"The latter." Maya leaned in, saying quietly, "We can trick him. Get this over with, make way for a less tired threat, huh? We just need somepony to pose like one of his and lure him up for a trap."
"Hmmmmmmmmm..." Nightshade scratched her chin with exaggerated thoughtfulness. "Who do we know that has experience in Tartarus and can pretend to be somepony they're not?"
"I dunno anypony like that," Raven played. "Do you, Maya?" Maya shook her head. "Nnnnnnope. Dude like that'd be waaaay useful, though." Dusty sighed. "Let's just go ask him, ladies."
Rep: (speaking from nowhere in particular, should be audible to most nearby.) I'm still here, decided to step out for a moment, check on a few things if I can.
Nightshade shrugged, and aimed a projectile peanut up Asmo's nostril to get his attention. It wasn't the first time she had done it to him. Probably at least fifty by now. And it hadn't stopped being funny. "Hey! Asmo! We need you to go on a suicide mission!" ******************************************************************* Silver nodded. "Very well." Staal grunted in annoyance. "Disembodied voices, a very obvious drunkard, and one of your own people who seems to dislike you very much. Is this all the backup your beloved Equestria sends?" Silver shook his head. "They are not backup. Were they here to assist us, my daughter... and his son... would be among them." "So what in the Goddess' name are they doing here? Why now?" "A very good question, my friend. Moonshine, what is going on?" Moonshine explained the series of events that had led them into an uncontrolled hyperspace jump without a destination, as the two armored Dracaryns wandered below to find the galley.
Rep: Oh I have a body, I'm just not physically on the ship, friend of Silver. Bit busy right now. (Attempting to appear in the bar, but having trouble.)
"So the scans show anything interesting?" "The ship we followed is powered by magic. The deeper scans on it capabilities aren't done yet." "Magic. So it's a ship Lio couldn't ride. Not in his true body at least." "So if those two ships end up classing, are we siding with one or the other?" "We're just here to observe. After the deep scans come back we can return to Equestria and maybe hit another bar." She was not in the mood for fighting and their craft was the smallest. She knew what the Strafe could take, but was not in the mood for fighting. (Up to you guys what the scans see or don't see. Aside from the power source that I already see that is.)
"Well, okay, it's what I live for!" Asmo sneezed the peanut out, waddled over to Nightshade and friends, then sniffed the bag on the counter. "Hey, why's this smell similar to me?"
"Y'all know we're bein' scanned, right?" Moonshine controlled the computer with her magic, trying to figure out where the scan was coming from. "You were followed," Silver stated. "We found it not long after you arrived. My chief engineer says it is likely Cybertronian technology. It is, however, out of phase, so we were unable to get a complete scan." "Cybertronian?" Blackheart scoffed. "Why would they follow you? Equestria hasn't been in contact with the Autobots in over two hundred years!" (Implying that at some point in the past, Equestria had some kind of publicly acknowledged contact with Cybertron. I leave it to you to decide what it was.) ********************************************************************************************************************** Nightshade poked the bag, and the head rolled out onto the bar. "Open your eye and take a look."
Asmo opened his eye to look, only to take a frantic step back. "What the buck is this?!" Azrael furrowed his brow, watching the head roll from his seat. "Well then..."
Rep: Silver, by any chance would the engines of your ship have anything to do with black hole conversion or field displacement? Or is there anything like that near the Twilight Sparkle? I can't seem to transport a manifestation or my whole being to Equus.
"It is just a basic mu-cat drive," Silver replied. Rep would almost certainly know that mu0n-catalyzed fusion reactors were widely used in starships, and were known to be safe, reliable, and fairly cheap. ************************************************************* "Friend of yours?" Nightshade asked. "A cousin, maybe?"
"Based on the news we've been hearing from Tartarus, we have to assume that Belial sent him." Nightshade shoved the head back in the bag. "And you know what that could mean."
Azrael responded with a low growl. "Don't you use that name unless you know for sure." "How else could this have gotten out?" Asmo asked. "They're four levels down!"
Rep: Hmm. It seems something has happened either here or at the bar, or quite possibly both, that has scrambled a portion of Spacetime and is preventing me from traveling. *A shadowy form of Rep wavered in the bar before flickering out*
Nightshade arched an eyebrow. "So you're from the fourth circle, huh? Can I ask you something?" ********************************************************************************* Blackheart activated a specialized scanner and walked back over to the captain's chair. The scanner would make a detailed map of any anomolies or disturbances within a one light-minute area. Should the problem turn out to be local, they would find it.
"We know there are seven levels of Tartarus, right? But do they mean anything? Like, I read one theory that the circles correspond to the Seven Deadly Sins from the old myths. The deepest is supposedly Wrath, so..." She grinned. "Is any of that true? Which one are you?"
Asmo rolled his eyes with a groan. "Wrath is cheap. Easy. I'm gluttony. Most ponies have the order wrong. And for some reason mix my name up with lust."
