Whispering Darkness

[Cutiebone]

Cutiebone watched and waited.... "hmmhumhummmhmmm-HUMHUMHUMHUM!! hmmhmhhummhmm-HUM-MM-UM-MM!!!" she continues with the pretty loud spy music.

[The Stars]

<Range>    *She stops for a minute holding up one of her forelegs signaling Crimson to do so as well.*
<Crimson> : *He starts searching left and right along with his sister* Uhhh, where is... that...?
<Range> : *Range started looking at the post and started making more faces*    *She starts listening a little bit more until she begins to recognize the voice* Uuuuuuuuuh, Cutiebone, is... Is that you?

[Cutiebone]

Cutiebone leaped from behind the post and bounded over to Range and Crimson "You guys give me hope! You said you had clues or somthing?" She stood beside them as if she was there the whole time. Charlie the terrier ran beside Cutiebone and wagged his tail excitedly at the sudden change of atmosphere from his owner!

[The Wandering Magus]

Lord Fancy Pants the Fifth, Master of the Pants Estate, Keeper of the Triple Crown, Knighted Guard of the Royals, had been to many places and seen many things.  He had fought in wars, defended Their Majesties from assassins, traveled the world, lost and gained many fortunes, and even witnessed the return of two gods.

But never, in his entire life, had he ever been so... disturbed.

It was not a new feeling, of course, to be unable to use magic.  Assassins had tried that trick on him before during his time as a Royal Guard, and he had promised himself never to let himself be useless without magic.

A promise I kept quite well, smiled the aristocrat to himself as he carefully adjusted the straps holding the quill to his right hoof and dipped the pen back in the inkwell.

He had been busy buying up stocks in every single weapons and armor manufacturing corporation in the wake of the so-called "new age of peace" the press had been naively reporting.  Lord Pants knew better than to trust in such unrealistic hopes.  With the sudden disaster taking many others by surprise, the pony was finally reaping the monetary rewards of patience and realistic cynicism.

At his side stood Bloodblade, his ever-faithful butler and bodyguard.  The pegasus no longer carried his trademark wingblades, and his blank flank was covered with formal black trousers, pressed neatly and impeccably clean like most things in the estate.

Shadows flickered in the corner of the stallion's eye, and instantly a sword was pointed well into the darkness.  The only reply was a gentle whisper behind the pony's ear.

"Bonjour, milord."

Fancy patted the sweating bodyguard to reassure him that his rival was not about to assassinate anypony, and turned back to his papers without bothering to try looking for the mare.

"Bonjour, madame.  I assume that La Famille continues to maintain its reputation?"

A snort and a slip of paper softly drifting down to his desk were the only answers he received.  The stallion chuckled and took a look at the slip, his expression quickly growing grave.

"So it is as I feared.  This is more serious than I had thought.  All of Equestria, hmm?  Then there must be no more delay.  Inkblock, get the archivists and the researchers.  Though I fear it is already too late to reverse this course of events..."



Dr. Feather Scroll, PhD, Professor of Inter-Magical Forces, was finally forced to admit that this was an event that might be quite beyond even his genius to solve single-hoofedly.  Not that it stopped him from trying.

He was working furiously in his laboratory, but try as he might, there was nothing.  Magic, it seemed, had failed Equestria.  The only good news was that, for the moment, science was more than ready, at least within his laboratory, to replace it.

He stood before an entourage of government officials from all over Equestria, from military ponies to mayors and local leaders.

"Beaker, the hydrochloric acid and the capacitors.  Flask, make sure the nitroglycerine is fully absorbed in that cotton.  Data, you should have the information down, yes?  Good, I want this machine finished tonight.  The Ministry of Changeling Threat Detection and the Ministry of Imperial Defense will be needing hundreds of these within the month.  Now, if somepony could please pull the lever?"

One of his interns complied, and there was a whirring sound as petroleum entered the distillation chambers, the vapors were condensed, the liquid again vaporized and combusted, the combustion driving the pistons which drove the magnets which generated the lightning-fields which flowed through the copper until...

"Fillies and Gentlecolts, let me introduce you to what I call the Lightning Generator, or the Internal Combustion Engine.  Seeing as that the weather is more freakish than ever nowadays, this generator is capable of driving any number of lightning-based machines, such as light-emitting diodes, heaters, weapons, and auto-mobile carriages.  It no longer relies upon resources such as large rivers or wood, but can run simply on swamp gas, coal and that once-though-useless substance petra-oleum, called Rock Oil.  This, here, is the future of Equestrian economy."

He gestured to his interns, who attached the various devices.  Some shone like the sun, others warmed like artificial fire, still others could destroy targets from a hundred paces, and yet others still moved seemingly of their own accord.  It was almost like magic, even though magic had gone from the world.

Feather looked seriously at the assembled officials.  "This is not a replacement, however, of the skills that have been taken from us.  We must still adapt to these new developments, and with all haste.  But perhaps, with the Internal Combustion Engine, that adaptation process will be quicker and easier."

[The Stars]

<Crimson> *If Cutiebone notices, he's approximately 2.5x the size she is and about 4 times Range's size. He looks to Cutiebone and laughs nervously.* Hehehe, well yes... aaaaaaand no... Uh, I should explain- Ok, Since the newsletters say that the Crystal Empire won't be able to help us till next year, sadly, I've decided to try taking this case into my own hooves... Now, I noticed that the Crystal Ponies' magic is capable of purifying this condition, hooooweeeeverrrr, Though my studies on samples of those black crystals, I've concluded that there might be an alternative way to... Do so but, sadly I need a liiiittle more time for research. As of now we're off to see the shamare... Zecora I think her name was? Peculiar mare, always spoke in rhymes - Anyways, we're off to go visit her to see if she has any knowledge of what's going on and I wanna see what she can do to help.

<Range> : Um, Long story short Cutie, basically there IS hope for a cure, but we're gonna need a little more help and a little more time to find out what we need, so the 1st logical place he thought to start off at was Zecora.


<Price> :*He seems to just be wandering Ponyville, trying to get a few good sales here and there. Many ponies, however, don't seem to be in much of a mood to fool around with him at the moment.* ._." Man, tough crowd?

(( Oy, 9:30 already @.@ Gonna have to log off for the night. ))

[Coffee Rush]

(( Aw, but okay. I wanna RP with Price. ))
The violinist could only at best pluck the strings, instead of play the violin normally. Setting the bow next to the case she was sitting on, she began to pluck out a song. It was generally melancholy, but bits were tossed into the pouch she sat infront of her. Atleast it was profit.

[Cutiebone]

(( WAIT so Range is half of CB's size? You do know she's only a little bigger than a filly right? So you're saying Range is smaller than a filly   and I think it was Range who had that condition where she was too small her her age but she's like only a little bigger than a foal according to you... plus, you said she was a filly's size!))

Cutiebone nods in understanding. "Okay, I can come with you guys, right? I have every confidence Zecora will be able to help...and Charlie can come too?" Charlie's ears perk when he  hears his name.

[The Stars]

(( I think I'm getting my fractions mixed up here to be honest.... Hm, I think Crimson would be 3x Range's, which she is only about .75 as tall as CB... Which would amount up to Crimson being 2.25x? I mean, The princess would be around 2x the size of an adult, which CB is 75% the size of an adult,  Which I think an Adult's size is twice that of a little filly, correct me If I'm wrong... Soooooooo, Here's the tables I have now: Range is 3/4 Cutiebone size. Crimson is about 2.25 times Cutiebone's size and Range is about 1/4th of Crimson's size... Someone correct me on this if I'm wrong, cause I even lost myself along the way XD ))

<Crimson> Hmmmm, Well, it would be nice to have an Earth Pony test subject; this does effect races rather differently.

<Range> *She chuckles a bit and pets Charlie on his little head* Hey there little guy! Long time no see, eh?

<Price> : *He simply sighs and moves on from town square, no specific direction he's going to.* Some streak of luck... I only came to Equestria not even a month ago and business is actually worse than It was in Pisa... *His stomach starts grumbling and he groans.* For the love of - WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!? *He yelled out to himself, a few ponies averting his attention, speaking of things behind his back as they move on*

[Coffee Rush]

The violinist heard Price's shouting, wincing a bit. The strings were plucked continuously, and a few bits fell into the pouch of bits infront of her. Business was certainly slow, and would stop if her playing skills didn't return to her.

[The Stars]

One of the officials called to the meeting, a Guard of the Royal Army, stepped up and presented himself to Feather.

<Guard> : Excuse me, but, Mr. Scroll, you say this contraption of yours, the Internal  Combustion Engine, can run electrical surges through several applications ranging from basic home usage to our weapons in the military. If it's my business to ask, can this one simple machine power everything, or would we be needing to mass produce several engines to power all that is needed?

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<Price> *He grunts off in agitation and just lies down, mumbling to himself* Grrr... Here I was hoping things would be for the better... And they were for a moment... *He looks over to the violinist who continued to play, despite her unnatural failure. He sat there, listening to what she could only do and decided to spread a bit of generosity. He walked up over to her and dropped off 20 bits in her pouch.*

[Coffee Rush]

One of the officials called to the meeting, a Guard of the Royal Army, stepped up and presented himself to Feather.

<Guard> : Excuse me, but, Mr. Scroll, you say this contraption of yours, the Internal  Combustion Engine, can run electrical surges through several applications ranging from basic home usage to our weapons in the military. If it's my business to ask, can this one simple machine power everything, or would we be needing to mass produce several engines to power all that is needed?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

<Price> *He grunts off in agitation and just lies down, mumbling to himself* Grrr... Here I was hoping things would be for the better... And they were for a moment... *He looks over to the violinist who continued to play, despite her unnatural failure. He sat there, listening to what she could only do and decided to spread a bit of generosity. He walked up over to her and dropped off 20 bits in her pouch.*

(( Made it readable. Never use white.. ))
Artemis stoppe the song, looking up. She heard the twenty bits drop into the bag. Twenty bits was a lot for a passerby to give her, rarely did she web get ten from one pony.

[Lusterless Nova]

((I'm not sure where to join in. I don't get it where you guys currently are))

[The Wandering Magus]

One of the officials called to the meeting, a Guard of the Royal Army, stepped up and presented himself to Feather.

<Guard> : Excuse me, but, Mr. Scroll, you say this contraption of yours, the Internal  Combustion Engine, can run electrical surges through several applications ranging from basic home usage to our weapons in the military. If it's my business to ask, can this one simple machine power everything, or would we be needing to mass produce several engines to power all that is needed?

"Built on a large scale, a single machine is quite capable of powering everything as of this exact moment; however, I would suggest building several machines not only for security purposes through decentralization, but also in anticipation for what may be an industrial revolution.  If implemented, the potential for technological growth to compensate for the current lack of magic is enormous.  Imagine, if you will, every city, every town, every village and hamlet in all of Equestria, filled with auto-mobile carriages and lightning-lamps at every corner, devices which replicate the effect of dragon-breath and copy text from worlds away in the blink of an eye, machines heavier than air which can fly through the air at speeds comparable to sonic rainbooms, weapons capable of leveling cities in a flash.  All this, and more, could be at Equestria's disposal within just a few short decades, if this machine is implemented.  Of course, wells and mines will need to be dug to find sources for this new substance petra-oleum, but I am sure that the Ministry of Civil Engineering is more than up to the task."

[The Stars]

(( Well, most of everypony, aside from the officials and Magus, are around the Ponyville Marketplace. Magus is off in his laboratory presenting his latest invention))

Most of the officials began chattering rather excitedly, lights from cameras flashing in the audience. Some officials started jumping in the way of the guard, almost causing him to trip over. He simply chuckled and decided to wait somewhere away from the crowd and listen. The Mayor of Trottingham yells out from the audience, everypony else falling silent except for the sound of pictures flashing.

<Mayor> Mr. Feather, sir, I would like to ask what other inventions will inspire from your fantastic invention? Would technology soon grow on and leave no use for magic in the world of tomorrow?

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<Price> *All he seem to do is stand by his marketing space and yells out to the residents, making a sales pitch.* Citizens of Ponyville, come one, come all! Witness the amazing health benefits of potions from around the world, from Equestria to Heliopolis,from the commerce town of Pisa to the cultural decor of the Crystal Empire! I've got it all, not to mention at quite a bargain!

[Lusterless Nova]

Nova overhears the announcement of a changeling on the marketplace and goes there. He manages to get through the crowd.
(I wonder if he has something for...)
he seems to look for something specific.

[The Stars]

(( Price is a Changeling... Not disguised either ))

[Lusterless Nova]

(( Nova is used to changelings. He even takes care of one in life in ponyville. But i guess i should edit my post. [30 seconds later] Done))

[The Stars]

(( Ah yes, I almost forgot ))
<Price>: Got any scrapes, cuts, burns? No worries! A simple Life potion should do just the tr- *He looks to notice Nova passing by and smiles* Ah, a customer! What will you be having today, stranger?

[Lusterless Nova]

Nova turns to the changeling merchant.
Greetings.
Do you happen to have something to... i don't know... Restore special powers?

[The Stars]

<Price> *He starts to frown a bit. He already knows what Nova means.* I'm terribly sorry sir, but as far as I know, there is no cure for the complications Equestria recently began suffering.