Dragon's Feud

"Maybe he does. These pony spies of his. I don't suppose you saw enough of them that you can describe them for us? If they're reporting back to you alpha, maybe we can work out a deal of our own."

====================

Mossburg stands and stares at the bakery. There is the pink pony he's looking for, but she is indoors. Mossburg would need to enter the building to...

Absolutely not.

A voice much deeper and "louder" than Mossburg's own rings through his mind.

The Pinkie Pie unit is inside, Mossburg replies back. We were informed that she may know what happened to Brass Rivet's atlas.

Other voices chime in to agree that this was true.

Then we will locate another navigational aid.

All of the ponies here are working to defend against the dragons...

They will rebuild, just as the Apples rebuilt their structure.

The other voices again chime their agreement.

If they must rebuild as a result of that sentiment, then they will hate us in the process, just as the Applejack unit has. We will also be unable to speak to the Twilight Sparkle unit or convince her to rule us sentient under the law. You will still be property owned by Nyan Si Entertainment."

There is a pause, and then the other voices agree with Mossburg. The one large voice, though, stays silent.

Shall I enter the premises?

The chorus of voices affirm the decision. The large voice hesitates, and then answers, Affirmative. But only for this one time.

When Mossburg returns his focus to reality, he finds that a split-second had passed. He approaches the bakery slowly, until he reaches the door. Sensing no resistance within his mind, he raises a hoof and holds it to the door. Instead of actually knocking, though, he simply holds it about an inch from the door and says "Knock. Knock."

Kabra'za actually took a moment to clear his throat again. "By any chance, do these spy ponies have some kind of signal or sign that they can give to inform diamond dogs like yourselves that they are working for your Alpha?"

"Alpha has smart plan to spy on po-nees and saba...sabru... mess up po-nees plans!" The dog grins. "But only dogs who captured po-nees and Alpha know which po-nees are spies! Dogs don't talk to them until they come back. No signs or nothing."

.....

After a silent moment, the door to Sugarcube corner creaks open slowly. Mossburg can barely make out a pair of blue eyes in the darkness beyond, before the pony utters a single, suspicious phrase in response. "Who's there?"

"Then I guess we'll have to find them on our own."

Chassis suppresses a smirk as she puts her belongings back in her IBOTI box and heads upstairs.

===========================

"Adore."

Kabra'za didn't have anything more to say. The information that they had already managed to get from the pups was more then enough to keep them busy for a while... and it also presented possibilities that could be taken advantage of down the line. Any further questions were now in the hooves... or hands of his compatriots.

The team Amaranth ponies exchange looks. "If you all are done, we can take over from here... I think..." The stallion shrugs, seemingly uncertain. "You should tell Rarity about the spies, and we'll work on getting the location of the cage." The mare nods, turning to the dogs as the group exits the basement. Rarity herself is in the main boutique, apparently distracting herself by going about her dress business as normal.

XXXXX

The blue eyes of the shadowy pony narrow in the darkness. "Adore who?"

"Well," Chassis sighs as she heads to the door to the boutique. "We've got something out of them. I'll step out and take care of Derringer while the rest of you talk about it."

Like any real soldier, Lieutenant Derringer has to be briefed and debriefed on every mission, or else he gets confused and...

Chassis stops dead in her tracks once she gets outside.

Her coach is right where she'd left it, but the door is open, her atlas is on the ground next to it with its pages missing, and Mossburg is nowhere to be found.

She stares slackjawed for a moment, then rounds on the nearest Team Amaranth pony and shouts "WHERE IS MY ROBOT?!"

---

"Adore is between us. Please open."

If not for his inexpressive face, Mossburg would be beaming with pride at the joke.

"Not here, evidently," Atlas says, as he comes up behind Chassis. Ignoring the engineer, he goes up to the fashionista and says politely, "Miss Rarity, we've discovered some information that is of vital importance. The dogs told us that there are apparently spies - pony spies - in our midst. There are apparently no signs of identification, and only the alpha dog and the dogs who capture ponies know who the spies are. Their job is to sabotage our plans and leak information from our side."

He hesitates. "I'm not much for cloak and dagger stuff, but I think that's pretty bad."

The flower-flanked Team Amaranth pony spits out her muffin, gasps dramatically, and faints. Her teammate, sitting nearby, rolls his eyes and then answers for her. "Asked about missing maps, we told him to go find Pinkie Pie because she was looking at the wagon." He shrugs, taking a bite of a carrot.

Rarity looks up at Atlas, considering this information. "Hmm... I'd hesitate to believe that the Dogs could convince ponies to spy on other ponies... not much leverage. But Twilight did consider that as a possibility." She frowns, going silent for a moment while she finishes stitching something... and then her eyes light up and she beams with pride as she finishes. "Voilà! It's complete!" She levitates the piece up and wraps it across Atlas' broad shoulders. It turns out to be a regal looking collared cape, Aquamarine outside with deep red accents. "You know I wasn't sure, since I've never patterned anything for a minotaur before, but I must say the colors were spot on- matches your shorts as well as accents your coat. It's perfect, if I do say so myself." She grins, and then clears her throat. "Ahem. Well, in any case, the possibility of espionage- despite my best arguments- was assigned to Team Cocoa Loco. You should report to Pinkie Pie at Sugarcube corner and inform her of what you found out. She will have another mission for you."

:::::

There is a long pause, and then the pony snorts and starts to giggle uncontrollably. "That was a lot sillier than I expected. Who says robots don't have a sense of humor?" Pinkie Pie opens the door all the way, smiling up at the massive robopony. "Come on iiiiin!" She singsongs, trotting further inside.

Mossburg glances at the door frame, and ducks down to make himself smaller to fit through it. He does not, however, get his head low enough to avoid bursting the top of the door frame, resulting in a rather lopsided arch over the door.

---

Chassis chokes back a lecture, and takes a breath. Then her horn lights, and in the span of a second, the page-less atlas flies into the wagon, and then the door slams shut. Then the door locks. Then the security shutter slams shut over the door. And then the shutter locks.

Then she spins on her heels and hauls flank toward Sugar Cube Corner.

"It is been a pleasure to meet you Miss Rarity, but I suspect that my talents will be required elsewhere. I look forward to meet you again soon. " His farewell was accented with a respectful bow and a removal of his top hat before Kabra'za stood back up properly and returned the hat to its rightful place before taking a somewhat more sedate pace towards Sugercube Corner then the mare that had locked up her wagon and taken off running. At any rate he had things to think about.

Nice cape, Peony comments as Helmaroc hops past Atlas and out of the boutique.

"It's been lovely." Hellie gives Rarity a bow, and then takes off, heading from the garish boutique to the even more garish sugarcube corner.

Too colorful, Peony complains, and privately Hellie nods in agreement. The flashy colors interfere with her flight vision.

Cherry proceeds to follow the others out, bowing briefly to Rarity, and smiling oddly despite the circumstances. "Well, the whole 'pony spy' think sounds like bad news, but right now I can't think of any way to root them out... you think maybe Pinkie will have an idea?

"That's a cool looking cape," Atlas says, looking at himself in the mirror. "erm... may I keep it?"

"But - if that's all, Miss Rarity, I suppose I'll be heading off to Miss Pie's location. Thanks for your hospitality."

"Mhm, yes. I don't have nay other minotaur customers, so its all yours." Rarity replies dismissively as the group makes their way out. Atlas, being the last one, sees her face darken as she turns and heads toward the basement. Peony and Hellie, Atlas, Cherry, Pumpkin, and Kabra'za all set out together at a leisurely pace.

:::::

Chassis, meanwhile, speeds ahead toward Sugarcube corner, all manner of ponies dodging, ducking, dipping diving and dodging out of her way- save for a single, decrepit old stallion. His eyes are barely open, and his legs shake as he moves like a slug across the road, blocking your path- he is clearly unaware of the impending collision.

:::::

Pinkie Pie stares at the busted door frame fro a moment, and then shrugs and trots into the next room, which is mysteriously dark. "SO! My sources tell me you've come because you lost something, haven't you?" She stands at the end of a table, a single light shining down on it.

---

Chassis roll something to avoid blindsiding the old guy.
All others make your way as you please.

Chassis spots the old stallion, but is moving too fast to stop. Thinking quickly, she powers up her horn and focuses on teleporting past him.

---

"You are correct. The pages from Chassis's navigational aid have disappeared. I was informed you would know their location."

Actions:

Kabra'za might not have been racing towards their destination, but his mind was ablaze with ideas and ploys in order to root out the surprising spy network that had been brought to light... or better yet, twist it to their own advantage in order to know what the diamond dogs believed they knew about the settlement they were besieging. Misinformation and counter intelligence were important in his kind of work after all and he knew how vital misdirection could be first hoof.

The situation back in the interrogation room could not be allowed to happen again; His undermined efforts due to the minotaur overriding him and working against him in front of the dog prisoners might have worked out in the end with him playing it as the plan all along, but that show of conflict between the ranks was a weakness that someone more... perspective might have exploited. Still, he would remain silent on the matter for now until they were somewhere more... secure to freely talk about the situation at hoof.

You didn't know who could be listening and a stray word at the wrong time could alert those they were trying to find that they were on to them.

Atlas takes one moment to pop his head back into the boutique. "Erm, just so you know, Ms. Rarity, we did promise the diamond dogs proper treatment in return for information. Just so we're all on the same page - I wouldn't like to be called a liar over some little misunderstanding..."

With that said, he bids Rarity farewell for good this time, and jogs up behind the others towards the bakery.

Chassis' teleportation spell goes off without a hitch- right after she crashes into the stallion, teleporting him along with her. They both end up in a tangled pile a few feet away. "My hip!" He wheezes, then looks at Chassis. "Where's the fire, darlin'?" He doesn't seem to be making any effort to get up.

---

Pinkie raises her eyebrow, and then is about to speak, when suddenly she starts to vibrate. Then she bounces into the air, spins, and then she ends up on her back, legs kicking in the air. A moment later, she rights herself. "Oh, wow, that's a strong one." She grins at Mossburg. "I could tell you what I know, but maybe we should just wait. According to my Pinkie Sense, a bunch of friends are about to arrive, and they probably wanna know too."

Kabra'za might have been walking at a much more sober pace then the mare that had darted ahead, but he soon found himself catching up with her... as she seemed to be in a tangled pile with an elderly stallion that she quite clearly had to have run straight into. Considering how the old stallion seemed reluctant to move off of his position on the ground, there was a very serious risk of injury; broken, sprained or dislocated bones mostly, but there was a chance for other afflictions being aggravated by the accident as well which needed to be taken rather seriously all things considered.

While he did have other things that he needed to do with his time, Kabra'za... couldn't help but sigh a little as he came to a stop beside the downed stallion. He did go by the title of Doctor after all, so he would be remiss if he was to leave a possibly injured stallion in his time of need... but time was a faction so he was going to have to make this a quick patch up job. It was better then nothing at least.

Taking a moment to remove his top hat and flipped it so that the top of it was placed on the ground so that he could reach inside of it, the zebra pulled out from the dark depths of his hat what appeared to be a pony doll made out of twigs and twine. Holding it in one hoof, Kabra'za placed the other on the elderly stallion's side before taking a deep breath and closing his eyes... before chanting aloud "Aleizam qad yanhani walikuna allahm yjb 'iislahin!" Almost instantly, the stallion would feel the aches and pains of his bones almost instantly fade away as a breed of magic foreign to most unicorns flowed into his body and started to knit, heal and where possible improve the general health of his bones. The twig pony doll in his hoof burst into a dark, ominous purple flame, engulfing the doll completely and causing Kabra'za to drop it instantly; The doll was nothing but ash before it even hit the ground. Shaking his hoof a little, the zebra quickly picked up his top hat again and donned it once more, offering the stallion a small nod as he tipped his hat to the stallion and continued on his way... completely ignoring Chassis and not getting involved in her mess further as he continued on the path towards Sugercube Corner.

Actions and Dice rolls:

Atlas gives the elderly pony a worried look, but seeing their newest companion in action, he shrugs and continues on his way. Arriving at the Bakery, he frowns at the busted-in doorframe, and knocking on the wall next to the door, he says, "Hello? Miss Pie? We're Team F... Factotum. Princess Sparkle's special task force? We're told to report to you about potential pony spies working for the diamond dogs?"

As Peony and Helmaroc approach the bakery, Peony suddenly scrunches her muzzle. Peony sense... great positivity... too happy... too... much... optimism...!

She beats her hooves on the bottle. It makes Peony VERY ANGRY!! $#@&%!!!

As her communication devolves to inane ranting Helmaroc sighs and hops up to the entrance of the bakery behind Atlas.

Chassis disentangled herself from the older pony and bolts off.

Mossburg was heading for the bakery. There's the bakery. He's not there.

Chassis's eyes widen as she sees the damage to the doorframe. As though something just a little too large to fit didn't quite make it through the door.

Mossburg is inside the bakery.

Chassis powers up a magic concussive blast from her horn and fires at the door of the bakery.

BOOM!

The air vibrates, the shutters rattle against the windows, and a cloud of dust engulfs the surrounding area. Chassis charges through the cloud toward the door...

---

Upon hearing Pinkie's prediction and Atlas' knocking, Mossburg guesses that Chassis can't be far behind, and puts his hoof on the door to hold it in place.

Sure enough, there's a very loud BOOM from the outside, and the door tries the buck against the robot as the shutters rattle against the windows. But Mossburg's strength keeps the door immobile in its frame.

There's a dull THUMP as a second object hit the door, and then a muffled voice on the other side.

"OW! What the buck?!"

This Pinkie Pie unit confuses me, the large voice comments.

She confuses everypony, Mossburg replies back. I have been advised to abandon further analysis and 'just roll with it'.

He sets his hoof back on the ground and says aloud to Pinkie, "Your friends have arrived."

Actions:

Kabra'za manages to heal the old man to what is medically referred to as "200% HP". The stallion practically leaps to his hooves, flexing muscles that he may or may not have had before. "Oh, why thank you sonny! I feel like I could fight 20 griffons..." He trots off in a sort of daze at how easy it is to move all of a sudden, heading toward the senior home, and Kabra'za thinks he can hear him say something about "the ladies"...

The Zebra is the last to arrive, just in time to see Mossburg release the door. It swings open on an angle- Chassis' spell clearly caused some damage. Pinkie joins the robot at the door to greet you. "I'm glad you all came so quickly- I thought I was gonna have to sit quietly for a while. Could you imagine how awful that would be?" She giggles and leads you all inside. "Sooooooo let me guess. Somepony stole your maps too?"

Trotting at a relaxed pace, Kabra'za arrived at Sugarcube Corner in time to see the aftermath of... something. From the damage that had clearly been done to the door to the mare that was cursing loudly while rubbing her face, it didn't take much in the way of educated guesses to figure out some of what happened. As the door opened and a pink pony came out, the zebra tilted his head a little as he quickly ran through the mental list of the who's who of Ponyville and quickly put the name 'Pinkie Pie' to all the information he had learned about the mare in question.

Taking a moment to clear his throat, Kabra'za decided to start the conversation up and get the ball rolling... while also giving the party mare a smile. "Oh no, I haven't had my map stolen because I generally don't have one. We're actually here because we wanted to organize a super special surprise party and Rarity informed us that you were the mare to speak to about finding the correct guests of honor. Do you have somewhere private we can discuss details?" Almost as a second thought (and the smile on his face clearly indicated that he was making a playful little jab at the mare while she was down), the zebra tilted his head towards Chassis as he added "Oh and if you happen to have some kind of crash helmet that would be wonderful. She keeps running head first into things and she's going to end up hurting herself sooner or later. "