The Stallion looks at her, shaking his head. "There's a few ponies. Umm...There's Gel, uuuhh, Gust and umm..." His head droops, then suddenly shoots back up. "Uh! There's Tyro and Phoenix but...umm..." "They might be busy." Dusky adds. "...They might be in trouble and not allowed to do anything again." The stallion said. "But this seems like the kind of weirdness they'd like."
"Well, I should look for them if I want some help." Silver said after a moment of thinking. Wonder who those were though. She should ask around if she wanted to know. "Do you know where I can find them?" She then added as she looked back at the ponies.
"Second floor, office 23." Dusky said. "You'll spot it by the comic book poster on the front door and the books and the plushies." "They like soft toys..." The stallion shrugs and then goes back to reading the same word over and over.
(Sorry for the delay. Had a really busy week) A comic poster and plushies. Was she dealing with foals? Oh dear. "Right. Thank you!" She said with a friendly smile and nod before walking off to the office in question. Well, it should be easy to spot with that description, right?
The poster itself was of a rockband, a thrashy sort of thing with the lead singer belting into a microphone and a guitarist beside him that shreds those frets eagerly. Both were dressed in ragged leathers across the poster. There were a few more inside the office, visible from the open door. There's also a desk just about in view, a few soft toys sitting on the edge. All of foxes of various sides, a few of them sitting on books. "What do you think for lunch?" The voice was careful and deliberate, making sure you heard every vowel. "Burgers. I'm always hungry for burgers after getting told off." The other was comparatively lax, skating through his words with reckless abandon. "He was angrier than I saw him." "We got through by the skin of our ar...flanks. What did you expect?" "A little sympathy. We returned the jewels." "We sabotaged diplomatic relations to do it. The funny thing is, it was your idea for once." "Best strategy for the moment." "Not doubting it. It's the crap assignments from here on out I'm not enjoying."
Well, this was... something. The voices from inside... it was not exactly what she expected to hear when she first arrived. Oh well. Though the posters and the toys did kinda turned her down on the idea of asking them for help. It felt a bit... childish. At least for her. She was playful sometimes and stuff, but this for her was a bit too much. "Uhm... excuse me..." Silver said knocking the door before slowly opening it to see inside and see whoever was behind the door. She wondered how this... uhm... she was not sure what they were, so she assumed ponies, as she managed to see several fox plushies. It would be a bit odd for a fox to have a fox plushie, right?
And yet the fox sitting at the desk did have fox plushies. And he was starring right at her as if she'd been beamed in from space. Having stepped in, the place was awash with random paper, books and discarded cups. It was a nucleus that centered around where this other fox was. He sits, like in the path of an oncoming train, for a short moment as if processing the event of Silver entering the room. Once that was done, he slips from his chair and onto the floor, a flick upwards from the two white-tipped brushes that streak through the air behind him as he shifts, walking over to the other kitsune in the room. His frown suggested incredulity. He sits before her and looks her over, his head bobbing up and down and all around while he tries to run some form of visual test to see if she's real or not. The dirty scarlet fur of his was shaggy, especially on his head. A few crumbs left within the proverbial black socks covering his paws and lower legs. "Uuuhh...You are real right? Because if this is a disguise, picking an Endangered Species in Equestria doesn't earn you brownie points." Another pony sticks his head around the door; a grey-ish green with a quiff and an equally fascinated look on his face. "Do you have a sister?" He asks. "Not here." Tyro said, nudging Silver gently but testingly in the chest with his paw.
"R-right... I..." Silver was mostly confused by all the sudden attention she just got. Although there seemed to be another kitsune between them, which she took rather well, it was a bit confusing and overwhelming at the moment, even more with how much attention she was getting! "Yes, I am real..." She first said, although she understood why the other kitsune would feel like that. The only other of her, well... their, species she ever knew was her family. Also... brownie points? What? She gave a step back when her Tyro nudged her chest. What was he trying to do? ... ... "Anyways. Uhm... hello! My name is Silver Soulfire!" She said once she calmed down after all. "I.. was told you could help me with some problem that has come up." She added.
"Ah! Paperwork." Tyro said immediately, nodding. "Got a mythical creature that can defy death, breathe fire and detect magical fields as well as a Unicorn then put them on pen-pushing. Lovely stuff." The irony was palpable there as he spoke, heading back to his desk and back to the copy of Fantasma and Skullduggery #67 that was sitting there, flicking back to to the last page he read and looking down on it. He hunched over it as he flicks through the comic as it lies on the table. For all intents and purposes, checked out. Phoenix smiles politely, approaching from round the door. "How can I help? Is it the 450 Form and the Article 6 Report? Same thing, just copy the info into the similar labeled boxes. Use different ink. Trips up newbies all the time." Phoenix's accent seemed to make understanding him easier somehow. It highlighted vowels in words you forgot had them with care and ease as if ensuring that no syllable is wasted.
Silver blinked. Although she understood why they quickly assumed it was just paperwork. She had been assigned paper work, and a lot, before. That was kinda like 70% of her work since she entered. "No. It is not paperwork. At all." She soon stated to pretty much both. "No. Uhm... you know about the weird possessed squirrel right? Well, I am tracking down the source of it and I need help with it. I was told I could find help here." Sighs and shrugs. "I do hope you are up to what the rest said about you..." Giggles to herself, trying to tease them so they agree to help her.
The little nudge might have been ignored as both faces look at her with a sudden surprise. Tyro puts down the comic and Phoenix's calm politeness melts into sudden interest. "The Squirrel? You'd get us near the squirrel?!" Tyro asks, a grin forming. "It is a dangerous job." Phoenix said. "From what I know, it's a manifestation of Negative Emotional Energy that's resonating within the body of the animal and causing it to exhibit strange behaviours and aggressive tendencies. Dangerous work." "Yeah, think of...uuuhh, think of having a sugar rush but instead with residual Alicorn magic." Tyro adds in clarification. He's sat up now, taking interest as Phoenix moves across the office to a chest, opening it up with his hoof and picking through the contents. "Magic in Equestria works on an emotional spectrum and Alicorns are a cause of powerful diversion of that power. Consciously, they can move the sun and moon; any number of great things." Phoenix pulls something out; a file. "Though by mistake..." Tyro adds. "Perhaps when angry to the point of madness, desperate for approval and wishing on every star in the sky you made happen for a solution to show up just for you..." Phoenix drops the file on the floor in front of Silver. Inside is a small pile of documents and a few sketches of a tall Unicorn and a familiar Alicorn. Most of which would come from Nightmare Night imagery. Of course, Nightmare Moon is known throughout the land but the other? "It's polymorphic and appears to be parasitic. It uses the host to give itself a stable form, feeding off the host and allowing it to use it's full range of abilities. It's known to be aggressive, hostile to all ponies-" "And is looking to take over the world." Tyro adds over the top. "It seems to act as a kind of emotional magnifier. It turns up your insecurities to maximum so you'll agree to say bundled up and out of sight so it can strut around in it's swanky new body." "Based on first-hand testimony. It's been hiding ever since." Phoenix said. "Yeah, in animals." Tyro said. "So! How do you plan to follow a tiny, evil squirrel?"
(Sorry for the delay. Partial exams came and had been busy since they started) "So, let me get this straight. You are saying that whatever possessed the little squirrel is some sort of residual alicorn magic from a strong emotion, most likely anger in this case, that acts like a parasite and invades a host to survive, from the strongest emotion the host has?" Looks a bit confused yet at the same time, understanding all the information that just came to her by both Tyro and Phoenix. "And most likely, as well, from non other than Nightmare moon...?" Looks at the photo, kinda realizing what happened there but not who that was. "... and it possessed this pony as well at some point I take it? Honestly, the mane and her hight gives it away." Shakes her head a bit. "But yes. While I was walking to get some files, I noticed the dome the squirrel is, and asked around a bit. They asked me, ... well, I offered myself to be exact, to try and track down the source." Looks at both Tyro and Phoenix. "Well, I do have knowledge on occultism and my nose is good enough to track down where the squirrel came from, but I still don't have a solid plan on how to do that." Shrugs a bit. "I was kinda going to figure it out on the fly..." blushes a bit in embarrassment at that last part
(Been busy and broke myself. Second year is harsh, yo!) "You're going to sniff this thing?" Tyro said, a little surprised at that. "That's risky. If it goes through a town or city, you'll lose it immediately." "How come?" Phoenix asks. "Scent pools and if there's lots of ponies in one area, then trying discern between one scent and another gets harder to do as they mix. It's like trying to separate different coloured inks in water. Longer it lingers, longer it mixes." Phoenix nods: "Interesting. What about it's magical energy signature?" "If it goes anywhere highly populated, it's the same thing. Harder to separate out. And it's tiny so it can hide really easy." "Hmm..." Phoenix raises a hoof to his chin as he thinks. "I could attempt to cast a spell on it. Make it more visible or maybe track it with a spell." "If magic will work on it, sounds good. Then two trackers will make lighter work." Tyro nods in concurrence. "I'll find something useful." Phoenix turns for his desk. "OK, Rookie. Let's sniff a squirrel." Tyro smiles, watching Silver to move.
