My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: It Came From The Stars (Rated T)

[DVB]

It was mere months after the defeat of the shadow of the late of King Sombra. The Crystal Empire returned to normal and the ponies moved on with their lives. The young dragon Spike was rewarded for his courage and Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor watch over the Empire. As the Empire reconnected with the frigid northlands and spread out, it seemed as if things were going to last pleasantly.

In fact, it seemed as if all evil in Equestria had been trapped or defeated or even vanquished. Beyond the borders of Equestria, the kingdoms and other areas are at peace. The ponies of Equestria could go about their merry days and happy nights learning about friendship and love. It was a wonderful time. Unfortunately, all times of peace must come to an end. For while all threats in Equestria may be gone, threats beyond the world were not excluded. In fact that was what happened. One crisp evening, a shooting star landed over in the Everfree Forest...

Specifically, to the Tree of Harmony... Known only to powerful and old beings like the princesses, it was where the Elements of Harmony were retrieved. The tree did not fall from the strike. The star was no star nor a stone. It withstood the blow of the large isohedron shaped metallic craft. It glowed as light came from several lines and characters and hatches opened. Strange liquid-like metal oozed out as it attempted to cover the tree. However, the tree glowed as the strange metal began building around it and it flooded. The tree's magic influenced their A.I. immensely. The magic gave them... no it... conscious. It has motive now... drive... purpose... it knew what it needed to do. The old robots became modified to fit the aesthic as the liquid metal merged with the landscape and some of the livestocks.

Several weeks ago, Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Celestia and her friends went into the woods to investigate... unfortunately, they never came out. Hours turned to days which turned to weeks... An official search party was sent but they too visited... Eventually, there was a spotting of Twilight Sparkle... but she looked radically different. She looked like she was made out of a liquid metal. It was mainly chrome colored, but there was a mild tint of her coat. She also had certain segments that glowed. The main part were the eyes, they were glowing and empty. Beyond that, the mane also was metal but with strands of colored light. Her cutie mark was also glowing and where her horns was there was also colored lighted, but brighter than the normal. She teleported across town before she attempted to fetch the Elements. However, Spike the Dragon spotted her and teleported the Elements away upon seeing the changed Twilight Sparkle. The mission compromised, she teleported.

Since then, ponies have mysteriously been kidnapped from Ponyville and there were sightings beginning to reach out. Meanwhile, some people who escaped these 'metal ponies,' reported radical changing in the wild life, resembling sleek and metallic, converging deeper into the forest. Ponyville is under lockdown and with the town under martial law. The ponies are afraid and the Princesses have been converging with the leaders of other communities to maintain order.

However, Spike can no longer bear it and so he has hired a detective who dealt with the strange... Fringe Truth. Fringe accepted the case on the terms he could bring others to investigate this phenomena. All parties unaware of what truly laid in the Everfree Forest. Whether you lost someone, you knew someone who lost someone or attracted to the possibility of something new, you join up with Fringe Truth, in hopes you can discover what is going on.

You arrive at the base of the investigation, the Golden Oaks Library. Here, Spike has been gathering all the reports and sightings of the steel ponies. No one knew what connection they had to the missing ponies, but they probaby had something to do with the Elements of Harmony.

Right now, you all gotta arrive in order to read the letter that Princess Celestia has sent to you all.

May friendship be with you.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fringe Truth
Paranormal Detective
Location: Golden Oaks Library:
Status: In Ponderment

It was a day of overcast. It was slate gray and cool... not comfortably cool, but the sort of steely chilly feeling that comes on uncertain days. This was definitely one of those days, Fringe thought as he got the bullentin board ready for Spike to present everything when the group arrived to hear. Ponyville has seen better days... The town's morale was only high thanks to Happy Golucky and his cheery attitude.

Apple Acres was only doing okay with some hired help and things were being okay for the town for now. However, the town couldn't hold out much longer with the fear, even with the new guards and the auxillary volunteers that arrived from the Griffin lands and the Minotaur lands.

Action needed to be taken. He sighed before he looked at the door. He hoped everyone would arrive okay.

 

[Monster Guy]

(OOC: Yes, this post is mostly C/Ped from the last thread, with only a few changes. I'm much too busy to type something new. )

Happy Golucky
Baker
Ponyville Apartments - #215
Status: happy-go-lucky

Happy Golucky was standing in front of an oven waiting for his cupcakes to finish baking. Once the timer went off, he threw a hoof up in the air. "Yay, it's done!" He pulled out a cupcake pan holding thirteen chocolate cupcakes out of the oven, and sniffed it. "Mmm, These came out great!" He carried it over to the window, and set it down by the windowsill to let cool down a little bit. Once it was it cooled to a more reasonable temperature, he could start applying frosting and other toppings to make this cake really look nice.

It was ridiculously early in the morning for Happy to be up, but here he was baking Cupcakes. He was excited for the adventure that was to start tomorrow. Now, he couldn't get back to sleep, so he decided to get some baking done to pass the time. After saving bits from his job as a Baker, he moved out, and rented his own apartment that was still close to where his mom and sisters lived. Although it sometimes got lonely living on his own, he did like being able to do things whenever he wanted; Like get some baking done without bugging his family members.

Happy didn't really have much to do today. It was his day off, and regardless, business at the Sugarcube corner has been slow after ponies started disappearing. No one was having any parties, which mean few ponies threw parties that needed catering, or bought any cakes. Ditzy Doo still ordered her usual muffins every day though, so the place wasn't completely desperate for business. Additionally, everyone in town was on edge, and Pinkie Pie wasn't around to make them laugh. Some ponies have become very irritable. He could understand their sentiments though. He'd be scared too if there was a he or his loved ones could disappear. Regardless, he still came in for work with a smile on his face, like always. After all, being depressed and worried all the time wasn't going to get anypony anywhere.

As Happy packed his freshly baked cupcakes into his bag. The ones he had just made were normal chocolate cupcakes. He had always found that when times were tough, there was nothing like sweet treats to lift your spirits. He had also packed some of his special magical cupcakes, because they would surely be needed for something like this. Once he confirmed that he had everything he was going to need, he slung the pink saddlebag over his shoulder. "Everything's all ready to go! The sooner I got there, the sooner this whole investigation...thing can get started!" The Red Earth Pony trotted outside, locked his apartment door with the key in his mouth, and headed in the direction of the library.

 

[bronislav84]

Lektra Bolt
Inventor Extraordinaire
Lektra's Hut, Basement
Status: Sleepy

"And......finished!" I exclaimed, standing back and wiping my brow of sweat with a floating towel. The workshop was a mess of wires, leftover metal, pipes, and leftover conduction coils. I was tired, having gotten little sleep this past week.

I had just finished my new invention, the Automated Stove-Oven. Testing it would be up to the recipient. I just didn't find doing that very exciting. The Cakes would either like it or not. If the thing even worked. I was sure the insides were all correct, and it just needed to be powered up.

Time to cast the spell. I had memorized this and had done it a lot of times, and it usually worked correctly. I sparked up my horn with lightning and magic. "Your purpose is to learn how to cook stovetop and oven recipes cooked on and in you, then learn to make them yourself if the right ingredients are laid out in front of you. You will obey anypony who works at Sugarcube Corner, and me of course." I recited it's purpose, with my horn power directing the spell as designed. "Automated Stove-Oven! Come! To! Life! " Saying the last three words with emphasis, I then shot the spell at the Automated Stove-Oven, eyes glowing white. The Stove-Oven glowed yellow before whirring to life. Eight mechanical limbs appeared from the back. The arms began to flail around randomly to signal that it was on and functioning properly. After that, they folded themselves back into the thing. Well, time to deliver this.

"Sparky!" I yelled for the automaton. Where was that darn thing? Probably out dusting or cleaning. He didn't take too long and rolled out from the basement on his wheels, holding a rag in his claws.

"Yes Lektra? Do you require something?" He asked with a voice that sounded barely male. The voice was emotionless, dull, and droll; Enough to put anypony to sleep just hearing it. One of these days I had to upgrade Sparky, but not now. I kept putting it off.

"Sparky I need you to transport this to Sugarcube Corner. Flat Cart mode, please." I asked him, naming one of his many convenient transformation modes.

With a flash of light he reshaped himself into a flatbed cart with four wheels for transport and lowered the back part like a wheelbarrow for me to load the Stove-Oven onto. I then used my magic to push the Stove-Oven onto the cart. When it was loaded he picked up the ramp and beeped. I jumped on top of the boxes. Sparky had no trouble rolling the cargo and me out the door (Which I locked of course) and to the bakery.

On the way I checked the mail. There was a large bag of Bits delivered from the patent office. I had quite a lot of patents out at the patent office, and anypony who used them had to pay a monthly licensing fee. We could pick it up later. Not like I needed money right now, anyway. I'd been previously informed to head to the Golden Oaks Library. I had plenty of time to deliver the Stove-Oven before meeting the others.

We continued rolling toward Sugarcube Corner at a brisk pace, past ponies out doing whatever they usually did in the morning. Rolling past the Market, I got quite a few stares and a lot of eye rolls. I could almost hear their thoughts. Oh look, there's Lektra with her new invention that will ultimately fail. No, I had to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they rolled their eyes and stared at something else. Maybe. While I was absorbed in my thoughts, we had arrived at the bakery. I headed over to the door with Sparky following behind with the cargo.

There was a sign on the door saying they might not open today. Oh well. We could just leave the Stove-Oven there for them. It's not like anypony would steal it. I motioned to Sparky to lower the thing next to the door, and he then transformed back into robot form.

"Well that's all we can do. Time to get to the library. Sparky, Wing Pack mode please." In a flash of light he transformed into a winged saddlepack and strapped to my back. We then flew off, kicking up some dust. Not quite as fast as a Pegasus, but good for getting around. We were so high up I could already see the library. We probably shouldn't have even flown, but it was fun to make a flashy entrance. I'd wait a bit to land and see who else was coming.

 

[Tangeh]

Indigo "Indi" Knight
Class A Chess Player / Tutor
Ponyville Apartments - #214
Status: Focused

An indigo mare stared intently down at the chessboard in front of her. Her horn poked out of her pink bangs and glowed consistently silver, yet she was scribbling in the notepad beside her with her teeth. It wasn't quite that she couldn't do two spells at once, but the precision required to write legibly dictated that multitasking might not be a great idea at the moment. The seat across from her was empty, and she nudged her opponent's black queen over one space with a hoof. "Queen to E8..." she muttered before picking up her pen to make another note. She then nudged her own queen over one space - the glow of her horn suddenly flared scarlet and let off alarming sparks. Indigo chuckled to herself. "Yes, yes, queen to G5 - right in the diagonal path of the pawn at H6, I know." Her eyes shifted upward in amusement, but her horn continued to glow red.

"Pawn to G5." She tipped over her own white queen and her horn calmed back into silver. A tiny smile escaped her as she went to record the result again - few things made Indigo Knight so happy as chess, though she rarely outwardly showed it, even in the privacy of her own home. The window across from her was open and a gentle breeze was wafting in. Ordinary she would close it lest it knock one of her chess pieces over and potentially ruin her test run, but today the scent of cupcakes had filled her house and she didn't have the resolve to stop it. No doubt they were from her neighbour, Happy - although a typical occurrence, it was a rare treat for his baking to begin so early in the day. ...Was there a reason he was up so early? Indigo couldn't remember.

She paused only to sip at her mug of coffee, then eagerly turned her attention back to the chessboard. "Bishop to G5," she said, knocking over the pawn which had claimed the life of her queen. "Annnnd..." she adjusted her glasses and scanned the chessboard. As she had planned, the black king was now stuck between its own queen which she had previously lured out, a pawn which she hadn't allowed to move more than one space all game, and all four bishops. "Checkmate." She grinned at her predicted success and hastily scribbled out her results - this time with her horn, as she dropped her danger-detection spell to levitate the pen. "Just as I'd thought."

Indi downed the rest off her coffee, levitated the mug back to her kitchen counter, and trotted to her window. She poked her head outside - the scent of cupcakes had mysteriously vanished, to Indigo's dismay. It wasn't particularly nice outside, but as Indi went to withdraw her head and shut the window, an odd sight caught her eye. It was a griffon - no several griffon. She had heard rumours that Ponyville was considering hiring more guards, but...

Things had gone too far.

Indigo sighed and lit up her horn. It glowed silver, but pulsated red every couple of seconds - it had taken to doing this recently whenever she was outside in Ponyville. That was her sign that she needed to do something to help the poor town she lived in before it was too late. Her sense of danger was never wrong -

Her horn flared scarlet. "Left," Indigo thought and quickly found the source of the danger - a griffon had been hit by a rouge wind and was descending rapidly toward a male earth pony guard. "Watch out!" Indigo yelled, causing the stallion to whip his head around and then roll out of the way just in time. To her relief, both parties got to their feet unharmed, but then immediately started bickering with each other. Indigo shut her window tightly and without a second thought headed out of her apartment complex and toward the Ponyville library. It was time for things to go back to normal.

 

[Cometstarlight]

Comet Starfall
Star Chart/Map Maker
Ponyville Apartments - #128
Status: Pondering

"Hmm, no, that's not right," the unicorn murmured as she sorted through the letters she had just received from her compact mailbox downstairs, "I should've gotten a letter from Mom and Dad already." She sighed and put the letters down on her desk, her dark blue magical aura dissipating as they found their resting place.

Comet sat herself down in front of her latest project: a map of the sky above the Everfree Forest. The star chart was mostly filled, only needing a few more stars and careful degree angles before it was right for delivery. Why somepony would go into the Everfree Forest at a time like this, she had no clue. With all the ponies disappearing, you'd be lucky if you saw them walking around town shooting the breeze like they used to do. Now it's just tension and the slightest touch can set off a fight. She sighed as she recollected the stars above her before she brush danced across the page. She'd be done with this in no time, and then she'll be able to go the Golden Oaks Library. After all, that place was the whole reason why she was here. Why she even got an apartment in the first place.

Once she was finished with her latest chart, she cast a spell to dry it, bundled it up with the others, and began to trot off to the Post Office. If anything, at least she could deliver these on the way to the library. She blew some of her silvery blue bangs out of her face and said goodbye to the pony serving as the landlord. Soon, she would be out to see what all the fuss was about. Perhaps then she could do something to help.

 

[DVB]

Fringe Truth
Paranormal Detective
Location: Golden Oaks Library:
Status:

The grandfather clock chimed, which signaled the next hour. It was also time for everyone to arrive. "Hey, why don't you go out and wait for everyone for you to greet them?" Spike suggested to Fringe. Fringe went over to look at the young dragon. He was keeping a brave face; despite that, it was clear that he desperately wanted to see his friends again. "Alright, I will," Fringe said as he headed to the door. As he opened it, he looked to Spike.

"Spike... Everything is gonna be okay," Fringe said as he flashed a smile at him. Spike managed to make a nervous smile back and nodded in determination.

Fringe stepped out, his coat around him in order to deal with the chilly wind. He looked around town and saw that the other ponies were accompanied by guards. The sky grew darker and there was an air of ominence. Fringe waved to the ponies who came.

"Hello everypony. I am Fringe Truth."

 

[Kiruria]

OOC: Since I always post a link to my signups in my signature, I see no need to do so in my post titles as well.
IC:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Madame Starshroom
Mushroom-Loving Psychic
Wildflower Cafe - Tea Shoppe
Status: Feeling awkward, yet calm

On a typical morning, Starshroom would be wandering through the forest on Moonfall Mountain, gathering mushrooms, and then it would be time for bed, since she was nocturnal. But today saw her staying up a bit later than usual, since she was to meet with a detective in Ponyville that day. However, since she had finished her mushroom-gathering a bit earlier than expected, she had a bit of time to kill before the meeting. The Wildflower Cafe was her favourite place to stop for a meal in Ponyville, as she loved the colourful flowery decorations inside and how friendly the servers were. Usually she was in the restaurant area during suppertime, but since it was daytime, she was in the tea room instead, sitting at a little round table with a teapot and a plate of different kinds of finger sandwiches before her.

An older mare and a little filly sat at the table next to her. At one point, the cute little filly blurted out "Look Ma, is that a witch?"

The mare looked over at Starshroom, then turned back to her daughter, giggling softly.
"She sure looks like one, doesn't she?"
Then she paused for a moment, as if something occurred to her. Starshroom looked over at her, trying to figure out what was troubling her, but since it was daytime, she couldn't see her aura that well. During the day, she could maybe see a faint aura around someone if she looked hard enough, but couldn't discern anything about its strength or shape.

Suddenly, the mare turned to look at Starshroom.
"Hey wait a minute, I think I saw you at the festival a few nights ago. You're a fortune-teller, right?"

Starshroom merely nodded in reply. She wasn't quite sure what to say afterward, not really being used to casual conversation with other ponies. She blinked a couple of times, and took a bite out of a sandwich. She was starting to feel full at this point, and was thinking about leaving soon anyway.

"It's a shame we haven't had a night festival in a while though..." the mare continued. "not with all these kidnappings going on lately I sure hope aliens aren't invading Ponyville!"

"Well, I do believe they came from the stars..." Starshroom decided to reply, gazing upward as if to the stars. "And they have a strange energy about them, as if they are not of this world."

Suddenly, Starshroom noticed the clock on the wall, and her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh my goodness, I'll be late for the meeting!"

And she left her seat, not bothering to say goodbye to the mother and daughter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the Library

Just as Fringe Truth was introducing himself to the other ponies, the door opened, and in walked a thestral wearing a cape and pointed hat, a bit out of breath.

"Sorry I'm late," Starshroom spoke to the detective, who looked very mature and professor-like with his glasses and all. "I hope I haven't missed anything. Fringe Truth, was it? Well, uh, I am Madame Starshroom, otherwise known as the fortune-teller who shows up at night festivals and serves mushroom..." and here she yawned, revealing her fangs, "...tea. And it's way past my bedtime - but I can stay up a bit."

 

[Cometstarlight]

Comet Starfall
Star Chart/Map Maker
Golden Oaks Library

Comet ran frantically as she left the post office. She had underestimated the time it would take for her to deliver the letters to the post office and now she was in risk of becoming late! She continued her gallop through the streets past whatever ponies had actually braved the potential danger that lurked outside.
"I can't believe I lost track of time," she muttered under her breath, "stupid, stupid, stupid!" she mentally face-hoofed as she ran by another pony carrying a box of quills. She barely clipped the box he was levitating and nearly caused the unicorn to drop it.

"Hey, watch it!" He yelled to her back as she galloped away.

"Sorry!" She gasped as she realized her action. There was no time to stop though, she had to keep going.

Not long after her run in, the library came into sight and she slowed to a trot to catch her breath. The last thing she wanted to do was burst through the door as winded as she was. She blew some of her bangs from her face and tried to calm her racing heart. She knew she had just run a long distance to get here, but part of her couldn't help but think that her heart was racing from anticipation as well as exertion. What did she sign up for? What were she and anypony else going to do?

She inhaled through her nose, taking note of the wet soil below her hooves, and exhaled through her mouth. Can't turn back now. She approached the small crowd of ponies in front of the library where a pegasus colt was speaking. His coat was a slate grey while his mane was a dark indigo blue.

"Hello everypony. I am Fringe Truth." He spoke looking out onto the crowd.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe it would all go well and the Element Bearers would be recovered safe and sound. Part of her wanted to believe this with all her being, but the darkened clouds that rolled in spoke ill omen of the adventure they were about to take.

 

[Monster Guy]

saw that the other ponies were accompanied by guards

Where did the guards come from? ._. Nopony told us we were supposed to be escorted...

Parts of this post is C/Ped from the last thread. I'm also guessing we all arrived at the same time.

Happy Golucky
Baker
Location: Library
Status: Same as last post

When Happy arrived at the library, the first thing he noticed was that there were several other ponies gathered outside the front. A bunch of different kinds of ponies as well. "Wow, there are lot of ponies here for it being so early in the morning. I take it you all are here for the adventure too?" Among them was his next door neighbor, Indigo. "Oh, hey Indi!" The red Earth Pony shouted as he frantically waved one of his front legs, then bounced over to where she was. "Heya neighbor! How goes things? Wow, this is a coincidence! We're going on adventure together! Oh, this would be so much fun if... well... you know... bad stuff wasn't happening... um..."

Happy didn't like dwelling on negative things, so he immediately changed the subject. Other ponies were introducing themselves, so he thought it best to do the same. "Ahem, my name is Happy Golucky. Pleased to meet ya. Um... I'm just a baker, nothing too special, but I do love my job! I even brought cupcakes, I'll be happy to share." He took out a container of cupcakes from his bag, and opened the lid with his mouth to show everyone. "Don't worry, I got plenty, and I can easily make more!"

For some reason, the sky grew darker as dark clouds rolled in. It made everything ominous and scary, but that didn't shake the red Earth Pony one bit. Happy looked up, and shrugged. "Weird, I didn't hear that it was supposed to rain today. I didn't bring my raincoat! Oh well, a little bit of water won't hurt anypony!"

 

[bronislav84]

Lektra Bolt
Inventor Extraordinaire
Lektra's Hut, Basement
Status: Bored, then Excited

Ah good, the group was gathering. I had to be the last to arrive, or close. Time to land. Sparky and I were perfectly in synch as always and he knew it was a good time to land. We flew downward toward where the group was and landed in the middle with a smidge of dust. It didn't obstruct vision at all. If I had to guess, it might have looked like we'd dropped from the sky. Sparky unstrapped from my back, transformed back into a robot, and jumped down to the ground. Dramatic entrance, check.

Just in time for the detective to introduce himself. In fact everypony was introducing themselves. Well, time for me to do it too. So many others. I blushed profusely. "H-hi everypony. I'm Lektra Bolt and this is Sparky." I motioned with a hoof to him. "He's my assistant, and don't you dare call him a pet. He's sensitive about that."

Sparky scanned everyone in attendance with a harmless horizontal beam and then just sort of idled near me. At this point I looked at the guy offering cupcakes. "May I have one please?"

 

[Tangeh]

((ooc: ugh, sorry guys))

Indigo "Indi" Knight
Class A Chess Player / Tutor
Golden Oaks Library
Status: Patient

Indi hadn't been at the library for long before her neighbour bounded over to her. "Hello, Happy," she returned the greeting, though she lacked his enthusiasm. "Things could be better, but with the current state of the world I suppose that's to be expected. Yes, it is a coincidence. I'm sure it would be 'fun' in less trying times, yes," she recited to him as if reading off of a list. It was hardly the first time she'd had a conversation with her boisterous neighbour, so she pretty much knew what to expect. "Oh, and I'm assuming these are what I smelled this morning?" She asked, levitating an offered cupcake from Happy's container. "Thank you." His appearance here explained why he was baking so early, at least. That was one mystery solved - and now onto the more pressing one.

"Good to meet you, Fringe," Indigo said, her voice still lacking any sort of emotion and a small frown resting on her face. "My name is Indigo Knight. I hope to be of assistance." Besides Fringe, there were two other unicorns as well as a thestral - given they were such an unusual species in Ponyville, Indi was intrigued by her.

 

[DVB]

Fringe Truth
Paranormal Detective
Location: Golden Oaks Library:
Status:
Fringe smiled and offered a hoof to Happy. He was one of the ponies he was most familiar with during his time here in Ponyville. Some of the others he did recognize. He raised an eyebrow upon seeing Lektra. He knew her as she was a POI amongst his groupn and he would like the opportunity to speak with the scientist. He looked at some of the others like Indigo and he blushed a bit when he met Comet. He found her to be pretty attractive, as well as the thestral who introduced herself first.

"All right, I'm glad everypony could come here. The reason I put this request is to examine the mysteries of the disappearing ponies. Some time ago, the guardians of the Elements of Harmony disappeared into the forest along with other ponies. There has also been sightings of metal monsters looking like ponies. There is most likely a connection here," Fringe explained before Spike came down and showed the board with the attempted photos, reportings and so on.

He certainly was looking his best in keeping a calm face despite his worry. Good show for the hero of the Crystal Empire.

"Welcome everypony," he managed to say while looking down at his feet before clearing his throat. "Anyway, the first sifgn of something strange happening was when that falling star came down. Then Twilight and the others disappeared along with the other ponies over time and then these metal monsters began appearing. There isn't much to go by, but then all seem to head back to the Everfree Forest by dawn so that's probably where it would eb the first place to start," Spike explained to them.

Fringe looked to them all. "We all lost or know someone who has lost someone to this strange phenomena and we all want to see these missing ponies home," Fringe explained to them as he adjusted his pack. "But it ends today. We're gonna go and find out what's going on, once and for all," Fringe said to them. When everyone was ready to get going, Frigne begin leading them.

Spike looked back, biting his lip. He was thinking what else was needed. As Fringe was leading them, they walked around town. There was a sense of mild dread in the air.The atmosphere was heavier each day and there were less smiles and more fear. In the distance, ponies would look to the forest with fear and trepidation.

"Anyone recall anything strange or unusual?" Fringe asked them on the way to the forest.

((Okay everyone, make up some stories that subtly hint at these strange going-ons, but with an air of mystery))