anything. In general, the song was a complete success.

Meadowlark's smile beams as she finishes her first song. No one seems to notice as she scans the crowd. She bows, and drops into the "office" to switch outfits.

At the click of the door, a soft voice speaks out behind her. "Thank you for seeing me."

perception check please:

A pink unicorn with a somewhat unkempt mane is in the small room with you. You're moderately sure she wasn't there when you walked in.

Smiling sadly, she introduces herself. "My name is Emerald Lightning. Please forgive the intrusion," She lowers her head, and her eyes briefly.  "and your singing is lovely, but I'm the 'fan' that wrote the note that went with those earrings."

She pauses for a breath, apparently gauging your reaction. "Officially I am dead. And if certain authorities, such as the town guard, learn I'm not ... I believe they're obligated by a certain twisting of the law to make my physical state match my legal state." She closes her eyes, and takes a long, deep breath. Eyes open again, she adds "I've recently lost several of my brothers and sisters this way, so again please pardon my paranoia."

(the PH will pause here both to allow you a chance to respond, and a chance for me to write further dialogue.)

"Oh my," Meadowlark said, for a lack of anything else to say. She looked over the pony standing before her. By all appearances, Emerald Lightning looked to be telling the truth. She certainly looked scared, as though she were afraid the town guards would burst in at any moment. It was probably best to see what she had to say. And if she did try anything, Meadowlark felt certain she could calm her down.

Meadowlark tried giving her a reassuring smile. " Don't worry,no one has any reason to look in for you here. So why don't you tell me what happened?"

Focusing her eyes on yours, she explains. "Most of us are pegasi. They failed their flight school exam. The law says they're to be sent away, to toil at manual labor the rest of their natural lives. But." She takes a deep breath. "It doesn't work that way. At least, we -- my new family, I mean -- we've never seen any such place. We have whole cities that travel, we would find this place eventually. But they just disappear. Except for the ones who successfully run.

"The explanation, and some adult pegasi remember this, is that only the best should be allowed to represent the tribe to the rest of Equestria. But they always fail about one in twenty, every class. We don't know why, but they need to make some young adults to disappear."

She shifts nervously in her seat. "Please don't speak to anyone else about this. And, I'll grant you it may be a mistake to have spoken to you." Suddenly she laughs, a fetlock covering her mouth. "Well, it was. I" She looks again at you, both quizzical and frightened, and looks briefly at your back. "We can't go out and buy food. Or get jobs even, for reasons I've said. So we steal food. Lots of it, as there are more of us than our hidden patches of land can grow crops for.

"When I scheduled to take oranges from this town, I saw in the local papers there was a famous pony named Meadowlark traveling through. Not being in the know, I could only guess. A brother -- oh, we failures use that term to refer to each other -- my brother said his elder blood kin (you would say older sister, I suppose. But sister means ... anyway); she was named Meadowlark. Or something very close to that. She passed her exam, but she might have sympathy for her blood kin -- or hatred. I've heard it plays both ways."

Emerald coughs lightly, and looks away. "Since you're the wrong Meadowlark, but I didn't know until I saw you singing, I'm not sure what help you can offer." She looks back at Meadowlark, her ears twitching. "As I say, we don't know why the school needs to send away the failures, or indeed if the government actually knows what is happening. Perhaps...Perhaps in your travels you could listen for us? Or actively search, but I warn you, that's why there are unicorn failures." Emerald Lightning's eyes grow hard. "We asked too many questions. Some are given tonics, and spells, that make us forget we had such dangerous questions. Some are approached by the failures, and the unicorns, like myself, agree to forsake all life, and society, to protect the weak and the forgotten. Others take the high road, and fall off the cliff. Either publicly executed for crimes not worthy of that punishment ... or they disappear. To feed the beast that eats pegasi."

She closes her eyes again, and sighs. Looking at the floor now, she says "We are many, but because our brethren disappear with too much regularity, we have no formal governance. If you ever learn something you want to share. Hmm, sing. Sing about a failure. A pegasus pony who is a failure, and the only pegasus who will say good of it, will be a pegasister. Tell that pony what you've learned."

"W-well..." Meadowlark stammered. "I-I suppose I could do that. I'm not sure how much help I'd be, but I'll try. What about now? Do you need anything? I don't have much money, but I think I have some clothes and jewelry that won't be missed, and I know I have some mane dye if you want to try disguising yourselves..." Meadowlark trailed off.

Emerald Lightning chuckles, a free and open laugh this time, although still muted as much out of habit as anything. "Oh, thank you but no. There are enough unicorns among the failures that we can cast very good illusion spells. It's still not really safe to walk among the city folk but we can walk along the outskirts, if we plan it.

"And we can enchant items, like those earrings. I suppose you've figured out there's a light on them. Only I can see it, but I suppose it would still look like an enchantment of sorts to any unicorn who looked at it close enough. And these cuffs" She raises a hoof, and indicates the wide bracelets around her fetlocks. "I don't know the cloud walk spell well enough to get a whole night's sleep. But a brother of mine made these for me, so whenever I'm with my family, they don't have to hold me up."

Emerald smiles at Meadowlark, and adds "The money isn't really much use to us either, since we can't safely spend it, and the Equestrian bit is only used here, not the other lands we ... I sometimes visit. And the only place to exchange it is an Equestrian bank. Same problem."

Emerald taps her chin thoughtfully. "Although ... Today? There is a thing you can do today. The agents of the alleged government department that collects stray stories about stray pegasi are in the crowd. I suspect they know I'm here. See if you can separate them? Get them out of the building or at least at one end of the crowd. I have an invisibility spell and can slip out through the crowd but they'll see me right away if they're still looking."

Emerald blushes and looks away. "I didn't get a good look at them, so I can't say more than they're pegasi, and there's more than one, and you can probably tell them by the fact they're not interested in your music. Or the food, I'd expect." She makes eye contact again, and blinking quickly, says in a rushed voice "Don't confront them. Least of all about the failures. They're pegasi but they have incredible magics built into their armor." Looking away, and blushing just a bit now, she finishes with "Which you won't see. Illusion spell augmented by their unnatural power source. We've tried copying it with limited success but using the spells consume the armor. Theirs seems to last until they win. Or we do."

Emerald Lightning sighs, and says "No, dear Meadowlark the earth pony. Don't worry about me. Although. While you're singing ... might I borrow your brushes? It's been so long since I could get the tangles out of my mane."

After Meadowlark answers, Emerald offers a hug, and after that says, "Thank you. Now, go finish your set before the crowd gets nervous."  Emerald winks at Meadowlark.

"O-Ok. I can do that." At the moment, Meadowlark was drawing a blank as to how, but just looking at Emerald Lightning, she felt she had to try... something. At the very least, she needed to find these pegasi and figure out what to do then.

A knock on the door interrupted. She heard a voice call out "Its about time for your next song, Miss Meadowlark"

"Look at the stars shine so bright-"

"Summer Nights" was one of the most simple songs in Meadowlark's repertoire, one that could be sung  either as a group or solo. Because of this, Meadowlark had been practicing it for weeks, which meant she could sing it while watching the crowd carefully and not worry about her performance. As a bonus, it was even seasonal.

"Not a cloud dims the night sky-"

Most of the crowd seemed normal, but as she sang, she did begin to pick up a few bored ponies. In particular, two pegasi hanging towards the back, that just so happened to be positioned by the exits.

"Let's enjoy this Summer night"

Looking back towards the crowd, Meadowlark tried to consider her options. As she continued singing, a flash of color caught her eye. A unicorn stallion closer to the center hadn't seemed to move, but she had seen something. Some sort of pattern hidden under an illusion spell that sent shivers down Meadowlark's spine. Glancing at the two pegasi confirmed that they had similar illusions placed on them as well.

"Let's all soar so high!"

This was real. Something was up,and she needed to act.

"So did you all enjoy that? Everybody having a good time? How about you," Meadowlark indicated the pegasus stallion guarding the patio." Tell you what, next cider's on me."