Azrael sighed. "Fine. Cannot stop you. You're an adult..." He answered Cricket, "He'll take it if the surrounding demons can't smell you. My understanding is they recognize Asmodeus as the Mutt." "Buck off with that nickname," Asmo said half-jokingly.
A wave of retcon energy washed over the bar, changing the shade of the wall paint to one hue brighter. It was probably nothing. ******************************************************************************* "I am perfectly capable of handling this on my own," Cricket said indignantly, morphing into Asmo. "You look like a butt farted," Hope observed. Cricket sighed and shifted back. "I'm not much of a flyer anymore, but I'm still an enchantress. And a black belt. And I don't need to mask my scent. A changeling disguise..." she shifted into a red-scaled demon, and the scent of brimstone immediately filled the air. "...is perfect." *****************************************************************************8 Blackheart nodded. "I see. Good luck then."
"Ew." Maya promptly covered up her nose. "Not in my bar, dude, that stinks." "You don't know what the demons look like in my circle," Asmo pointed out. "I do. Wanna observe?"
Rep: Thank you. I bid you farewell. (With that, he started walking along the path, and the lighted beam that had been emitted from the mini black hole, vanished as Rep followed it, disappearing behind him as he walked.)
Cricket shifted back with a shrug, and the stench faded. "I assume they look something like that guy in the bag... HOPE PUT THAT DOWN!" Hope had recovered the demon head and was currently using it to put on a puppet show for Windsor. Begrudgingly, she shoved her new toy back into the bag and stomped away to sulk. With a sigh, Cricket continued. "I know what the head looks like. Show me the body."
"Whelp, here we go..." Asmo shifted into one of his demon kin. He had spines in place of a mane, thick scales where his mane should be, a reptilian tail, slit pupils, and thick, webbed feet.
Rep: (Finding his way out of the facility, and promptly flashing into travel, quickly arrives near the bar, far enough away to muffle any majorly loud noise the transport may make, but not far enough to fully hide a crackling, from those with sharp hearing that were paying attention)
Cricket copied the form Asmo took perfectly, then began shifting slight details to make the demon appear to be a different individual. "I assume you have males and females?" she asked, morphing the form into a more comfortable feminine shape.
Rep: (Walking into the bar, brushing leaves off his head and shoulders, as they had blown there due to a breeze on his way to the bar) Hello all. (Looking around) Huh.
Silver and Staal stood on the bridge of the cloaked Luna, scarcely believing what they were seeing. They'd heard the stories of the Imperial Megaphere --an impossibly massive structure, built to harvest the energy of the star sealed within. Huge. Gargantuan. REALLY FRICKING BIG. Seriously, I can not drive home hard enough how enormous this thing is. At nearly one million miles in diameter, it dwarfed entire planets. On Earth, it would be called a Dyson sphere. Having never heard that term, Staal chose to simply call it what it was. "Impossible." Silver arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" Staal snorted. "I mean that thing out there. It shouldn't exist. How are we supposed to take down something like that?" "A good question. How many ships have joined the Grand Fleet? All told." "Just over four million. But most are civilian craft. Transport ships and freighters. Barely armed, many without even basic shields." Silver shook his head. "Not enough." "So now what? We leave the Apophii with their greatest weapon? Let them rebuild and regroup, to terrorize the galaxies again? They have enslaved a star, Silver. How do we defeat such power?" "I do not yet know. For now, let us leave this place."
Rep: (Addressing the bar crowd at general) Any reason for the two, what seems to be quadrupedal cacti-swamp thing hybrids standing in here?
Nightshade nodded. "Oh, that's just Cricket and Asmo. We're getting ready to toss them into Tartarus to see if we can lure out Az's brother so we can murder him. Again. Kinda hope it sticks this time."
Rep: (Looking slightly shocked, before quickly composing himself) He's still alive?!? Ugh. Alright. You need any help, call the Council, or make a wish if you can't get through, or can't find the number, or something. I guess just try weird communication methods, eventually one of them will answer. Heck, once, one of them answered to someone yelling madonkey at a banana that they had painted blue with orange polka dots on one half, and then had set the banana on fire before throwing it into a spatial anomaly. We're still not sure why the person did that before testing what the anomaly was doing....but it got the Council's attention.
"We're all both sexes at once," Asmo clarified. "But some of us have a more girly body and voice, if that helps at all." "Looking to have a drink?" Maya asked Rep. "Sorry I'm not as attentive, dude, we're all just trying to hear the plan."
Rep: Oh? So there is a plan to, lemme guess and speculate here, dive into Tartarus, and kill an undead demon monster, fueled by the rage and energies of Apophis? Please correct me if I'm wrong, and I don't mean to be rude.
"Not quite," Nightshade said. "Cricket's no match for Belial, especially now that he's part Apophis. And I doubt Asmo would last long by himself. So we're gonna let these two get his attention, and lure him up into the ambush we'll have waiting for him." Cricket shifted back, confident that the new form was good enough to fool the demons of Tartarus. "Three, actually. Winter's coming with me and Asmo." Nightshade scoffed. "My mother is busy playing with her Guild friends. I doubt she'll..." "No, Song-Bug is right," Winter Night interrupted, putting down the hood of her invisibility cloak. "There's not a pony in Equestria or a demon in Tartarus that can detect me if I don't want them to. That's why I'll be keeping an eye on those two. Just in case." Nightshade sighed. "Fine. When did you even get here?" "Last night. I fell asleep at the booth with my hood on. Maya locked me in."
Rep: Well that sounds like fun. (Isn't surprised by Winter's appearance.) Hello, formerly invisible pony, I'm unsure if we've met.
Winter shrugged. "These things happen." Moonshine, who had by this time already ordered --and finished-- several large whiskeys, trotted over. "Hey, Guild Mistress. I have something for you." Winter, the secret leader of the secret Thieves Guild, winced. "Seriously? Just, right out in public. In front of three Night Guards. Okay then." She sighed wearily. "What is it?" Moonshine tossed her the communication device Silver had given her. "Gift from your husband. " "That's not funny." "Seriously. He's alive. I talked to him two hours ago."
Rep: Well, anyways I'm looking for a friend of mine, and my so-called tracker sent me here. Any "presences" that have been felt, or can't be explained easily?
