Vindicar frowns and puts his wing over pegasus' shoulder again. "Pewny, it's a very personal piece of information. I'd rather not tell it to anyone, even with your consent." He pauses for a moment, "And Mythic is likely to ask for a sample of those crystals..." Suddenly hippogriff stops, worried. "By the way, are you sure that exposure to them is safe? What if they drain you of your innate pegasi magic? You really ought to check if you have any problems with cloudwalking and the like."
“I know it is. But I don’t like to talk about it, that’s why I suggested it. And a sample… Well, I have plenty of those so it wouldn’t be a problem, but I don’t yet pinpointed their exact absorbtion radius and if size of a single crystal influences it. And I don’t think it affects me. Relena has been…” he stops and coughs “Well, let’s just say she was exposed to them for long periods of time and nothing happened to her until she tried to cast a spell. So I guess it’s POSSIBLE that I wouldn’t be able to sit on a cloud in close proximity of them, if that can be counted as using magic actively.”
Vindicar nods and gives his friend a reassuring smile. "Anyway, if I were you I wouldn't abandon your project yet. Do you want me to tell Mythic about those crystals, or will you do it yourself?"
He then smiles back “Thank you V. And of course, you can tell him all about the project. In fact… I forgot to mention previously, if you think he should know, you can even tell him the source of my Griffon phobia…”
Hippogriff smiles and pats pegasus' shoulder with his wing. "It's okay, though I find pony names to be easier to remember because they are usually so... descriptive."
“I guess that is true. But, well, I have to USE a name to remember it. Just hearing it or reading, even a few times, just isn’t enough.”
Hippogriff blinks. "Arbor Green, botanist and potionmaker. Last time I mentioned him you said you've seen his store but never visitied it."
“Ooooh…” He then facehooves “Did I ever tell you I have a very bad memory for names? Because I do. But yeah, I remember now who you mean.”
"Epsilon is a sentient and sapient pony-like magic based automaton. She - Epsilon has a female personality, at least for me - she's been around for a while, though she spends a lot of time out of Ponyville. She also knows enough to be able to repair herself. Unfortunately, those crystals are likely to drain her... If you want to find her, ask Arbor Green."
“Magic based automaton? Yeah, it most likely would drain her out of life. At least, I think so. And well, she already seems pretty interesting, I probably will meet her then. And Arbor… Another name I am not familair with.”
"Let's just say you can find it yourself if you visit Canterlot. She's quite amiable." Hippogriff pauses for a moment. "Calculating leg movements is not going to be easy, especially on unstable terrain, but... have you met Epsilon already? May be she will give you an advice. Just... don't bring her here."
“Aaalright” He looks to the machine again “Eh, you tell me, it took me quite a while to program one leg to move pony-like on normal terrain. I really just hope that adding center of mass calculation will do it easier. And, no, I didn’t meet anyone like that so far.”
"Well, I find it unlikely for Sisters or Nightmare to show you something like that without demanding secrecy. And Lumina doesn't seem like a person who likes to explore underwater caves." Vindicar pauses for a moment, looking at machine's leg. "Can it maintain balance on its own?"
“You do have a point there. And… Lumina? Who’s that?” Pewny then looks at the machine and moves the lever up and down, the leg moving accordingly. “It can’t, yet. Right now there is a support build on the other side of it, holding it upright. But I do have plans for that, calculation of the mass center and shifting other legs accordingly.”
"Alicorn?" Vindicar seems to be confused for a moment. "Do you mean Relena?"
He chuckles “I probably should just say the name outright. Yes, I meant Relena.”
"That's very interesting! I have heard about magic absorbing material, but your crystals seem to be something completely different. Mythic will certainly want to hear about it." Hippogriff pauses, tapping his beak. "Where did you find those?"
“Ha, he probably would like to hear about them, yes. As for where I found them, well, a certain Alicorn you may know, shown me a certain underwater cave in Everfree where there was a lot of those crystals.”
"Hmmmm, a walking chassis... Do those crystals disrupt magic?"
“Yes, thanks to walking it should be able to cross any terrain, I hope at least. As for the crystals - not quite. I’m no unicorn so I can’t show you, but those crystals don’t disrupt magic. They absorb it. As far as I know that magic is not beig output anywhere, which is rather odd, but from what I saw, they should be able to block all incoming magic assaults from a LOT of unicorns.”
"Ehh... it looks like... I dunno, a golem of sorts..."
“Well, I wouldn’t call it a golem, it’s not going to ‘live’ by itself” Pewny then approaches some control panel and moves a lever, causing one of the legs of the machine to raise up and a bit forward, in the same fashion as a living pony would “In concept it’s supposed to be a magic-proof all-terrain walker transport.”
"Well, how do you think they prevent unicorn criminals from escaping? But don't jump to conclusions, Pewny. May be your project has advantages over existing designs... too bad I've never studied this area in particular." ((Awww, how I can relate to that...))
He facehooves hard “Riiiiight, I completely forgot about that. As for that, well, see for yourself” The two finally reach downstairs, into a very spacious room under his house. In the middle of it is a rather large construct, big like 5 ponies… in all directions. The thing itself kinda resembles a pony’s skeleton. In a few places Vindicar can notice that it has mounted some red crystals.
"Really? Did you install a magic supressor? But why?"
He seems to frown suddenly “Magic supressor? Something like that exists? Well, seems my project is pretty useless now…”
"It's unlikely, as Mythic seems to rarely leave Moon City area." Vindicar says as he follows his friend downstairs, keeping head low.
“I figured as much” He nods “If anything he would send a clone of his. Problem is, if I am correct that he is using his magic to create them, a clone would simply disappear upon approaching the door.”
